|
DAY ..
25. June 2005 - F3B BAH memorial - I dont really fly F3B anymore but with the worlds best F3B pilots visiting from Sweden I had to go. I joined them in their team and managed to pick up a bunch of stuff about starting techniques and how they function as a team. Really great so thanks guys it was a pleasure. I had to winch in a new way since they use thinner lines and big drums and it was great to learn about that also. Writeup and pictures HERE.
DAY ..
25. June 2005 |
|
DAY ..
24. June 2005
- DS with my Shongololo
showed me that there was some issues
with the links and linkages... But I had a good time and the
Shongololo came down in one piece after 20min of fun.
|
DAY ..
23. June 2005 - A great day at Klanten airfield though I did have some unwanted effects that could have lead to no flying at all. While I took out the winch and plane I moved my Tx case and had problems closing it. Used some light force and moved it away. After a brief moment I smelled some strange smell but since it was blowing outside I could not locate it. It was not the typical "sweet smell" of Lipo so I continued taking out the winch when I suddenly found smoke coming out of the Tx case... It was a Lipo battery with wires stuck in the case opening. So I saved my Tx and other stuff and had to test what would happen if I charged it hard. I must say I have been waiting for a moment to do this... Video of the "blast" HERE (4mb .wmv). Other than that I flew speed with my Shongololo and Pike tail. Worked ok and I can use it as spare F3B. |
|
DAY ..
19. June 2005
- Sumemr is suddenly here with 25 celcius and bright sunshine.
Winch with 120m to the turnaround and my new Superior was the task
of the day and I had 6 hours of hot humid air that never brought me
higher than the starting altitude. But still I managed 3-4 flights
with "stupid air" (air that keeps you up no matter what) before the
conditions suddenly went interesting. made many landings downwind
today because this might happen during Nats in July. Did not use a
skeg but all were within 0,5m and that was without punching the
model in the ground. Also flew a few flights with the Su-31 and
managed to stuff it slightly because of low aerobatics. But it was
ready in no time with some glue. Kind of like it is a balsa model.
Easier to repair than depron actually. Tom Olav joined me with his
Harward and another guy I dont know the name of yet.
A video of Tom Olav's Harward HERE
(12mb .wmv)
DAY ..
18. June 2005
- Water season has started so I had to check if everything was
ok with my Osprey (Hacker model). This year I equipped it with a MTM 400XT
motor and 3 celles 1200mah Lipo. Plenty of power to this model
but Lipo did not make it weigh less since I had to put 60g of lead
in the nose. Takeoff was in less than 10m. Also flew the SU-31 and
the Vector wing but no pictures of it.
DAY ..
17. June 2005
- Weather suddenly changed bigtime but the wind was strong so I
should have been on the DS slope instead of testing my good old
Vector wing with speed 400 motor. Anyhow I had a good flight with
the trusty wing but had to leave the Su-31 in the sun. And yes that
powerline is in the wrong place...
DAY ..
15. June 2005
- Terrible weather these days but I squeezed in a few flights
and even the sun came out for a brief moment. The Su-31 performs
pretty well and knife-edge is extremely easy since the fuse is so
big. Knife-edge loop is just to flip it around. Needs some better
props for hovering in the breeze (probably ending up at 12x6 or even
11x5).
DAY ..
13. June 2005
- A small flight before the sun came down but this model likes
it to be quiet outside. Programmed in a bit of negativ camber that
kicks in at 30% elevator and no "wobbling" in the harrier.
DAY ..
13. June 2005
- OK motor flying with Arild and poor weather inspired me to
finish of a new motor model from
www.elefun.net .
It is a small and relatively light "Mili SU-31" from Reach model that is equipped with a Himax brushless motor running on 3 Lipo cells. I did not have just
the right propeller but this motor comes with changeable gears so
you can adjust to your needs. I just picked a propeller from the
shelf and adjusted the gears so I used around 9A (wanted to use a
battery that had limit on 9A) and had enough for hover at 60-70%
throttle. It was offcourse raining and windy outside so after a
while I ended up hovering inside. Hopefully the weather gets better
for some outdoor flying later. The model seemed relatively stable in
hover and I had plenty of power to play with. I used 3xD44 (4,4g)
and one Hitec-55 on the rudder (had it laying around). For
powersource I first used a E-tec 3x450mah but ended up with
Polyquest 3x600mah that is just slightly heavier at 40g and gives me
much more motortime. The all up weight was 340g and this is so low
that the model should be nice indoor also.
More pictures HERE Oh BTW the decals
supplied with the set is not on yet...
DAY ..
11. June 2005
- Some flying outside Arild had to result in some tree climbing.
But my 8m carbon stick made the trick getting Arild's Lierider back
home. Flying in a tight street is fun but.... Later in the day Me
and Arild went to Klanten airport for some powerflying. Or atleast
him. While I flew my electric Superior he pulled out his new Funtana
with Saito 120 4-stroke. He had 2 nice flights before I got the
sticks. 2 Nice passes and 1/2 throttle just before a loop when the
model suddenly goes into thousand pieces in the air. Wow a long time
since I have seen this. Level flight and just poof. Looking at the
wreck the model looks VERY poorly glued. I hope not all these models
are glued like this.
DAY ..
9. June 2005
- The local toyshop had some Nikko helicopters that none of the
customers could get to fly. So I got one with me to check it out and
see if it was ok. This is a very cheap set of flying machine that I
had my doubts in. But as long as I am only checking it I had to test
it properly. First of I actually read the instructions (I normally
never do that since I am Norwegian...) and found a few things that a
customer absolutely needs to know. I charged the two batteries on a
proper charger (NiMh) but found them barely sufficient to the task
(even after many cycles)
and prepared a Lipo pack instead and balanced the helicopter
afterwards since there is no "elevator" control on this helicopter
only rotor speed and roll axis on the mainrotor. There was also and
issue with the tail. First of all the prop on the tail rotor was bent and
with the poor supplied battery pack it was not spinning fast enough.
It was possible to adjust the rpm of the tail rotor from the supplied
radio but not enough. I bent it in place and managed to get a few
more degrees of pitch into it. So did it fly? Yes but did it fly
well? NO absolutely not. The rotor head is poor and the servo for
the roll axis is poor. With a few hours of gluing and putting in a
new servo I might have got it to fly ok but I don't think it is worth
the effort. I might try to "fly" instead of hover later but I doubt
it will be stable enough for much controlled flight. But it was fun
to try and since I did not expect too much I had lots of fun in the
garden and in the garage. And the model does take lots of abuse
without going into pieces.
DAY ..
8. June 2005
- About time I got to try my Shongololo with "NEW" tailfeathers.
At WC F3J I brought home some spare parts from som "Australian
doctors carnage". So a big thanks to the doc since the model are in
a whole different league now. Suddenly it felt nimble and light to
fly. Now it just needs a makeover with the airbrush and a ballast
chamber. Conditions were nice with ok temperature (+14) and 2-3m/s
headwind.
DAY ..
5. June 2005 - F3J
- Good competition in Skien but a bit few rounds because of the
rain that swept thru. We also sat the winches the wrong way so
almost all launches were down wind (simple
video here) The finals
were even in 6-8m/s wind from the back and a treeline at the
turnarounds made it difficult to go around for the windeye. Egil
even chopped of some of them with the line (we did one by one
launches). Bernhard (one of the new guys in the circus) was on my
team together with Alf Erik and he did well but needs some more
competitions. Check the first picture when he went around as he was
early for the landing. Yes he landed in the pits. But I think he
will do well as he is a good pilot. I won both the prelim and
finals.
See results HERE. Price giving was at the local burger shop that
actually pays some of the rent for the field!!
DAY ..
4. June 2005
- Received a new Pike Superior from Samba yesterday and it is
now ready in record time (under 6 hours on this I think). Surely the
weather was not cooperating with me. Check the new plastic covers
for the servos that let you see if anything is wrong. They are sold
as separate as the model offcourse comes with colored servo covers.
DAY ..
1. June 2005
- Yesterday Alf Erik came for a visit and we fixed the rudder on
his Pike Brio. I also cut the tail of my Shongololo and fitted a
Pike Brio V-tail instead. Was going to fly it today but I
accidentally broke of a servo wire to one wing. We went to Klanten
and had a good session of flying in super weather. Lots of thermals
but also heavy sink in between. Good practice session although we had to
stop early because Alf Erik had to head home.
