DICKEYBIRD

Very puny progress for sure but I do have to comment on this polyurethane glue stuff. I finally dewarped the 'potato chip' wing enough to feel good enough about gluing it into the fuse. I used the p/u glue 'cuz I figured it would help soak up the COLLOSSAL power () of a D/B engine and keep the profile fuse/wing joint in one piece for a few flights anyway. This stuff is COOL! It's very slow because I didn't apply any moisture, strictly air cure, but it has expanded in a couple hours to fill all cracks & crevices with a neat little fillet. Now, if somebody would come up with an accelerator spray!

matchlessaero

Good Stuff! Ain't it DB

Glad to hear that the wing warp came out.

Looks really good (as always...: ) When are you thinking the maiden might be....?

DICKEYBIRD

I was going to finish it today and take a peek at the weather this afternoon but I woke up this morning with the trots and a REALLY upset stomach, DANGIT! Maybe next weekend!

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

DB, I'm sick as a dog too! I thought maybe I would beat it this winter, but when everyone around you is sick....

I am going to try and go do something constructive today though... hope you are feeling better soon

AJC

DICKEYBIRD

I don't have much to show that's anywhere near as cool as what some of the other entrants have been posting but I did come up with a fairly neat way to mount the tank.

I drilled a 1 1/4" hole in a chunk of some kind of fairly dense, closed -cell foam I procured down at the local Dumpster-Mart. The Fuji tank is glued in with 3M-77 and the outer part of the foam chunk was rounded to match the tank contour. It's mounted with 2 lengths of small inner nyrod with the ends tapped 2-56. The nyrods were trimmed till the tank was clamped securely with the screws tightened up but there's still enough "give" to help with the inevitable vibration induced foaming.

Oh, the other noteworthy item is the weight. She's now completed other than whatever lettering and stickers I decide to put on and the final weight is 9 1/2 oz. Thats for 325 sq. in, 5 servos and a too heavy plywood lamination up front. Should be interesting if the Depron doesn't fall apart in-flight!

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

Hey thats a slick idea! I would have probably just used a few tie wraps (ugly) that nyrod idea is slick and tidy...

And thats a Cox engine you have yourself there, eh?? Nice... very nice

Are you telling me thats 9 1/2 ounces RTF??! Thats sick!

AJC

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

HI DB! Please hurry up and fly it! It will be interesting to see which prop you like best. I think that a 6-2 with a wide blade would be the ticket. Your plane's going to do prop hangs so well, you'll be able to pick apples with it!

Andrew

DB --

That's really nice!!!! What did you use to cut the hole in the foam? Was it dense enough to cut rather than tear thru?

The only problem I have with the good ideas on this forum is that I can't remember them all.[]

the "other" Andrew

DICKEYBIRD

Andrew I use a 1 1/4" holesaw. I've been using the same method to mount my Fuji tanks for a while now. You HAVE to use a drill press & go slow so the holesaw doesn't grab the foam and beat the heck out of you! It cuts very cleanly and leaves a hole that fits the tank very nicely. This insulates the tank on all sides from the vibratory assault of 1/2A engines. You have to glue the tank into the foam block to keep it from rotating around & screwing up your vent placement.

DICKEYBIRD

C/P I'm gonna start with my standard 5x3 Cox black to get the feel of everything and then try 5.5x2 - 6x2 APC's & see which one works best. The 5.5x2 works pretty well on my other semi-hoverbatics plane the "Cornbread."

I'm anxious to see how it flies too. The weather here is nuts though. We got 3-4" rain overnite and it's still pouring down! Hopefully things will settle down enough to try it Sun. Gotta work all day today, tomorrow AND Sat.! [&o]

DICKEYBIRD

Well, wish me luck fellers! I stuck some letters & a sticker on it so methinks it's time to get some air under her wings. I'm topping off the batteries and heading to the field. It's cold & a little breezy but the sun's shining!

Here's a couple pics.

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

It looks.... AWESOME!

Best of luck, wish I could be there to see it... A bit more snow up here (cold and windy? Yup!)

AJC

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

DICKEYBIRD!! Just to let you know, if you get tired of flying that thing, I could possibly work flying it into my tight flying schedule[8D]! Such a light plane with so much power... it's going to be AWESOME! I want to do a HALFWIT out of that stuff. I don't see why it couldn't turn out similar in weight. Have you posted it yet in the profile forum? If you do, they will go nuts and you will have to hire a secretary to handle all the message traffic! If you post it at the ARF forum, they'll just ask you,"HOW MUCH"?[They might ask if the decal is already applied, and if fuel is already in it]! Here's to many happy,rising flat spins and unnameable manuevers!

matchlessaero

Well, I was fortunate enough today to get a ring from DB on the phone this morning. 15 mins later I was at the field ogling the beautiful little BareCat. Its been said before about other planes, but the photographs truly don't do it justice!

As I looked it over, I counted a ridiculous amount of different materials and techniques in this thing. Here's a small list....

RC components
Cox Motor
Hand made extensions for radio gear
Hand bent music wire pushrods
Teflon tubing
6mil depron foam
balsa
ply
mylar (Solite)
Epoxy
Polyurethane glue
Carbon Fiber

I know I have missed something, but this thing really is neat!

After lookin it over, Milton fired it up and I got the video camera out.

First flight went very well. It appears to fly extremely light just as it should at 9 or so ounces! Loops were tight, and roll rate was good. Any of his attempts to harrier resulted in the thing climbing....even with the little DB Cox TD idling low.(lower than most Norvels I've seen or run).

A wind induced altercation with a cleaning sprayer bottle cut the flying day short, but I am sure that as soon as Milton has this thing dialed in and flying on a calm day, he will really put on a show

TOP NOTCH, TOP DROOR, SUPERLATIVE, (oh crud, where's that thesaurus?) this little creation is SWEET

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

Excellent - I expected as much but its allways nice to hear that it went well.

I hope there wasnt any damage? I mean with the spraybottle incident?

So how soon untill we see video!!

AJC

DICKEYBIRD

Looks like matchless beat me to the punch....I had to do the leaf mulch/lime spreading thing in the back yard while it was still light out so I'm late with my report.

Well, it flies! I wish I could give you guys a long list of all the fabulous, innovative maneuvers the BareCat did. Alas, matchless was there and he's such an honest guy, he'd have to tell you I wuz a'fibbin'!

The gist of the story was IT WAS FRIGGIN' COLD & WINDY! 'Ol reliable #11 Tee Dee was slow to start but ran pretty good other than a rich low end. I guess that was because I had to screw the needle out at least a turn to get the thicker fuel/jelly to flow! I launched it at 1/2 throttle, the wind knocked it around but was pretty solid other than a couple clicks of left aileron trim. I guess there's still some potato chip left in the wing.

I kept trying to slow down/pull the nose up and do the harrier thing but in the wind it just kept climbing, even at idle. 325 squares at 9 1/2 oz. just wants to fly! The loops were VERY tight, kind of a floppy thing with the flaperons on. 3.7 oz./sq. ft. will turn REAL tight. I tried a flat spin but only got sort of a TILTED floppy thing. I need some calmer air to figure out what it's gonna need to flatten out nicely. 3D expert matchless says I need more rudder.

The little bit of knife-edge I tried was cool. It sorta yawed immediately up into a climb, went over the top and was coming around to the bottom part of a loop but I was so far behind it I rolled out of it. (Big chicken!) I don't think it'll be any trouble to knife edge loop it very cleanly.

Rolls were pretty quick but not as quick as I feared on high rate. I'm still learning this huge flaperon/big throw thing.

Only vice I'm worried about is the tendency to tuck the nose down at at speed. Not uncontrollable but keeps you awake. I guess that's a result of the aft CG and the 17% H/stab. More analysis needed on a calmer day.

I'd have more to report but dumby me left it sitting right-side-up on the table and a gust of wind flipped it over and my spray cleaner bottle punched a big hole in the wing. There's that light wing loading again!

Sitting in my nice warm garage, all in all I'm very happy with it. More to come later. Matchless has a slick new Sony camera that he took some video with. I'm not sure my windy flying is good enough to post but we'll see.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

HEY DB! GOOD GOIN'! I would have fired the guy who left the spray bottle there! It sounds like you could use one of those junky, floppy old white 6-2 props to tame the climb tendencies! I had a diesel 061 on the 10 oz PBF with a 7-2 prop and the hovering was good, but the fuel got under the covering. Is the DEPRON fuel resistant? I think MATCHLESS is right about lots of rudder for flat spins.That thing should need only full rudder, and no aileron to spin like a top if the lateral CG is OK. Since you are using flaperons, they can produce some fun results, but they will interfere with hovering. Spoilerons seem to help harrier flight[ if you are hit with wing rocking]. I'm flying the HALFWIT with a 40% CG, and if I allow the plane to fly by it'self level, then it is fairly stable. It's only when I suggest to the elevator that I would like to go a different direction that it gets touchy! Sounds like you need to tow a bag full of rocks to tame that TD! Here's to many more happy flights and lots of fun with your BARECAT!

DICKEYBIRD

Thanks for the tips C/P. I had a 6x2 APC and a 5.5x2 with me to try but....

The flaperons are switchable on/off so I can try it with/without. Dunno 'bout spoilerons, didn't think of that! [X(] I got a couple more holes in the rudder horn to try yet!

I tried a scrap of the Depron with 35% and nothing happened for a few minutes anyway. I think it'll be fine with reasonable care.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

HI DB! One other thing I forgot to add is you can grab a floppy prop and twist some pitch out of it, they can be trained to flatten out, and rpm will flatten it some more. The backwards prop might be too severe? Hmmmm.
it's good to be up in the engines' happy zone for throttle response and to have a unresponsive prop, it's too bad that there isn't a better selection of low pitched props [7-1?] for this sort of thing. Next time you eat a popsickle, save the stick!

MR Flyer57

Fantastic job DB,
I have to admit that it looks a lot bigger when your holding it. Maybe you shrunk[X(]
It looks like a trend has started, I know that I am itching to build one of the 3d planes that are being tossed around on this site (no pun intended)
I am still amazed when you show shots of the CNC cutting machine.
You have probably been asked many times before but what is it and what is the story behind it.
When and where did you get it and what kind of computer/software are you using?
Thanks and once again,,, great looking plane,
MR Flyer57

DICKEYBIRD

Thanks Marshall, I'll be glad when I get some quality weather flying on this bird; should be fun.

The CNC thing is a whole separate hobby but I enjoy it. Too much to go into here but here's some links to keep you busy if you're interested. I built mine back in '98 using a 3-axis motion kit from MaxNC and a homebuilt router table from plans in Nuts & Volts magazine. Read the thread on the attached Ezone link (1st 5 or 10 pages anyway, it's a l-o-n-g thread) and it has some details on mine.

Links:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...threadid=62920

http://www.cnczone.com/

http://www.crankorgan.com/

http://www.hobbycnc.com/

http://www.maxnc.com/page5.html

MR Flyer57

Hey DB,
What do you control yours with?
M57

DICKEYBIRD

Would you believe an old Pl 90 mhz. laptop.? I've run it from several pc's, all the way back to a 386 when I 1st got it working a few yrs. ago. The CNC controller just hooks up via the parallel port, just like a printer.

MR Flyer57

Amazing DB,
Then it is controlled by an old program, and wouldn't be a newer CAD program.
I am interested how you plot the stuff out, I am a total novice at this stuff so forgive me for the truly basic questions.
I build computers for myself and some family (just as a hobby), but have never even seen a CNC system.
MR Flyer57

DICKEYBIRD

Marshall, the parts are drawn in any CAD program that will output a .dxf file; I use an old version of TurboCAD (v3.01) myself. T/CAD v4 can be had as a free download if you want to play with it. I end up with older (free) computers in my shop and older software just works better with low powered pc's.

I add parallel lines on another layer that are 1/2 the diameter of the toolbit to compensate for the router bit dia. so that the part is the correct size when cut. More expensive controller software apps. compensate for the toolbit diameter within the program automatically.

The CAD drawing, with all the parts arranged for best stock usage, is saved as .dxf, then imported into a .dxf to G-Code converter utility program. I use AceConverter, a free internet download from Yeager Automation. Ace outputs a G-Code file that loads into the CNC controller software to control the stepper motors. My CNC controller software came bundled with the MaxNC 3 axis controller kit I bought. It runs in DOS; most inexpensive controllers run in DOS and are very stable. There are several other programs that run in Windoze but I don't use them. The DOS programs (for me) are very easy to use and cheap. I like cheap!

Ask any questions you want, I'm happy to share what I've muddled my way through. It's a time consuming process but I really enjoy it.

Hope this helps!