Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Well, I found myself with an empty board after finishing up a 25 size profile I was working on. Cast my eyes around and at first I didn't find anything that got me too excited. I looked at SWRs,the Bipestick, trying to repair my contest plane, HOB P-51, Ziroli AT-6 plans, Mach None, Rake Sopwith Strutter or DVIII. All interesting and fun, but none of them got my blood pumping.

So then I remembered pt's Li'l Streak Delta wing and that did get me thinking. What if I scaled it down some and ran a Norvel .061? So I went looking at the plans and decided to go with 66%. Gives a new span of 18.5" and approx 160 sq in. If I target 10 ounces/sq ft max then I need to be around 11 ounces for the whole thing which ought to be doable.

Anyway, I scaled the drawings, printed plans, and cut out all the balsa parts. I didn't have any 1/16 balsa, so I used 3/32 but it was extremely light stuff so right now I sit at 29 grams for the balsa and some of the ply parts. Still need to cut the firewall, but I'll use 1/8" ply instead of the 1/4 inch called for on the plans. I also didn't weigh the LE, spars, and sheeting yet.

Anyway, will post some pics when I get it framed up.

One question I have is on the launch, how easy was it to throw. Do I need to plan on adding a small keel for ease of hand launch?

Duke

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

Geez! 66%? 18.5" span?! WOOHOO! You got some brass one's dude!

I don't see any reason why it won't work. You will need to get creative on the TE, but everything should be ok. The LS was made for a bushing .15 originally. My large airframe comes out at 9oz for the bare airframe. You should be able to come in at less than half that by choosing your balsa carefully. (can't do that when they're laser-cut!)

BTW, the fullsize LS will do sixty with a TD and a 5x3 rubber ducky. I haven't played with APC props on it yet and the receiver has been transfered to the GZSWR for the time being. The Superstreak is kinda on hold. It's waiting on some $$$ for laser cutting. If you want to look at it, I can send you the file of your choice.

BobHH has a foam delta for 1/2a that he needs to start producing. It's a real *****-hauler. I'd love to have one of those. It looked to be about 240-260 or so sqaures and flew nicely.

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Yeah I'm already nervous about the first flight. I know it should haul ***** no question at that size. However, I have some of the APC 6x2 props and I figure if I maiden with that then the speed ought to be manageable for the first flights. Once I get used to it I can swap to the 5.5x4 and it'll be katy bar the door. The big thing will be getting the CG right or it'll be a short maiden.

They opened a brand new Hobby Lobby next door to me. Since the closest LHS closed and the next nearest one is 15 miles away I have taken to going to the Hobby Lobby with my digital scale and simply pulling out all the wood and weighing them. I get some weird looks but they don't seem to mind.

The more I think about it, the biggest problem is coming up with a high visibility covering scheme. Not going to be a fancy job, I'm thinking dayglo type stuff here on top with maybe black on the other side. If anybody has any good suggestions I'd appreciate it.

Duke

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

The MINI DUST that XANAPHYST gave me is 15 " in span, and is a great little flyer. I have it set up with an AME and bladder tank. I think it weighs around 9 or 10 ozs. It is the easiest launching plane, just leave enough room between the elevons so you can get a finger hold.

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

CP,

What covering scheme do you have and how's the visibility?

Duke

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

DUKE, XANAPHYST covered it with white on the bottom and mettalic blue on top with red fins. It is an easy plane to fly, and to see when you have good light conditions. SR77 flew it, it might have been his first ever try with a delta, and up until the GWS RX gave out, was easy to handle. Expect quickness in the roll axis, pitch is very stable, it's a goood little plane and a shame that more guys here haven't tried one.

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Well, this is what I had Monday night. Short pile of parts.

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

And now with a few more hours into it I've got the basic framing done and some of the sheeting. Still need to sheet some more, add the fins, etc, but weight right now is 2 1/8 ounces. I think I should be able to finish the bare airframe up at no more than 3 1/2 ounces.

I ran out of CA, so away to the shop tomorrow for glue and on with the build.

Duke

BobHH

My Feedback: (18)

Yep Patrick I would love to kit a few of them. The problem is it is foam core with balsa sheeting and everyone I have contacted about cutting cores wants $35.00 each set!! Heck that’s about what I wanted to sell the kits for!! Dad did build me a CNC foam cutter and I hoping to get it up and running soon but from reviewing the operation manual these cores may be a little hard to cut on it. Dad hand cut the cores for this one. A tough little bird as you saw when the battery pack died. Wide open into the ground and did not even break the prop!!! We raced these many moons ago in Charlotte in the open 1/2A class division with Tee Dee .051 and 2 channel radios. If I could get that "NORVEL" on it to run consistently with a bladder tank we could really see what it can do. But seeing how all "NORVELS" hate me and refuse to run I may have to go to one of those really hot engines like you had at the Reedie race!!!! Now that was a screamer!!

Bob Harris
Early RC Models
www.earlyrcmodels.com

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

Bob, yeah, I know the "excuses" for not having the kits out yet. I was just giving you a little bit of a hard time. And comparing what I remembered about yours from May(?). Dukester is going to need to bring a change of "panties" along for the maiden! To tell the truth, for speed, I'd leave the Norvels and Cox's alone. The VA is a good alternative.

Dukester, that looks really nice! 3 1/2oz is fantastic! I figured it out one time, if you drop the wingspan down to 15" the airframe should come out about 3-4oz, so you've done a really great job keeping it light. What engine are you going to use? A TD? Maybe even a VA?[8D]

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Well, I made some more progress tonight. Managed to get 99% of the sheeting done and the cap strips on. I also reinforced the short spar just back from the nose with 1/4" carbon fiber tape as I had to carve most of the spar out to fit the film can tank in. I also remembered I had the radial mount for the Norvel .061 so I managed to save 3/8 ounce by not using a regular mount. The regular Norvel backplate is 2 grams and the radial mount is 4 grams so a nice bonus there.

I dry fit the fins and weighed it tonight. Only thing I still don't have are the elevons as I wanted to go see how heavy the precut aileron stock is before I make my own up. So current weights as seen in the pics below are:

Plane with fuel tank installed is 3 5/8 ounces
Plane with tank and Norvel is 6 ounces
Plane w/tank, Norvel, receiver, battery, and 3xHS55s is 8 5/8 ounces

So I figure that adding in the covering, elevons, pushrods, and assorted screws and fiddly bits I ought to add about another ounce. So I think I'm safely headed for the sub-10 ounce range AUW.

While balance may not be the killer, space is. This thing is so flat that fitting everything in is going to be a challenge. I already plan to split the 2/3AAA nimh pack into two 2 halves and put them in on the outside of the root ribs, otherwise it'll never fit in.

Anyway, we'll see what happens. I need to get the elevons, and cover the top center so I can mount the fins. Once that's done I'll mount the Norvel and figure out the proper spacing for everything else.

BTW, I really like the pic from the front, its gonna look mean when its finished.

Duke

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

HOLY MOLARS BATMAN!!! Sitting the engine and radio on there really gives some perspective. That thing looks like mine got hit with a shrink ray!

Andrew

Duke --

Given the size of most 1/2A planes, the .061 looks like it should be the .074 -- it looks huge on that delta. I've never used one of the radial mounts, but have always wondered if the engine would have a tendency to loosen up. Is that mount one from Texas Timers?

Waiting for the flight report --- BTW, do you own stock in a brass foundry!!!

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Thanks for the comments guys, I got the elevons worked up today and the servos mounted. I ended up having to make a custom tray for the servos as I didn't plan ahead well enough to fit them in the ribs like I could have.

On the radial mount, it is one of the Texas timers ones and I'm pretty happy with it so far. I'm using lock washers on the screws, so hopefully it won't loosen up.

I re-weighed it tonight and I think with the servo tray I'm going to be just on the far side of 10 ounces. The only things not included in the weight is covering and the pushrods. Current weight with everything else is 9 1/4 ounces. Still looking to be nice and light.

I did finally figure out a covering scheme. Think killer bee. All black on the bottom and yellow fins, then black/yellow stripes on the top.

Duke

Andrew

I wasn't real clear in my comment. Since the radial mount screws into the crankcase in place of the backplate, I wondered if the engine would have a tendency to back off the mount -- I suppose torque would keep it tight. Since a lot of the freeflighters use it, it must work OK.

Really like the color scheme -- yellow and black are my favorite combinations.

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Ok I see what you mean, I made up a kind of castle wrench with 3 pins to tighten the backplate on the engine. If that sucker vibrates loose then I'll be surprised, but next time I'll locktite it. On the high side, the engine with only rotate about 20 degrees due to the tight fit, so it shouldn't get loose enough to bugger up the threads on the mount.

Duke

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Well, no update on the lil streak, but completely off topic, I went to our club swap meet and a buddy sold me his Dave Patrick Extra 330L for $50. So I guess I'm officially a giant 1/2a guy.

Duke

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Ok,

I got off track for a few weeks, but I finally got the littler streak covered and all the radio gear installed. Only items remaining are to mount the elevons, put in the pushrods, install the micro switch, plumb the tank through the firewall, and mount the top hatch.

I'm off until Wednesday, so hopefully should have it done by then. Anyway, here are a couple of current pics.

Duke

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

looks good Duke, hope for smooth streaking...Rog

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

It looks much more proportional with the small engine. Good flying!!! I gotta send these pictures to my brother. He graduated from GA Tech. I'm sure your color scheme will be appreciated.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

That looks great, DUKE! Have fun with it [8D]!

BMatthews

I've been following this one with intrest. Frankly I think you should have called it the Super Gnat because it'll be so fast and get out of sight so quick!

I'm sure it'll be a real knee shaker at full throttle. Good luck with the test flights.

... And don't forget to test glide it! .....

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Ok, so I'm a little heavy at 11 3/8 ounces RTF. I'm still off for a few more days, so if the wind dies down a little I'm going to try and maiden it tomorrow.

Duke

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

Dude! For a Norvel powered delta, that ain't a bad weight. It should scream like an SOB! Hope you have better luck than I did.

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

I maidened the Littler Streak today. I forgot the 35% at the house, so was running 15% nitro and was having trouble getting it to run consistently. I kept getting sudden flameouts. After about 30 minutes fooling with the engine I went ahead and gave it a swing. I was running a 6x2 prop to try and keep the speed down for the maiden. I finally got a relatively steady 21K with the 6x2.

The first flight lasted approximately 1 second as the guy launching for me basically threw it out nose down so I had to immediately belly it in. The second flight was slightly better and lasted about 2 seconds as I got a good launch but the motor flamed out right away.

The third flight was much improved, got a good launch with the Norvel wide open and managed a flight of about 90 seconds. I tried to throttle down slightly to try and get it trimmed out but once again it flamed out and had to belly it in again.

The last flight was the best of the four as I got a good launch followed by about 2 1/2 minutes of flying. Made about 5 or 6 circuits of the field still trying to trim it out. I got a last flameout and managed a very smooth deadstick landing in the grass basically at my feet.

I'm going to add a gasket or two and remember the 35% for the next flights to try and keep the heat up. I'm getting some bubbles in the lines from the fuel tank, but the fit is soo tight I have no way to pad it. I may have to go ahead and try a bladder I guess. I could use the existing film tank cannister and run the bladder in it.

According to thrustHP, the 6x2 should be about 40 mph at 21K, but it felt a lot more like 60 than 40. However, with clear skies today and the the black/yellow colors it was fairly easy to keep it in line for the basic laps I did.

I need to work the tank and fuel lines some, but overall I think its a flyer. I was worried that I might have some slight warping, but I only needed 2 clicks of right trim to get it flying level. I never did get the elevator fully trimmed as I had my hands full trying to keep it close to me. I started with some slight reflex and added 3 clicks of up while flying, however some back pressure was still needed, so I went ahead and put in 4 more clicks of up after the last flight.

No video unfortunately, but I'll try and talk my wife into going out with me next time to shoot some video on the digicam.

Duke