combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Our club rules allow any dimensions on the fuselage. The wing has to be 200 sq inches and be an inch thick at the root. The intake screen can be removed from an AME and the stock muffler must be run. With these restrictions the 300 foot course is usually run in 90 seconds or less for 10 laps. I'm still trying to piece together a competitive AME. I have bought 3 "AME" .061s on Ebay that turned out to be BigMigs internally.
This fuselage is covered with .6 oz cloth and polyester casting resin. The primer is a 2 part automotive type that sands real easy. I think I'll try either Nelson or Glasskote for a fuel proof paint. The minimum weight is 16 ozs, so I'm hoping for a wear resistant plane that just barely meets the minimum.

GrahamC

Cool.

300 foot course, that is only one leg right? 10 laps of only 300 feet at 90 seconds is only about 25mph, 300 foot leg one way x 2 + whatever in the turns makes for about 60 mph which seems more reasonable or is my math suffering from the Tuesday morning blues?

and Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes had this to say about Tuesdays:

"This morning I had a wonderful dream. By holding my arms out stiff and pushing down hard, I found I could suspend myself a few feet above ground. I flapped harder, and soon I was soaring effortlessly over the trees and telephone poles! I could fly! I folded my arms back and zoomed low over the neighborhood. Everyone was amazed, and they ran along under me as I shot by. Then I rocketed up so fast that my eyes watered from the wind. I laughed and laughed, making huge loops in the sky! ...
That's when Mom woke me up and said I was going to miss the bus if I didn't get my bottom out of bed; 20 minutes later, here I am, standing in the cold rain, waiting to go to school, and I just remembered I forgot my lunch. Tuesdays don't start much worse than this."


cheers, Graham in rainy, snowy, blowy, messy, wet and slippery Embrun near Ottawa Canada and wishing I hadn't forgotten my lunch.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Graham, I've had similar dreams and they sure seem real.
The course is 300 feet out to turn 1, then 300 feet back to turns 2 & 3.....which are about 50 or so feet apart.
Imagine racing .40s on a 600 foot course with 6 second lap times!

RocketRob

My Feedback: (1)

CP, your wingroot fairings look very nice!

SGC

CP,
I think the F3D time is about 57seconds for the 10 laps from a standing start ------ dam quick, I was fortunate to attend the world champs in Bundaberg in 2001? and saw Chris Calows world record flyte, his model isnt any quicker than the other top flyers , hes just Mr COOL on the sticks flys the course nice and smooth at a constant height- about 30ft. I think he finished 2nd this world champs after being world champ 3 times in a row.
Your models looking good , hope you can put together a good Norvel.
Stewart

GrahamC

Is there just one Aileron? (on the right side wing)

cheers, Graham

dieFluggeister

CP, tell me about this wing thickness rule. Starting at 1" does it need to have a constant tapering thickness to the tip or can the wing be any thickness as long as the root is 1"?

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

Lookin' good! Do they provide the fuel and prop or do you get to choose that, too?

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

Ahhh, the pylon bug spreads

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

I thought you were strictly a sheet wing man in the racin dept?...what club..I thought you were a member of the "this is my damn yard club"........I like the plane though, looks good, looks fast just sittin there.....Rog

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

LOL!

KidEpoxy

I agree with RocketRob
thems some sweet wing saddles/fairings.

Could you post another shot or two of the saddle/fairing so we can stea.... uh... admire it some more

Andrew

Graham --

Since the course is flown counter clockwise, with the planes in knife edge for a good portion of the turns and straights, the aileron drag on the high wing supposedly helps hold the nose up. Secondly, a good plane will not roll more than 90 degrees and the second aileron, which would simply add additional drag, is not needed.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Andrew, one aileron is less work to set up, too! It is a bummer not to have enough roll control on a windy day, so you should fly a single aileron set up with a high rate to bail you out if you run out of control.
KE, to do the saddles, place clear tape on the wing to protect it then mount it to your plane. Take the lightest balsa tri-stock you can find an hold it up to the saddle area, mark it where you think it needs to be kerfed [so it can be bent to follow the wing contour]. I use a scroll saw to slice most of the way through the tri-stock. The rest is pretty easy, CA it tight against the wing, don't worry if you break it, just get it glued on. Fill the cracks with light weight spackle and use sandpaper wrapped around a marking pen cap to use as a tool. The little pocket clip makes a nice handle to keep the paper tight and for something to hang on to. The rounded end of the cap will help eliminate gouging. I formed the top part of the fillet that blends into the top sheet [in front] with 4 oz cloth chunks and medium CA. The top forward sheet on this plane is pine and is glassed on both sides to keep it from splitting.....it is what holds the front of the wing in place, there is no bulkhead below. This makes the plane easier to build and more room to cram in the tank and padding. Finally, to get a real sharp edge, put a thin layer of Bondo on the top of the saddles and squish the wing down, then wipe off the excess Bondo that squeezes out. After some sanding, pop off the wing and glass the outer part of fillets with .06 oz cloth. Don't ever use laminating resin for light work like this, use finishing resin so you can sand it better.
Vic, is there any other reason to fly? Oh ya, COMBAT!!
Patrick, we're on the honor system for fuel and it is OK if you want to work over a APC, Cox or MAS prop.
DF, per AMA the 1 inch thickness is supposed to be maintained for half span on each panel, then it can taper to zero. This club has unofficially made it OK to start in the middle at 1 inch and shoot a straight taper to the tips to zero thickness if you like.
SGC, imagine how hard it is on the caller to pirouette around the flyer at that rate!
RR, thanks, you too can have nice wing root fairings if you don't mind doubling the normal time it takes to build a model. On a 7000 foot race if they can make the plane 5 feet faster, it might be worth it?
Rog, I would have gone the SWR route, but ran out of contest grade 1 inch thick sheets when I built a fence around my property.

GrahamC

Interesting. I built a Simple 400 and set it up with only one aileron. I choose the left wing however. Theory being that an upward deflecting aileron has less drag than one going down. I never had a problem with the nose dropping but I do see your point. Only issue I had was on launch at low airspeed torque wanted to roll the plane to the left even with full aileron. Solved the problem by putting a turbulator on the lower surface of the wing at about 30% from the leading edge - a simple double layer of auto trim tape 1/4" wide cut to a tooth edge shape using pinking shears full span of the wing - it seems that the air flow over that thick ACE foam wing wasn't what it should be making the aileron almost non-effective. Didn't seem to effect speed or other handling either.

Yes indeed setting up one is much simpler than two.

cheers, Graham

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

Just remember 2 out of 3 came from me bro, untill I realised the idea was there was more fun in the chase than the kill/cut. You were kind that day.

The new reason is to Kick A on pylon 3, lap 10 cause the rest don't matter![sm=devious.gif]

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Vic, the funny thing about that day [IIRC] is that you had to shoot straight from the flying field to catch your cross country flight. The funny part is picture a guy who just spent half the day drinking beer and smelling like diesel and nitro, hay seeds sticking to his clothes, ears ringing, head throbbing, hay fever kicking in......having to endure a 3000 mile flight back home, hopefully not sitting next to a screaming baby. A gracious host would have at least offered you a shower and an aspirin? I guess I was just pissed that the beer wasn't strong enough to get you to miss your flight!

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

Chuck, I cherish that day and look forward eagerly to the next we can spend togeather.

Next time I will take you up on the shower I will take a good Canadian blend in liew of the asprin tho.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Vic, looking forward to it too. I finally met the owner of MY field..a real nice old farmer. This little parcel is just one of his, it is only 90 acres. He snuck up on me one day while I was flying and had all sorts of compliments and questions about RC. He kind of let it slip out that he was the owner, then the conversation shifted over to his plans for the field. He has done some basic site work to make the land a turn key deal for commercial development. He almost got the University of Washington to buy it, but the deal fell through. So for now he is OK with the pylon poles and streamers, but a day will come pretty soon where all you see there is concrete and asphalt.[&o]

scudrunner77

Hey nice to hear that the owner of the field is cool with you using it. That could have easily gone the other way... And good to hear it will be around for a little while longer.

Sweet racer... your fairings are so good I am afraid to even give it a try. Probably won't just to save a couple nights worth of work.

KidEpoxy

Vic-
I just saw the grass in yout post#16 Pic

Holy Cow Man!
If you ROG off that with a 1/2A I have really been underestimating your build skills LOL
Do you have to take off the APC prop & use a Stihl or McCullough prop?

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

We dun nee no steenkn mowers. We just drive round in circles for bout 10 minutes and beat grass down.......then tell owner of field it is a UFO marking.

GrahamC

I have tried both and they both work great. If you go the Nelson paint route don't forget to use the crosslinker - that really toughens it up and makes it fuel proof, without it is only fuelproof to about 10%.

The crosslinker also works with ordinary off the hardware shelf water bourne wood finishes ie Polycrylic (is the one I use). This stuff already cures to a pretty hard finish but is not fuel proof. Using the crosslinker in the same was as with the Nelson paints it too becomes fuel proof. I covered a plane with this stuff using the cross linker this past spring and is still fuel proof.

cheers, Graham

Andrew

That's interesting to know - it wouldn't have occurred to me to try it like that. I had tried Polycrylic WBPU, but with 22% fuel it turned into a gummy mess [:@] so I figured it would only be good for some leccie stuff. I've used WBPU to apply .5 oz fiberglass to stiffen foam wings and add some wear resistance with good results. Do you know if the crosslinker is a common paint product that might be found at a paint or autobody supplier?

andrew

GrahamC

The crosslinker I used is the one sold by Nelson for use with the paints sold under that name. The Nelson paints are manufactured by System Three Resins in Washington State and sold primarily to the marine industry.

I exchanged a few emails with a System Three support type when I was experimenting with the cross linker / Polycrylic. They basically said that they couldn't confirm my observations as they had never done that test.

You can get the cross linker from Nelson products I think about $9.00 for a 1 ounce bottle. You use the crosslinker at 8 drops per ounce of paint.

You could probably get it direct from System three but I suspect in somewhat larger sizes.

I am sure there are other similar products available but I haven't been able to source the crosslinker anywhere else.

cheers, Graham