1/2a speed delta
 

Well after reading up on some of the post here I find myself returning to a part of this hobby that is well in my past...I learned to fly on a cox blackwidow. I've been reading on COMBATPIG and MATCHLESSAREO's speed planes and figured I'd give it a try since it looks like such fun..I dug a norvel out a box in the corner and ordered some plans for the MINI-DUST from Winger Models....Here is how it is coming.....It's pretty tough to find a little 1 oz. control line fuel tank for this thing and the header for the pipe is gonna be a rough one...I like the way it's turning out so far..looks just like a small version of my whiplash !!

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

I'm having a deja-vu, didn't I see this plane before recently? It looks hotter than the 1/2A DD I just built, and if it is, you have a pretty hot plane! I think mine is 25" across, and it weighs 12ozs. If you can find hobby store tin , own a pair of scissors and a soldering iron, you can build your own form fitting tank. 3/32" brass tubing fits small silicone line perfectly. I'm running mine with a bladder tank, but mine has a fuselage to hide stuff in.

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

I took combatpigg's advice on this one and built my own tank...I took the easy way out and used a small breath mint can....for my first solder job it didn't come out too bad...no leaks !!!! I forgot to order the throttle servo so that should be here in a few days. After that it should be finished in a night or 2....I can't wait to fly the thing....the little novel tached 20k on a cox 5+3 with open exhaust....I have 8 or 9 other props coming in with the servo so I'll get some testing in on those. Hopefully when I can get around to making a pipe the engine will wake up more....I also ordered the glow plug adaptor from norvel to put a short plug in the head....not sure if it will have any performance effect...

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Throttle servo? HUH? What do you do with one of those? That is a pretty ingenious way to do a slim tank. If you fly in an area that is pretty safe you could leave out the throttle servo, the only reason I can think for having one on a speed plane is for an emergency shutdown,[ which might not work anyway]. Just think of all the beer money you will be saving if you skip the 3rd servo!

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Here is the delta finished up except for the hatch cover and electronics....It looks fast just resting on the table....If my throttle servo would ever come in I'd be done with it...I'm waiting to do the flight pack stuff until everything is in so I can keep an eye on the CG location......ALL THE ELECTRONICS ARE GOING TO FIT BENEATH THE HATCH INCLUDING THE FUEL TANK !!!!! As you can tell from the second pic it is still looking very thin even with the covering on. Looks like it will be in the 12-13 oz range w/ 225 sq in of wing area....

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

OUTSTANDING JOB! That's going to be a ton of fun! Go out and see how many 40 size planes you can blow the doors off.:D

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

glued in the fins and have it hinged....I did red monokote up top and white towerkote on the bottem......I WILL NEVER USE TOWERKOTE AGAIN!! It took three times as long to get it down and burned threw very easy...the monokote went on very fast and shrunk down tight as a drum....I just traded out my big mig for a pre-revlite AME 061 RC.....I'm hoping the AME is going to spin those small props better and should pipe well also. I've lost the toolholder for my Atlas 12+36 lathe so I'm having to try and find one so I can start on my header....

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Well the CG on this thing is just killing me...I had to move everything as far forward as possible because it is so tail heavy...this meant that the fuel tank wasn't gonna be totally hidden under the hatch...well I just couldn't bare the thought of it so i cut out the fuel tank and now I'm going to make a small tub underneath to recess the tank enough so it will fit under the hatch. Also is a few pics of the norvel conversion underway....the little AME seemed to like the conversion and really screamed on the test stand....All that is left for the engine is the header construction and to get a tuned pipe...

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

[X(]! you are MR JB WELD! Nice work on cutting in the R.E.!

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

i really hope you can keep up with it...just think it'll probably do 100mph...it's so darn thin,it might just be a blur in the air...great job:D

let us know how she flys

john

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

After a long break from the hanger I'm back at it...should have the delta up very soon...looking forward to providing a flight report..I'll try to get some pics in and a video If I can keep it out the ground that long...

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Here it is...all finished....it's so thin that it is hard to believe the electronics are in there...just need to charge it up and give her some fuel..

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

That looks great-- too fast for me!
Are you going to leave it open-exaust out the new rear exaust port? or make up a way to attach a pipe?
It may fly close enough to the sound barrier that you can't hear it anyway-- till the boom comes..
clint

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Well....she's pretty quick for sure....One heck of a handfull trying to get the trims dialed in...With the engine not broken in and still running rich it moved well and had some nice burst of speed in shallow dives and the engine would "get happy"....It looks like there is a lot of improvement to be done in the prop..the 5*3 just isn't going to cut it for all out speed...I'll try to get some pics and vid up...MAN IS THIS FUN !!! I need one of those CS engines...

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Well the verdit is in....A GZ061 from CS is on the way !!! After some disappointing numbers from my RE Norvel I've begun to suspect it is a 049 and not a 061. I have 2 AME 061's on the way from the good ole' SHOPATRON, and Bill Hughes is sending me the piped version of the GZ. More good news is that my test flights on the 049 ? were pretty quick and when i got home I found out I had the rc carb locked down at about 3/4 throttle instead of WFO. I plan to use one of the AME's as is and convert the other to rear exhaust like my first test subject and run a pipe. I called Aerospace Composite and they are sending some carbon sleeve and high temp resin that looks like it is going to be perfect for a pipe. Anyone have some pipe measurements as a good starting point ???

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

This is fascinating xanaphyst ! I ordered my plans for the mini-dust earlier this week and am looking forward to reading more about you egine experiements! I have the normal sized DD with a K&B 6.5 as well. I have a TeeDee 049 at home on an old Baby Turkey and a Russian 049 of somesort new in the box that I won as a door prize at a free flight contest on the west coast many years ago. Won a CO2 engine at the same contest. Anyways, I like the thought of a .061 and wonder if the throttle option is really necessary on such a small model? Thanks for sharing you pics and progress with the rest of us!!

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Hi Xanaphyst,
A man after my own heart!
This is a rear exhaust conversion I have done while mucking taking a break from making my MiG.

I have altered the porting to be much like a V.A MKII- This motor is still very much in development though, I am yet to be really satisfiyed with it. At his stage I have a tach figure of 23K with an apc 5.6X3 prop (far to much load but an interesting trail) and I have yet to get a figure for the 4.2X4 prop you see in the picture (a cut down and thinned MAS 6X4)

This should be considered a start point that is too long- well for 4.5X4ish props anyway as this engine has a raised exhaust port which requires a longer pipe for X rpms.

J.M

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Wow the case looks great !!! I was testing my new AME 061 today and the aircraft went down and we have not be able to find it...I'll look some more tommorrow...But here is the deal..I'm having no luck finding someone to do the machine work for me...I can send you a brand new engine case for you to convert to rear exhaust and once you find out how you want your tuned pipe deminsions I can make you a carbon fiber one in trade. Let me know...and if you don't want to it's no big deal....

What size engine do you have there...Is it a 061 because that is what i am using...

Your mig project look great !!!

xanaphyst

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

The mini-dust is very easy to build...If you have all the supplies to gether you can build it in a day and put the electronics in the next....I have a whiplash that i still have not put together !!! One word of advice here is that THEY ARE TAIL HEAVY !!!!! Use tiny carbon pushrods and keep the control surfaces as light as possible. My next one is going to have hites 55's w/ a BERG reciever....the Berg is very small and most important is that the connectors face the side and not up....this will allow me an even further reduction in the profile ....With 1/2 ounce lead up front to balence mine came in at 11.75 ounces w/ hitec 81's and AAA nicad's.....Next one will be under 11....now that's light !!!!!!

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Another word of advice....I like the nelson head and plugs BUT.....your standard glow plug connector will not fit....the nelson plugs are FAT !!! Hope I can find mine in the field tommorrow !!!!

Check under Mini-Dust for my reporting on this plane in the extreme speed airplane forum

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Recon has spotted a downed aircraft at 07:15 with ground penatration...visuals to follow..:eek:

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

My commiserations about your plane, Xanaphyst.
Make the next one out of foam and tape, then it will BOUNCE!

It looks like it was at a fair clip when it decided to dig for worms...

I`d be happy to do a rear exhaust conversion for you. I`ll P.M you about a trade-

J.M

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

I'm cutting the ribs out for Mini-Dust 2.0 tonight....this one is going to be slightly longer and perhaps a little wing clip to help with the tail heavy condition. Anyone know a good bladder setup for the norvels ??? I've never tried it before so anything would help....the engine was never consistant...it would totally rip when the engine was happy ..but was a dog when it was trying to find it's way there...

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Man, I don't see anything there that a little tape and glue can't fix:D! If I was your pit man, you would have been relaunched in 2 minutes flat;)! Congratulations for finding it, must have been a needle in a hay stack. Now the tricky part is figuring out what went wrong? Sometimes I have lucked out and crashed full speed in tall grass with a 12 oz plane, and the plane never reached the ground!

RE: 1/2a speed delta
 

Hey, I see your problem -- too much sweep-back on the prop :-)