|
deegazoid -> RE: Official Aerobird Swift Thread (5/19/2007 5:38 AM)
|
Other planes and the like that I've had.
Well, I bought my first model airplane in 1976 - control line models that spun you around in circles until you puked your guts out. There were many types of RC gadgets out then. One was called "The Galloping Ghost". Some were simple solenoids that pulled a rudder or elevator FULL position - you pilot the plane by ever-so-carefully hitting the buttons to control the rudder or elevator.
Then came the first of the "Proportional" radio control sets. My first one was made by a now defunct company called Centari. The servo's were about 3" long, about 1.5" tall and about 1" wide. They moved really slow, got really warm to the touch, and ate nicad batteries like a fat kid eating fudge bars.
Later I worked for the hobby shop that sold all this stuff and I could get my hands on things really cheap. Over time, technology shrank the servos, receivers and power requirements, while increasing their strength.
I really only bought and built about 10 kits over my life time. I've owned a couple of RC helicopters. The first ones were so hard to fly that every landing ended up with me borrowing my friend's machine shop and building new parts. Again, good ol' technology got rid of the messy gas engines and replaced them with super strong neo-motors. (I hated cleaning off all the exhaust sludge from a day's worth of flying - electric is great).
I'm an engineer, and really got into building exotic inventions to fly. Most of the stuff I designed was based around the idea of a hovering takeoff and landing while converting to a conventional airplane later in flight. Hovercrafts, RC model rockets (really if not impossible to control), flying disks and all that. Had fun. Just ran out of time and money when I got married.
Now I fly a helicopter (full scale) that I designed a few years ago. I'm still scared to death every time I fire it up, and I can't get any sane rotor-head to try flying the thing. The controls are based on a guy's design from the 40's - Arthur Young. His original control scheme never used rudder pedals or a collective stick - just something like a motorcycle handlebar setup. I think there's a guy out there building a thing called a "Roto-Scooter" using Young's control system. However, this guy is using twin opposing rotors and a rudder for yaw, where I'm actually using collective pitch and a tail rotor. I think he's just upgraded a Benson helicopter design that was around in the early 1960's.
I'm working about 3000 miles from home for the next 2 years and living in an apartment the size of a shoebox. I just wanted something to play around with and bought my Aerobird Swift to just tinker with. I was like a little kid the first day that it wouldn't fly. I called the guys at Hobby Zone and they said they could only send a replacement not a different plane. What? Why would I want another land-skimmer. It had been so long since I dealt with any fixed-wing stuff that I totally forgot about the CG (I was assuming that a "Ready to Fly" plane is just that - ready to fly - just charge it up and go). You have the same problem with helicopters, and it's a similar fix. Just hold the outer blade tips, lift up the copter, and see how level the fuselage is (only on model copters of course).
Anyway - when I go home in a few months I'll grab some pictures and video of some of my flying contraptions (the "before and after" videos are the best). I the web site still exists by then, I'll post the stuff on YouTube.
Later,
Gregg
|
|
|
|
