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a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 9/21/2007 10:38:28 PM   
jcervantes11


 

Posts: 489
Joined: 7/31/2003
From: Fresno, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Hi all I've been flying ucontrol since i was young like age 10 or so. I am now 25. Has anybody found
a way to fly a u control by urself? I have a cox viper and i flown it with help to hold it down. Is there
a way to fly by you're self with out any human help? Maybe some type device? Show me you're devices.


_____________________________

Jim Cervantes, California USA
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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 9/21/2007 11:40:09 PM   
lukesp



Posts: 396
Joined: 4/24/2006
From: BrisbaneQueensland, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline 		Use a launch stooge. Look here, http://www.clcombat.info/stooge.html That will show you some different types mainly for combat models.

Also look here, http://rulecombat.com/ same deal, it's for combat models.

My favorite type is pictured below. I have used this with a Hyper Viper the only change I made was to bend the Viper's tail skid into a loop at the end to engage the launcher.

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(in reply to jcervantes11)
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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 9/27/2007 5:41:32 PM   
clscale-RCU


 

Posts: 426
Joined: 2/25/2003
From: Wichita, KS, USA
Status: offline 		I made my stooge from a flat plate of mild steel about 1/4 thick then bolted a similar pin with a spring as shown in the reply above. Instead of using nails to hold in place I use 4 rubber feet. The combination of steel plate that weighs approximately 10 lbs, with 4 rubber feet it does not move even with a 40 at full power. The trick is to have the plate heavy enough to hold the aircraft. The rubber feet are important to get a better grip to the solid ground.

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Fred Cronenwett
Float flying and scale

(in reply to lukesp)
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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 9/28/2007 2:36:14 PM   
EF


 

Posts: 239
Joined: 2/25/2005
From: HAIFA, ISRAEL
Status: offline 		Surprised no one mentioned it, but flying a power model (regardless of type) on your own is a little risky - any injury from that spinning prop could develop into a very unpleasant situation...

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Erez

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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 9/28/2007 11:00:14 PM   
Lou Crane


 

Posts: 263
Joined: 5/11/2006
From: Sierra Vista, AZ, USA
Status: offline 		EF,

So true!

However, there are times and situations...

At least, anyone going solo MUST constantly stay nearly paranoid about self-inflicted deliberate or negligent injuries.

I've had to fly from stooge for several years at a stretch, and it was that or no flying. ...or worse, flying RC (which just doesn't grab me. Not knocking those who enjoy it.)

My stooge is on a larger, but thinner steel plate than Fred's, and weighs more like 25 lbs. Doesn't need rubber feet to stay there, but a nuisance to unpack and repack for trips to the field. It comes out LAST, and goes in FIRST - none of my models are strong enough for it to sit on them.

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\BEST\LOU
Lou Crane, Sierra Vista, AZ

(in reply to EF)
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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 9/29/2007 12:18:59 AM   
da Rock



Posts: 6980
Joined: 10/11/2005
From: western, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Yup, Like Lou said...........

Most who fly alone would do it the other way if they could. But it's a choice.

I cut my grass by myself. I figure it's not as dangerous as flying alone, but I know two guys who lost toes in their lawnmowers. I guess you don't have to be as smart to cut your grass as you have to be to fly CL. Those two toeless wonders certainly would prove the last sentence. And I had the luck to report to both of them in my career.

I used to fly alone a bunch. Had to in order to compete in stunt with any success. And being alone actually ramped up the concentration on safety. Fringe benefit was it also ramped up all the concentration.

BTW, there were guys working on stooges for combat wings years ago. Think about it.

(in reply to Lou Crane)
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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 9/30/2007 3:05:39 AM   
lukesp



Posts: 396
Joined: 4/24/2006
From: BrisbaneQueensland, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline 		I fly alone. I have injured myself as well, call it a lapse in concentration. Feel free to call it stupidity if you want, I do.
I had a combat style model with a PAW 2.49 diesel on it, it had drop off undercarriage and I was using my stooge.
I should have started the model on the ground but decided for some vague reason to start it while I was standing and then put the undercarriage on and place it in the stooge.
I swapped hands and that's where it went horribly wrong. Clipped the base of my thumb, chunked the still spinning prop into my flight box, broke the prop but it still kept running. Blood everywhere. Blood on my hands, model, jeans, feet and on the flight box. I pinched the fuel line to shutdown the engine after I regained my wits, cleaned up the wound (which healed nicely) and went home.

Two lessons here, don't start a model off the ground if you have to swap hands, in fact there is no real reason to start a model off the ground when flying alone.

Second lesson, human flesh does not stop a good diesel, ever. Neither does a flight box. I have since flown this model many times, but always start it on the ground.

< Message edited by lukesp -- 9/30/2007 3:58:17 AM >

(in reply to da Rock)
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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 10/2/2007 8:51:43 AM   
jcervantes11


 

Posts: 489
Joined: 7/31/2003
From: Fresno, CA, USA
Status: offline 		yea well u cant loose a toe off a 0.49 lol. I've been struck a couple of time, and it hurts its like getting hit with the roto off a heli
but safer. A week ago or so, some how i ended up flying my viper by myself, i had my righ thand on the handle and left hand
on the plan and i let go, it went straight but once my string streched and prop hit the floor but it still ran and zoom i was flying.
I notice that my motor ran a bit better, so maybe it can hurt me on this motor because its new, but older 049 didn't did ****
to me. But yea don't try that at home, especially on bigger ucontrol planes. I have a 25 size mustang ucontrol typed with
an 40 size motor, omg LOL. Most people I don't know here, so how am i gonna tell them to help me at the park. I mean
this is something that only a good friend would go and help you. A regular friend that doesn't like planes would say nah
lets talk here play computer games, drink beer blah blah. Most of my real friends don't like planes so its hard to get
help atleast for me to get some ucontrol time. Flying on stick is alot easier, u have the throuttle so. Anyways happy
flying.

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Jim Cervantes, California USA

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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 10/2/2007 11:31:25 AM   
da Rock



Posts: 6980
Joined: 10/11/2005
From: western, NC, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: jcervantes11

yea well u cant loose a toe off a 0.49 lol. I've been struck a couple of time, and it hurts its like getting hit with the roto off a heli
but safer. A week ago or so, some how i ended up flying my viper by myself, i had my righ thand on the handle and left hand
on the plan and i let go, it went straight but once my string streched and prop hit the floor but it still ran and zoom i was flying.
I notice that my motor ran a bit better, so maybe it can hurt me on this motor because its new, but older 049 didn't did ****
to me. But yea don't try that at home, especially on bigger ucontrol planes. I have a 25 size mustang ucontrol typed with
an 40 size motor, omg LOL. Most people I don't know here, so how am i gonna tell them to help me at the park. I mean
this is something that only a good friend would go and help you. A regular friend that doesn't like planes would say nah
lets talk here play computer games, drink beer blah blah. Most of my real friends don't like planes so its hard to get
help atleast for me to get some ucontrol time. Flying on stick is alot easier, u have the throuttle so. Anyways happy
flying.


Interesting what people will try.

Letting a control line plane go with slack lines really isn't a good idea is it. You were very lucky the lines didn't snag on something and trash the airplane. And when they hit the end of slack lines they usually snap around. And they've been known to hit their own lines. The weight of the lines can also start the model rolling.

Yup, you learned a lesson. Hopefully

Don't try to fly that 25size Mustang with the 40 on it that way. But then you might already have figured that out.

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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 10/3/2007 1:58:53 AM   
jcervantes11


 

Posts: 489
Joined: 7/31/2003
From: Fresno, CA, USA
Status: offline 		ha its a one time thing anyways i'm gonna use one of those kids that run up and down the street, maybe they'll hold my plane.
LOL hope their parents don't get into a fist with me. LOL

_____________________________

Jim Cervantes, California USA

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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 10/3/2007 1:20:49 PM   
lukesp



Posts: 396
Joined: 4/24/2006
From: BrisbaneQueensland, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline 		Jim,

if I get a chance I will take a picture of my stooge and post it here, easier to understand than the drawing. You're scaring me with the "letting the model go" talk.

There is also another method I will try and dig up. Hairy and not for the faint hearted but apparently it works.

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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 10/3/2007 1:49:19 PM   
da Rock



Posts: 6980
Joined: 10/11/2005
From: western, NC, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: jcervantes11

ha its a one time thing anyways i'm gonna use one of those kids that run up and down the street, maybe they'll hold my plane.
LOL hope their parents don't get into a fist with me. LOL



If you can build an airplane model, you really can build a stooge.

Stooges are a safe way to launch a CL model. They are completely dependable in a couple of ways. They always work the way you built them to work and need no special training to release the airplane properly. They aren't scared by the noise of the airplane. They don't have to understand what you mean when you tell it to "just hold the airplane pointed straight ahead and when I signal, just let it go, and don't reach into that spinning prop to see what it feels like." And they don't decide it'd be fun to see what happens if they let go as you're walking out to the handle.

I've used passersby twice and lost airplanes both times. One was an adult who I was looking right in the eyes when I explained to just let go and not push or anything just let go, but must have been deaf or dumb. He pushed with all his might. Which turned the tail out and the airplane pointed right at me. And the steel lines wound up wrapped around my free hand. Which wound up needing many, many stitches. BTW, out of the corner of my eye as I was dodging the airplane and trying to get the lines off my neck, I saw the jerk RUNNING for his car.

Either find a modeler to fly with or build a stooge or stay at home.

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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 10/3/2007 1:57:08 PM   
da Rock



Posts: 6980
Joined: 10/11/2005
From: western, NC, USA
Status: offline 		BTW, a friend of mine had to repair the wing of his model after he got a launch from a passerby. The guy went white knuckle when the engine cranked up. And he crushed the wing with his hand he was so scared. The fuselage was profile or he'd probably have crushed it too.

Finding somebody wandering by to launch your airplane is actually not smart.

And don't bet on the onlookers staying out of the circle when you're flying. I had an idiot walk out to see how you fly those things. He wanted to see close up. And didn't understand why he had to sit down to see. Or to walk around behind me if he wouldn't sit down. And didn't think to wait until I landed to come over and talk about it.

There is a reason most parks put up chainlink fence around circles.

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RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 10/3/2007 9:18:05 PM   
jcervantes11


 

Posts: 489
Joined: 7/31/2003
From: Fresno, CA, USA
Status: offline 		yea post some not just for me but for the people that also going through that. I made a drawing that should work what do you think fairly simple
but i don't know if i can use a lighter base since i usually use my bike instead of car.

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Jim Cervantes, California USA

(in reply to lukesp)
       Post #: 14

RE: a way to fly ucontrol by urself? - 10/3/2007 9:19:42 PM   
jcervantes11