Bill Mixon

I have been looking at the glow wire from www.glowire.com and have decided on the medium kit for my FF plane.
Has anyone used the glowire on a fun fly plane?
If so, what colors show up the best and how well can the plane be seen.

rryman

My Feedback: (2)

We've been flying glo wire on our Zagi's here for some time. The stuff works great. I first tried the night thing this past June when some guys showed up at our Weekend fun fly with the Zagi's and were doing the nite thing. Now about 6 of us have them. No one has tried it on a gasser yet. I thought the night flying thing would be difficult, but it isn't as hard as I initially thought. My 56 year old eyes can't take but about 10 minutes of it at a time, though!! It sure gets the neighbors attention though!
A lady down the road went out one night about midnight when we were flying them, and went running to get her husband, who I happen to work with, and knows we fly. He told her, "I don't know what it is, but I'm sure it isn't a UFO, and I'm pretty sure who's flying it!"

About any of the colors show up good. Wait till it's good and dark to fly. I went up one evening at about dusk, and it was almost too dark to see the plane, but still too light to see the glowire. Made for an interesting flight.
Try it, fun stuff.

Randy

Bill Mixon

Thanks, Randy

I first saw the glowire in use at the Joe Nall giant scale fly in this year. Yuri Higuchi used some on a 40% fiberclassics 202 and on a 1/3 scale plane also. For some reason he did not fly the 202 under total darkness. Looked like it showed up very well to me.
However when it got dark he got the smaller plane and torque rolled it for a long time.

This got me to thinking about it, and IMO it should really show up good on a Fun Fly.

Bill

bentgear

Bill, did you see the quaker that was done in yellow with flashing yellow across the top. That thing was beutiful and it was amazing how high it got and still visible. I just ordered some and was going to get red for the left wing and fuse side and green for the right. The lady that mans the phone suggested orange and lime green for better visibility. I also ordered a yellow strand to go over the top. Going on a GP 40 Slowpoke. Have not flown it at night yet, but in a dark room you can see to walk around. Give them a call and talk to them, very helpful. BTW, they will solder up special lengths.
Ed M.

Bill Mixon

Yes, I did see the quaker.

I think it showed up so well because of the wire being inside the wing which illuminated the covering. Nice plane.

If I remember correctly it was covered in transparent yellow.

If I were building a plane just for night flying I would definitely do it like the quaker was done. But on my current plane it will have to go on the outside because of the D tube, and other construction issues. I have got 60" of span to deal with, and I'm trying to figure a way that I can run it along the wing so that it will be visible from different angles. I have seen some done so that the wire is taped to the leading edge and around to the trailing edge tip. However with it like this the whole section along the leading edge would not be visible when the plane is headed away from you. I'm thinking about using enough of it to zig - zag it from the top spar, around the leading edge, to the bottom spar, and then back up to the top again until I get to the tip. And for the fuse I was thinking about spiraling it around it and up the vertical stab.

It looks like the main thing is to make sure that you have enough to properly cover the plane.

I'll find out soon because I plan on ordering some this week.

evan-RCU

Thanks for the kind words about my Quaker, I used yellow glow wire because it produces more lumens. It has transparent yellow on the wings and fuse except for the top of the fuse and some trim. Yes It's easier to see up high at night than in the day time. If I was doing a fun fly I would use different colors for each wing half so you have a little better recognition of the sidea and if its udide down or not. There is a kit out with three colors so you have differing colors for each wing and another for the fuse. I would also recommend having different strings on different inverters so if you loose one you can still see it. I have 5 inverters on three battery packs in the Quaker. I have lost an inverter and could still see it well enough to keep flying.

bentgear

evan, have you run any test t see how long a battery will last. Must be a long time cause if I remember right you never shut yours off once you turned it on. Approx how may feet of wire is in there? I flew the Slowpoke last night and it was a blast.

Bill, I used 7 1/2' on each wing which allowed me to do the leading edge, around the wing tip and then just in front of the ailerons to the fuse and back to the tail. The yellow over the top started at the bottom of the rudder and ran up and over then across the fuse top. Set the yellow to flash. Yellow is much brighter than the orange or lime green.

evan-RCU

I have 7.5' in each wing on its own 800ma battery and they last about two hours. I have 3 7.5' lights on a 1400ma in the fuse for about an hour and forty five minutes. I use NiMh 4.8volt flight packs with one cell removed(3.6v) and I use the 3 volt inverters. I was using the full 4.8 volts and they were very bright but I kept burning up inverters. 3.6v seems to be okay. The other guys here that have the 3 wires off one inverter kit use a 9volt battery, Thats also what Yuri was using...

Bill Mixon

Hi, Evan

What colors besides the yellow show up the best. I'll probably use three colors as you mentioned above, (one for each wing and another for the fuse)

What is the advantage/disadvantage of using the 3V driver, and are you using the F4 drivers?

Do the drivers tend to fail a lot? I had intended to use only 1 of the F2 drivers, but have now decided to use at least two.

BTW, I enjoyed waching the Quaker fly

Thanks

Bill

evan-RCU

The best is yellow so I would use it for one of the wings, after that I would go with green on the other wing and a blue for the fuse, the important ones are on the wings. The blue isn't as bright but it catches your eye. Did you see it on Yuri's plane? Taping the strings to the outside does effect the aerodynamics, so be carefull, especially if you do it across the leading edge. I fly a Menace done in clear monokote and it would be perfect to put it inside like my Quaker. Yes I use the f4, and I think my failures were only because of running 4.8 volts in the begining. Like I said if you have only one driver and it fails your airplane will disappear...

bentgear

evan, hope you don't mind a few questions about the quaker. Plan built or short kit? Which kit or plan? Size. Think I remember that you had a Saito 56 in it? If you have not figured it out yet this is the plane that got me started on my night flight kick. The helecopter was fun to watch till it got treed <sp> and Yuri's flight was something to watch, BUT.
Ed M.

evan-RCU

The Quaker is a modified blown up Quaker Flash. I made up plans and built the first one in 1996, 30 year ann. of the quaker. The best thing about it is I designed plug in wings so it's easy to transport and I decided on 105" so it fits easily in the bed of a mini truck. Since then I've built a few more and right now I have the one you saw with lights in it and another identical one on floats, both were at Joe Nall this year. They have a 105" span and both weight about 6-6.5lbs including the lights or floats. I do sell copies of the plans that I've cleaned up and include directions and a wood list. I have only seen one other built from my plans though I've sold maybe 20 sets of plans. It's a very easy scratch plane to build but it still is a scratch plane and I've sold plans to some people that just couldn't handle building it.

Right now I'm in the process of covering the newest one, blown up to 16 Foot span, powered by a US41 and not covered and with out wheels but otherwise complete it weighs 26lbs, I'm hoping for a flying weight of 30lbs or maybe a slight bit more. If anyone would like a picture of the 105" or the framed 16' give me your e-mail address and I'll send it to you...

Bill Mixon

Yes, I remember the blue on yuri's plane. It looked sort of "thin" but like you said it catches the eye for some reason. I was originally thinking about using the yellow, and red for the wing with the blue on the tail.
When you built the Quaker did you build the wire into the wing or do you have tube in the wing so that the wire can be taken out?
Have you tried any of the rechargeable alkaline batteries? Two cells would give 3 volts nominal.

Bill

evan-RCU

I built the strings in and tack glued them in place at the ends and wing tip with thick cyano. The rechargable alkalines aren't as good as the NiCad or NiMh. My fast charger can only charge 4 or more cells so I tried 4.8 volts first, the inverters cost $25 if you screw one up so it's not a big thing to loose one. Red does't show up very well.

bentgear

As a test, here is a picture that Evan sent me of his baby sized quaker. Hopefully it is shrunk in size enough to allow uploading.
Ed M.

evan-RCU

Thanks for posting that Ed, you'll have to tell me how, and how to make an avitar too... :^)

bentgear

I tried to email them back to you but your box was full . let me know when to send them and i'lll get htem your way. simple, just use any picture viewer that will let you resize a picture, shrink it itl its about 75,000 bites and smaller than 700 x 700 pixels. the bite size allows for some text with the picture.
Ed M.

TripleDeucer

My Feedback: (129)

Hi guy's,

I have been flying at night for about 5 years now. I use an 84" Quaker with an OS .70 surpass. My planes are scratch built off of the Model Builder plan #175OT. Bill Northrop plan service has them. I modify quite a bit to get the strength and handeling characteristics I want, as this is an original free flight plan.

I use the Ram skylights and I like alot of lights in the plane. 2 sets in the wing and 2 sets in the fuselage powered by a 7.2 volt rc car battery on each so the wing is seperate from the fuse. I also add the Ram programable landing lights and xenon strobes. Makes a very easy to see flyer.

If I can locate my pics, I will post them on this thread.

Over the last 25 years I have built 22 Quakers with the last three being night flyers. I enlarged my plan to make a 115" span, but have not had the time yet to get going on it.

TripleDeucer

My Feedback: (129)

Hello again,

I have been using the glowire on my Zagi which gave me the idea to also use it on my next Quaker for landing lights. I plan to cut a small groove right in the center of the leading edge and embed the wire with crystal clear monokote over it. Then I can cover right up to it on the top and bottom with my other color. This will keep it easy to clean and make the glowire disapear. I will turn the glowire on and off with a servo and micro switch.

TME

bentgear

evan, our email system went down sat and is still not back up. have not been able to try and forward the pics to you yet. so much for having an inhouse computer department, excuse me, I think they like to be called the IS department now.
Ed M.

evan-RCU

No hurry, I know how IT departments are, they made me an IT rep and I can barely turn a computer on...

evan-RCU

Here's one of the smaller 105" Quakers, this ones on floats...