RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

I fly Wednesdays & Sundays so tomorrow is the next window of opportunity. Forecast is for clear skies, 8 mph winds with temperatures in the 20s.

Again I'm not to thrilled about the temperature & that's not because I don't like the cold (well actually that's part of it). I've found that cold thumbs greatly reduce my response time on the sticks, it's almost like flying drunk. I do have gloves but again, I don't like the way they feel when flying. It's supposed to "warm-up" to freezing around noon so I may wait until then, we'll see.

I spent seven months building this, I'm in no rush to crash it because the conditions weren't right.

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

No one can fault you for wanting good conditions for the maiden of your new plane especially one as nice as that!
And I agree totally with how your hands reacts to the cold, as well as your body in general.
Standing in an open field even at 20 degrees in an 8 mph wind hurts after a bit!:D

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

Hey, we're not competing here. The main thing is to enjoy the flights and if something lowers the level of joy - then we wait for a better conditions weather it is warmer temperature or calmer winds.
I am all for good time flying. I did compete and remember times when I did have to perform while I did not enjoy flying almost at all. Not a great feeling. The only good part at those times is feeling that "I can do it in worst possible conditions".
cheers,
Mark

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

Here, maybe this'll hold you all over until the maiden...

<span style="font-size: larger;">Nodd's Airboat Project</span>... http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_11376806/tm.htm

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

I like the airboat!

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

I wonder how that air boat would be on some nice powder snow.

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

Sorry for the delay but fear not! Here's what you've been waiting seven long months for...

Click below to view the YouTube video:
<span style="font-size: xx-large;">MAIDEN FLIGHT VIDEO</span>

I'll post the flight report tomorrow, it's getting a tad late.

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

Congratulations! Great bird!
I was about to fly on Tuesday too, but it started raining in PA and I thought - maybe you gonna maiden your bird today since it shouldn't rain in CT at that time.
Thanks for sharing the video!

Just a note. I found it more convenient and easier to handle folding props with a rubber band - it folds the prop fast (no hanging blades in the air, thus less air resistance) and you don't have to deal with the blades all over the place while transporting the bird.
Prop opens-up nicely when motor starts.
Just a thought.
Cheers,
Mark

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

Congratulations! Wow, that gull wing looks so nice in flight. Lots of innovation in that bird and it's been nice riding along during the build and that flight. Great first landing as well!

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

It looks as if it performs as good as it looks, great job!

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

Thanks everyone for the comments. That's a neat trick with the rubber-band on the folder. I'll have to give that a go. No excuses on the V-tail mix up, pure brain-fart there. I mean I totally understand how V-tails work &amp; how to set them up but yeap, I got it backwards anyway. At least it wasn't the ailerons, right?

<font size="5">Flight Report</font>
Well the video pretty much sums up how she flew but here's a few observations.

Handling
I'd say she flies on rails but that's not really true. She seems to be naturally stable &amp; will self-right quite nicely. At the same time there's not so much stability that she fights you all the time. Once banked she continues to turn but will eventually level back out. That makes for some relaxed flying, just what I wanted. The same appears to be true for pitch. I found I had to input very little if any elevator corrections to maintain level flight. By some bizarre miracle she seems to be right on the money with no tendencies to porpoise or dive. I'll probably leave the control throws be as they feel very predictable, responsive yet not in the slightest bit twitchy.

Power
While she's far from a rocket the climb rate is pretty good for a 70 oz airframe running on a 35/30mm 710kv motor. Our club does some informal ALES (altitude limited electric soaring) all up, last one down, competitions. Although I don't have an ALES motor shutoff installed we timed a 30 second motor run to altitude &amp; she gets up there no problem. Should be more than enough power for my needs.

I have the throttle setup on my three position "flap" toggle switch. I like to think of it like a mini-throttle stick. Push it forwards to go, pull it back to glide. Positions are: 0% - 50% - 100% power.

Flaps
I wanted big flaps &amp; that's what I ended up with. Setup on the left stick, sailplane style, I can proportionally dial in anything from 0 to around 50&deg;. At around 35&deg; the ailerons start to raise, doing the crow thing. I'm really impressed how effective this setup is. It's hard to see in the video but I stuck her in a 45&deg; dive at one point with full flaps deployed &amp; she just putt-putted on down without gaining any real speed at all. That made landing her a real joy, very easy to control the decent while maintaining a nice ultra slow speed.

Thermalling
I can only speculate how she'll perform while thermalling but one thing is clear, she seems to be a floater. With her long tail-arm she turns very smoothly which is half the battle while thermalling. I also noticed the wings signaled any bumps loud &amp; clear. I attribute that to my tapered-strength wing design. Most of the structure is towards the center tapering out to very little at the tips. This keeps the wingtips light &amp; responsive to thermal bumps. I can't wait for some good air at the field. Up, up &amp; away!

Conclusion
Granted there's airframes out there that'd fly circles around &amp; totally outperform my bird but that's not really what this project was about. I wanted to have fun designing something a little odd-ball, something a little different. At the same time I wanted her to be somewhat high-performing but that wasn't the main drive. Her design is as much about having fun building, trying out interesting techniques &amp; materials, looking different &amp; yeah, hopefully fly nicely to boot. I created something unique, that's all mine, make the way I'd do it if I were in charge. Yeap, she's a keeper.

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

looked good... production run ? fiberglass fuse ?

Scott

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

One of the best build threads I have read in a while! Fantastic!!!

~Noah

RE: Scratch Designed/Built Sailplane Fuselage
 

Congrats Nodd. That was a fantastic video. I love the lines that plane has in the air. She appears to fly like a dream. I would love to see it fly  with all blue skies.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us. It has been really fun to watch this plane being born.
I can't wait for your next project.