Seaplanes or Snow
 

I could not find a Snow flying Forum so can I invite photos of snow flying on this one please?

By the way, the Ultra Ranger uses floats made from blue foam (the dense uniform stuff that cuts and sands)
They have plywood on top and glasscloth on the bottom back to the step, and nothiing on the sides but acrylic paint.

The raw foam does not stand up well to flying off frozen snow. They were great on water but the snow is eroding them quickly. So on snow they need to be glassclothed.</p>

RE: Seaplanes or Snow
 

Are the ski's on backwards on picture #4

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No i don't think so. Interesting design. Each ski looks like a fuselage with a tee tail. Prolly increases the lift

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Each ski has two fins and a tailplane across the top. The ski is free to rotate about the axle.
The tail keeps it lined up with the airflow, producing far less drag than the old arrangement which had springs to hold up the front end and wires to limit the nose up angle.
I have used them on other models too.

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OK from the 1st picture I could not see where the front of the ski was turned up. this makes more sense. Thanks for the other pictures.

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&gt;&gt;Each ski has two fins and a tailplane across the top. The ski is free to rotate about the axle.&lt;&lt;

Very clever!
Just curious: if you perform aerobatic maneuvers such as an inverted stall or tailslide, have you found the skis getting into the propeller? 

RE: Seaplanes or Snow
 

The skis have to be kept either behind or outside the propeller arc.
On the yellow model they intersect the arc so it is not cleared for stall turns, tail slidesor spins. Those are the only manoeuvres that confuse the skis.

In the two attached photos Miss Q is in, or just exiting from, a spin but there is no problem as the ski tips lie behind and outside the prop disc.

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I love Playn in Da Sno!!!!!Senior Telemaster with Great Planes 60 size Floats,90 Super Tiger upgrade this year,Thunder Tiger 61 dont have the power to get off ground!!!The Ultamite is a 40s Recoverd ARF,Thunder Tiger Pro 61 with some ski's I made!!! Buildn a Ace Rc Seamaster 40 now Probly have it done before we get any snow!!!!

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Great looking snow under the Telemaster, deep and firm, ideal. How did it fly? A 91 seems a bit overpowered though. My Ultra Ranger in the photos started with an ASP 46 and is now well overpowered by a 56. Wingspan 96", weight about 9 lb.

How did you make the skis for the Ultimate? Are they plywood? And what keeps them parallel in flight and stops them going way nose-up and causing lots of drag?

I have also stuck in a construction photo for my skis. Each has 4 balsa ribs with thin ply top and bottom, then two fins with a tail on top.

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All we need is the damn snow!! None so far. Here on the coast of New England we can get hit with a lot or not see much at all for the year. When we do get it, we use our floats to fly off the snow. If it's light and fluffy or even crusty from the cold there's no problem. When the temps go up the snow gets sticky and has been known to cause a few of the minimal powered planes to barely get off or get off and stall. Well, it's all in the game!:D Here's a few picks of my buddy's J3. We hold up the rudders with rubber bands. By the way, these pictures were taken this past January 1st.

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I see what appears to be a spring behind the axel of each ski in Cherry629's pics, is that how they are kept level?

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Here's my Top Flite Contender I picked up from my bud. We don't have any snow on the lake right now so I flew it off the ice!

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Ice is OK too.
Are those Hobby King skis?
If so, do you like them? How do they react in the air?

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Hey alasdair,
These skies are from Dubro. They do fine, I did notice they sale different colors of them now. As for flying, they can be a bit of a pain to get set up correctly. After I took off, all three skis were pointing up at a 45deg. angle! I was sure I had them tightened too. I didn't even worry about trimming, I just flew until my fingers were numb.

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hobby king PPY

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I love the fin/airfpil on the skis in the first post, pic 4. For giggles, search the net for DC-3 skis. They use the same, to keep the skis "flying" in the right position.

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Hey Guy's this one might see snow this winter,Ace Rc Seamaster 40,Magnum 46XL,Ready to final sand n cover,Coast Guard Colors!!!

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Went snow flying Sunday. Built the skies from a Model Airplane news online article.

Mark

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I like to fly year round, here in northern Michigan (45 deg N. Latitude)

We have a large lake near here, and when it's frozen over and snow covered it's ideal.

The airplane is a Mikulasko "Arrow", E conversion. (Turnigy 46 on 5S) It's fun.

Keep boiling the snow in Scotland!! (Me old grandmum was a Scot- Tulloch)