combatpigg, If only I had shown a little more respect than I did the last time I addressed you maybe I would not have suffered my latest tragedy. Anyway, I hope the included "cut and pasted" story below might possibly be useful/entertaining for other misguided would be R/C'ers.

[sm=lol.gif] IMPORTANT ACCIPITER BADIUS CONSTRUCTION TIP FOR BEGINNING FLYERS!

This latest AB crash must not be in vain! Although the original thread does a very good job with "wing modification tips" for the stock straight wing, either I missed/forgot vitally important information about the "folded (folding in flight!) polly wing" or the info is simply not there.

On the obviously mistaken conviction that at my current level of piloting "expertise" and the deliberate avoidance of any ridiculous "terminal velocity power dives," the idea of adding significantly extra center wing reinforcement seemed quite unnecessary. BIG MISTAKE!

combatpigg posts a scary e-mail signature warning that says, "if you don't fold one every now and then, you are building too heavy." He obviously knows something about g force that I have not yet quiet been able to grasp.

It was a particularly enjoyable first flight of the day flying my simi symmetrical modified polly wing AB with "partial span flaperons" coupled with the rudder at the rudder servo providing beautiful rolling and maneuvering capability. Using my heavier than normal LiPo battery I was still able to get a very nice "persuasive" outside loop with no trim adjustments after the very first impressive first outside loop performed two days before yesterdays disaster.

It turns out that the thicker airfoil wing panels now being used on the stock straight wing AB have to be "carefully adjusted" using an iron so that the wing tips will not stall at any point during an outside loop to prevent rolling out of the maneuver before it can be completed. The leading edges near the wing tips (on both wing types) have added balsa structure that provides a more blunt leading edge curve for about two (2) inches than the sharper leading edge of the rest of the wing. This may be helping to prevent the undesirable tip stalling tendencies that I have experienced in the past. Both of the modified stock and polly wings have a "few degrees" of "washin" (wing tips warped up) to minimize outside maneuver tip stalling tendencies. Fortunately, normal flight and inside maneuver stability is not compromised - yes, I worried about that, but it looks like I am getting away with this "trim concept."

Okay, so what happened? Well, there was more wind on the fateful day than I had recently been experiencing and the plane seemed to be jumping around a little more than I felt comfortable with, but it was very exciting and I was having a blast when all of a sudden . . . "SNAP!" Pulling out of an unintended dive, the left wing panel folded. Fortunately, with all the rain soaked ground the carbon fiber reinforced fuselage stuck straight down in the mud with damage only to the "innards" of the plane. The modified "shock absorbing" motor mount protected the motor, The LiPo did not catch on fire thanks in part to the foam plastic pad installed in front of the battery. It still read almost eight (8) volts by the the end of the day even though it does look "a little" battered.

So, now that the "therapy of crying about my trauma" on the web is beginning to have a positive effect I will be getting back to repairing, modifying, trimming, and hopefully, safely joyfully practicing for those neat times of modeling promoting demos with new modeling prospects, modeling friends, or just the simple pleasures of relaxing flying in mild weather.

The first included url might be useful/interesting for some historical prospective on the "on going AB saga."

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_62...tm.htm#6248817


madwebtvscientist [sm=lol.gif][sm=cry_smile.gif]

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Culturally Relevant Modeling Promoting Blog:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/community/...g&memid=266748

Modeling's rendezvous with destiny will surely be unstoppable when something greater than the narcissistic pleasure of an esoteric chosen few is adopted in modeling.