I'm stunned you landed to take the mix out. I figured you'd have just programmed it while flying...

Very nice. Plane looks great. I love the lines,

Arch

Anyone see anything wrong with this pic? I was looking and looking and wondered why in heck Jason was sending me a pic of my own plane. lol I will let Schoolman explain. Jas its all yours lol I am honered you took the time out of your busy schedule to help us out on the graphics though.

C

Sorry I missed your post. Its actually the Neu F3A motor that I have been using for the past couple years, not an outrunner, and absolutely we can make some new wings for you. I will tell Marcelo tomorrow you are interested.

CHip

Actually I landed because I thought something broke lol never had a plane go to the canopy before.

Chip

I know you picked that graphic design to show the invisible T in there... just wanted to show you what it looked like with it colored in Glad it flew well. Got my phone on charge if you get done early.

Quick question. Is the name derived from the cost being such that you cannot afford to buy one with ca$h [&:]

Oh wait, I get it now. First the "Passport", now the "Visa". Will there be variants? The "Work Visa" or perhaps the "Student Visa"?

What's next? The "Resident Alien" followed by the "Green Card"?? Clever.[sm=confused_smile.gif]

I think I'll hold out for the "Diplomatic Immunity"!!!

Chip,

The Visa looks fantastic! I wish you the best of luck with it. Post some video.

Merry Christmas from your former Hacky Sack partener in Israel

Joey

I still think RawHyde would have been a funny name for an airplane.

Ok, I am going to bite Chip, whats SMF stand for....I could guess but prob. not appropriate in the forum

Just back from flying and have a sec before dinner. SMF (Solid Model Flight) what else could it be. lol

We flew 8 more flights today alternating between myself, Marcelo, and Javier. All is good and I will try to get as full report up later tonight.

Chip

Hey Joe thanks and I missed you when I was there last week. No Hac this time. Anyway yesterday was a great day at the field. We all took turns flying the Visa in between rain showers and had a blast. It now has 11 flights on it and its pretty much dialed in as far a I can tell. We made some small chaanges with the cooling and tweaked the rates a little but that is about it. It still has no mixing for knife edge and just the standard 1.5 percent for downlines.

We put everything in the hanger last night and forgot to grab the camera out of the TX case so the best I can do at the moment is put up some pics a friend took. I think they are a little small to really see fine details but I promise tonight I will put up some more.

The coolest part of the die was when we pulled out the scale they used at the WC's and wieghed it with TP 5000's. It came in at 4660 and this is not the light fuse plus I had to use 8711's in the wings. (1 ounce per servo heavier then 9151's, as is the fuse) I know its not painted but on the Passports we add 140 grams to completely paint and clear a fuse. That will put the total weight to something like 4.7 kilos. (Finally)

In closing I also just wanted to mention that I learned something yesterday. I have always said that mixing is not a bad thing if you take the time to get it right. Well after 34 years of flying pattern and 25 of designing planes I came to the conclusion that no mix at all is better. Not so much for when your on knife edge but for all the transitions to and from. It is really true and there is no coupling of any kind. The split rudder is working perfectly and no matter who is flying the rolling manuevers all look the same.

Gotta run Javier is on his way to pick me up and today is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chip

more pics

last ones for now

Klein been trying to get me to use that one since 87 lol. Also the Greencard is for the 110 size Visa that George is doing the CAD drawings for at this very moment.

Chip

Something I remember from early in my Banking career working with the Credit Card Marketing when Visa cards were first introduced is that "Visa" has the same meaning in many languages. I guess that would apply to pattern planes too.

Good Job Chip!
Dave Burton

What an amazing amount of quality work accomplished in a very short time. Hats off to Chip and especially CA Models! I'm sure Chip has worn them out!

Can't wait to get my Onus! And to see the new Visa fly!

Thanks Tony I am sure you will like your Onas. As for wearing someone out it might just be the other way around. Marcelo has quite the work ethic. I think that in the past sometimes he was just spinning his wheels. What we have both learned from this adventure is that sometimes it is just necessary to travel, both him to the US and me to Argentina. If nothing else just to compare notes. I am certain that we will have at least 3 guest from here at next years nationals ,if not more. Marcelo, Javier, and George are coming for sure, and hopefully a couple more.

Anyway back to the Visa. The plane is flying great and we now have some video of Marcelo and I flying it that we are going to post on Utube in the next day or two. Since about the 4th flight when we locked the wings into place we haven't made any adjustments other then tweaing the rates. What we have been working on is the cooling system.

Don't get me wrong it has been acceptable since the first flights but not what I was hoping for until today. It wasn't until Gustavo (a racing engineer for Toyota) came from Cordova today that we really made some headway. We bounced ideas off each other all afternoon and tried a few configurations before we came upon the ultimate combination.

Basically what we ended up with was 2 Naca ducts in the nose, one on the bottom right and one on the top left as you look at the model from the front. Then we sealed off the area from the front of the top hatch to the tail ring former so that all the air has to go over the motor and then through the former before exiting in the rear. This lowered the motor temp 10 degree C, which is a huge amount. I want to do one more thing tomorrow before I say what the numbers are, but if it doesn't backfire on us I think this setup will make us all very happy.

Its late here so I am off to bed.

More tomorrow

Chip

Sounds great Chip. Let us know how things end up. I think you've done some really good work on this thing. Can't wait to get one.

Regarding the airflow, you might want to increase the exhaust outlet area at the tail if you are increasing the inlet size. You may end up with a static pressure buildup if the exhaust size isn't larger than the inlet. Just a thought.

Steve.

Steve,

I just emailed you, and thats what we have done. I learned from my racing days that its not the hole in the front that controls the airflow, it the ones in the back. Anyway I will let you know tomorrow.

Chip

I just thought I'd do a little update. Chip is at my place now with the Visa prototype. I have to say the improvements made in the products has been very nice. And the Visa is an extremely good looking model. The fuse is the lightest, stiffest fuselage I have ever seen. BTW, it is not bigger then the PassPort. All that contouring Chip and Marcelo did has made the fuse very resistant to twist. With it all, grabbing the stab tips and torquing on it got very little movement. About as stiff as the best wooden fuselage I've ever seen. And the thing is so light! It needs a painted finish and some more trim on the wings and stabs, so it will get a little heavier. But it sure feels good now.

We're going to get a couple of flights on it tomorrow morning before heading to the AMA show. Then a bunch more flights in the next week or two. We now have a program for the split rudders doing everything Chip wants for the JR 12X, which will be available for the PassPort and Visa.

Now for my Onas to arrive so we can finish it up! It's like Xmas has come a little late here now!

Cool thanks for the update Tony. I really like the looks of the visa cant wait to see it in person. I just got my new Pass-port about two weeks ago and its down at Todds getting put together. Cant wait to get it in the air.

Stephen

Chip and Tony,

Thanks for the help today at Lancaster. It was a spectacular flying day for sure. Perfect weather. I am not kidding, it was absolutely perfect. Rarely do I get flying conditions as awesome as today. I feel sorry for all those frozen souls in the rest of the country, being able to fly on a day like today in January is a real treat. One thing's for sure, in dead air you can really get a feel for what is going on with your plane. I never get dead air to fly in. Tony eyeballed my flight and figured a few things needed to be done (in addition to me learning how to fly wings level). Chip reprogrammed several parameters and really helped me out (no, he didn't land to change settings. He adjusted it in the air ) Now I have to erase all my bad habits and things I had been doing to compensate.

Since this is a Visa thread, I'll keep to the topic. I got to see the Visa in action at the field. It really looks neat. The pictures don't really do it justice. Tony was right in his earlier post. This thing is LIGHT. It is also very stiff. Pretty impressive. Even though this is a first article prototype, you can tell that the build quality is very nice.

As for flying, Chip was working on things all day and he really started to get it dialed in. He was working a lot on prop choice and power curves. All I can say is that it really hauls the mail. The plane presents very well, especially when propped to provide a bit slower downline. It snaps beautifully as well. I think this will be a real winner when its finalized (I don't know if it can top the Pass-port, but it sure looks like it is headed in that direction). It was looking great this afternoon for sure.

There were some cameras at the field, so there might be some pics showing up later. But, this is one you have to see in person to really appreciate.

Thanks again guys, I had a great time today.

Oh Yea, by the way, as for having two threads on the pattern flying board: I think that machines like the Visa, which are purpose built electric, will start to dominate and drive a stake in the heart of the IC world. Therefore, there will only be one thread by definition.

Steve Hannah

Ouch! LOL! If even Bob Gellespie has made the switch, the future is clear...

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Very impressive work guys.. and very refreshing to see you take a new look/direction at solving a problem. I wish there was a way to look at that fuse in a wind tunnel to see if the contours have any effect on spiral slipstream..