guapoman2000

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am sort of Choked up and very sad that Space Shuttle Discovery, one of the best performing Space Shuttles and the one that Brought the Space Shuttle Program back on track twice after the two disasters will fly for the Last time very soon.

I bid God Speed and Blessings to her crew and one of them from Kennedy Space Center! What an honor it is to have someone that formerly worked at our Space Center and go fly Discovery for the Last time.

GO DISCOVERY! GO STS-133!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjTl8BPk7NQ&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

guapoman2000

Hey Guys!

Seems like someone over in WATTFLYER has successfully bought one of these Space Shuttle Models from Robert over at Electric Jet Factory (EJF) and has started his build process in the thread over at WATTFLYER!

Just in case some of you are interested in this model, EJF are selling these in limited quantities!

Ta Ta,
Carlos[8D]

Stevedots

Hello Shuttle Fans!

I am building the same Shutle as Carlos. So far I have the wings on, the body has been filled with light weight spackel and sanded smooth. I also modified the 'hatch' so it fits better and mounted magnets. I have my radio gear and have ordered my EDF system and4S lipo.

I was looking for a little help in finding scale looking landing gear. It of course needs to be fixed. I've been searching but haven't found anything that jumps out at me yet.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

P.S. I agree......GO DISCOVERY!

guapoman2000

Steve,

Welcome to RCU!

Mark (another Central Floridian who has this same model) and I experienced the hard way that if the Main Landing gear is not near the Center-Of-Gravity then, the model will be a good race car and will not rotate for take-off. One good sign is having the model sit on the floor fully flight ready and placing your finger on the top of Vertical Stab and try to push it down. If it takes lots of pressure then, it means that the model may not be able to rotate as the mains are perhaps too far behind the CG.

If you look carefully to what I did with my light and cheap main landing gear wire, you will see that I had to bend the wire forward. There is just no way to mount the mains at the correct location on the bottom of the wing because you run out of wing to place the mains where they really suppose to go.

Having some neat scale mains is good but, to have them placed in the correct setup so, the model can rotate is even better!

Carlos[8D]

Stevedots

Hello Carlos,

I have been reading and re-reading you posts (as my instruction manual) to build my shuttle. I did read about the gear in relationship to the C.G. and will make sure to check that out before Iselect a mounting area for what ever gear Iend up with. Ithink it was Mark that I sent a PM to. (haven't gotten a responce yet) I saw his photos of his shuttle and it looked so nice Ifigured if he has gear it would probably be close to scale.

Keep those flight videos coming...everytime Isee one it gives me more motivation! The Estes parachute is a great addition!

Take Care,

Steve

guapoman2000

Yeah, This Sunday all of us (Rag Tag East Orlando Flyers) will meet up at the High School Concrete Band Practice and I will have one buddy Video record my Space Shuttle with perfectly working Drag Chute deployment!

Stay Tuned!

Carlos[8D]

guapoman2000

Steve,

Any updates?

Thanks!
Carlos[8D]

Stevedots

Hi Carlos,

I am waiting for my 'powerplant' and a few different sets of landing gear. In the mean time I have installed the hinges into the elevons and I mounted the control horns onto the elevons. Like you Iused control horns that have back plates and will be mounting the servos into the bottom of the wings. Last step for tonight was to glue the elevon hinges onto the Shuttle wings.

How did your flight go with the parachute?

Steve

guapoman2000

Steve,

That looks great! Thanks for the update.

Did not make it to the high school band practice and trouble "is" that I am between RC Clubs in Orlando, Florida that has nice smooth Asphalt Runway. The one that you saw in those Videos really did not have smooth runway because this club was abandoned for 3 years and runway had been in disrepair. Some of us re-opened the RC Club early 2009 with the help of the new owner but, this new owner still wants to build new condos and reason for us not putting any $$$ into anything as the first thing that will go is the runway when they start building. I just got tired of this "building" over our heads and did not renew.

I am thinking of joining RCACF a few miles North as they have that RC CLUB on County Property (Dump) and they have a super nice smooth 700+ foot long runway and 50 Foot wide that I can take not only my Space Shuttle but, my Swiss Tiger 70mm EDF Jet by Starmax over there and have a very nice time with tricycle gear models.

The high school with the concrete band practice surface just has too many obstecles.

Hope you get your power system soon.

Carlos[8D]

Stevedots

I know how you feel with flying locations. For a couple of years I was bouncing from field to field (sports fields) and finally after being preempted by yet another sporting event I joined my local club. The 495th R/C Squadron in Tewksbury MA. I am about 20 minutes away (at 75 MPH!) but it is worth it to always have a place dedicated to just R/C.

Steve

Stevedots

Stevedots

Stevedots

Stevedots

Stevedots

Today I got a lot done. Finished up mounting the nose gear. Had to make a mini-pushrod and center it before mounting. I do have it so I can unscrew it from the bottom incase I have a servo problem.

Made a 'floor' for the interior. I wanted to follow Carlos's example of the floor I made it with two angled sides to hopefully smooth airflow. Had the added benifit of hiding the reciever and servo wires. Both the ESC and the battery are held in place with industrial strength velcro but since I was paranoid of something getting loose and getting sucked into the fan I also added velcro straps. The floor itself is held in position with velcro and although the sides are a tight fit below the magnet supports I'll add some clear packing tape to the top of the sides. That way if I need to get to the reciever or connections I can remove the floor. I also wanted the ESC and battery to be in the airflow.

Tomorrow I will start to make the engine nozzles and mount the rudder, although I may save the rudder for last so it will be easier to paint the black details on it. After that it is just a matter of adjusting the elevon throws then start with paint and decals. The shuttle did come withself stick paperdecals but I have some self stick ink jet paper that becomes water proof after you print on it so I'll scan the decals and re-print them. I also have to make some more decals out of images from on line.

Steve

Stevedots

Stevedots

guapoman2000

Steve,

Those wheels for the Main Engine mounts are terrific and look better than what I came up with, super!

Oh, and airspeed with lots of drag......remember that if you have a very draggy airframe the power to over come the drag when trying to fly faster goes up exponentially One reason why I left in the mild 64mm EDF Power system from Freewing, as it was my goal to just fly the model in a scale "Slow" manner and that's it. However, I would love to see a Video when your's get airborne with that power you have placed in it.

Keep up the great work!

Carlos[8D]

guapoman2000

RE: NASA MEATBALL DECALS

Steve,

If you like to receive those NASA Meatball Decals then, just PM me or e-mail me with your address and I will ship you a few NASA Meatballs and especially those that I used on my Space Shuttle model. The Decals are from the Space Center where I work.

Carlos[8D]

Stevedots

Thanks Carlos,

Those tires were a stroke of luck since I had them just laying around with all my spare parts.

Yes, I would like a couple of those 'meatballs'.....(I love italian food too!) I will email you and give you my address.

I am not looking for super speed, I just hoped that the extra power would help get me out of trouble. I left the diameter of the exit tube for the EDF almost the same diameter at the EDF itself thinking that would give more thrust rather than more speed. But I have to confess this is my first EDF instillation that the exit diameter wasn't already set by the model maker.

Steve

guapoman2000

Steve,

The decals (Quantity 6 total), one tie pins, one jacket mission pin and a STS-133 Official Patch is all on me.

A little something for Good Luck on your maiden Flight.

Shipped "First Class" this morning at the Contractor operated USPS office at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

I would hope you receive these items by Wednesday, December 8th.

Carlos

Stevedots

Carlos,

Thank you very much. I look forward to giving my Shuttle a true NASA touch before her first flight!

I sent you an email.

Thanks again,

Steve

guapoman2000

Steve,

You are very welcomed!

Anyone that tackles this project will be included as an Honorary Member of the US Space Program and enjoy the few items I have included.

Regards,
Carlos

Stevedots

I have an update, the Shuttle is all painted! Here are some photos.

Also, I got those decals today. Thank you very much Carlos!! The NASA 'meatballs' look great! I'll be putting them on the shuttle tonight or tomorrow.

I do have another bit of news. I got a "Raydiowarm" for my transmitter. It works great. I went out today to try it with my Parkzone T-28 and with an outside temperature of 26 degrees the only part of me that wasn't cold was my hands! Anyone in a cold climate that wants to extend there flying season it is a must! I wanted to try it out with the T-28 before using in on something as important as the Shuttle. I did modify it just a little bit. I epoxied a piece of stiff foam to act as a shelf and keep the transmitter from moving inside the raydiowarm. I will have to get some type of anti-fog cloth because the inside did fog a little bit but not enough to prevent me from seeing my transmitter. The only other mod I might do is something to raise up the clear plastic front. At times it would rub against the tops of my thumbs but over all I am delighted at how it worked. You do have to hike up your coat sleeves to about mid forearm to reach in enough but that is not a big deal.

I also have another Shuttle update: I did a taxi test today on my grass field. Like Apollo 13 I'd call it a 'successful failure'. I had no intention of flying the shuttle yet (CG is not perfect yet) and it is a good thing. During my taxi test the nose wheel shaft failed. No damage to the shuttle, I did not even scratch the bottom paint.

I thought that the only "weak" link in the entire shuttle was the nose gear. Last night I cut a "U" shaped groove into the bottom half of the shaft and added a piece of carbon fiber rod. Turns out it snapped about half an inch above the carbon fiber. I do have a nose gear with a metal shaft (and a shock absorber spring in it) so if I can cut that down I may be able to use that.

I'll keep the updates coming since my social life would put you to sleep!

Steve

guapoman2000

Steve,

You are welcome!

Very good progress, looks terrific.

Carlos