ehroof

thanks bro, will do

PrkFlyrRic

Here's the link to [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=109]How to make Your Own Battery Packs[/link].

Instead of buying all that nice to have stuff, I cut some corners. This is the way I did mine.
For a battery jig I use aluminum angle stock cut to lenght. 3/8' for AAA's and AA's, 1/2" for sub-C's.
I use balsa wood and plastic sheet for end caps. Soak the balsa in CA glue after cutting to match the ends, that and the plastic gives a little cushion and water resistance.
And to attach the end cells to each other I like braided automotive ground strap. You can get it at most auto parts stores for grounding radio's.
IF I made 10 or 20 packs a month it might be worth buying all that nice to have stuff but I'd rather spend my money on other nice to have stuff.

I got in a few test glides across my backyard this evening and the shim in the rear wing mount really helped.
About 60 yards, hand launch from shoulder level, full power til it levels out then off power and glide. By 30 yards it's straightened out and trying to climb, kept the nose up all the way to the ground, hit the chain-link fence a couple of times but no damage. Half of the time the shim helped keep the wing angle enough the fans didn't even pop off.
I've gone back to charging the batteries with the charger that come from Estes, it takes a while but, the batteries take a full charge now.
Forecast is low/no winds this weekend, I hope to get it out a really put some air time on it.
It is SLoooW turning though, I can forsee a bash job to put a real radio and servo controls on it in the future.

Dave ESPI

Yeah the turning was realllyyyy needing some serious touch with more power, or tail rudder controls.
I would be interested in bashing mine with a 3 or 4 channel, but would need some help as I've never done such.

PrkFlyrRic

I haven't done my AF-1 yet and it won't be for a while, but here's some ideas.
Mark the CG point before making any changes.
I would put a regular receiver in the hole where the receiver/ESC is now. The new ESC I'd put in the empty space behind the battery with as many of the bigest holes that will fit in the bottom and still support the hold-down for air flow to cool the ESC, I can't see a good way to get cooling air to the pocket where the receiver is. I'm guessing right now, but I figure atleast a 25amp ESC. Since it belly-slides on landing hanging anything out the bottom is a no-go.
The servo cut-outs can be done with a razor blade but would be better with a hot-wire. A piece of 1/6" wire from the hobby shop in a soldering gun, works well. You bend the wire to the shape and depth of the servo, attach to the ends of a soldering gun and plunge cut the foam out. Then you just glue the servo in with RTV. Try a search on cutting foam to get the idea, or check at a hobby shop or R/C flying field. Maybe someone on the forums has pictures.
Sevro placement is a head-scratcher since I'm trying not to move the battery. I'd try attaching the servo's to the side of the fuse with two-sided tape to find the CG first before cutting, don't forget to figure in servo leads and control linkage weight. Start close to center and move back as needed. Small CG issues can be overcome with weights after everything is installed. try to keep the servos close to even on each side to overcome balance issues left to right.
Control surfaces I'd cut to what looks right, to big and you need a servo with more torque, to small and they won't be affective.

PrkFlyrRic

I'm also working on some LED's as lights. For the wing tips, top / bottom maybe landing lights.
I haven't got that worked out yet.
Next week I start a new Job, , first in a year since I retired from the Army, so I'm kinda tied up for a while.
Complete change of proffesions, from Army truck mechanic to Botinist. Woo-Hoo!
Let me know if you have any questions and I'll help as much as I can.
Ric

ehroof

thats a pretty big change in jobs!!!! i think i am going to get some batteries on ebay and make my own packs and see how it flies, i am getting impatient. i also have the other air force 2 plane with 2 engines on it, i will try that out maybe this weekend.

PrkFlyrRic

Finally a nice low wing day for flying.
I got in about 10 flights with the AF-1.
No bad crashes! Several hard landings. Nothing broke, everything worked like it’s supposed too, the fans popped off and NO damage.
I learned a lot about flying this plane.
I gotta work on greasing the landings…
Here a few pictures.
Ric

Dave ESPI

ok, I have no idea how you managed to fly this thing...... How did you get it airborne ? Mine just dies and nose dives... did yours fly right out of the box ?

I saw SILVERLIT has a 737 that is now available. it looks cool and at about $80.00 I wonder if it flies any better.

PrkFlyrRic

Some of the things I figured out / learned flying this beast today.
1. You need lots of room. Turns can be slow. Very scale like which means slow.
2. Charging these AAA's on my Brain 960 doesn't get a full charge, I had to top them off with the supplied charger. I was able to get 5-6 minute flights this way. [8D]
3. Keep it atleast 50ft up. Turns eat up a lot of airspace if you try to horse it around. It can be done but turns end up being squares and you'll end up behind yourself. ie: turn hard - lose airspce, flaten out- gain airspce and turn hard, flaten out- gain air space, opps your behind yourself and your flying area.
4. If you stay on the power to long it will start to porpoise and powering throught it just makes it worse. Get it into the wind and off power and it will flaten out on it's own.
5. This plane glides real flat! And pretty slow into the wind. Nose-up and nice nad smooth. Let it go through the flight pattern and power out for airspace and turn.
6. Downwind, just pulse the power to keep airspace. If you get on the power to long it speeds up and climbs then goes into porpoise up and down.
7. Turn in on final 100-150 feet out and once it's lined up let it float in. My best landings were power off and gliding.
8. Pulse the turns, the fans take a secound to spin up and make enough thrust to turn, taping, bliping the turn power doesn't spin them up and you don't get enough to do anything, pluse the turns and listen to the engines, watch the plane.
I only used the supplied high-launch once, I didn't like it and felt like I was goona lose control, but it did work. I hand launched into the wind and that worked fine as long as I just used power to get it moving.
Power management is the word on this plane. i ended up gliding it about 40% of the time.
Hope this helps.
Ric

ehroof

Nice pictures rick, i havent had a chance to try either plane out yet, still have to build the batteries for the 747. Thanks for the information and pictures. So would you say its easy to fly or takes alot of effort?

PrkFlyrRic

I ended up taking out the shim I put in the rear wing mount, under power it gave to much nose up and would start the porpoise thing bad.
Mine flew just as it came out of the box. Hand launches into the wind all the way.
My biggest problem was I thought my brand-new Super Brain 960 was fully charging the batteries. It wasn't. I used it to start the charge and topped off the packs with the Estes charger. Takes a little while, 20-30 minutes, but I was getting full power and 6-7 minute flights.
I will be building my own battery packs with a minimum 2000mAh.
I will also be looking for a fast charger for AAA's.
The porpoise thing is bad without control surfaces. [>:] But it can be over come by just giving enough power to keep the nose up, if you get the nose up to far, it just goes into stall.
NOT once did it every fall off a wing! The couple of times I did stall it, it just nosed over and it takes a bit to gain speed and start flying again. But if you stay on the power to long coming out of the stall you convert right back into climb and stall. [>:]
On one of those I didn't give enough airspace and as it came out the bottom it hit the ground flat. Hard enough to pop all for fans off and puul the wires loose. It bounced back into the air and glided about 50ft. [X(]

PrkFlyrRic

Once you get the power management down it's easy to fly.
Most of the time it's like a unpowered glider, you just use the engines to control the direction it's headed and to gain altitude.
After I got the power thing figured out I enjoyed flying it.
Even after several hard landings I haven't hurt it.
Any plane that can hit the ground, bounce back into the air ten feet and still glide 50ft, while the engines are laying back were it hit and sustain no damage ranks high with me!
Ric

ehroof

nice, i will take some pictures of mine, the 747 af1 is a nicer plance than the af2 but i will have to try the af2 tomorrow. i have the brain 977 and found the same thing, only thing is that the stock charger seemed to make the batteries very hot. the af2 comes with 7.2, not the 9.6 like the 747 and in a different configuration.

PrkFlyrRic

I would like to hear how you like the AF2. After flying the AF1, I'm really thinking about getting the AF2.
I haven't figured out why the brain doesn't charge the AAA's ? I use it to charge a 6v 1/2AAA pack for a Megatech A-7 with no problem.
The A-7 pack is only 200mAh. I gotta get a bigger pack for it also. 4 minute flights suck.
The AF1 packs get hot no matter how I charge them. They really get hot in flight. But so far so good.

PrkFlyrRic

Dave, where did you see the Silverlit 737 ?
I've heard about it but haven't seen it for sale.

Dave ESPI

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...5939&rd=1&rd=1

Silverlit plane here in the US. The video looks like it is fun and fairly quick too.

I think I need to figure out if the batteries are fully charged on that estes 747..... It may be 1/2 my problem. Does the stock charger have an auto shut off when they are fully charged ?
I have the superbrain 977 but have not used it yet to charge the AAA's. I may change the plugs over and use a lipo to see if the weight is the issue I need to overcome somehow. I just can't seem to get the airspeed up enough to get the jet to take off and not nose dive. I'm going to try a bit of shim in the tail this week, perhaps just a 1/16th inch.

PrkFlyrRic

On your AF-1, I really think it is the batteries not getting a full charge.
I thnk factory supplied charger goes into trickle charge, I know the light goes out.
I usually charge with the charger and battery over my A/C duct on the floor and where I can see the light while watching TV.
As soon as it goes out I switch packs, at the field today I was waiting for the light to go out so I could pull the battery off and give it time to cool before flight.
I tried the shim on the wing and it gave me to much lift, really made it hard to keep the nose down.

I like the idea of a small ducted fan plane, and the silverlit one looks like it will fit the bill.
I found a SR-71 twin fan for sale in the UK with a web search but couldn't find a US seller...
My A-7 is small, 21" long-23" wing, but only one fan and left/right on the rudder. It glides more than the AF-1, sometimes that's not a good thing.[&o]
But on power & down wind, it will move out.
I start my new job on the 7th so for now I may wait on the Silverlit jet. Hmmm...[]

Dave ESPI

I saw this the other day actualy.........

SR-71 Blackbird - ARF (Brand new in box) Item number: 170105403460

This is damn sexy... I wish I really knew how to fly.......... atleast with confidence of not destroying this.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SR-71-Blackbird-...QQcmdZViewItem

PrkFlyrRic

That's a nice looking SR-71.
This is the one I was looking at, EPP foam.
[link=http://www.rchobby.co.uk/untitled1511.html]UK SR-71[/link]

ehroof

too windy to fly today, didnt want to take a chance since its the first flight. will try on a calmer day. That blacbird is a nice looking plane.

PrkFlyrRic

I went ahead and ordered that Silverlit 737 today.
A 20", two ducted, EPP plane I hope to get to fly in my back yard if it turns tight enough.
I've been tracking the thread over on RCgroups and figured I was going to get one sooner or later, might as well make it sooner.
I'll start a new thread over here once I get it.
Rain forecasted for here in Central Texas all week so who knows if I'll get any more flight time this week.
Ric

ehroof

Hey Ric, i got my batteries and tail fin from estes today. May try to fly this weekend, will start to cycle the batteries tomorrow, have to do some more with the af2 batteries too.

Dave ESPI

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Radio-Contro...QQcmdZViewItem

Check this out,...mmmmm there is another AIRFORCE ONE. It has only 2 engines, and has dummy outers. Looks like almost the same flier, but slightly different set up and wing tipes are upturned to eleminate slipstream.

ehroof

i think that is from silverlit, the same company that makes the picco z mini helicopter.

PrkFlyrRic

I just got in my Silverlit 737, too windy to fly but I'll post some "backyard" glide tests tomorrow.

Dave,
That's not a Silverlit model.
But from the video it seams to fly pretty good.
Since the AF1 ducted fans are only $25 a pair from Estes, I wonder what it can do on four fans.!!!!
Ric