RE: The Whale
 

Come on Dave, what's with this "breaking in" the engine crap...that's what test flights are for! I even did that with my MB FAI engine....first run was the first flight on the airplane.

RE: The Whale
 

"breaking in the engine" really translates to mean "It's too flippin' cold & windy out to enjoy flying, so why bother?"

RE: The Whale
 

I like to put a couple tanks through before flying, especially on a motor I intend for my primary on race day (Saturday). Now it would be easier if I had fuel..

As to:

"He doesn't want me to pm the guys in the AMA forum that he was Dave Brown's campaign manager and is the single person responsible for every member getting MA weather they want it or not.
Talk about hate mail!"

My Former company use to print Model Aviation and I enjoy the magazine. Even some of the articles on freeflight and control line. Always things to learn in there. As to the AMA forum, I don't really care for it and tend to avoid it. Theres enough bickering going on to listen to that mess.

RE: The Whale
 

What?? No smilies???
Those guys love me over there.:D

RE: The Whale
 

By the looks of the weather Dave, you may want to try out the Whale tonight.. According to the weather man, starting tomorrow, it's rain and snow until Saturday...

RE: The Whale
 

Practice night for me, I'm heading up for a early evening romp, bring a couple planes for the fire on Saturday Lee, help keep us warm.

RE: The Whale
 

I've only seen one person put 2 planes worth of pieces in the fire in the first race of the year.. Do you remember who that was Jesse? :D

RE: The Whale
 

I'm trying to finish another plane and then go up. It may be late, but I think it has to fly tonight.

Probably be there about 6:30

D

RE: The Whale
 

AJ is coming over also, and Jerry B mentioned something about a video camera and U-Tube......

RE: The Whale
 

So if I do an image search for whale in youtube I will find your plane??[8D]

RE: The Whale
 

I think Neil is going to be out there too Dave.. Plenty of targets, I mean, witnesses....

RE: The Whale
 

I was there for the maiden voyage and everyone survived but I'll let Dave tell everyone how it went.

RE: The Whale
 

It flies !

Once he gets the balance and throws right it looks like it might be something.

Between the anhedral Hauler and the Whale, our racers here remind me of the Star Wars movie with the crazy racing part and the impossable looking racers they used.

Out of this world or aleast Wisconsin

RE: The Whale
 

Ok, here are the details.

It was a bit windier than I'd like to maiden a new design, but what the heck.

Takeoff was sweet, nice and low, and straight. No issues.

As it climbed out I could tell the throws were way to much. Got to altitude and let the plane fly itself. When I did so, it was rock solid smooth. Even full elevator pulls would result in tight circles with no roll out.

My problem was that I had way to much throw, and barely touching down caused a pretty steep dive. I shut it off, and landed it, not the best, but I could tell it was tail heavy.. I took out ALL of the down (The 8UAF only lets you go down to 30%), and reduced all the other throws and flew it again.

Takeoff was smooth as silk again, with little rudder needed to keep straight. It takes a while to build up speed on the ground, and takes off at a very shallow angle.

Throws were better, a little too soft actually, but I still had issues with pitch. The slightest amount of down elevator caused it to dive. After a few circuits I shut it down and turned it back into the wind. It was obvious on approach that the nose wanted to rise without input, and I had to give it a little down to get it to the ground. It needs nose weight bad, I'm going to move everything forward and try again..

I am amazed at how it took off, and how it did not roll at all with elevator input (even very high amounts of it). Still got bugs to work out, but considering the wind and low expectations, I'm happy.

More to come.

RE: The Whale
 

Built another V Hauler This one has the booms closer together just like the originall Hauler I was concerned that I couldn't get the tail at the 110 degree angle that is supposed to be the required amount. Well they ended up at 85 degrees. So big deal I flew it anyway ROCK SOLID
I took off in the grass and didn't touch the rudder No trimming reqiued It's Ready Look out Whale!!!!

RE: The Whale
 

Good to hear Dave.. I'm glad it flew decent.. Get the CG right for Saturday and put it on the coarse..

RE: The Whale
 

I also test flew a fresh seeker, that will be racing on Saturday. I may try the whale at the lunch with nose weight.

RE: The Whale
 

Hey Albert, have you tried it with a nelson yet???


BV

RE: The Whale
 

Yes I flew the original design with the flying elevator with a Nelson Got about 5 or 6 flights and had a radio failure. It went into the woods. Didn't get much back. The engine and reeiver

RE: The Whale
 

I'm surprised to hear about the CG issue. The elevator on only one side of the fuselage would seem to try to twist the plane when you yank it.
That V Hauler sure is cool looking. You shouldn't have much trouble telling which plane is yours.
It's nice to see originality and the interest in taking ideas and putting them to the test.

RE: The Whale
 

piggy,

I had the same thoughts in regards to the twist, as did many in the aerodynamics forum.

I was very surprised that was not an issue at all. If I get it tamed down enough, I'll throw a nelson on it and my guess is the twist may be more prevelent at higher speeds.

RE: The Whale
 

Dave, the Nelson will surely amplify an forces that are at play. A friend had a brand new Mezjlik fast combat ARF hooked up to a Fox .36 and noticed that he felt a slight buzz in the handle. He looked it over afterwards and dismissed it to spring jitters. Then he bolted on the Nelson and it took about 3 laps for that plane to break free from the 100 pound test cables and find a nice tall sycamore tree.

RE: The Whale
 

AJ and I put another 5-6 flights on the whale today, and we worked out some of the issues.

I don't think the balance was the issue, we flew it a few times with the cg forward, and it really didn't solve the pitch issue.

after a couple flights it was obvious that left aileron caused the plane to sharply go down, but right aileron did not.

We mixed that out, and we were able to roll it left without the violent down that it had done earlier, but as the plane sat in knife it tends to drift in, which I really don't like. Normally, a plane that drifts in is nose heavy, but I don't think that is the case as it comes in nose high on landing like its on the verge of being tail heavy.

I'm making it sound worse than it is, it doesn't fly like one of my seekers, but about the same as the vipers I"ve flown in the past.

Any thoughts on getting the inward drift out??

BTW, in over half our flights today, it was snowing something fierce :)

RE: The Whale
 

I'd guess that there isn't enough horizontal stab area. The pitching moment of the wing is different between high and low speeds, and the tail isn't large enough to correct it well enough in both cases.

I don't know about the pitch issue with left vs. right aileron, but it may have something to do with air coming off the one aileron and hitting the tail, but since it doesn't have a stab on both sides, it doesn't happen with opposite aileron.

RE: The Whale
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: daven....... it doesn't fly like one of my seekers, but about the same as the vipers I"ve flown in the past.

There is something humorous about this, a plane that was built out of whack on purpose that flys as well as ARFs that are built out of whack by accident.

I don't understand the assymetric stab as part of the experiment, wouldn't just having a lifting fuselage make enough of a difference?