flybyjohn

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Well I finally got the Uproar 40 out for a maiden flight on Sunday morning. I took my #16 camera to record the first flight and then I forgot I had it on my hat until I was wrapping up after flying two flights. Oh well maybe next time.

Any way, I noticed that the flying caracteristics were quite a bit different then the other planes I have flown off the water. The usuall up trim was needed as with other float planes I had experience with but the pitch sensitivity was really acward. It seemed to really want to climb with a little up input and then really wanted to dive with a little down elevator. I have a tower Fun 51 that is really close to the same type of airplane without floats that I fly often and it does not have this type of behavior. I have max and min throws set up and after the first flight I put in 70% expo to try and tame the sensitivity but it was still there. Could the floats be putting that much sensitivity into the plane? I am attaching a picture so that you can see my float configuration. The plane took right off the water really well and landing will take a bit of time to get used to. So far all landings have been successfull but only after 3 big bounces off the water because of the pitch instability, ( i cant get it to fly down to the water). The plane is balaced at the specified balance point in the plans.

flybyjohn

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I forgot to mention. It flys inverted hands off. While inverted, any down elevator put in at all will make the plane do a VERRY tight loop.

scale only 4 me

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I thought I warned you about funny tendencies with that set up?

flybyjohn

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Yep, you did. If I remember right you did say they would create a lot of lift at higher speeds. This plane is not that fast, and the tendencies happen at lower speeds also. These floats are just like normal floats with the rear cut off. I wonder why they make such a difference in the behavior of the model. I will take it up again on Sat. and Sun. and see if a slightly different angle of the floats make any difference.

scale only 4 me

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Well I'm not aeronautical engineer, but it seams when you reach a certain angle of attack the float create extra lift, That lift being so forward of CG not spread out like with normal floats act like an extra elevator, that little force has a lot of leverage.

It's not only exclusive to taildragger floats, it has to do with the fully symmetrical airfoil too,, I had a Great Planes Super Decathlon set up on Goldberg floats that never flew quite right either, very pitch sensitive. The wing would stall but the floats would still lift,, That thing finial snapped into a full stall and hit the ground,, Fixed the plane,, never put it on floats again

With my ugly stick, I just trim it at a low to medium speed and pretty much am always working the elevator stick,, it almost never flies hands off

Just fly it like you stole it,,,

flybyjohn

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Thanks scale only 4 me, I will hopefully have some video of the second maiden this weekend. It is supposed to be really nice here on Sunday.

I'll do as you suggest and just fly it. I can easily adjust the tip of the floats up or down a bit and test it both ways on two consecutive flights to see if it changes anything. I just need to get back to landing correctly. I have been flying a very light foam Polaris all winter long and have probably gotten into a bad habit of comming in at high alpha to land. I have to keep the speed up a little more with this plane, and it will more than likely land a lot better.

JimCasey

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Even tho' it is balanced per plans, it sounds as if you need to move some weight forward.  The area of the floats can count as wing area, too. 

Ed_Moorman

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I agree with Jim. You have classic tail-heavy characteristics. As a general rule, but not all the time, float planes need nose weight. If you plan to ever fly it on landing gear, put the weight in the floats. Many planes with added floats need additional fin area to compensate for the forward area of the floats.

I had some tail dragger floats like that and loved them. They were great for touch and goes. I also had an Uproar on floats. Great flying plane.

The only thing I would change on the Uproar kit, besides the goofy ailerons, is to put the hatch on top instead of the bottom.

flybyjohn

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I have put the battery as far back as the fuse that it allows right now to balance it per the plans, I can move it forward without too much trouble but will first tape on a little weight on the tips of the floats and see how it behaves. If it is successfull, then I will move the battery forward and remove the float tip weight to get the lightest airframe possible. Although I originaly was going to make this plane both land and sea, I think I will just keep this a float plane all the time. I have a fun 51 that fits the same flying type for land. Besides, the lake is less than half the distance as it is to the flying field so I just might do a lot more float flying in the future.

flybyjohn

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Ed Moore, I think I saw some other post you had with some taildragger floats. Did your uproar originally have taildragger floats or was that a different airplane? And did you need to balance that airplane nose heavy compaired to the plans?

Ed_Moorman

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That was a different plane, a Lanier Singer 40.

flybyjohn

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Well as I was getting ready to put extra weight on the tips of my floats, I decided to hang the airplane on my balancing rig once more and I noticed that I was indeed a bit tail heavy. The way that I have it set up to balance does not make the sensitivity of the balance that much so it is hard to see just how much out of balance I was. I removed the battery from the rear where it is shown as a rectangle on the photo and moved it 6.5 inches forward and was able to secure it through one of the lightening holes in the side of the fuse. This makes the plane sit pretty level with my hanging device. I might need to hang the plane upside down to balance it, because like I said, the sensitivity of the balance is not that good. I am going out in the morning to fly and I hope that I have a better time flying it. 6.5 " is quite a bit when the battery is clear back in the tail. I will let you now how it goes after the morning flights.

flybyjohn

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Success, the plane flew very well today. The engine still needs some fine tuning. I can get it to run good in midrange but then high throttle suffers in the air, if I get it running for high throttle then midrange suffers. I'll get it figured out eventually. Anyway, I had one great landing today and it was the flight before I remembered to turn on the camera. It was a classic greaser landing, no bounce at all. I will get better as I figure out this plane. Anyway, here is a video of some takeoffs and landings. I tried to cut out all the stuff you really couldn't see very well. I will need to start flying closer or get a better camera.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ZuyWrO8y8[/youtube]

JimCasey

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Cool!
This debunks the notion that it's hard to take off from glassy water-That's a nice flying location you have, there. 
Well done. 

flybyjohn

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The flying spot is good but the boat ramp is right at the end of my runway so bringing the plane down while checking to make sure nobody is in the way is a little difficult. I have another spot that does not have a boat ramp but it is a little farther away. Tonight I just changed out for a tower hobbies 46. I could not get the other one to transition properly. It transitions perfectly on the ground but as soon as it is in the air, it is all messed up. I just remembered something I read on another thread. An engine that ran fine on the ground had issues in the air, it ended up being the size of the spinner. The air going over the spinner created vortexes and affected the carb intatke. I wonder if that was my problem.