Flights of Fancy

[TheLurker]

Excellent! Video expected.

[TheLurker]

Yesterday at Trinity.  My Ryan M-1 is still being trimmed, so no newsreel for that. It's managing to scrape 10s from a hand launch on a loop of 1/8 , but it's not climbing so will strip some thicker section for December and see how we go.  If you're interested stills from the meeting start here:

HPA Indoor Flying Thread

and some video links start here ...

HPA Indoor Flying Thread

There'll probably be a few more video links posted by one of the other bods a bit later today.

[TheLurker]

It was the Indoor International Fly-In at Nijmegen a fortnight ago and the videos are starting to appear.  Some are linked to on this page .  If you watch only one, watch Tonda Alfery's rubber powered Vought 173 - Flying Pancake.

[pcolbeck]

Oooh want !

https://youtu.be/G5nRet-r62s

[Kim]

If you watch only one, watch Tonda Alfery's rubber powered Vought 173 - Flying Pancake.

The way it seems to hang in the air as it turns towards the camera reminds me of the cute flying saucer things from Batteries Not Included.

[DuncanM]

The indoor stuff always looks so graceful.

I flew my Bixler a bit yesterday. Because there's an issue with my buddy box, we've been doing it old school - experienced pilot takes off and then hands me the transmitter, but yesterday after one battery's worth of flying around, I did the subsequent takeoff and landing, twice.  It wasn't pretty, but it landed in roughly the right place, and didn't crash! It was quite windy too, which didn't make things easy.

[TheLurker]

DuncanM>It wasn't pretty, but it landed in roughly the right place, and didn't crash!
Any landing you walk away from.

DuncanM> The indoor stuff always looks so graceful.
Come to the Dark Side Luke....

On which my current indoor - in every sense - project.

[DuncanM]

The Ro37 is looking very pretty.  The balsa models always looks nicer than the foam ones, even when they are only half done!
Flew the Bixler a bunch on Sunday as well (again on my own). 5 takeoffs and landings, one was just short of the patch so involved a noseover (but it's a pusher so that was fine) and the rest resulted in it sitting there on the wheels. 
In theory, it's a matter of a lot of practise now, but I fear the weather will be somewhat obstructive.

[TheLurker]

Work In Progress.  I.M.A.M. Roma 37 (Lince).  John Cooper's plan. Held together with spit & baler twine for the snap.  I had hoped to have it ready for a week today.  Not a cat in hell's chance.  Never mind, it'll be ready for the January meet.

[TheLurker]

Trinity today.  The M-1 finally committed *proper* aviation.  Shame about the basketball hoop that someone carelessly left in the way, or, plan your circuit more carefully P. O. Prune.  Never mind, it's only a 5 minute fix.  Dumas kits are ... robust and the wing is more or less self-jigging for this one.

https://vimeo.com/ 789307518  <-- Grab yer balsa cement & glue it together.

Andy's launching it for me because I can't hand launch my models for toffee and had spent the entire session launching it too slowly or too fast.  Scale models can be a bit fussy about poor launches, which is why I try to get mine to ROG.

[DuncanM]

That flew lovely.
I crashed my Bixler just before Christmas (I got adventurous after a successful loop and tried a barrel roll without putting enough elevator in) and it's not been flying properly since. So today I was trying to get the Wot4 going, but the motor mount was loose, so it kept rolling to the right (I wasn't flying, so it made it down in 1 piece).
The good news is that the Scout got a maiden (again flown by a test pilot at the club) and seems to fly pretty well. Also, it flew for over 4 minutes on 32% of the battery, so once I've got some good stick time in with something a bit bigger and higher,  can get loads more stick time with this one.
2023-02-05_04-05-21 by duncancmartin, on Flickr
I nicked the wheels off the Bixler while that's in for )further) repairs, which is why they are a comical size.
Does this work (stick together with foam safe glue?)
https://vimeo.com/ 796040677

[TheLurker]

The good news is that the Scout got a maiden...Does this work (stick together with foam safe glue?)

*Rummages for tube of POR*  Ah, there it is.

Port Meadow?  I think you should keep the oversize wheels, they lend the model - which flies very nicely - a certain charm.

Today's Bulletin from The Lurker Industries Aviation Co. Ltd

[Mr Larrington]

I nicked the wheels off the Bixler while that's in for (further) repairs, which is why they are a comical size.

Tundra tyres?

[DuncanM]

They suit the model and make it look a bit like a cartoon, so they are staying. I need to have a bit of a fiddle with them though - it landed OK twice, but wouldn't take off from the ground on the second trip - needed a hand launch. Sunday's flying was North Berks rather than Port Meadow, but they are both relatively bumpy grass patches so need wheels of a certain size.

There is a model called the Tundra, and I reckon those tyres are about 5" in diameter - if I put them on this mini scout then it would basically be a VTOL machine!  

[TheLurker]

Trinity yesterday.  Some snaps & video links here.

[DuncanM]

You seem to be quite heavily featured in the squirrelnet youtube I saw.  I'll have to go check the rest...
I'm trying to put together a foamy for Wednesday, using the same Armin wing technique I'm applying to building a 60" wingspan glider. We'll see how well that works later.

[TheLurker]

You seem to be quite heavily featured in the squirrelnet youtube I saw.  I'll have to go check the rest...

I'm ready for my close-up Mr. de-Mille...

Yes, it *is* a great shame about the ugly old gargoyle - I blame the parents - launching the model, but it's a fairly good sequence showing the two steps forward, one back, process of trimming a FF model which someone here was asking about some months ago.  It's not quite done, ran out of time yesterday;  a very slightly beefier motor may be needed and wee touch more nose weight to deal with that last little bit of stally behaviour.

[DuncanM]

I've been building a motor glider and someone at another place persuaded me to create a thread. So here's said thread, of an almost finished, somewhat shrunk Photon motorglider:
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/experimental-airlines-photon-build-4-5th-scale.72876/

It's going to be windy this weekend, so, depending on if I get a chance to go watch indoor flying, I hope to make real progress on it...

[Kim]

I've been building a motor glider and someone at another place persuaded me to create a thread. So here's said thread, of an almost finished, somewhat shrunk Photon motorglider:
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/experimental-airlines-photon-build-4-5th-scale.72876/

Would self-clinching nuts be an option for the motor mount?

[DuncanM]

I've been building a motor glider and someone at another place persuaded me to create a thread. So here's said thread, of an almost finished, somewhat shrunk Photon motorglider:
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/experimental-airlines-photon-build-4-5th-scale.72876/

Would self-clinching nuts be an option for the motor mount?

They look like just the thing - I'd never heard of them before! Unfortunately, it's installed now, and I don't really want to take it apart just yet! Thanks Kim - next time I'll definitely use them!

[Kim]

I discovered them after seeing a tweet from someone who'd just discovered the stud version (top tip: self-clinching studs are also a thing), and they were just the thing for solving a tailbox-attachment problem I was having.   

[rafletcher]

I've been building a motor glider and someone at another place persuaded me to create a thread. So here's said thread, of an almost finished, somewhat shrunk Photon motorglider:
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/experimental-airlines-photon-build-4-5th-scale.72876/

Would self-clinching nuts be an option for the motor mount?

AKA Rivnuts?

[TheLurker]

Of cors if you flew proper models you wouldn't, as any fule kno, need all that fancy ironmongery.  
That looks good and we expect flight reports.

Take it, as you didn't make Trinity, that you got clobbered for Dad duties today?  Or did the wind drop enough to get some flight testing in?

Some snaps & video clips from today's Trinity

[DuncanM]

Yeah, dad taxi duties meant I couldn't make Trinity. And yesterday was good to fly, but today is super windy.
The self clinching nuts aren't rivnuts. They are the metal equivalent of the T-nuts that you can get that chew into wood.

[Kim]

I've been building a motor glider and someone at another place persuaded me to create a thread. So here's said thread, of an almost finished, somewhat shrunk Photon motorglider:
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/experimental-airlines-photon-build-4-5th-scale.72876/

Would self-clinching nuts be an option for the motor mount?

AKA Rivnuts?

Apparently not.  Though those look useful too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivet_nut
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swage_nut