Flights of Fancy

[andytheflyer]

Brave man.  You put all that emotional investment into a model, then you propel it into the aether with a big rubber band and hope it comes down a) in one piece, and b) somewhere that you can get it back.

Brave man.  At least I get a modicum of choice over where I bring it back to earth.  Usually.  Well, within 50m anyway.

Does it need a tad of down trim?

[TheLurker]

Brave man.  You put all that emotional investment into a model then you propel it...

That's one of the things I like about smallish stick & tissue gliders, especially slab-siders.  They're fairly cheap and quick to build.  Only a week or 3 unlike the 3 year projects you go for.   So although you do get a bit upset when they come to their, inevitable, sticky end it's a shame, but not heart-breaking. Let's face it; in this hobby gravity is always going to win in the long run, the best you can hope for is a decent string of no score draws before that.

... choice over where I bring it back to earth.  Usually.  Well, within 50m anyway.

Ach havers man. It came down in the same county. What more do you need?

Does it need a tad of down trim?

It needed a touch more weight up front.  I'd trimmed it for the very calm conditions prevailing at the beginning of the session, but the breeze was building and a bit gusty by the time I bothered to record any footage.  Slapped some blu-tack on which got rid of that "stally" behaviour you can see.

[TheLurker]

Been boring AndyTheFlyer with this one for a few weeks now.  One off the ark.  A 1948 design from Roland Scott, the Walthew MK II, which had been on my build list since summer of '73.  Finally got hold of a fairly grubby and partly illegible PDF copy of the plan at the beginning of June which I was able to tidy up in Inkscape using an old, but legible, photo of the plan.  For those that are sufficiently interested I've posted the cleaned up plan and some other bits and bobs on both Outerzone and Hip Pocket Aeronautics Plans Gallery.  And yes, the tumbler was put to a more appropriate and celebratory use after the photo. shoot.

{edited to remove dead links to deleted flickr acct}

[TheLurker]

It flies.  Have managed to coax it up to 27s so far.  Hoping to improve on that with a longer tow/bungee when I can get it out to a field larger than my proving ground.   This flight is about 22s.

[TheLurker]

Don't think this is general interest so dumping it here.

For U.K. viewers and those who can fool their various on-demand players into thinking they're in the UK.

Channel 4 20:00 BST (1900 GMT)
"Battle of Britain : Model Squadron"  Part 1 of a 3 part series.
Recreation of significant BoB events using RC models. 

No idea whether it's any good or not. No idea whether or not there'll be a decent amount of detail about the models or not.  Have to suck it and see.

I was going to link to Channel 4's website, but it uses that well known virus vector Adobe Flash player so I won't.

[andytheflyer]

No idea whether it's any good or not. No idea whether or not there'll be a decent amount of detail about the models or not.  Have to suck it and see.

I've put it on to record, but TBH I'm not exactly expecting any discussion of the relative merits of Laser engines over MOKIs, or air over electric retracts...…

I am expecting to see a number of plastic almost-ready-to-fly electric sanitised super-clean lumps of far-eastern irreparable tat bite the dust though.  Good.  As long as no lovingly and painstakingly hand-built realistically-scaled and detailed models bite the dust.

If you want to fly them, learn to build them first...... (..puts on tin helmet and crawls under a stone...)

[TheLurker]

Model Squadron.  Don't think I'll bother with parts 2 & 3.

[TheLurker]

Documentary on the recovery of a PRU Spitfire serial AA810. Wreck recovered in "good" condition and is to be rebuilt.

 - BBC4
 - Wednesday 28th Nov.

Some background here :
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/spitfire-norway-mountain-great-escape-pilot-found-second-world-war-nazi-raf-espionage-alastair-gunn-a8646841.html

Ionic Wind Power proved feasible.  Looks like it might be a fun technology for us (aeromodellers) at some point in the future.

Rubbish article title.  They seem to have overlooked gliders, should be first ever powered aeroplane with no moving parts.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/21/first-ever-plane-with-no-moving-parts-takes-flight

[ElyDave]

I had the same reaction when I saw that this morning.

[philip]

Nine coupled planes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrJgoQz5wSU

A description of the controls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWGqs3zqttA
Driving the 9 elevators differentially gives roll control, driving the 9 motors differentially gives yaw control.

[jiberjaber]

Nine coupled planes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrJgoQz5wSU

A description of the controls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWGqs3zqttA
Driving the 9 elevators differentially gives roll control, driving the 9 motors differentially gives yaw control.

Similar, Red Arrows at Mill Hill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Lkf2he0Po

[andytheflyer]

Nine coupled planes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrJgoQz5wSU

A description of the controls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWGqs3zqttA
Driving the 9 elevators differentially gives roll control, driving the 9 motors differentially gives yaw control.

That guy has waaay too much time on his hands.  Very impressive catch on t/o though - I was fairly certain he wasn't going to make it in the first few seconds.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Rubbish article title.  They seem to have overlooked gliders, should be first ever powered aeroplane with no moving parts.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/21/first-ever-plane-with-no-moving-parts-takes-flight

Erm, aren't gliders 'unpowered'?

[T42]

Ionic Wind Power proved feasible.  Looks like it might be a fun technology for us (aeromodellers) at some point in the future.

Rubbish article title.  They seem to have overlooked gliders, should be first ever powered aeroplane with no moving parts.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/21/first-ever-plane-with-no-moving-parts-takes-flight

All I saw in the video was a hand- or catapult-launched glider. Or did it land even sooner with the engine off?

[TheLurker]

Rubbish article title.  They seem to have overlooked gliders, should be first ever powered aeroplane with no moving parts.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/21/first-ever-plane-with-no-moving-parts-takes-flight

Erm, aren't gliders 'unpowered'?

Yeah, good point.     

Although in my defence I will say your, wholly accurate, remark reinforces just how badly titled the article was and anyway the gliders *I* build don't have moving parts.  Who needs moving control surfaces any way? New fangled rubbish.

[Beardy]

Having had a moment of flying a glider without ailerons when a jetesoned tow rope briefly jammed in one of them, I’d say that I’m a BIG supporter of control surfaces. 🤓

[andytheflyer]

Documentary on the recovery of a PRU Spitfire serial AA810. Wreck recovered in "good" condition and is to be rebuilt.

 - BBC4
 - Wednesday 28th Nov.

Some background here :
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/spitfire-norway-mountain-great-escape-pilot-found-second-world-war-nazi-raf-espionage-alastair-gunn-a8646841.html

Looks like a good excuse to surreptitiously watch the presenter....again…...

[ElyDave]

having read that, I'll definitely be watching

EDIT - And Neil Oliver on the Vikings beforehand, seems like a good evening - I'm currently reading his book

[rafletcher]

Documentary on the recovery of a PRU Spitfire serial AA810. Wreck recovered in "good" condition and is to be rebuilt.

Hmm, didn't look to be in that good a condition.

[andytheflyer]

Documentary on the recovery of a PRU Spitfire serial AA810. Wreck recovered in "good" condition and is to be rebuilt.

Hmm, didn't look to be in that good a condition.

They said they'd found 70% of the aeroplane.  But nothing seemed to be bigger than a backpack.  Not sure I'd fancy flying a re-built aeroplane when the spars had been re-assembled from scraps of aluminium!

If it ever flies again, it'll be a completely new airframe, with a new engine, and maybe the original makers plate.  When I crash a model aeroplane that completely (rarely these days, thankfully), the bits go in a bin bag, and then the bin, having recovered the re-usable bits first.  That's where this one's heading.

[ElyDave]

Quite,  I think more a case of using the original as a pattern rather than rebuilding it. 

It looked more like an AAIB case to me.

[TheLurker]

Documentary on the recovery of a PRU Spitfire serial AA810. Wreck recovered in "good" condition and is to be rebuilt.

Hmm, didn't look to be in that good a condition.

Not that surprised and I wasn't expecting it to be in terribly good condition at all hence the quote marks in my summary, but it does sound as though either the journalist or the reconstruction team were over-egging the pudding.

[Zipperhead]

If it ever flies again, it'll be a completely new airframe, with a new engine, and maybe the original makers plate.  When I crash a model aeroplane that completely (rarely these days, thankfully), the bits go in a bin bag, and then the bin, having recovered the re-usable bits first.  That's where this one's heading.

I had an interesting with someone not long ago, not a person given to bullshitting. He was telling me about the Hurricane that he bought. He'd heard that it has crashed in a field and was still there. He went and agreed a price for it with the farmer and brought in a digger to excavate the approximately 1m cube (he showed me the pictures). Because the manufacturers plate was intact he sold the wreckage on a few weeks later for a 50% mark up - and it was "restored" to flying condition.

[bomber]

In the interests of balance, I think I should also rule out Bomber's current vehicle

Smaller than some UAVs!
Although definitely not fly by wire :-p

[Jakob W]

If it ever flies again, it'll be a completely new airframe, with a new engine, and maybe the original makers plate.  When I crash a model aeroplane that completely (rarely these days, thankfully), the bits go in a bin bag, and then the bin, having recovered the re-usable bits first.  That's where this one's heading.

I had an interesting with someone not long ago, not a person given to bullshitting. He was telling me about the Hurricane that he bought. He'd heard that it has crashed in a field and was still there. He went and agreed a price for it with the farmer and brought in a digger to excavate the approximately 1m cube (he showed me the pictures). Because the manufacturers plate was intact he sold the wreckage on a few weeks later for a 50% mark up - and it was "restored" to flying condition.

IIRC having the maker's plate means that you can register the rebuild with the CAA as a restauration rather than a new-build, which makes life easier from a regulatory point of view. This seems like a bit of a daft loophole, but I suppose it's unlikely to be seriously abused.