Author Topic: Flights of Fancy  (Read 85073 times)

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #75 on: 15 December, 2018, 10:29:12 pm »
Haven't sorted out an alternative to flickr/smaug mug yet so you'll have to make do with the thumbnails at the bottom of this post.

http://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa_forum/index.php?topic=11333.msg234731#msg234731
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #76 on: 21 February, 2019, 08:00:00 pm »
Ordinarily this sort of thing should go in the "I'm a Div" thread, but it's a bit niche so it's here.

Everything seemed to be going so well too.  Read how things degenerate after this post.  Who forgot to check the source plan against a three view?
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #77 on: 21 February, 2019, 10:07:32 pm »
:D :D :D
Getting there...

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #78 on: 22 February, 2019, 11:28:26 am »
"Access Forbidden"

That which Man was Not Meant to Know?
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #79 on: 22 February, 2019, 12:09:49 pm »
"Access Forbidden"

That which Man was Not Meant to Know?

There's Lurker's problem, the source plan's geometry was non-Euclidian.  :demon:

Joking apart, the link works for me, so maybe the server had a funny five minutes...
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #80 on: 22 February, 2019, 01:22:41 pm »
"Access Forbidden"

That which Man was Not Meant to Know?
Aye, look not upon these works mortal lest ye be forever accursed. :)

Have another go, there have been intermittent probs. with the HPA server.  You should have read access.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #81 on: 22 February, 2019, 01:53:28 pm »
I'm saying nothing.  The one I have like this is in the attic, stripped of everything re-usable.  After only 2 flights.  That's a couple of hundred hours I'll never get back.

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #82 on: 23 February, 2019, 07:26:09 am »
Quote from: AndyTheFlyer
... That's a couple of hundred hours I'll never get back.
That must be deeply galling.  I'm not too upset as there's not that much sunk cost in this one and it was planned as a shakedown build of the plan to take account of revisions I'd made so the possibility of it being a complete failure was built into my expectations.  It's more a case of feeling very silly for having taken on trust a plan of a type in active service drawn up in the middle of a war with very few or no decent reference documents available.
 
Anyway, after much swithering I've redrawn the fuselage plan.  If you hop over to my build thread on HPA my last post has a couple  of attachments showing the current state of things.  There's a "make it bigger button" on the thumbnail viewer which I recommend you click if you do have a dekko. There still some minor tinkering to be done, odd gusset here and there, shuffling of UC mounting points, but I should be in a position to start on a new fuselage in the next few days.

Lurk.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #83 on: 02 March, 2019, 06:40:01 pm »
Well I managed to keep my WOT4 in the sky for a full 5 minutes without my instructor having to rescue it.

Still nowhere near landing yet. Not easy this, especially in today's wind.

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #84 on: 03 March, 2019, 08:16:13 am »
Well I managed to keep my WOT4 in the sky for a full 5 minutes without my instructor having to rescue it.

Still nowhere near landing yet. Not easy this, especially in today's wind.

Well done!  They are brilliant models, as is the Wots Wot.  They fly accurately, you can aerobat them all day, they are tough, and although you can wring their necks once you build up some skill, they will also fly slowly and calmly if you so desire.  Great on a sultry summer's afternoon.

I 'retired' mine 3 years ago because I always took it to the strip and usually flew it rather than my more challenging twins.  I needed to wean myself off it.  But now I've restored it so I can get my act together and do my 'B' this year.

Whilst you need to build up to landings (they are compulsory you know) sometimes a breezy day is easier to fly in than a calm one with a Wot4.  They float for miles on finals if you don't have a headwind.  I've put flaps on mine for that eventuality.

If you haven't already, screw the undercart on with nylon bolts - that will save the undercarriage plate in the event of an arrival, but you'll need some spares too! ModelFixings have loads of nylon bolts.

Keep us posted on progress!

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #85 on: 03 March, 2019, 12:27:02 pm »
Well I managed to keep my WOT4 in the sky for a full 5 minutes without my instructor having to rescue it.
Dead impressed cos I haven't got clue when it comes to RC stuff.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Vince

  • Can't climb; won't climb
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #86 on: 03 March, 2019, 12:47:51 pm »
If you hop over to my build thread on HPA my last post has a couple  of attachments showing the current state of things. 

You called the plane Fat Boab????
216km from Marsh Gibbon

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #87 on: 03 March, 2019, 02:00:30 pm »
If you hop over to my build thread on HPA my last post has a couple  of attachments showing the current state of things. 

You called the plane Fat Boab????

I did.  A nod to my, "Sunday Post" reading childhood.  However fuselage No.1 has been scrapped as above and construction of No. 2, christened, with as fine a sense of irony as one could hope to find, "Wee Eck", is well underway.

Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #88 on: 03 March, 2019, 02:49:09 pm »
If you hop over to my build thread on HPA my last post has a couple  of attachments showing the current state of things. 

You called the plane Fat Boab????

I did.  A nod to my, "Sunday Post" reading childhood.  However fuselage No.1 has been scrapped as above and construction of No. 2, christened, with as fine a sense of irony as one could hope to find, "Wee Eck", is well underway.

Ah, you knew it made sense!  On maiden day the extra few hours building No. 2 will all be forgotten as the beautiful, refined, graceful lines of the Horsa clump around the sky like a lead brick, before cropping the grass to ground level in a perfect maiden flight. You know I'm right!  It'll all be worth it, and more importantly, you know it was the right thing to do. 

Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #89 on: 04 March, 2019, 08:43:30 am »
Well I managed to keep my WOT4 in the sky for a full 5 minutes without my instructor having to rescue it.

Still nowhere near landing yet. Not easy this, especially in today's wind.

Well done!  They are brilliant models, as is the Wots Wot.  They fly accurately, you can aerobat them all day, they are tough, and although you can wring their necks once you build up some skill, they will also fly slowly and calmly if you so desire.  Great on a sultry summer's afternoon.

I 'retired' mine 3 years ago because I always took it to the strip and usually flew it rather than my more challenging twins.  I needed to wean myself off it.  But now I've restored it so I can get my act together and do my 'B' this year.

Whilst you need to build up to landings (they are compulsory you know) sometimes a breezy day is easier to fly in than a calm one with a Wot4.  They float for miles on finals if you don't have a headwind.  I've put flaps on mine for that eventuality.

If you haven't already, screw the undercart on with nylon bolts - that will save the undercarriage plate in the event of an arrival, but you'll need some spares too! ModelFixings have loads of nylon bolts.

Keep us posted on progress!

Thanks for the tips Andy.

That was my 5th visit to the field with it, so probably about 40 mins actually on the sticks, I can see progress every time I go up, the first time was hilarious - every time I tried to turn it'd just plummet, being a total noob to flying it's a great example of theory vs reality. As I say I'm getting there, need to work on flying rectangles as opposed to ellipses, weirdly I find flying a figure of eight easier than I can a rectangle, but the A test wants rectangles not ellipses and the club don't let you fly on your own without an A.

I'm in no hurry with it and the club seems ok, never been a 'club person' so this was a bit of a worry, but the folks seem ok and the set-up is good - we've got two strips, one of which is shared with Lancs Aero Club so it's uber long along with a couple of portacabins for brewing / charging/ hiding from the rain. I've been using Picasim on the PC with a dongle and can get that to land about half the time.

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #90 on: 04 March, 2019, 11:21:02 am »
Thanks for the tips Andy.

That was my 5th visit to the field with it, so probably about 40 mins actually on the sticks, I can see progress every time I go up, the first time was hilarious - every time I tried to turn it'd just plummet, being a total noob to flying it's a great example of theory vs reality. As I say I'm getting there, need to work on flying rectangles as opposed to ellipses, weirdly I find flying a figure of eight easier than I can a rectangle, but the A test wants rectangles not ellipses and the club don't let you fly on your own without an A.

I'm in no hurry with it and the club seems ok, never been a 'club person' so this was a bit of a worry, but the folks seem ok and the set-up is good - we've got two strips, one of which is shared with Lancs Aero Club so it's uber long along with a couple of portacabins for brewing / charging/ hiding from the rain. I've been using Picasim on the PC with a dongle and can get that to land about half the time.
You are doing the right thing by learning with a club - model aeroplanes can be deadly if they get away from you, and flying with others in a club will instil strip and circuit discipline - and you'll enjoy the challenge of improving too.  And the round of applause you'll get from a greased landing will be very heart-warming!

By now you'll have twigged bank and yank to keep the altitude constant in a turn, and hopefully the reversal of the aileron stick when flying towards you.  If you have difficulty in maintaining level flight have a look at exponential on the elevator stick - you can de-sensitise the control around the mid point so it makes it less sensitive in straight and level.

Landing is not that hard - don't fly too slowly or you'll end up with a stall or a hard landing as it drops suddenly. It's a bit counter-intuitive and I used to fly too slowly all the time.  Fly in a bit faster and you'll have more control (or. conversely, smaller bits to pick up...…)

It's all about throttle (you may need to keep blipping it to bring it home) and the flare near the ground with the elevator - that expo can help here.  As the ground effect kicks in you need less elevator, so de-sensitising the elevator can help. If you fly too slowly, you lose elevator authority.

There's no better sensation than a greased landing - on the odd occasions I manage it it gives me a real buzz.

And learn to land in both directions!

Keep going - loads to learn, and you'll soon get your A. No stopping you then!  Which club are you with?

Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #91 on: 04 March, 2019, 12:30:47 pm »
I'm with Warrington Model Club, I did several months of research about learning this before buying and visited a couple of clubs before settling on this one because they were so helpful and welcoming initially.

Level flight is pretty much there, aileron reversal came naturally from years of racing model cars. Throttle is probably my biggest struggle at the minute, I have a tendency to just leave it set which means I zoom downwind and crawl back into the wind (in terms of ground speed). Started to solve this on Saturday, 33 mph gusts meant I had no choice when it started flying backwards briefly. My throttle approach means I tend to just cut it and try and bring it in deadstick, which has always resulted in going around and my instructor bringing it in.

My second biggest problem is silhouetting but I've made progress with this and am hoping a pair of glasses without a cyano-acrylate fingerprint in the middle of one lense will help.

I'm enjoying the challenge and it's big change for me to do something with a social side to it, looking at going on the club weekend thing to Weston Model Show.

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #92 on: 04 March, 2019, 03:08:52 pm »
As you have found, orientation is a challenge - contrasting top and bottom sides will help - all white aeroplanes are hard to orientate.

Deadstick landings eventually result in re-kitting (DAMHIKT)! Get the hang of blipping the throttle on finals, tickover to maybe 50% for a second, then back to tickover.  That'll keep it flying if you need speed.  And you need a reliable tickover (unless of course you are leccy!).

Not been to Weston, I've always thought of it as being very commercial.

If you want a real drool though, try the LMA show at Cosford - usually June/July.  Big models, well flown and not too many trade stands. Mostly hand built, fantastically finished, and some model aeroplanes you'll not see at Weston for sure. And the on-site RAF museum is open and free on the day too.

I fly at Sleap, just S of Wem.  Tarmac runway, open all year, flying every day the weather allows. Cafe on site! Visitors with A's welcome.

Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #93 on: 04 March, 2019, 03:26:51 pm »
Thanks Andy.

Where I'd like to get to is flying something I've built myself, but for the time being I'm happy with my lump of foam. I've seen you guys flying at Sleap when I was DIY audaxing regularly to Baschurch.

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #94 on: 04 March, 2019, 05:33:26 pm »
Thanks Andy.

Where I'd like to get to is flying something I've built myself, but for the time being I'm happy with my lump of foam. I've seen you guys flying at Sleap when I was DIY audaxing regularly to Baschurch.

That gladdens my heart.  I've been building my own aeroplanes, mostly from plan, for maybe 20 years, and I look back on what I made then and compare it with my skills now - I've learned so much.

Steve Webb is good for building materials and parts, and so is Martin Simmonds in Whitchurch.

Building your own airframe is hugely rewarding - TheLurker will I'm sure concur. But, and it's a big but, you tend to have so much emotional investment you get very protective of what you've built and maybe don't fly in conditions that you could.  So, keep the foamie WOT4 for the less ideal days, and when you do get to build your own, you'll have something to fly when the conditions are just not quite right for the pride and job. 

We builders are rare beasts these days, but I build aeroplanes that you can't buy online or in your LMS, so when I turn up at the strip (and that's not often enough these days) the others always ask what I've brought today!  Mostly i/c twins these days.


Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #95 on: 04 March, 2019, 06:39:38 pm »
I've got a couple Parc Amber planes under the stairs. One I (mostly) built myself and one of my dad's. I really should dust them off but without a car getting to a flying field is a bit of an ask.

Haven't flown since we used a squadron of FUs to spread my granddad's ashes which was years ago now. Parc Amber was my granddad's company so it seemed fitting.
Miles cycled 2014 = 3551.5 (Target 7300 :()
Miles cycled 2013 = 6141.4
Miles cycled 2012 = 4038.1

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #96 on: 04 March, 2019, 07:53:06 pm »
Quote from: andytheflyer
Building your own airframe is hugely rewarding ...
Aye.

Quote from: andytheflyer
...you tend to have so much emotional investment you get very protective of what you've built and maybe don't fly in conditions that you could. 
There's some truth in that but one of the nice things about building your own (plan or kit) is that short of doing this sort of thing you can always get them flying again.  Then again you could always take up freeflight; it teaches you to be really rather sanguine about less than ideal landings. :)
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #97 on: 05 March, 2019, 11:36:08 am »
... is that short of doing this sort of thing you can always get them flying again...

'For today we have naming of parts'

Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #98 on: 06 March, 2019, 12:34:34 am »
Thanks Andy.

Where I'd like to get to is flying something I've built myself, but for the time being I'm happy with my lump of foam. I've seen you guys flying at Sleap when I was DIY audaxing regularly to Baschurch.

Check out Flitetest.com. This is how I got into the hobby. From very simple to somewhat complex foamboard planes that are remarkably resilient.
You can often re-use the electronics and a bad crash with cost you a couple of pieces of foamboard (~3 quid).
It will teach you most of the fundamentals of building, flying , crashing, repairing without breaking the bank and many builds can be completed in a couple of evenings rather than a couple of months. (or years, in some peoples case).

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: Flights of Fancy
« Reply #99 on: 06 March, 2019, 08:18:55 am »
….. and many builds can be completed in a couple of evenings rather than a couple of months. (or years, in some peoples case).

Er, years.  My Twin Beech took me over 3 years (but I was working in Turkey at the time), my Grumman GA-7 took me a couple of years - both plan built.  But I did turn around my Airsail Auster 1/4 scale in about 4 months - but I was on sick leave at the time.