PCLinuxOS

This post is coming to you (if anyone reads it), from my Toshiba laptop running PCLinuxOS 2010 running Enlightenment. Its running from a USB stick so I can still run Windows 7. The only issue I have is the sound is not loud enough and full volume everything doesn't fix it. It recognised my default screen resolution, my wireless card and everything is going well (the fonts can be a let down). It appears to put less load on the laptop as the fan hardly comes on whereas with Windows 7 it comes on all the time!

Magnum Control Line Stunter

I have a control line stunter; a Magnum built from scratch (not a foam wing). It is a two piece model which makes transport easier. Powered by a OS46LA which gives a great run. I'm sorting out the same size insides and outsides.

Monday Evenings at Te Whiti Park

Yay, its spring again in New Zealand and that means daylight saving which means... Monday evenings flying at Te Whiti park for park flys and gliders. Here is a shot of the models and flyers who turned up for the Monday of Labour weekend.

Enya 40SS

This is my Enya 40 SS glow engine. I had an "incident" where the rc carb had the fast needle broken off and none of my other carbs would fix so it will be a control line stunt engine. Norm has turned a venturi (thanks Norm) and I just need to fit it. As the Enya has no backplate, I needed to take the front bearing housing off to check there is no dirt in the engine after the "incident". Its fine so I only need to reassemble it.

DC3 at Taupo

Went to Taupo for a couple of days for a break. Here is the DC3 on stilts at McDonalds Taupo. Unfortunately they have closed it due to vandalism (can't people keep their hands to themselves).

Explorer 60 Test flight

Well I test flew her 2 weeks ago and she flys well. I did two flights and all circuits to ensure everything was fine. Engine went well. No rolls as the ailerons need more throw (I have rates on). I did one loop and that was fine. I also wanted to adjust the sticks on the rc unit to give a bit more pressure.

Explorer 60 Repaired

Here is a picture of the fixed fuselage. Test flew it yesterday and it flys well. I braced the fuselage and also made a hatch for the fuel tank (which is really too low - the engine will go rich when inverted I suspect). The engine is a GMS 47 with an ASP carb and ASP muffler. Note the engine is mounted on metal plates. If you don't, over time, the wood mounts will crush (which they have already started to do).

Explorer 60 Fuselage fixup

Well I purchased a second hand Explorer 60 for my hack model but the first flight was a disaster and resulted in damage to the fuselage. The wing was only slightly damaged but the fuselage required more repairs. First of all the fuselage is all 2mm (or so) plywood with thicker ply engine bearers (the tail feathers are built up balsa). I suspect the ply is laser cut but even so the joins could be better. I think that the fuselage is less damaged than I thought as it is there is a bit of flex in it due to only limited bracing. First of all I will make a hatch for entry to the tank area. It is sealed and the tank is pushed in from the back end. This is ok but to repair it you need access to the tank area to beef it up so I cut away the top hatch.

Kyosho foamie

This is the front end of my Kyosho high wing trainer type model. It has a foam fuselage and a builtup wing (about 48" in wingspan). I now have a Turnigy brushless on the front which is a similar size to the previous brushless motor. Note the lead, its too tail heavy so needed it to get it to balance.

Spirit Electric Glider Flight

I put my small video capture gizmo on the wing of the Spirit and captured a flight from Trentham. The flight was 26 minutes long. It was a bit bumpy. The Spirit doesn't penetrate very well (maybe I need to weight it). Here is a screen shot of from the flight. Not very sharp but I suspect its a plastic lens. Editted highlights? of the flight is here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAcC_GKr0Ow

Spirit Electric Glider Flys

Well the forecast for today was improving weather and once the mist cleared from Upper Hutt, it was great. Test flew the electric spirit and she flew very well. Had an approx 45 minute flight, the air was quite bouyant. Got a good thermal over the golf club and got to about 700 ft. Great fun.

Spirit Electric Glider

I had a Spirit glider sitting in the garage and decided to make it electric (actually I have 2 spirit gliders in the garage, one I built 15 years ago and the other I bought cheap). The bought one was not as well build as mine (ha ha)- well the tailplane is a bit warped and I did consider replacing it but I haven't, so that is the one I decided to convert. I bought a Turnigy brushless equivalent to a 0.12 ic motor which should be big enough (maybe too big!!). Its all ready to go now. Its winter so the flying weather can be a bit few and far between. I have run up the engine (why is it that when you first connect it up it goes the wrong way ;o), programmed the ESC so we are all ready to go. Using a fixed 9x5 prop for the first few flights to see how she goes.

TW 747 Brushless Motor

Here is the brushless motor I put on this. Has a 8x4 prop being driven directly. The geared 370 electric engine does not give the model much performance; the brushless has given it a lift.

Modified TW747 Cessna

This is my TW747 Cessna which I have modified to have a brushless motor. I'm new to electrics and therefore are not exactly sure what motor should be matched with what model and what prop should be matched with what motor. Anyway the TW747 has a geared 370 brushed motor which does not have much spare power (full throttle to climb). I am using 2 cell lipo's so we shall see how she flys. Update - she flys (flew it between the showers). Bit more power than the 370 geared motor, but not the improvement I expected. I am pleased with the result though. I will buy some more lipo's so I can fly more in one session.

OS40LA Stunt

Welcome to June 2010 ;o)

I bought a OS 40LA to put it in a stunter which had a OS 40FP. Actually the first engine I bought off Trademe was a worn out "special". The liner had lost most of its nickel coating!! So thats in the spare parts bin unless the seller feels he misrepresented the engine and refunds me the money. Anyway, I got another LA off a fellow club member. I reassembled the engine and put the stunt venturi from the FP in it and bingo we have a stunt engine. Ran it this morning with a 10x6 Master Airscrew and it appears to run well on the ground. If the weather was better I would take the plane out but alas its too windy.

Facebook

I'm not a member of Facebook and I don't tweet. Am I any lesser of a person, no. I don't have 20 million Facebook friends and I don't care (in fact I only have a few close friends). I can see other peoples friends (where the privacy settings allow) and its a bit weird really. And as for tweets, I don't really want to know what you had for breakfast, lunch or even dinner. I'm busy enough as it is without people tweeting me, or me tweeting.

Another view of the Cessna 185 EP

Yes, another view of this model.

Cessna 185 foamie flies

Well I have now flown this model about 5 times and it flies well except for the fact that the wing flexes in flight. I am thinking of ways of strengthening it. Today I tried aeros and rolls rather well, flies inverted with a little down elevator. Given the wing flex, you just have to fly smoothly. I am very happy with the model. It flys well with a 0.35 engine. I suspect a heavy .25 would be fine.

Cessna 185 Test Flight

I installed a OS S35 RC which, as it turns out, has plenty of power. I test flew it at the weekend and it flew well. Note that I have installed fullsize servos rather than the 13g servos recommended. Also replaced the pushrods with Dubro wire pushrods for much better control (I left the tail wheel pushrod in and when the servo pushes, it hardly responds!! ). The wing tends to flex a bit in flight but I will have to avoid too many aerobatics.

Cessna 185 Assembly starts

Well I started work on the fuselage. At the risk of the questioning of what am I doing, I am going to put a .35 engine in it (yes!!). So I am beefing up the firewall and unfortunately have to cut the cowl.

Just a warning. Don't use the supplied pushrods (unless you support the routing through the fuselage. They are not up to the job. I am replacing mine with Dubro pushrods. Also use epoxy to support critical joints such as where the wings are bolted to the fuselage (see photo).

Cessna 185 foamie

Well I spied this model on Trademe (our version of EBay). For $NZ99 plus freight, it was a great buy and the wingspan is 1400mm which is quite large. It arrived today in a surprisingly small box and even included a propellor. It is made in Taiwan rather than China by Super Flying Model. There is very little information about the model on their website but as I have constructed one or two models in my time, it should be a straightforward build. It is not bad quality but I will no doubt change a few things. You can use flaps but I doubt I will use them given it will be quite light. Here are some pictures.

Spektrum 5 channel 2.4GHz radio set

I have purchased one of these due to apparent interference problems at our flying field on 40MHz. Put it in a .40 size pattern model and had a few flights but had an 'incident' where the model had a hard landing and damaged the fuselage. The model suddenly started flying erractically as though suffering from interference. I have 'learnt' a couple of things... 1. Use a 6V battery pack which gives a bigger safety margin over a 4.8V 2. Don't use 'old' Futaba servos with Spektrum sets. I didn't even give it a thought but it seems that Futaba S128 don't necessarily go with Spektrum receivers. Anyway use more modern servos.

The Spektrum is now in a .25 size model and we have flown it on a number of occasions are all is fine (6V battery pack and no S128 servos).

JBA 52A

This engine looks similar to the OS46AX but as I don't have an OS AX (46 or 55), I can't compare them. This is an ABC type piston liner and twin ballrace design. I had some initial problems setting the idle mixture but that has been sorted (I would have thought that the idle mixture would have been fairly close when the engine is sold but that was not the case). Anyway the engine is still being run in, but it is a good performer. There is also a 46 size.

Sunday Flying at WMAC

This is our flying field at Trentham Upper Hutt. We have a prison in the background (behind the trees)!!

New Era III

Thanks to a fellow club member, he sold me this model, a New Era III. It is powered by an OS 25FP so it is economic to run. Alas the other night I had control issues and she hit the ground a wee bit hard. It is now a slightly second hand Era III. It is repairable and she should be back in the air fairly soon.

Bring back Schweppes Orange

Many years ago as a young boy, having finished my paper round, and being hot on a warm norwest day, I would stop at the local dairy and purchase a bottle of Schweppes Orange. Now that was one orange drink to quench your thirst. You can no longer get it (not sure when Schweppes dropped it from their range). Now of course we have Duet, which is nice but it doesn't have quite that orange tang. I would love to see it back especially when we have lime which I think is a fairly recent addition to the range.

NZMAA Nats 2009/2010

Here are some of the models lined up for F2B. Note that the model in the foreground has a 0.52 four stroke. Flys well too. Came fourth I understand. The model up the front is a Magnum powered by an ST 60.

NZMAA Model Plane Nationals 2009/2010

These are currently on at Carterton, New Zealand. Weather has been rather windy especially today, 2nd January 2010, contol line team race has been postponed 3 times so far. Here are some of the flyers in the RC Scale Aerobatics class.