RC Planes

Malt_Vinegar said:
How are you getting on with the wing?
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Not a great deal further, I have since put a couple carbon strips in it, taped the leading edge with glass fibre tape and bought/setup all the power/electronics. All I'm waiting on is to get some covering film, it came with covering tape which is ok but I figured film though trickier to apply would be better. I just need to buy it.

I've actually built a Bixler in the mean time as I figured it would be better to learn to fly on. It's all built, I just need to maiden it but with the weather being awful I haven't really had a chance, Saturday would have been perfect but I had other plans :(
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Col_M said:
Not a great deal further, I have since put a couple carbon strips in it, taped the leading edge with glass fibre tape and bought/setup all the power/electronics. All I'm waiting on is to get some covering film, it came with covering tape which is ok but I figured film though trickier to apply would be better. I just need to buy it.

I've actually built a Bixler in the mean time as I figured it would be better to learn to fly on. It's all built, I just need to maiden it but with the weather being awful I haven't really had a chance, Saturday would have been perfect but I had other plans :(
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On the wings I have built before, I just used tape, worked very well :) I would not worry about it too much. its going to get bashed about anyway, and will be easier and quicker to repair with tape too.

With the Bixler, I modified the main-spar on mine. I slid a smaller carbon spar inside it, and glued it with Gorilla glue. This made it MUCH stiffer, and much more pleasurable to fly. The spar that comes with it has too much flex imo, which makes it a bit lazy and "floppy" to fly. It also means it will not do anything energetic without the wings flapping about. Its a very simple fix, and really worthwhile :)
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
On the wings I have built before, I just used tape, worked very well :) I would not worry about it too much. its going to get bashed about anyway, and will be easier and quicker to repair with tape too.

With the Bixler, I modified the main-spar on mine. I slid a smaller carbon spar inside it, and glued it with Gorilla glue. This made it MUCH stiffer, and much more pleasurable to fly. The spar that comes with it has too much flex imo, which makes it a bit lazy and "floppy" to fly. It also means it will not do anything energetic without the wings flapping about. Its a very simple fix, and really worthwhile :)
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Cool, with regards to the wing you're probably right :) it'll probably take a beating so won't matter too much, It'll probably be worth getting another colour so the top and bottom are different for orientation :)

What bixler version did you modify the spar for? mine is a v1.1 and I've seen the v1 and v2 have different spar lengths and configurations.

Thanks! :)
 
Has anyone flown large scale planes?
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nope but if anyone lives in/near nottingham the rolls royce airfield in hucknall/bulwell (it's considered hucknall but it's next to the bulwell golfcourse/industrial estate)

seems to have some pretty good open to the public event days at least once a year for non club members to watch, there used to be some cool photos of them on the website but they seem to have been taken off
not just RC either when they do displays

possibly the worst website I ever saw http://www.hucknall-mac.org/ lol
Used to hate living near there as rolls royce would test jet engines every summer and even though I lived about 5 miles away it was still really loud
 
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Col_M said:
What bixler version did you modify the spar for? mine is a v1.1 and I've seen the v1 and v2 have different spar lengths and configurations.

Thanks! :)
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Not sure what version it was. I just decided after flying the first time it was a bit sloppy and disappointing for such a well received model . So used what I had around to make it better :)

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Made some progress on the spit.

Not sure how well this will take RC now. The wing/tail construction does not seem to really lend itself to articulated control surfaces. Will see what I can do to change it, but I dont want to add too much weight in the process.
 
Ok, so I bit the bullet, and made some ailerons, so looks like I might just go elevator/ailerons to keep the weight down.

spitprogress2.jpg


I have put the control surfaces quite close to the fuse and will run a single servo, centrally mounted to control them. I want it to be quite a lazy flyer. Just trying to work what to power it with. I have a some single cell 1300 packs I would like to use as they are very light weight, but finding a decent single cell (3.7v) ESC/motor combo is proving challenging! I also worry it might not quite be enough power to get it up.. So might have to buy in some 2S 2000 packs or something, and use a beefier/heavier motor, and just use the higher power to compensate and end up with a faster flying speed.

If I go bigger the motor/battery front, I think I will have to box out some of the fuse, and make a lift off compartment for the battery+esc in the nose.

I am also a little worried that the wing is very flat bottomed, so might have some interesting flight characteristics under power changes. I need to work out how I can round off the leading edge without adding too much weight, or altering the wing design too much!
 
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I've got a Spektrum DX6i. Just modded it to have a backlight using the kit from here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Turnigy-B...s_RadioControlled_JN&var=&hash=item2ed11c26c7

I went for the blue one. Now I've seen these 2 items

Vibration alert http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191143620...eName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

3M Screen protection http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spektrum-...sGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item2ed11c2a66

Have mailed the seller to ask if the vibration 'Extreme Kit Plug and Play' works with the screen plug and play.

Also been seeing a few mods using 2s Lipo's around the 400/500 mAH size and tempted to do it. One person got 7 hours out of his left running on a 350 mAH

Found a cracking deal on a wot 4 foam e mk2 with 2 lipo 2200 for £146 delivered which is tempting for a bit of fun
 
What screen are you using to view whilst you fly?
What video transmitter, seems odd to use a large cam like a go pro for fpv!
I just replaced my rudder servo on my bixler half an hour ago,was flying without it due to it hard locking right when plugged in. Will be nice to have yaw back again!
 
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I do not own any aircraft. But i did buy Real Flight 7 a couple of weeks ago, to try and learn.. I will say, flying an RC plane is a lot harder than you'd think.. Take off is easy enough, its getting back on the ground that's hard ! Lining it up from where you're at.. Maybe I'm just crap? I dunno... I definitely need a lot more practice, before i go with the real thing.
 
thedoc46 said:
I do not own any aircraft. But i did buy Real Flight 7 a couple of weeks ago, to try and learn.. I will say, flying an RC plane is a lot harder than you'd think.. Take off is easy enough, its getting back on the ground that's hard ! Lining it up from where you're at.. Maybe I'm just crap? I dunno... I definitely need a lot more practice, before i go with the real thing.
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I think a sim is a bad way to learn, it lacks the feel of a real model.
I learnt with an instructor, on a balsa framed model I built with his guidance. It took no more than 4 to 5 lessons to be able to go Solo and have flown off and on since on a variety of models.
The advantage of flying today though is that there are a lot of very tough, very cheap models readily available. So I figure it might be easier to just get a slow flying 4 channel park flyer and some spares and have a bash.
Should help you get the basics down quick enough.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
I think a sim is a bad way to learn, it lacks the feel of a real model.
I learnt with an instructor, on a balsa framed model I built with his guidance. It took no more than 4 to 5 lessons to be able to go Solo and have flown off and on since on a variety of models.
The advantage of flying today though is that there are a lot of very tough, very cheap models readily available. So I figure it might be easier to just get a slow flying 4 channel park flyer and some spares and have a bash.
Should help you get the basics down quick enough.
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When its coming back to me, i always manage to turn it the wrong way or nose dive the damn thing into the ground.. I feel like a woman reversing a car, with her foot stuck on the accelerator ! There's no stopping a plane in flight !

I guess i need to give it a little more patience. I'm good on RC cars and all... Planes which i thought i'd find easy, are a lot more challenging.
 
thedoc46 said:
When its coming back to me, i always manage to turn it the wrong way or nose dive the damn thing into the ground.. I feel like a woman reversing a car, with her foot stuck on the accelerator ! There's no stopping a plane in flight !

I guess i need to give it a little more patience. I'm good on RC cars and all... Planes which i thought i'd find easy, are a lot more challenging.
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Haha,
Try to imagine you are sitting in it, so in the same orientation as the aircraft at all times.
Also, when I was learning I used to give the wings a quick wiggle after a turn to help with figuring out orientation.
Its also a lot easier if you do long wide turns rather than lots of small turns as it helps you maintain the feel of the turn.
Eventually you will figure it out :)
 
thedoc46 said:
I do not own any aircraft. But i did buy Real Flight 7 a couple of weeks ago, to try and learn.. I will say, flying an RC plane is a lot harder than you'd think.. Take off is easy enough, its getting back on the ground that's hard ! Lining it up from where you're at.. Maybe I'm just crap? I dunno... I definitely need a lot more practice, before i go with the real thing.
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Malt_Vinegar said:
I think a sim is a bad way to learn, it lacks the feel of a real model.
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Disagree entirely. i learnt to fly helis on phoenix RC and without it i would have crashed my 450 numerous times and spent a godly amount repairing it. they most definitely have a place and for a learning tool there are perfectly suited.

How would you fly a plane on a rainy day? Sim

Doc, you're doing it the right (sensible? cheap?) way. i notice your in the US, get over to RCGRoups and find youre nearest club. there'll be plenty of people to help you get started.
 
Helis are a totally different matter..
However, I learnt to fly a heli myself. Self taught on a walkera years ago, so it is possible, but I think being a competent fixed wing pilot helps the learning process....

Anyway, a parkflyer is a great intro to the hobby nowerdays and does not require you to spend more than a 100 quid all in to get the basics down.

Just so I am clear though, if you want to learn more quickly and with less risk go to a local club and do the bmfa basic training to teach you to solo fast.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
What screen are you using to view whilst you fly?
What video transmitter, seems odd to use a large cam like a go pro for fpv!
I just replaced my rudder servo on my bixler half an hour ago,was flying without it due to it hard locking right when plugged in. Will be nice to have yaw back again!
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skyzone goggles. I want to record the video at the same time and the bixler2 is more than capable taking the weight. I have crow setup for landings so it comes down pretty floaty

its an ImmersionRC 5.8Ghz tx
 
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