Wid's Jet Thread

[WIDDOG]

I went looking for my lost red electric FF model today. I could not find it. There is a stream that runs through the Hollow. I am thinking the model went down in the stream and got washed away. Oh well the family dog got a nice walk.

BTW I also can't find the panda bear.

[Steve Blanchard]

you really can't find the Panda?

[WIDDOG]

Well now that you asked I was able to find the Panda. Thanks I'm going to give the model another search.

[Bill Gaylord]

I have a jet that had insufficient sized ailerons. Managed to tangle with power lines and came down. Actually had minimal damage, and is now a decent flying model. One of the nacelles came off and got stuck about 15 feet in tree branches. Of course it was the camo painted side that was facing down, and not the blue side. It was right by the creek, and I knew pretty much exactly where it should be. Spent quite a while in water and mud, before I finally decided to look up and find it. The camo blended in REALLY well with the tree and it's leaves.

I keep thinking about Star Wars, with the model I'm building now. The wing really looks like something from Star Wars.

[WIDDOG]

Wow Bill great models/story... BTW Bill i want you to comment on this test video. Now to be fair it was windy weather. I was testing Plantraco RC gear. Basically instead of a timer I wanted to use a RC 1 ch RC throttle. I understand it could be the wind but seems a little bit heavy and under powered. https://youtu.be/gwlfR2aVBtI

[davidchoate]

That was a good maiden try. It was flight. The reason no one put you down on the C-130 thread was it was not a failure. I can not remember really but a couple of threads on here I refer back to a lot, and that is one of them. You have a very good approach to taking just drawings ,and applying the most basic data, and all by yourself with a low budget to achieving very good results. If You ever do a 2nd C-130 how much a head start You have. You always pre-apolagize for yor videos. This gets Me to watch for disaster value, and I'm always like "whats he mean failure?". If it's windy it's relly hard to fly these super light RC. It's like a rip tide. You gotta work your way paralell to shore and not panick. I once had a foam light trainer pointed directly facing me at full power and be taken backwards into a tree. nearer the ground seems calmer, but risky as well. I find myself a lot more patient now, and will not do a 1st attempt unless perfect weather. Like NASA when they do a rocket loss. If You were to put a lead weight in the middle and "sling shot " a plane, is it still flying, or does it become ballistics?

[WIDDOG]

Thanks David good advice and good points. I like and get more from reading posts than I do from writing them. I figure good or bad at least I'm posting. I am definitely getting better at both model building and posting.

The videos are very frustrating for me. I like to think I'm a good photographer. I have no problems with my models being you know less than perfect. However, I hold a very high standard for my videos. I'm not even close to where I want to be on videos. Also my videos are not getting better they are getting worse and worse. I will keep trying with the videos.

I am still celebrating my first OOS out of sight flight. I think I found what I've been looking for in the form of Electric free flight. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against rubber power. I just can't help to think that if they had the batteries like we have today back then... well maybe electric free flight would be more popular now.

I find that with electric free flight the hard part is gathering the gear. Not only does the gear have to be gathered it has to work together. Once the gear is gathered and works the project becomes much more straight forward.

[davidchoate]

When a young lad I found the whole rubber band thing annoying. I installed Co2 motor in my Guillows biplanes and had great success. If they were available still. I would be more active in FF. And I think in the next year you are u thing to see more micro EDF units fromju Horizon

[WIDDOG]

I agree with you David... I mean they had Co2 motors for a long time now. I know it is very difficult to get a "Good" Co2 motor now a days. I really don't know why they don't make Co2 motors any more. Seems like RC is the big ticket now. I am kind of finding that i like building and photographing model airplanes better than i like piloting RC model airplanes. I did learn how to fly 4 ch RC. I guess I'm more of a ground crew kind of person. I like free flight better than RC.

For a long time i have been stuck trying to figure out the "Riddle of Rubber"... Rubber has too many limitations for me. Rubber is more a art than a science. I am finding that electric in my opinion is much better to work with. I am still celebrating my first electric free flight 00S out of sight flight.

This is the main video that got me interested in electric free flight.

https://youtu.be/JQ-UPEnDn0g

[Bill Gaylord]

Wow Bill great models/story... BTW Bill i want you to comment on this test video. Now to be fair it was windy weather. I was testing Plantraco RC gear. Basically instead of a timer I wanted to use a RC 1 ch RC throttle. I understand it could be the wind but seems a little bit heavy and under powered. https://youtu.be/gwlfR2aVBtI

Looks like a bit more power and it would really go. Their not cheap, but the little Horizon and Tower 30mm inrunner fan motors are light and powerful, and will both run on a single Castle 6A ESC. I can understand using brushed gear however, as the motors alone are $20-$25. Gets expensive fast. If the gear can handle 2 cells, I'd be tempted to try using a few 3-4A diodes in series and use 2 lipo cells. The gear and the motors would probably survive, if you brought the voltage down in the 6-7V range and stayed out of full throttle. It would be nice if they had a lipo cell that ran from say 5.5-4.5V, versus roughly 4.2V at full charge.

That Cox Airlifter model I just posted came with a remote, which added power to the left or right fan for steering. It works well from what people who have used it have said, but it's horribly heavy for a small model. If they had made it lighter, it would be nice gear for something like your jet.

[WIDDOG]

Thanks much Bill as always good advice. Since I had a model fly away with my timer. I decided to experiment with Plantraco RC gear. I think that with Plantraco RC gear the model should be smaller then 12 inch ws. I have a timer on order from https://www.stevensaero.com/offers.php I will test the timer and let you know how it goes.