One thing you have to understand bout me is this;
In no way am I interested in building the perfect Parkjet. All my planes are on elevons or a linked 4x4 setup. I don't paint a lot of my planes. I don't cleanly bevel all the leading edges at the perfect angles.
I'm about having fun. It's why I build parkjets out of 6mm foam instead of building scale replica planes out of balsa and the like.
Even in the 6mm foam Parkjet community though, you'll still find people arguing advanced aerodynamics issues and the like. Perfect this, optimum that, "the best" something else. I sometimes dip an oar into that water and the number one mistake people keep making about me is in thinking I really think it all makes a huge difference.
You just don't need an advanced engineering degree to build and fly a parkjet made out of sheets of 6mm foam.
To this end I've started making some videos that concentrate more on the "fun" end of the spectrum. The stuff you can get away with which allows you to spend more time flying and less time building or worrying!
http://greyaero.blogspot.com.au/p/your-first-parkjet.html
Regards,
Grey.
Monday 30 July 2012
Monday 9 July 2012
On reflection...
Think for a minute. Just one. What is it that gets you buzzing when it comes to RC planes?
If you go out there and look at Youtube channels, you'll see different people flying in different ways and all of them are having a ball!
I enjoy building. Quite a lot. I find it relaxing and I like to have something constructive to do.
I enjoy flying. Quite a lot. Learning how the different planes behave and learning to get them doing interesting stuff.
I enjoy flying with friends. Well, it's like flying, only with more laughing and joking going on ;).
What really gets me going about flying? It's a couple minutes of excited nervousness leading up to a single moment... That split second after the plane leaves your hand when you realise it's taking to the skies for the very first time.
What is it that gets you going?
For those of you without a Google or other compatible account, anonymous posting is enabled! You can either post anonymously or put your name in the box ;).
If you go out there and look at Youtube channels, you'll see different people flying in different ways and all of them are having a ball!
I enjoy building. Quite a lot. I find it relaxing and I like to have something constructive to do.
I enjoy flying. Quite a lot. Learning how the different planes behave and learning to get them doing interesting stuff.
I enjoy flying with friends. Well, it's like flying, only with more laughing and joking going on ;).
What really gets me going about flying? It's a couple minutes of excited nervousness leading up to a single moment... That split second after the plane leaves your hand when you realise it's taking to the skies for the very first time.
What is it that gets you going?
For those of you without a Google or other compatible account, anonymous posting is enabled! You can either post anonymously or put your name in the box ;).
Saturday 7 July 2012
RCPowers Mig 29 v2 re-maiden and review.
Sorry about the grainy quality! Cheap camera + low light conditions = poor picture quality. It's watchable in 480 or 720p tho.
RCPowers Mig 29 v2
- RCTimer 2826-6 2200kv outrunner.
- RCTimer 30A Programmable ESC (might need a 40A, might need plastic spoon scoops for the ventilation holes, I'll figure it out tomorrow!)
- 1600mAh 3s 20C battery (might be better off with an 1800mAh 20C or 1600mAh 25C).
- 2 servos - Elevon only.
- Stock KF2 aerofoil
- CoG is set 1 inch behind stock.
- Throws are stock 1.5 inch
- No Expo (stock = 30% on elevator).
I'm flying on no expos. The plane is just so smooth that having a bit of skill with fine control on the sticks was all it needed. For a plane so aerobatic it's very stable and IMO you just don't need expos on elevon only. If you are a beginner it's probably a good idea to start with the stock 30% expo on the elevator tho.
Enlarging the elevons was a good call. There's plenty of pitch and roll authority to have fun with as long as you don't expect to roll like a drill (mind you I mostly stuck to 3/4 stick being a "re-maiden", having made alterations). If you put on a 4x4 or linked elevons you should be able to cut the elevons down some for you guys who keep breaking them.
I'm being cheeky and I've flown it pre-bevelling of any leading edges just to show you don't need to go to the effort if you don't want to (or aren't sure what you are doing)! The speed suffers a little but the aerobatic capabilities obviously aren't being effected.
I've gone light because I don't have a huge field to fly in. Although by the time everything is bevelled/rounded I'll gain speed, I don't see the Mig 29 V2 having any problems carrying something like a Megajet V2 (or any generic 2836 motor). While I doubt a 3s and a 6x4 prop will provide any benefit over my setup, a 3s and a 6x5.5 prop or a 4s and a 6x4 will be a definitive speed boost. The stall speed will go up over mine but it's exceptionally low as it is, adding a few mph to it isn't likely to create any drastic issues.
F1 was spot on with the "1 inch back" on the CoG. The plane is about perfectly balanced. There's no nose or tail drop on a roll. It took the nose drop out of it on sharp turns and also took it out on a stall (I stalled it at the end of the high alpha run). I climbed at about 45 degrees on it's wingtip and the nose didn't drop there either. I prefer a touch nose heavy but I'm just under 1 inch back and it's perfect.
I also had zero trouble with orientation even with the light as low as it was and the plane being unpainted. The plane has a distinctive profile from most angles making it very easy to keep track of.
Even slowing down and dumping the throttle to make sure the prop was working hard there was little torque roll to deal with.
And when I say "effortless" in the video I mean it. This plane went from maneuver to maneuver smoothly without any complaint what so ever. Pitching and rolling violently just led to a quick but smooth change in direction. When it stalled at the end of the high alpha run it just sat there, you can't even tell in the video that it happened. Climbing at 45 degrees under nearly full throttle with a slow roll to invert for a split S, a 1/4 loop at about half stick and then a savage kick of full elevator for the rest of the loop out and.... well if you look at about the 3:15 mark of the vid you can see for yourself. It was happy to do it.
All in all this is a plane I'm really looking forward to becoming friends with.
Regards,
Grey.
Friday 6 July 2012
6mm foam parkflyers are toys?
Well... Yes.
I've been to my local club a few times now and it's interesting to see how different guys approach the hobby. Now don't get me wrong, I walk down the lineup of planes of everything from scratchbuilt 6mm foam planes through balsa gassers right up to a 15 foot turbine powered jet. I get jealous, as jealous as all get out. There's some absolutely beautiful planes on display whether they are 3D planes, warbirds or the turbine jets.
I'm sitting on the bottom end of the scale with my $70 odd worth of plane. 6mm foam with electronics stuck to it with hot-glue or strapped to it with velcro. I'm happy with what I have mind you, even if I had 1000's of dollars to throw at the problem I'm not sure I'd move up for any other reason than I'm in love with the F4-U Corsair and Spitfire warbirds I'd love a beautiful example of each to fly.
Here's the reason.
I watch these guys fly their 1000's of dollars worth of planes and there's one thing they all have in common. A look of absolute concentration on their faces when they fly. You work your way down the chain to the many hundreds of dollars and they ease off a bit, the EDF jet and warbird mob who's spent around $200-$300 bucks and there's a smile or two.
Then there's a couply other guys and myself sitting on the bottom end of the scale with our cheapo scratchbuilt foamies (parkjets and warbirds mostly tho there's a 3D flyer in with us) and we are laughing and joking like idiots.
The main difference is that we play with our planes because deep down all of us know they are toys. That we CAN play with our "toys" without risking large sums of money. We can get out there, have some fun and even do a few stupid things every now and then. Crashes aren't accompanied by a chorus of wincing groans and sympathetic comments, we throw our hands up in the air and cheer amid rousing comments like "that looked AWESOME!"
And you guys who like to show us your beautiful planes costing 1000's of dollars? We see you. We see you looking at us fly our cheap foam planes, taking risks you never would dream of betting 1000's of dollars worth of planes on working out. We see the occasional spark of jealousy.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to take anything at all away from those guys. I admire their confidence, getting on the sticks for 1000's of dollars worth of RC plane and taking off, let along looping and rolling. I'm jealous of their scale and absolutely beautiful planes. My point is that there's plenty to like on the lower end of the scale too.
Scratchbuilt parkjets like I fly, and I'm told this often, are basically toys. I occasionally get told this in a somewhat derogitory way meant as a putdown and I have to tell you, it never works. They ARE basically toys but... What's inherently wrong with that?
It's not like I couldn't have afforded a couple decent ARF/RTF parkflyers with the money I've spent on my parkjets. 6 motors at $11 a pop, 6 ESCs at $11 a pop, a case of Depron at $215, bunches of servos at between 3 and 5 dollars each plus all the sundries like connectors, control horns/rods, glues, tapes, printing of plans etc. So why do I stick to the scratchbuilt parkjets?
There is no doubt that flying a scale warbird or turbine jet around the field is an inherently satisfying thing to do. It's an achievement to be able to do that, one that everyone who's ever had the opportunity to do so can be well and truly proud of. Even a nice looking EPO EDF jet carries a certain amount of satisfaction just because of the scale look. But why would you deny yourself the carefree fun of flying a "toy"?
What's to stop you having the best of both worlds?
Just something to think about.
I've been to my local club a few times now and it's interesting to see how different guys approach the hobby. Now don't get me wrong, I walk down the lineup of planes of everything from scratchbuilt 6mm foam planes through balsa gassers right up to a 15 foot turbine powered jet. I get jealous, as jealous as all get out. There's some absolutely beautiful planes on display whether they are 3D planes, warbirds or the turbine jets.
I'm sitting on the bottom end of the scale with my $70 odd worth of plane. 6mm foam with electronics stuck to it with hot-glue or strapped to it with velcro. I'm happy with what I have mind you, even if I had 1000's of dollars to throw at the problem I'm not sure I'd move up for any other reason than I'm in love with the F4-U Corsair and Spitfire warbirds I'd love a beautiful example of each to fly.
Here's the reason.
I watch these guys fly their 1000's of dollars worth of planes and there's one thing they all have in common. A look of absolute concentration on their faces when they fly. You work your way down the chain to the many hundreds of dollars and they ease off a bit, the EDF jet and warbird mob who's spent around $200-$300 bucks and there's a smile or two.
Then there's a couply other guys and myself sitting on the bottom end of the scale with our cheapo scratchbuilt foamies (parkjets and warbirds mostly tho there's a 3D flyer in with us) and we are laughing and joking like idiots.
The main difference is that we play with our planes because deep down all of us know they are toys. That we CAN play with our "toys" without risking large sums of money. We can get out there, have some fun and even do a few stupid things every now and then. Crashes aren't accompanied by a chorus of wincing groans and sympathetic comments, we throw our hands up in the air and cheer amid rousing comments like "that looked AWESOME!"
And you guys who like to show us your beautiful planes costing 1000's of dollars? We see you. We see you looking at us fly our cheap foam planes, taking risks you never would dream of betting 1000's of dollars worth of planes on working out. We see the occasional spark of jealousy.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to take anything at all away from those guys. I admire their confidence, getting on the sticks for 1000's of dollars worth of RC plane and taking off, let along looping and rolling. I'm jealous of their scale and absolutely beautiful planes. My point is that there's plenty to like on the lower end of the scale too.
Scratchbuilt parkjets like I fly, and I'm told this often, are basically toys. I occasionally get told this in a somewhat derogitory way meant as a putdown and I have to tell you, it never works. They ARE basically toys but... What's inherently wrong with that?
It's not like I couldn't have afforded a couple decent ARF/RTF parkflyers with the money I've spent on my parkjets. 6 motors at $11 a pop, 6 ESCs at $11 a pop, a case of Depron at $215, bunches of servos at between 3 and 5 dollars each plus all the sundries like connectors, control horns/rods, glues, tapes, printing of plans etc. So why do I stick to the scratchbuilt parkjets?
There is no doubt that flying a scale warbird or turbine jet around the field is an inherently satisfying thing to do. It's an achievement to be able to do that, one that everyone who's ever had the opportunity to do so can be well and truly proud of. Even a nice looking EPO EDF jet carries a certain amount of satisfaction just because of the scale look. But why would you deny yourself the carefree fun of flying a "toy"?
What's to stop you having the best of both worlds?
Just something to think about.
Wednesday 4 July 2012
RCPowers Mig 29 v2 first impressions.
This morning was absolutely beautiful flying weather and, as things usually happen, I had a lot to do today.
We are headed out of town tomorrow so it's check over the car day. A bulb in the headlights of the car blew the other day and one indicator decided it wasn't going to work this morning. New bulbs in the headlights was easy but tracking down the problem with the indicator and installing the parts took a while.
2 cars to wash and packing ate up a lot more time.
By the time I was finished I had about half an hour of daylight left so I grabbed the Mig 29 v2 and ducked out for a quick fly. Sorry, no video!
Setup;
RCTimer 2826-6 2200kv motor (50g)
RCTimer 30A ESC (Medium timing)
Turnigy 2200mAh 3s 20C battery.
APC 6x4E prop.
Elevon only (2 x RCTimer 9018 MG servos)
Orange RX
I made 2 mistakes, one more easily fixed than the other.
First, I used a 50g motor and the mount/slot is for the next size down. I didn't recess the motor further like I usually do because the prop sat comfortably in the prop slot. Not centred but not riding the rear of the slot either. A 2200mAh 3s 20C battery put as far forward as it can go JUST hits the recommended CG after I reinforced the nose with hot glue in the seams to get a little more weight in the front.
If I want to use the 1600mAh battery I had planned on I'm going to have to pull the motor out and recess the mount.
The second mistake was I looked at the throws on the planview PDF and I always end up using more. Since I only put on elevons I though I was safe adding a bit. Nope. For your first flight, stick to the throws on the planview.pdf! After one short flight I popped the clevises off and moved them down a hole. The throws are still a little big but I flew anyway. I didn't mess around anymore because daylight was fading and I didn't want to get it all set up properly with about 30 seconds left to fly!
The Maiden;
This is a very surprising plane.
It trimmed out easily requiring very little to counter torque roll. I got it all trimmed out in a single lap of the field.
Impression number one? It just launches. Easily. I had plenty of time to get my hands back on the sticks, even though it needed up-trim once airborne and I'm using the stock CG (a bit nose heavy). It took me by surprise and I actually pitched the plane up into high alpha thinking I was going to have to counter the nose dropping. Nope!
The second launch was as Smooth with a capital "Smoo".
I have not bevelled or rounded anything yet. The front of the wing with the KF2 is showing 12mm of vertical foam to the wind, the vert stabs aren't rounded off and neither are the front end of the nacelles. Despite this it requires less than half throttle just to tool around the sky which is quite nice. At WOT it's still surprisingly quick too. I pulled the motor/ESC combo out of my RCP J-20 for this one and the speed difference is solid.
The ESC came back hotter than I expected (hotter than than it came back in the J-20). This is a good sign because it means the prop is breathing well and doing it's job, it's not starving for air (making the prop easier to spin) so it's getting the most benefit from the 6x4 prop.
It's not coming back too hot but it's warmer than I'd like so I'm going to move up to a 40A ESC when the opportunity arises though, just to be safe...
Even on elevons only the pitch and roll rate is quite good. I don't think I'm going to be adding Ailerons or putting it on 4x4, it's just not needed. Ailerons are nice because you can keep your roll rate up no matter what your elevons are doing but I just don't think the Mig 29 v2 really needs them.
I didn't push it hard but it had no issues with loops, rolls, a kulbit, an immelman or a split S. Vertical performance is also nice.
My only issue with the plane in it's current state is the large vert stabs. At WOT the drag is pitching the plane up making it climb but it's not savage at all and nothing trimming it out for faster flight won't fix (I trimmed it out at 3/4 throttle).
If you are sitting on an MJv3 and are looking for a v2 to put it in but retain some speed? This will be it. Just make sure you bump your ESC up to a 30A. This plane likes the speed.
I'm really looking forward to spending more time with this plane.
We are headed out of town tomorrow so it's check over the car day. A bulb in the headlights of the car blew the other day and one indicator decided it wasn't going to work this morning. New bulbs in the headlights was easy but tracking down the problem with the indicator and installing the parts took a while.
2 cars to wash and packing ate up a lot more time.
By the time I was finished I had about half an hour of daylight left so I grabbed the Mig 29 v2 and ducked out for a quick fly. Sorry, no video!
Setup;
RCTimer 2826-6 2200kv motor (50g)
RCTimer 30A ESC (Medium timing)
Turnigy 2200mAh 3s 20C battery.
APC 6x4E prop.
Elevon only (2 x RCTimer 9018 MG servos)
Orange RX
I made 2 mistakes, one more easily fixed than the other.
First, I used a 50g motor and the mount/slot is for the next size down. I didn't recess the motor further like I usually do because the prop sat comfortably in the prop slot. Not centred but not riding the rear of the slot either. A 2200mAh 3s 20C battery put as far forward as it can go JUST hits the recommended CG after I reinforced the nose with hot glue in the seams to get a little more weight in the front.
If I want to use the 1600mAh battery I had planned on I'm going to have to pull the motor out and recess the mount.
The second mistake was I looked at the throws on the planview PDF and I always end up using more. Since I only put on elevons I though I was safe adding a bit. Nope. For your first flight, stick to the throws on the planview.pdf! After one short flight I popped the clevises off and moved them down a hole. The throws are still a little big but I flew anyway. I didn't mess around anymore because daylight was fading and I didn't want to get it all set up properly with about 30 seconds left to fly!
The Maiden;
This is a very surprising plane.
It trimmed out easily requiring very little to counter torque roll. I got it all trimmed out in a single lap of the field.
Impression number one? It just launches. Easily. I had plenty of time to get my hands back on the sticks, even though it needed up-trim once airborne and I'm using the stock CG (a bit nose heavy). It took me by surprise and I actually pitched the plane up into high alpha thinking I was going to have to counter the nose dropping. Nope!
The second launch was as Smooth with a capital "Smoo".
I have not bevelled or rounded anything yet. The front of the wing with the KF2 is showing 12mm of vertical foam to the wind, the vert stabs aren't rounded off and neither are the front end of the nacelles. Despite this it requires less than half throttle just to tool around the sky which is quite nice. At WOT it's still surprisingly quick too. I pulled the motor/ESC combo out of my RCP J-20 for this one and the speed difference is solid.
The ESC came back hotter than I expected (hotter than than it came back in the J-20). This is a good sign because it means the prop is breathing well and doing it's job, it's not starving for air (making the prop easier to spin) so it's getting the most benefit from the 6x4 prop.
It's not coming back too hot but it's warmer than I'd like so I'm going to move up to a 40A ESC when the opportunity arises though, just to be safe...
Even on elevons only the pitch and roll rate is quite good. I don't think I'm going to be adding Ailerons or putting it on 4x4, it's just not needed. Ailerons are nice because you can keep your roll rate up no matter what your elevons are doing but I just don't think the Mig 29 v2 really needs them.
I didn't push it hard but it had no issues with loops, rolls, a kulbit, an immelman or a split S. Vertical performance is also nice.
My only issue with the plane in it's current state is the large vert stabs. At WOT the drag is pitching the plane up making it climb but it's not savage at all and nothing trimming it out for faster flight won't fix (I trimmed it out at 3/4 throttle).
If you are sitting on an MJv3 and are looking for a v2 to put it in but retain some speed? This will be it. Just make sure you bump your ESC up to a 30A. This plane likes the speed.
I'm really looking forward to spending more time with this plane.
Sunday 1 July 2012
Motor installation how-to!
My newest "how to" video - Mounting a motor in your scratchbuilt parkjet.
This uses the RCPowers Mig 29 v2 as the sample plane and the RCPowers wooden motor mount though the same applies for any similar mount.
Regards,
Grey
This uses the RCPowers Mig 29 v2 as the sample plane and the RCPowers wooden motor mount though the same applies for any similar mount.
Regards,
Grey
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)