Mig 29 - Grey's Winter Project - 2012.

Ok, so I'm opening it up a little early.  There's a new page up top there, "Mig 29 v2 Project".

It's how I've kept myself busy over winter during the terrible weather!

http://greyaero.blogspot.com.au/p/mig-29-v2-project.html

It's not quite finished yet but I'll get there ;).

Mig 29 v2 project.

Recently many will have noticed a bit of a difference in what I've done.  I started making a few "how to" videos where I'd only done flight videos before hand.  They are a bit rought in spots but they achieve what I wanted them to achieve.

I'm not a pro or anything, I'm just a guy.  I'm not looking to start a business either.  I just wanted to complete a project that maybe would help a few people along in their quest for a Scratchbuilt Parkjet.

This is coming to a close and soon a new page will appear about the project.

I hope it turns out worth the effort ;).

"Near enough is good enough".

I see so many new guys in forums worried that their plane isn't "perfect".  So I thought I'd take a little time to say "don't stress"!

There are a few things that need attention to detail up front to be sure.  Your power system needs to be well balanced to prevent you burning anything up, your servos and control rods need to be capable of the job and your hinges for control surfaces need some extra love.  After that?

"A little bit out" isn't going to kill you.  It might change the way your plane behaves in a minor way with some things but on the whole most well-designed scratchbuilt "disposable' foamies will put up with you being on the learning curve.  If your cuts along a join aren't quite straight and it leaves gaps?  Fill the gaps with glue or cover them with tape.  Your throws aren't quite even?  You'll learn to live with it. 

 

I see a lot of people get really fussy about their weight too.  Don't.  A really light and floaty plane is a lot of fun of course but an ounce or two over the listed maximum weight isn't going to stop your plane from flying!  It might suck some of the low-speed performance out of it but it's not going to stop you getting into the air.

While it can be advisable to do things like bevel or round the leading edges of your wings, horiz and vert stabilizers etc it's not mission critical either.

Of course, as with all things, there's limits.  You can't go ridiculously out of whack without creating some major issues but little bits here and there simply aren't going to stop you from flying and having fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Worried about weight?



Sometimes things just don't turn out "right".  You're too heavy and your vertical performance is poor, something is warped and you need a lot of trim, who knows.

As long as it flies?  Don't scrap it, make use of it!  Next time is soon enough to get it right ;).

What a great time to live in!

I was in my local hobby store the other day picking up a few bits and bobs, readying myself for when I get off my butt and order a new case of foam.  The guy was out the back for a couple of minutes so I looked around the RC section and it hit me really really hard...  We live in a really great time to get into RC planes. 

I remember being younger and dreaming of being able to afford to fly but even a basic trainer was 100's of dollars before you even looked at a radio gear, a motor, servos and whatnot.  Window shopping in hobby stores and parking outside of club fields to watch the fun used to be a couple of my favourite passtimes.  I'm not talking as a child here, this was in my 20's and 30's. 

These are passtimes that I haven't indulged in lately and haven't really thought about either, I'm now flying after all.  It gave me a trip down memory lane though.

"Back in the day" I ended up taking the cheaper option which was getting into RC cars.  It was still 100's of dollars but fewer hundreds.  They were fun days too but of course I was always dreaming of flight while I was zooming around tracks or over obstacles in offroad courses.

Then I looked at the price tags on the cars and had another flashback;  Monty Python.



How great is it that building a foam parkjet, with such high aerobatic performance in comparison to the old "cheap" 3 channel trainers, can be done for about $120?  While I truly think my experience should be envied in many ways, fond memories and wistful dreams just don't have a price tag, there are times that I would have sold a kidney to get here if I knew these days were coming.

You live in a truly great time to get into RC planes, to get your kids into RC planes.  A time when you can take an afternoon or two around a table and build a parkjet, alone or with the yard monkeys, watching it take form out of a flat sheet of 6mm foam.

Revel in the age of technological wonders you live in.  It's kind of awesome ;).

New page: "Your first parkjet".

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.

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?

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