Getting back into RC aircraft

[Jim H]

Brother D said:

Baron Greenback said:

Applogies not my vid but Cleatus MacFarland just posted a visit to fly with Tyler Perry and RamyRC, different world the RC shed is 3 times bigger than my house.

https://youtu.be/cAoajJkVmlQ?si=5I0yAQMq0FusuQeG

Watched that yesterday - I was wondering how Remy RC afforded a giant hanger for his models!

Wish more celebs if they have STEM interests would be more public about it to get kids interested - the average age of my Arizona club must be 65/70 at least! The only other celeb I know who is into RC Aircraft is Vernon Kay

Hello BD, I hope all is good with you.

I’ve also wondered how Ramy has accumulated such wealth, as he clearly isn’t short of a bob or two.

I didn’t know that about Vernon Kay.

Mind, I was very surprised recently that Juan Pablo Montoya is an avid RC aircraft fan.

I followed Juan a lot when he was an F1 driver, and I had no idea he was into this. I was a big fan of Ayrton and knew he was well into his RC.

[Baron Greenback]

Brother D said:

Baron Greenback said:

Applogies not my vid but Cleatus MacFarland just posted a visit to fly with Tyler Perry and RamyRC, different world the RC shed is 3 times bigger than my house.

https://youtu.be/cAoajJkVmlQ?si=5I0yAQMq0FusuQeG

Watched that yesterday - I was wondering how Remy RC afforded a giant hanger for his models!

Wish more celebs if they have STEM interests would be more public about it to get kids interested - the average age of my Arizona club must be 65/70 at least! The only other celeb I know who is into RC Aircraft is Vernon Kay

That is Tyler Perry house and "shed" and is rich from American actor, filmmaker, and playwright. I think he is building it for Tyler but I am sure has he some money but not huge! Want to know what his 30ft wing span plane going to be, The Spruce Goose but light enough to fly properly, maybe.

[Brother D]

Jim H said:

Sorry there are not many photos, it’s all a bit hectic on a maiden. My mate on the camera gets more nervous than me - and he’s not on the sticks!

That's fab you got some airtime and congrats! Just waiting for weather to cooperate here to get outside

[Jim H]

Brother D said:

Jim H said:

Sorry there are not many photos, it’s all a bit hectic on a maiden. My mate on the camera gets more nervous than me - and he’s not on the sticks!

That's fab you got some airtime and congrats! Just waiting for weather to cooperate here to get outside

Good evening BD and others!

Another great night with the Acro. Confidence building all the time with every flight (that’s 4 now). And both landings tonight without breaking off the undercarriage.

I’d dialled in a bit more extra flaps on the aileron mixer which slowed it up much better. However, I’m sure you must understand at this stage, every flight is a ‘Test Flight’.

It flys awesome, the first flight was extremely uncomfortable. I was so nervous. However tonight I was really starting to throw it around.

I dunno if you can tell, but I fly from a mountainous ridge. I was having enough confidence to dive below the deck into the valley below and come out ‘ Mach Loop’ style!

I’ve got a few videos of the flights, but I don’t know how to upload. I guess this platform only caters for photos?

And I’d have to upload to a site like YouTube? And I haven’t got a clue about all that malarkey!

[Brother D]

Jim H said:

Good evening BD and others!

Another great night with the Acro. Confidence building all the time with every flight (that’s 4 now). And both landings tonight without breaking off the undercarriage.

I’d dialled in a bit more extra flaps on the aileron mixer which slowed it up much better. However, I’m sure you must understand at this stage, every flight is a ‘Test Flight’.

It flys awesome, the first flight was extremely uncomfortable. I was so nervous. However tonight I was really starting to throw it around.

I dunno if you can tell, but I fly from a mountainous ridge. I was having enough confidence to dive below the deck into the valley below and come out ‘ Mach Loop’ style!

I’ve got a few videos of the flights, but I don’t know how to upload. I guess this platform only caters for photos?

And I’d have to upload to a site like YouTube? And I haven’t got a clue about all that malarkey!

I just realized seeing the acrowot side-on that the undercarrage was a bent bit of aluminium right?

I think easiest way to upload videos would be to youtube and link to that. Now that I've seen your build I will deffo have to buy the kit and bring back next time in the UK : ) Although I'm converted to electric so would need to look into how that works...

[clockworks]

Flying from a ridge, how about trying slope soaring?

[Jim H]

Brother D said:

Jim H said:

Good evening BD and others!

Another great night with the Acro. Confidence building all the time with every flight (that’s 4 now). And both landings tonight without breaking off the undercarriage.

I’d dialled in a bit more extra flaps on the aileron mixer which slowed it up much better. However, I’m sure you must understand at this stage, every flight is a ‘Test Flight’.

It flys awesome, the first flight was extremely uncomfortable. I was so nervous. However tonight I was really starting to throw it around.

I dunno if you can tell, but I fly from a mountainous ridge. I was having enough confidence to dive below the deck into the valley below and come out ‘ Mach Loop’ style!

I’ve got a few videos of the flights, but I don’t know how to upload. I guess this platform only caters for photos?

And I’d have to upload to a site like YouTube? And I haven’t got a clue about all that malarkey!

I just realized seeing the acrowot side-on that the undercarrage was a bent bit of aluminium right?

I think easiest way to upload videos would be to youtube and link to that. Now that I've seen your build I will deffo have to buy the kit and bring back next time in the UK : ) Although I'm converted to electric so would need to look into how that works...

BD.

My sincere apologies. I’m on Holiday.

The undercarriage is fibreglass on the new Acro.
I keep snapping it off. It’s mounted with plastic screws which are intended to break. I don’t want to wreck the fuselage.

I’ve been trying to dial in more ‘Drag’
Though the mixing on the settings.

It’s such a clean aircraft. It’s bloody hard to slow..

My buddy who I go flying with, he’s an excellent RC Pilot.

I gave him the ‘sticks’ the other night and he had it standing on its head!

Absolutely lovely aircraft.

When I get back, I’m going to sort the Spitfire.

[Jim H]

[quote=clockworks]Flying from a ridge, how about trying slope soaring?[/quote

This!
It’s a truly beautiful place to fly.

Honestly me and my mate just pinch ourselves how lucky we are.

You have all the hills from Coniston old man down.

I’m really hoping for some slope souring soon!

I completely restored this for my buddy this year.
Such an elegant aircraft.

One wing was snapped and the fuselage was in two also.

[Kev_Mk3]

My grandad as a kid built so many of these RC planes and ran a RC flying club in Wilmslow that flew at Tatton Park. I really do miss watching it all as building is far beyond my skills.

[Jim H]

It’s an interesting point on the skills.

I just do it automatically. Others have said: “you are very skilled.

I just like working with my hands.That glider above was a right mess. The fuselage was completely snapped behind the wing mount..



I set too with some carbon fibre longerons and a block of balsa to start.

Then married the two halves together.

With some epoxy and fibre glass.





And then I had to get it all looking right.

[Jim H]

What’s critical on an RC glider is keeping the mass minimal.

C of G on most RC aircraft tends to be around a third back from the leading edge of the wing. A break in the fuselage aft of that point was always going to be a tricky repair. To keep the mass down and maintain structural rigidity.

Admittedly it’s not flown yet. And it may need some weight in the nose.

But it’s all good fun!

Spitfire stories are coming soon.

[Biker's Nemesis]

Does anyone here know the name of a Club in Northumberland around the Cambo - Ritton Bank - Scotland Gate area, its opposite the Windmills?

[Brother D]

Jim H said:

What’s critical on an RC glider is keeping the mass minimal.

C of G on most RC aircraft tends to be around a third back from the leading edge of the wing. A break in the fuselage aft of that point was always going to be a tricky repair. To keep the mass down and maintain structural rigidity.

Admittedly it’s not flown yet. And it may need some weight in the nose.

But it’s all good fun!

Spitfire stories are coming soon.

Crikey - I had a "Precedent"(?) trainer that I crashed a few times - by the end I think it consisted of around 50% glass fiber by construction replacing the balsa. If memory recalls it's final was being launched off the roof on fire (sans electronics naturally). Expected an explosion on crashing but

[GliderRider]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Does anyone here know the name of a Club in Northumberland around the Cambo - Ritton Bank - Scotland Gate area, its opposite the Windmills?

I can see two that it might be from this map
As another nearby club is shown out at sea, the actual pins on the map are likely to be just the general area. Check out the Cramblington & District MAC and 'Group 20'.

[Biker's Nemesis]

GliderRider said:

I can see two that it might be from this map
As another nearby club is shown out at sea, the actual pins on the map are likely to be just the general area. Check out the Cramlington & District MAC and 'Group 20'.

Thank you.

I think it may be the Longhorsley club.

[Jon_Bmw]

This thread inspired me to have a go, so I bought a Chinese 4 channel foam "spitfire" for about £60 including a controller. I remember when a controller like this was around £150 on its own!



I bought some extra batteries for a few quid and had a good go with it yesterday. With the onboard gyro assisting me it really built up the confidence baring in mind I have never flown any RC plane ever! I have used RC cars a long time ago when I was a teenager so control wise, and direction wise I didn't struggle with that.

It has three modes with varying gyro assistance, ranging from a lot, to nothing. By the end of the 30 minute stint I was using the rudder and elevator to tighten up the turns and I was able to fly it through a football goal and also land in a somewhat controlled manor with relative ease...I confess to hitting the post dead on once!

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for inspiring me to have a go. It was super addictive. I'm glad I found one with operational ailerons, elevator and rudder as the experience is more realistic. Next up, turn the gyro effect to intermediate and realise how much it was bailing me out.

[Jim H]

Jon_Bmw said:

This thread inspired me to have a go, so I bought a Chinese 4 channel foam "spitfire" for about £60 including a controller. I remember when a controller like this was around £150 on its own!



I bought some extra batteries for a few quid and had a good go with it yesterday. With the onboard gyro assisting me it really built up the confidence baring in mind I have never flown any RC plane ever! I have used RC cars a long time ago when I was a teenager so control wise, and direction wise I didn't struggle with that.

It has three modes with varying gyro assistance, ranging from a lot, to nothing. By the end of the 30 minute stint I was using the rudder and elevator to tighten up the turns and I was able to fly it through a football goal and also land in a somewhat controlled manor with relative ease...I confess to hitting the post dead on once!

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for inspiring me to have a go. It was super addictive. I'm glad I found one with operational ailerons, elevator and rudder as the experience is more realistic. Next up, turn the gyro effect to intermediate and realise how much it was bailing me out.

Hey Jon, apologies I missed this post over the weekend.

Very interesting. That little model looks tiny, what is the wingspan 20 “?

Totally get where you are coming from about the gyro. When I first learned to fly back in ‘86 - completely unheard of. That sort of model would have been impossible to fly.

The tech has moved on so rapidly.

You basically had a balsa kit, two stroke IC second hand, , and unreliable nothing electric - and a lot of accidents!

That soon put you off when dad was in control of the budget and financing. And reluctant!

I’m pleased you’ve been inspired by this thread.

I was out beating up the sky’s with my Acro Wot last week, I’m out again with it tomorrow. I’m getting the hang of it now. It’s no longer a nervy experience, it’s actually great fun and puts a massive smile on my face.

I took it up vertically full chat last Thursday to where I could barely see it. Big stall turn.Cut the throttle and gave it full left rudder, and max left aileron, and full up elevator. It was falling out of the sky in a huge spin. Just let go of the sticks and it sorted it self out. Luckily.

Now that was a test flight!

Getting it slowed down for landing has been a bit of a knack, it’s quite a heavy model and very slippery. I now know I need to do a few few circuits to scrub off speed with the ailerons down in ‘flap’ configuration .

I’m spraying some fuel proofer on Spitfire now.

Really need to crack on with it.

Have a nice evening.

[kimducati]

Jim said:

Getting it slowed down for landing has been a bit of a knack, it’s quite a heavy model and very slippery. I now know I need to do a few few circuits to scrub off speed with the ailerons down in ‘flap’ configuration .

I’m spraying some fuel proofer on Spitfire now.

Really need to crack on with it.

Have a nice evening.

You probably know this already, but go carefully with the flaperons, they can make things get a bit sketchy on finals ( guess how I know).
All of Foss's designs are slippery, I guess it's his background in soarers. I've got a Wot4XL which I struggle to get down on the strip at my current club.
Tried flaperons (sketchy, see above) and I've now modified the wing, split the ailerons and formed proper flaps on the inner third.
Yet to test it with this setup, waiting for the wind to drop, it's been blowing a hooli here all summer so far
Kim

[Jim H]

kimducati said:

Jim said:

Getting it slowed down for landing has been a bit of a knack, it’s quite a heavy model and very slippery. I now know I need to do a few few circuits to scrub off speed with the ailerons down in ‘flap’ configuration .

I’m spraying some fuel proofer on Spitfire now.

Really need to crack on with it.

Have a nice evening.

You probably know this already, but go carefully with the flaperons, they can make things get a bit sketchy on finals ( guess how I know).
All of Foss's designs are slippery, I guess it's his background in soarers. I've got a Wot4XL which I struggle to get down on the strip at my current club.
Tried flaperons (sketchy, see above) and I've now modified the wing, split the ailerons and formed proper flaps on the inner third.
Yet to test it with this setup, waiting for the wind to drop, it's been blowing a hooli here all summer so far
Kim

Morning Kim, and thanks for the advice, however a little late I’m sad to say.

Had a great first flight with the Acro first last night, then switched over to the Mirus (swept wing) rocket - another cracking flight.

I was buzzing, and grinning from ear-to-ear.

Final flight with the Acro, all went extremely well until finals, too damn slow and tip stalled in. It looked and sounded extremely ugly.

It made a horrible thump.

Snapped prop, small crack in engine cowling, wing mount bust out of the fuselage, and worst of all a nasty crack in the fuselage. To be honest, it could have been a lot worse. I’m thankful that I followed the instructions advice and glued ply liners down the inside of the fuselage.

It’s all very fixable, and I feel lucky it’s such a strong aircraft. I’d say it stalled at a height of about 10-15 feet and went in on one wing tip - then cartwheeled. There is not a mark on the wings.

I’ve learned a valuable lesson there, and I agree, it’s probably a better idea to split the ailerons like you say and have a dedicated flap arrangement. And you definitely can go too slow! It’s the first time Ive encountered a tip stall on landing with any model aircraft, it all happened very quickly and unexpectedly.

Grrrrrrr, unhappily, flying model aircraft can be like this.

Hey ho, I’m just about to fill out an order with my favourite model shop.

[kimducati]

Jim H said:

Morning Kim, and thanks for the advice, however a little late I’m sad to say.

Had a great first flight with the Acro first last night, then switched over to the Mirus (swept wing) rocket - another cracking flight.

I was buzzing, and grinning from ear-to-ear.

Final flight with the Acro, all went extremely well until finals, too damn slow and tip stalled in. It looked and sounded extremely ugly.

It made a horrible thump.

Snapped prop, small crack in engine cowling, wing mount bust out of the fuselage, and worst of all a nasty crack in the fuselage. To be honest, it could have been a lot worse. I’m thankful that I followed the instructions advice and glued ply liners down the inside of the fuselage.

It’s all very fixable, and I feel lucky it’s such a strong aircraft. I’d say it stalled at a height of about 10-15 feet and went in on one wing tip - then cartwheeled. There is not a mark on the wings.

I’ve learned a valuable lesson there, and I agree, it’s probably a better idea to split the ailerons like you say and have a dedicated flap arrangement. And you definitely can go too slow! It’s the first time Ive encountered a tip stall on landing with any model aircraft, it all happened very quickly and unexpectedly.

Grrrrrrr, unhappily, flying model aircraft can be like this.

Hey ho, I’m just about to fill out an order with my favourite model shop.

Oops!!!
I feel your pain, but you'll get it sorted out and lesson learned.
When you droop a strip aileron, you effectively increase the angle of attack of the wing, and with a tapered wing like the Acro Wot, the tip will always stall before the root.
Anyway, onwards and upwards. I'm just going out to the shed to carry on with the build of my Warbirds Replicas Spitfire MkIX. Paint next
Kim