What has, you unwisely ask?
I, a dyed in the wool, confirmed plank flier, have bought an electric helicopter! I can hear the gasps of horror from here! And I don’t even have the decency to remain firmly in the closet!
I guess it had to happen. When I started to think of RC flying I, looked at helis first. I even bought a book on building my own. That was after all, the option of the time!
No ARF then. In fact if you didn’t have serious engineering skill coupled to a bull terrier like single mindedness, model helicopters were not to be contemplated in any way.
And then, once you had built the *^%££££££ thing, you had to fly it! This was not for the faint hearted. No computer radios, no tail control gyros, if it flew, it did so because you controlled it yourself. And there were no simulators to practice on first either! If it crashed, you, and you alone, remade all the bits that got broken, no trip to the local with plastic in hand for spares.
Though I fitted the profile, I (wisely??) decided that I wanted to fly, not spend all my time making complex bits. (I did that at work anyway, and was looking for something different)
So I went fixed wing. And had great fun I might add – still am in fact!
But for all that, the urge lurked, and here I am with an E-Sky Honey Bee King 2 on order. And lets not have any snide comments about second childhood either!
While I will comment here about my journey from time to time, (Usually probably *.*%$££££!!) I intend to include some pages on my site detailing the whole trip. While The Radio Controlled Airplane implies, and is indeed about fixed wing, most readers will hanker after a heli at some stage, so I figure that the information will be useful.
The first page is My Electric Helicopter Happening. Visit it and see how I get on!
Wednesday 26 March 2008
Wednesday 12 March 2008
That Dreaded ‘Dead Weight’
Model weight is an issue for me! I think that we have become so weight conscious that we are being a bit silly about it.
I think that one of the problems has been the older electric powered models were a bit border line power wise and everyone got into the habit of paring the weight down to the absolute minimum. This has been reinforced by the growth of indoor flying using super light models for slow flight.
For many years now IC powered models have been flown with wing loadings of 20 oz/sqft or more quite happily! In fact I remember an article that placed under 15 oz/sqft as a powered glider!
Recently I saw another article that stated that you absolutely had to keep the weight under 10 oz/sqft if you wanted to have a decent flying model.
Clearly, things have become very confused. Personally, I prefer a bit of wing loading. It makes the model a lot more tolerant of wind and a lot more stable in the air generally. Yes, a lightly loaded model is easier to fly in that it is less critical of flying mistakes, but once we have passed the learner stage, then a model that goes where you want it to is a lot nicer!
This rant was provoked by a statement by another flier that shows just how obsessed with the ‘badness’ of weight we have become.
The discussion was about the conversion of nicad or NiMH battery packs to LiPo. The flier was highlighting the possible problem of the weight differences of the packs moving the C of G away from optimal. Up to now this was a good point.
Then things got silly. He called to question the viability of the change, because he felt that if you could not get the balance right by moving the lighter LiPo pack around, then you could not contemplate the change. His reason? You couldn’t possibly even think about adding some ‘Dead Weight’ to get the balance right!
Whilst I have no problem with saving a bit of weight here and there if you can, (I don’t really advocate flying a brick!) I have to point out adding weight in this case is only bringing the weight back to what it was before we changed the battery pack!
In fact we may still be better off anyway, because adding a little counterbalance weight to the nose or tail will correct the mis-balance caused by removing a lot more weight closer to the C of G. But, even if we have to add the same amount that we have lost with the battery change, we are only back where we were before!
Why the fuss? Easy, the great evil of ‘Dead Weight’ sprang out of the undergrowth and scared common sense away!
Remember, unnecessary weight may well be undesirable, but weight itself is not some great evil to be avoided at all costs!
Even house bricks can fly with enough power!
I think that one of the problems has been the older electric powered models were a bit border line power wise and everyone got into the habit of paring the weight down to the absolute minimum. This has been reinforced by the growth of indoor flying using super light models for slow flight.
For many years now IC powered models have been flown with wing loadings of 20 oz/sqft or more quite happily! In fact I remember an article that placed under 15 oz/sqft as a powered glider!
Recently I saw another article that stated that you absolutely had to keep the weight under 10 oz/sqft if you wanted to have a decent flying model.
Clearly, things have become very confused. Personally, I prefer a bit of wing loading. It makes the model a lot more tolerant of wind and a lot more stable in the air generally. Yes, a lightly loaded model is easier to fly in that it is less critical of flying mistakes, but once we have passed the learner stage, then a model that goes where you want it to is a lot nicer!
This rant was provoked by a statement by another flier that shows just how obsessed with the ‘badness’ of weight we have become.
The discussion was about the conversion of nicad or NiMH battery packs to LiPo. The flier was highlighting the possible problem of the weight differences of the packs moving the C of G away from optimal. Up to now this was a good point.
Then things got silly. He called to question the viability of the change, because he felt that if you could not get the balance right by moving the lighter LiPo pack around, then you could not contemplate the change. His reason? You couldn’t possibly even think about adding some ‘Dead Weight’ to get the balance right!
Whilst I have no problem with saving a bit of weight here and there if you can, (I don’t really advocate flying a brick!) I have to point out adding weight in this case is only bringing the weight back to what it was before we changed the battery pack!
In fact we may still be better off anyway, because adding a little counterbalance weight to the nose or tail will correct the mis-balance caused by removing a lot more weight closer to the C of G. But, even if we have to add the same amount that we have lost with the battery change, we are only back where we were before!
Why the fuss? Easy, the great evil of ‘Dead Weight’ sprang out of the undergrowth and scared common sense away!
Remember, unnecessary weight may well be undesirable, but weight itself is not some great evil to be avoided at all costs!
Even house bricks can fly with enough power!
Saturday 8 March 2008
RTF/ARF Friend or Foe?
In my web crawling the other day I fell over a site selling plans for radio controlled airplanes. It was a good site but I very soon got the message that the editor was not supportive of RTF or ARF airplanes! (To put it in a ‘family friendly’ way!)
I suppose that since he was in the business of selling ‘build your own’ plans, he could be forgiven for feeling a bit put out that folks could just rock out and buy something ready made!
But, I think he is wrong. I think that the arrival of these quick fix airplanes has been one of the biggest boosts to RC flying for a long time. Lets face it, we live in an instant gratification world. People are in the habit of going from thinking about something and doing it in one jump.
RTF is the closest we can get to this. Also, there is the cost factor. These instant flight sets allow someone who is on the outside looking in to accurately figure how much it is going to cost to get into the hobby, and also see a clear path through to the end result of soaring through the clouds!
Compare this to the old way of doing things. Anybody looking in was faced by a bewildering array of choice. Choice at every point along the way. Each choice costing more, (or less!) and leading to yet other choices. (Actually, the right choices were very limited, but it sure didn’t seem that way for someone looking in!)
This huge decision making nightmare was placed right at the entry point, where you were least able to make those decisions! Then you also had to do things that you had no idea how to do in order to get your new purchases to some good end point.
I think that this entry point minefield put off many people who would have gone on to be stalwarts of the hobby. Thing is, there is a huge learning curve involved in flying radio controlled airplanes. Once you can do it, it is enormously satisfying, but while you are on the path to that point it can be endlessly frustrating.
I personally spent many months of frustration getting to the point of being able to enjoy the hobby. Even now some 25 years later, I can still remember the joy and huge satisfaction of taking my airplane home unbroken for the first time!
But, as I say, many people see this as an un-climbable mountain. Had they had some relatively easy entry point, many of them would have joined our ranks. (And, many of those would still be around today)
I think RTF/ARF kits give such an entry point, and I see the huge upsurge of park flying and indoor flying as the proof of this. Many of these folk will graduate to larger more complex models later and swell the ranks for the clubs when they feel less intimidated by the level of expertise they see at those clubs. These folk may not have even tried the hobby without such an introduction.
So I think RTF and ARF are good for all of us and should be supported and encouraged, not frowned upon!
The aim is – FLY! Don’t matter what with!
I suppose that since he was in the business of selling ‘build your own’ plans, he could be forgiven for feeling a bit put out that folks could just rock out and buy something ready made!
But, I think he is wrong. I think that the arrival of these quick fix airplanes has been one of the biggest boosts to RC flying for a long time. Lets face it, we live in an instant gratification world. People are in the habit of going from thinking about something and doing it in one jump.
RTF is the closest we can get to this. Also, there is the cost factor. These instant flight sets allow someone who is on the outside looking in to accurately figure how much it is going to cost to get into the hobby, and also see a clear path through to the end result of soaring through the clouds!
Compare this to the old way of doing things. Anybody looking in was faced by a bewildering array of choice. Choice at every point along the way. Each choice costing more, (or less!) and leading to yet other choices. (Actually, the right choices were very limited, but it sure didn’t seem that way for someone looking in!)
This huge decision making nightmare was placed right at the entry point, where you were least able to make those decisions! Then you also had to do things that you had no idea how to do in order to get your new purchases to some good end point.
I think that this entry point minefield put off many people who would have gone on to be stalwarts of the hobby. Thing is, there is a huge learning curve involved in flying radio controlled airplanes. Once you can do it, it is enormously satisfying, but while you are on the path to that point it can be endlessly frustrating.
I personally spent many months of frustration getting to the point of being able to enjoy the hobby. Even now some 25 years later, I can still remember the joy and huge satisfaction of taking my airplane home unbroken for the first time!
But, as I say, many people see this as an un-climbable mountain. Had they had some relatively easy entry point, many of them would have joined our ranks. (And, many of those would still be around today)
I think RTF/ARF kits give such an entry point, and I see the huge upsurge of park flying and indoor flying as the proof of this. Many of these folk will graduate to larger more complex models later and swell the ranks for the clubs when they feel less intimidated by the level of expertise they see at those clubs. These folk may not have even tried the hobby without such an introduction.
So I think RTF and ARF are good for all of us and should be supported and encouraged, not frowned upon!
The aim is – FLY! Don’t matter what with!
Saturday 1 March 2008
Sanity Dawns!
Hi,
As I was uploading another page to The Radio Controlled Airplane last week, I suddenly realised that things were getting a bit out of hand. After a bit of thought it finally dawned on me that ‘a bit out of hand’ was not quite the right way of putting it and I could no longer simply allow the site to grow in a sort of random fashion.
The result is, I have been planning the site. And the more I worked on it the more I realised that the little ‘I’ll just put up a few things on the web’ site that I had casually started was no little site but a potentially huge site!
It also became apparent that it was going to take some serious time to make it happen. There are twelve ‘off the top of my head’, main sections each with many pages.
So I must ask the readers patience. The content will arrive, but I can see that I will be pounding the keys for some time before it all happens.
My plan therefor is this, I will place links where I lack content to supply something to read in the meantime. As I fill in the gaps I will have content on The Radio Controlled Airplane itself, but the links will also be retained.
So, keep an eyeball on the space, who knows what will appear next!
As I was uploading another page to The Radio Controlled Airplane last week, I suddenly realised that things were getting a bit out of hand. After a bit of thought it finally dawned on me that ‘a bit out of hand’ was not quite the right way of putting it and I could no longer simply allow the site to grow in a sort of random fashion.
The result is, I have been planning the site. And the more I worked on it the more I realised that the little ‘I’ll just put up a few things on the web’ site that I had casually started was no little site but a potentially huge site!
It also became apparent that it was going to take some serious time to make it happen. There are twelve ‘off the top of my head’, main sections each with many pages.
So I must ask the readers patience. The content will arrive, but I can see that I will be pounding the keys for some time before it all happens.
My plan therefor is this, I will place links where I lack content to supply something to read in the meantime. As I fill in the gaps I will have content on The Radio Controlled Airplane itself, but the links will also be retained.
So, keep an eyeball on the space, who knows what will appear next!
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