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!
Sunday, 24 February 2008
More on Simulators
Hi,
Just a quickie today.
I found another Blog that you might be interested in. It is called ‘Jazzy's Flight Deck’, and here is an exert from she says about radio controlled airplane simulators.
‘Practicing with a flight simulator such as FMS or Realflight can make a big difference in your skills advancement. For beginners it can make the difference between crashing on your first flight and NOT crashing on your first flight. For experts, it can improve your precision and reactions with more advanced maneuvers and teach you how to "feel out" a new plane much faster.’
Gotto agree! Go to Practicing with a flight simulator to read the rest of what she says and her list of things to practice.
(Go to the end of her page for newer or older posts, she has other interesting things to say as well!)
Just a quickie today.
I found another Blog that you might be interested in. It is called ‘Jazzy's Flight Deck’, and here is an exert from she says about radio controlled airplane simulators.
‘Practicing with a flight simulator such as FMS or Realflight can make a big difference in your skills advancement. For beginners it can make the difference between crashing on your first flight and NOT crashing on your first flight. For experts, it can improve your precision and reactions with more advanced maneuvers and teach you how to "feel out" a new plane much faster.’
Gotto agree! Go to Practicing with a flight simulator to read the rest of what she says and her list of things to practice.
(Go to the end of her page for newer or older posts, she has other interesting things to say as well!)
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Why Use A Radio Controlled Airplane Simulator?
Why? Because it is one of the best advances ever in the hobby of radio controlled airplane flying! I put the RC Simulator right up there with the invention of proportional radio control.
When you are flying a real model, unless you are independently wealthy, you have to fly within your ability box all the time. It takes many, many hours of practice to build your box and then expand it into more complex areas of flying.
Any pushing of the limits of your box has to be done very very carefully or you quickly find yourself digging in your pocket for money for a new model.
The advent of computers and the RC flight simulator has changed all that radically. Using the simulator you can seriously push your limits. In fact you can blow them away completely!
You can set yourself up to learn one impossible thing after another and it costs you nothing. All you need is a bit of staying power and you can learn anything! You can crash 50 times in one evening and who cares? Your monitor doesn’t even fill up with all those smashed bits.
What I really like about the sim is that it is totally adjustable to suit exactly what you need at the time. Different model, no problem! Different weather, slow things down, speed things up, all is dead easy.
No, it isn’t exactly like flying a real radio controlled airplane, (Nothing can get even close to the potential level of terror using a real model!) but it is close enough to get that critical reflex training up to scratch. Thus, when the terror takes over the trained reflexes can save the day!
Ten minutes on the simulator is like a whole day at the field! In fact it is even better than that! In the ten minutes on the sim, you can do things that you wouldn’t dare to do at the field.
So, with a few weeks of dedicated practice pushing your envelope on the sim you can advance yourself the same amount it would take years to achieve in real life.
Make no mistake, a good simulator is one of the most important RC accessories that any pilot of any ability can own.
See what I have to say about RC Simulators on my pageLearning To Fly a Radio Controlled Airplane
All for now, and remember practice, practice, practice…
When you are flying a real model, unless you are independently wealthy, you have to fly within your ability box all the time. It takes many, many hours of practice to build your box and then expand it into more complex areas of flying.
Any pushing of the limits of your box has to be done very very carefully or you quickly find yourself digging in your pocket for money for a new model.
The advent of computers and the RC flight simulator has changed all that radically. Using the simulator you can seriously push your limits. In fact you can blow them away completely!
You can set yourself up to learn one impossible thing after another and it costs you nothing. All you need is a bit of staying power and you can learn anything! You can crash 50 times in one evening and who cares? Your monitor doesn’t even fill up with all those smashed bits.
What I really like about the sim is that it is totally adjustable to suit exactly what you need at the time. Different model, no problem! Different weather, slow things down, speed things up, all is dead easy.
No, it isn’t exactly like flying a real radio controlled airplane, (Nothing can get even close to the potential level of terror using a real model!) but it is close enough to get that critical reflex training up to scratch. Thus, when the terror takes over the trained reflexes can save the day!
Ten minutes on the simulator is like a whole day at the field! In fact it is even better than that! In the ten minutes on the sim, you can do things that you wouldn’t dare to do at the field.
So, with a few weeks of dedicated practice pushing your envelope on the sim you can advance yourself the same amount it would take years to achieve in real life.
Make no mistake, a good simulator is one of the most important RC accessories that any pilot of any ability can own.
See what I have to say about RC Simulators on my pageLearning To Fly a Radio Controlled Airplane
All for now, and remember practice, practice, practice…
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
The Use Of EPP In Model Airplanes
I am a great believer in the use of new materials in the hobby of building and flying radio controlled airplanes. It is after all a high tech hobby! High tech goes with the hobby like strawberries with cream. But, man, do people resist new stuff!
So, on to EPP or Expanded Polypropylene. While looking similar to EPS or Expanded Polystyrene, (Styrofoam) it has some great benefits for building model airplanes.
First, when you get it wrong, the plane bounces! How cool is that? Pick it up, make sure everything is still where it should be, and off you go again.
Second, if you REALLY get it wrong, a few squirts of glue, put everything back where it should be, and off you go again.
As a long time builder of radio controlled model airplanes using traditional materials like balsa, I can promise you traditional materials don’t work like that! In a split second your beautiful model converts into many more pieces than it had before you started building it. They can often be more difficult to fix than they were to build in the first place!
So, as you gather, I like EPP. But there is a lot of misunderstanding out there about it, In fact this blog entry was motivated by an article I have just read in a national RC magazine.
The guy fussed so much about how to glue or paint EPP that you could be put off by it being to difficult to use. He treated EPP as if it were a strange sort of new, more flexible EPS.
Guys, EPP isn’t some sort of EPS. EPP may look the same as EPS but it is a whole new item.
EPP is immune to just about everything. There is it’s main problem, as it can be difficult to get glue to stick to EPP. It won’t run away just because you have frightened it with a little solvent! (Like EPS does!)
That means you can use solvent based glues and paints. I use a solvent based contact adhesive called EVO-STIK IMPACT that I get from my local B&Q to glue it, and I use normal automotive aerosol paint to paint it.
I have decided to put up a guide page on The Radio Controlled Airplane to hopefully dispel a little of the mystery surrounding the use of EPP.
The page is 'Using EPP' How easy is that?
All for now, try to avoid the bounce, but if you really must bounce, use EPP!
So, on to EPP or Expanded Polypropylene. While looking similar to EPS or Expanded Polystyrene, (Styrofoam) it has some great benefits for building model airplanes.
First, when you get it wrong, the plane bounces! How cool is that? Pick it up, make sure everything is still where it should be, and off you go again.
Second, if you REALLY get it wrong, a few squirts of glue, put everything back where it should be, and off you go again.
As a long time builder of radio controlled model airplanes using traditional materials like balsa, I can promise you traditional materials don’t work like that! In a split second your beautiful model converts into many more pieces than it had before you started building it. They can often be more difficult to fix than they were to build in the first place!
So, as you gather, I like EPP. But there is a lot of misunderstanding out there about it, In fact this blog entry was motivated by an article I have just read in a national RC magazine.
The guy fussed so much about how to glue or paint EPP that you could be put off by it being to difficult to use. He treated EPP as if it were a strange sort of new, more flexible EPS.
Guys, EPP isn’t some sort of EPS. EPP may look the same as EPS but it is a whole new item.
EPP is immune to just about everything. There is it’s main problem, as it can be difficult to get glue to stick to EPP. It won’t run away just because you have frightened it with a little solvent! (Like EPS does!)
That means you can use solvent based glues and paints. I use a solvent based contact adhesive called EVO-STIK IMPACT that I get from my local B&Q to glue it, and I use normal automotive aerosol paint to paint it.
I have decided to put up a guide page on The Radio Controlled Airplane to hopefully dispel a little of the mystery surrounding the use of EPP.
The page is 'Using EPP' How easy is that?
All for now, try to avoid the bounce, but if you really must bounce, use EPP!
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