Messages

31

Slope Sites in Ireland / WOW!!!!

« on: February 16, 2013, 15:28:25 PM »

Joe,

That slope face is unbelievable, it there actually a road to the top of that thing? FF

32

Slope Sites in Ireland / The best of both worlds

« on: February 16, 2013, 15:25:56 PM »

You guys must be familiar with the Lads down in Port Elizabeth, what a great bunch of guys, I've really enjoyed their videos and their antics. I haven't been on this forum for a while as I lost my password and just got a new one thanks to Fred. hope you don't mind be dropping in on occasion. FF

33

Slope Soaring / Freedom Flyer's sailplane hangar

« on: March 04, 2012, 14:57:44 PM »

Andrew,
Glad to see you had great success, it's always fun to try new things in the RC world.  Great pictures, it's fun to have a group as excited about trying things as you are.
Sorry that I haven't responded sooner, I have taken up my new job and just returned from my first shift.  It takes approximately 8 hours one way with fuel stops to get to and from my work site.  I'm hoping to get a lap top ready and going by the time I leave for my next 8 day stint so I can stay in better touch with my wife (skype) and kids and to see whats going on with the forums. Thanks for sharing.  Once I get settled and learn what I need to for the job, I'm hoping to take some building projects with me so I have something to do during my off hours.  I'm putting together a balsa order now in preparation for that.  I'll be in touch congratulations on your success. Tracy :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

34

Scale / Amazing

« on: February 09, 2012, 05:10:51 AM »

johnfireball,
     Excellent job on the build, hope it flies half as well as it looks. Wish you the best for the test flight. Freedom Flyer

35

Slope Soaring / Freedom Flyer's sailplane hangar

« on: February 09, 2012, 05:02:53 AM »

Andrew,
      Great pics, thanks for sharing. I think I like your release mechanism much better, seems like there would be less friction and  a more direct release. I may make that adaptation when I redo mine. The Red, White and Yellow sailplane looks to have a pretty decent wingspan, again I would suggest wing supports  about 1/2 way out on the plane wing under the glider wing. There's some really strange forces going on during the flights and I have had  gliders tip to one side or the other during the flight with a cross wind, it makes the flight verrrrrry interesting :shock:  :shock:  :shock:. If your going to haul multiple types of gliders you'll want to make it adjustable to fit the different wing configurations but if your going to haul one type it could be something very simple just to keep it from tipping.  Hope all goes well for the test flight good luck. Tracy

36

Slope Soaring / Freedom Flyer's sailplane hangar

« on: February 07, 2012, 02:24:19 AM »

Andrew,
     If you go back and look at the pics of my cradle, notice where the rubber bands are attached at the back of the cradle, up near the corner of the cradle.  When you rubber band the glider to the cradle, the trailing edge of the wing is up against the attachment point and will not allow the glider to slide back at all. In fact it is very tight at the trailing edge and have cut away the monocote and placed 1/32 plywood on a couple of my gliders to keep the balsa from being crushed. I haven't experienced any of my planes sliding back during a launch.   As long as you have your cradle mounted firmly on the plane to where it can't move, that shouldn't even be an issue.  I would suggest when you get your cradle done to mount it on the plane and take it up for a flight to see how the Kadet reacts with it on it's back. Have you decided if you are going to add ailerons? I think it would be very beneficial. thanks for the update I'll be in touch, looking forward to more pics. Tracy

37

Humour / A Cowboy named Bud

« on: February 03, 2012, 04:11:37 AM »

FOR SURE!!!!!! :!:  

38

Humour / A Cowboy named Bud

« on: February 02, 2012, 04:10:21 AM »

A  cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a
>remote mountainous pasture in California when
>suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out
>of a cloud of dust.
>
>The driver, a young man in a Brioni® suit,
>Gucci® shoes, RayBan® sunglasses and YSL® tie,
>leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If
>I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you
>have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"
>
>Bud looks at the man, who obviously is a yuppie,
>then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and
>calmly answers, "Sure, why not?"
>
>The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell®
>notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular
>RAZR V3® cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on
>the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite
>to get an exact fix onhis location which he then
>feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the
>area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
>
>The young man then opens the digital photo in
>Adobe Photoshop® and exports it to an image
>processing facility in Hamburg, Germany ..
>
>
>Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm
>Pilot® that the image has been processed and the
>data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL®
>database through an ODBC connected Excel®
>spreadsheet with
>email on his Blackberry® and, after a few minutes, receives a response.  
>
>Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page
>report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet®
>printer, turns to the cowboy and says, "You have
>exactly 1,586 cows and calves."
>
>"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud.    
>
>He watches the young man select one of the
>animals and looks on with amusement as the young
>man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
>
>
>Then Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can
>tell you exactly what your business is, will you
>give me back my calf?"
>bb
>The young man thinks about it for a second and
>then says, "Okay, why not?"
>
>"You're a U.S. Congressman", says Bud.
>
>"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how
>did you guess that?"
>
>"No guessing required." answered the cowboy.
>"You showed up here even though nobody called
>you; you want to get paid for an answer I
>already knew, to a question I never asked. You
>used millions of dollars worth of equipment
>trying to show me how much smarter than me you
>are; and you don't know a thing about how
>working people make a living - or about cows,
>for that matter.  This is a herd of sheep.
>
>Now give me back my dog.
>

39

Humour / Impending surgery

« on: January 30, 2012, 15:11:42 PM »

Two little kids are in a hospital, lying on stretchers next to each other
>  outside the operating room, the first surgeries of the day.
>
>  The first kid leans over and asks,
>  "What are you in here for?"
>
>  The second kid says,
>
>  "I'm getting my tonsils out, and I'm afraid."
>
>  The first kid says,
>  "You've got nothing to worry about. I had that done when I was four. They
>  put you to sleep, and when you wake up they give you lots of Jell-O and
>  ice cream. It's a breeze."
>
>The second kid then asks,
>  "What are you here for?"
>
>The first kid says,
>
>"Circumcision."
>
>
>"Whoa!" the second kid replies,
>
>"Good luck, buddy. I had that done when I was born.
>
>  Couldn't walk for a year."

40

Slope Soaring / Rudder only?

« on: January 25, 2012, 16:23:38 PM »

Andy,
      My brothers plane is an ARF plane, it came with ailerons. He added the black pin striping, moved the landing gear for the tail dragger configuration and because of our altitude put the big 4 stroke on it, I don't think he needed to go quite as big as he did  :shock:  :shock: but it does fly very well and is a very relaxing model to fly.
      I would strongly suggest that you do at least one thing before attempting to haul up a glider, I think it would wise be to add ailerons to that plane, it's a decent sized rudder but I don't think you will be able to maintain control with a sailplane mounted to the top with rudder only.  I'm not saying you should, but you might also want to be prepared to go with a tail dragger set up, especially if you are flying off of a grass strip.  There's going to be just enough weight added to the plane and also enough in front of the CG that it may cause the nose gear to "dig in".  I do think it will be plenty of plane to haul up the glider you have sitting on it in the picture, and if you can put some sort of support out near the bend in the glider wing to keep it from tipping side to side.
     The very first RC plane I saw fly was a Sig Kadet Senior, the guy that helped me get started in the hobby had one. He had made a set of skiis for it so he had a great big nose ski that the prop just barely missed when running, it was rudder only but flew great on the powder snow he was flying off of.  Unfortunately his depth perception wasn't as good as it should have been and he hit a football goal post about 6 inches out from the fuselage on the left side of the wing, it was a total loss but fun while it lasted.   Keep the photos coming I'm excited to see the progress.  After seeing yours you'll probably see a pic of a new one mounted on my plane. Tracy.

P.S.  Do you guys get any snow on the tops of your slopes? and do you fly mode one or two there?

41

Slope Soaring / My oldest brother's Senior Kadet

« on: January 24, 2012, 15:17:43 PM »

You're making your cradle so nice and sleek, I'm going to have to make a new one, it makes mine look crappy and like I've never built anything before.
 :oops:  :oops:
Here's a couple of pics of my Older brother Arlen's Senior Kadet, very nice flyer, he has a 90  four stroke on his, PLENTY of power. He highly recommends it in a tail dragger configuration, I know Sig designed it in the trike gear configuration for beginning pilots, but it flys well either way. That choice would of course be yours.
Keep the updates coming, it looks Great! :clap:  :clap:







One other thing, you'll want to make sure that there is sufficient surface area on top of the cradle for the glider wing to support both leading edge and trailing edge of the wing.

42

Slope Soaring / Cradle

« on: January 24, 2012, 01:40:55 AM »

Andrew,
     Cool!  The .62 should be enough power providing you don't go too big with the plane you plan to carry. A few things I need to mention is to make sure the top of the cradle is the same incidence as the bottom of wing. They need to be parallel otherwise it causes all sorts of issues. The other is, I made my cradle with the sides opened up because it acts like another vertical flying surface and if there is any cross wind of any kind it affects the way the plane handles not only with the glider on board but even after you release it.  I also tried to keep my glider as low as possible so it didn't act like a big weather vane on top of my plane. Also make sure you have PLENTY of rudder throw, I use both elevator and rudder when piggy backing a glider up. That Senior Kadet is a GREAT airplane, they've been around forever.  I'm looking forward the finished product and hearing how it all goes. Thank you for sharing the photos with me. Tracy

43

Slope Soaring / Freedom Flyer's sailplane hangar

« on: January 18, 2012, 20:49:46 PM »

Andy,
        Your Welcome, I hope you give it a try. Tracy

44

Slope Soaring / Glider Cradle

« on: January 17, 2012, 19:43:00 PM »

Wing is bolted on plane with 4 nylon bolts so I have utilized the wing bolts to mount glider cradle



Here's a pic from the back, the rubber bands up top stretch over the wing, across the leading edge down to a couple of music wire forks mounted through the dowel. I mounted the release servo flat and have a string going from the servo to a piece of music wire that is pulled back to release the dowel with the forks attached. pretty mechanical but seems to be pretty fail safe.





Here's one of two pics with rubber bands stretched over the wing to the forks



Note the wire protruding through the slot perpendicular to the one in the end of the dowel, that's the one that has the string attached to it going to the servo.  The opposite end of that wire is attached to the opposite side of the cradle.




This is a picture of one of the wing supports, I made these adjustable as I haul up different wing configurations and needed to be able to  move the supports up to the bottom of the different kinds of wings, I found these to be extremely important. Any breeze or wind during climb out to launch altitude will tip a larger plane to one side or the other causing all sorts of fun for the power plane pilot.  Also be in sync. with the glider pilot and ready with your finger on the release switch and ready to dump the glider should you encounter some difficulty




Just another picture of the bands stretched over the wing to the dowel forks



A drawing of the dowel fork




Hope these drawings help explain how the release mechanism works




Here's a couple of pics of my Goldberg cub, I don't use it for anything except flying

45

Slope Soaring / Telemaster Piggy back planes

« on: January 17, 2012, 04:02:19 AM »

I know I posted this on another part of this forum, but these are my two older brothers, this Senior Telemaster is mine.  We use these when the wind isn't blowing and we want to try some thermal activity.







This is my Oldest brother Arlen and I, and this is his Senior Telemaster built by my brother Wayne in the above picture.