Topics

1

Indoor / The Imp - EPP Indoor Combat Plane

« on: January 05, 2011, 16:38:57 PM »

If you were at the CMAC Indoor fly-in at Middleton last October you might have seen the little orange EPP delta I was flying. I designed it with indoor combat, pylon racing and general messing about in mind. It flew well but needed some tweaking to make it as crash-proof and practical as I wanted.

I got time to sort it out and do some testing over Christmas and now it's working very well. I think I'll call it the Imp but any better suggestions will be gratefully considered :?: !
We had 4 of them in the air together on Monday for some combat (with and without streamers) and we're all agreed it's great fun! Lots of collisions, lots of streamer cuts, lots of fun and no significant damage (nicks from enemy props is about all we've seen).

It's built entirely from 6mm EPP (grade 20L – this is the soft stuff) and a little 3x0.5mm carbon strip. The prop's in the middle and it's got a big, blunt, bouncy nose.
It's virtually immune to head on collisions with walls, floors and roof beams (we've tested this several times now!). There's no landing gear or other breakable bits sticking out (but it can still take off easily from a smooth floor due to the new fuselage shape).

I'll post some photos in a couple of hours and maybe some video if I have anything suitable on the camera. I lost the CAD file for the latest version  :!:  so I'll need to re-draw it before producing a plan and then I'll post it here.

Technical specs, photos and plans coming soon!

Aidan


P.S.
This is my excuse for not making progress on the Index 4......

2

Indoor / Index 4

« on: October 28, 2010, 14:15:12 PM »

Well, my Index 3 picked up some wear and tear last weekend and my older Index 2.2 was already close to retirement so it's time for a new plane.
I'm still very happy with the way the Index airframes fly, so I'm going to stick with the same basic proportions but do a little tweaking. First off I want to go bigger, Somewhere between 900mm and 960mm span (the Index 3 is 800mm span).
I've never tried milling one of these airframes but I'm considering either milling or mylar covering the new one. I think I'll get some 5 micron mylar and give it a go.

The intention is to build an airframe with between 25% and 40% extra wing area but no more than about 5% to 15% more weight. This should also allow me to keep using my existing Hacker A10-15s motors and make for a very slow flying plane.

Eanna's going to build one too so maybe we'll try 2 slightly different versions and sizes and see which works best.

We shall see!

I'll post some pictures when I get building in the next week or two.
If anyone's interested in plans I might put them up too once it's finished and tested.

There was quite a bit of interest in the EPP delta design I was flying in Middleton, so I'll start a thread with some info on that in the next few days too.

Aidan

3

Slope Soaring / Mini Toons type close-in aerobatics sloper

« on: August 31, 2010, 16:43:15 PM »

I'm curious if anyone's been flying small aerobatic gliders like the Mini Toons or Le Fish etc. These could be fun for occasional glider fun fly competitions (Limbo, all up inverted racing, etc.)

I was thinking of building something along these lines probably around 50" from EPP or urethane foam with carbon/balsa/ply as required.

Just a thought!

Aidan

4

Wanted / Graupner MX-22 Transmitter

« on: November 19, 2009, 08:01:50 AM »

I know it's a long shot but may as well ask!

Anyone got an MX-22 in good shape going second hand?

5

Indoor / Indoor Pattern Aerobatics (F3P)

« on: September 22, 2008, 23:05:03 PM »

Is anyone interested in trying some F3P flying this winter and maybe some relaxed competitions. We could always experiment with some indoor pylon racing or combat on the side :lol:.

As some of you may know, the guys in Lisburn and Dungannon ran a couple of very enjoyable and well attended indoor aerobatics competitions last season. I'm sure they'll be building on that this season and it would be great to get something similar started further south. Myself and a couple of others travelled to the 2 events last year and had a great time.
No previous RC competition experience required!

F3P
F3P is the indoor equivalent of F3A but a lot cheaper and in my opinion a lot more fun and a great way to improve your flying. It can be flown in a typical 1 basketball court / 4 badminton court sports hall.

The Planes
I've attached a few pictures below to give an idea of the sort of planes used. They're typically built much like a Shockflyer from 3mm depron sheet and carbon rods. They're similar to Shockflyers in size but the purpose designed planes are lighter and more rigid. Most purpose designed planes are monoplanes weighing between about 110g and 140g which makes them nice and slow and very easy to manoeuver indoors. Biplanes are sometimes heavier, up to around 200g. You could use one of the Ikarus Shockflyer's to start off with but try and keep it light.
I really like the way these planes fly and I reckon the purpose designed planes are worth a try even if you have no interest in competitions.

There are plenty kits available for excellent designs like the Clik, Nexus and Mercury. Alternatively you can build from a plan or design your own with a little depron and carbon rod. I can point you in the direction of kits, plans or materials. Just ask!
I might put together some basic kits for my own "Index 3" design if anyone's interested.

The bits and pieces
A typical setup uses a motor weighing less than 20g, 3 servos each around 5g and a 2 cell battery around 350mAh capacity.
This size gear has gotten a lot cheaper and more easily available over the last year or so. If you've already flown Shockflyers you probably have suitable radio gear. You'll probably want a lighter motor and maybe lighter cells. I'm using a Hacker A10-15s that cost about €30 in my plane. There are suitable options from as little as €8 up to exotic stuff around €100. Batteries are also relatively inexpensive at about €12 for a good pack.
If you're interested and need help picking equipment let me know and I can give you a hand.

The Events
There are two disciplines at most events, F3P and Aeromusical.

F3P
F3P consists of flying a prescribed aerobatic schedule. It comes in 3 flavours from a pretty straight forward F3P-C schedule to the very difficult F3P-A schedule.
The guys in the north also ran a "Basic" schedule last year which was very successful and could be flown without a purpose built plane.
If we do run any events this year I'd suggest we forget the F3P-A schedule and just do Basic and F3P-C or if enough are interested we could run F3P-B too.

Aeromusical
This is a 2 minute freestyle flight to music. You can use the same planes although I think the rules allow Shockflyers, IFOs or almost anything else to be used too!

I think myself, Eanna and Stu are definitely up for it and I'm hoping Ralph can rally some support down his neck of the woods :wink: . Joe, Fred, Paul, could you be tempted? Anyone else?

Aidan

6

Indoor / Lisburn competition on 7th Dec

« on: November 02, 2007, 08:59:35 AM »

Hi guys,

The guys in the north have decided to give F3P (Indoor precision aerobatics) a go and have organised an introductory competition for the evening of Friday Dec 7th. I've attached their flyer. They'll be running a basic non-aerobatic schedule too. I think the main event will be the F3P-C schedule. I haven't tried flying the schedule yet but I plan to enter if I can fly anything vaguely resembling the correct sequence of manoeuvers There'll also be F3P-AM (aeromusical routine).

Being on Friday evening I presume it'll be a problem for most of us from Dublin, Cork or elsewhere to make it but I'm going to try.

Richard Boyd posted this on RCGroups.com:

The well know IMAC pilot Mathew Poots is arranging a F3P and AM event in Lisburn just a few miles outside Belfast Northern Ireland . We are starting with a C shedule as we are all learning both pilots and judges but this has proven to be a hit and we have 20 pilots comitted to fly . Next years event is already being planned , this is how keen we all are to fly F3P.

the F3P-C schedule..... will be the main schedule for pilots !
The entry level or basic schedule...... is for novice fliers who we are encouraging to take part and get interested in F3P !
AM is for everyone to take part and entertain each other and show of there 3d skills to music ! Thanks for the help and i hope no one is confused .

The entry level schedule is:
TAKE OFF
ONE CIRCUIT
LEVEL FLIGHT
FIGURE 8
LOOP
PROCEDURE TURN -RIGHT
PROCEDURE TURN- LEFT
LANDING

The F3P-C is as per the attached Aresti schedule. I better make sure I know how to read it correctly!

Aidan

P.S. Flyer says BMFA insurance required but MACI is fine too.[/quote]

7

Slope Soaring / Flying this weekend?

« on: May 05, 2006, 20:45:37 PM »

Hi guys,

The forcast is for 15 to 20mph S and SE winds on Saturday with some possible rain, 8mph SE winds on Sunday.

Would Glencree be suitable?

Incidentally I find the following website very good for forcasts :http://www.metcheck.com
Specify your location by city or co-ordinates.

See you at the slope perhaps!

Aidan