|
Post by thevon on Mar 9, 2009 7:21:45 GMT 10
Huge winds are forecast for Weldon hill in California today, (maybe 70mph winds) so they're talking about the possibility of breaking the world record again!
|
|
|
Post by chamm37 on Mar 9, 2009 9:51:48 GMT 10
Man thats going to be awesome......hope they record it ;D ;D ;D
|
|
|
Post by jirvin4505 on Mar 27, 2009 10:52:13 GMT 10
|
|
|
Post by chamm37 on Apr 2, 2009 6:58:42 GMT 10
Got the reaper all going again with bigger servoes in it now. Got hitec 225 metal gear servoes in there so i think that should be enough touque ;D Just need to get her out and start some dsing
|
|
|
Post by chamm37 on Apr 2, 2009 16:19:13 GMT 10
I was wondering if anybody was going flying this weekend.....maybe be able to give us a ride by anychance if you are going out would be very appreciated ;D
|
|
|
Post by blitz146 on Apr 3, 2009 23:25:02 GMT 10
FLYING WHATS THAT. Took the mother in law , sister inlaw and the rest of the tribe for a drive up malany past bald knob . Bad move, someone dsing of the back with a flock front side. Only watched for twenty (spewing) then had to keep the show rolling. Must admit the Maleny mob are brave souls with the se rain squalls.
|
|
|
Post by airtime on May 23, 2009 19:34:30 GMT 10
Eric got 241mph today at Byron lighthouse. 50-60knot winds very turbulant. Super flying Eric
|
|
|
Post by ezza on May 23, 2009 21:23:35 GMT 10
Great to hear you got some laps in Sean. SOunds like the air was turbulent up there as well. This has been an amazing weather event. It was howling down here again, another copy and paste from RCG.....; Thanks again guys. Looks like everything will be allright. Just a big a mess of fallen trees to chop up. Had a fantastic day today. Ds'ed at the lighthouse twice. Dad and I went up to the lighthouse pretty early, around 7am. Wind was 40-50knots. The second I threw out the Opus it dropped to 21-27. Couldn't get over 165'ish. Tried a few new zones up there, but it was turbulent, and risky. Landed and Tim turned up. Tim threw out his little 500grm 48 inch Hurricane, into 40 knots. "Its not penetrating" Tim was saying. He decided to dive it in anyways. ;D It was so turbulent the little thing couldn't even make it back out to the frontside, being flipped inverted and knocked all over the place. Tim pulled off a brilliant landing and called it quits. Went back to my place to wait for the rain to stop. Tim's dad was giving us doppler radar reports and with his advice, we decided to head back up. Soon after we arrived , Kane, Astan, Nige and Swoopdowns dad, Slow Robo did too. A big rain squall was approaching and the wind swung SE and started blowing real hard. The rain just missed us by about 100m and the Opus was thrown out as quickly as possible. Two windguages were measuring 40-56knots. Dove her in and the power was there but it was fairly turbulent and wild. The wing was shuddering horribly and the vtail was twisting like I have never seen before. Really hard to keep clean circuits going, being sucked down and spat out vertically was the norm. Managed lots of 200+ with 241 the best. Wind backed off for a bit and then swung to the east and came in hard!! Guages were reading 60knots. East doesn't work, the whole backside was swirling, so I had to land. The hardest part was just trying to stand, and watering eyes. First time I have seen the MC3 going backwards, in horizontal flight, without flaps. Made for a fairly easy landing. Once again stoked to have her home in one piece. ;D It was amazing as everyone had a go of trying to stand up on the hanglider launch pad. You had to stand with a huge lean. Kane was leaning forward, then jumping up into the wind, and managing a little, 'hang time'. Incredible. We all walked up and checked out the other ridge and took shelter at the lighthouse. Bs'ing and ds'ing it was great. Nige had brought his new reaper along. All I can say is that he nailed the build. It looked and flew amazing. Then we all went back to the farm for a fly with mum and dad. Never seen so many planes at that spot. It was still howling 40 knots. Rain came back and we bs'ed to well after dark. What a great day, thanks alot guys!!! Eric
|
|
|
Post by thevon on May 23, 2009 21:32:53 GMT 10
Top stuff Ezza (and the rest of the crowd!) What a day. Sounds great. Pity it wasn't clean air ... you would have blown that PB and Aussie record away!
|
|
|
Post by nige on May 24, 2009 8:26:46 GMT 10
It was a great day down at Byron with the guys as it's usually pretty quiet round here. I don't know about Eric's heart but mine was certainly pumping hard and I was only watching. We were very lucky because it rained heaps just south of us for most of the day.
I tried to explain the Ds'ing and the sound of the Opus to my inlaws later that night and I was lost for words. It is certainly an experience to stick in my mind.
Nigel
|
|
|
Post by thevon on Dec 27, 2009 20:08:18 GMT 10
Poor Correlation between Crash Speed and Damage.
Went to Bald Knob today. That new steep road’s even more dodgy with the washed-down rocks and dirt from recent rain! The wind was strong NE at my place but not so strong at the Knob, and probably a bit more north. I was disappointed as I’d got my hopes up for a “real” DS session. Didn’t eventuate, unfortunately. Nick kindly gunned me while I DS’ed the Ditza over the back. The “usual” spot at the gate wasn’t working but by walking 30-50m closer to the towers there was some good power, but real washing machine conditions at times too. I got 114mph (memorable coz Nick exclaimed it equaled his PB with the Skua). It felt lots faster than that for some reason. Then I did a nice landing and for some reason the darn thing decided to do a triple sow-kow as it touched down and broke the fin and stabilizer, tearing off the siliconed elevator too. (they’re just glassed balsa that I made myself). But with some CA and fibre tape it was ready to go again soon!
Rain showers came over intermittently, sending us scurrying back to the cars. The Miraj went well – did a bit of DS with it too. More scary with the airframe visibly contorting in the bad shear.
Got the Ditza over the back again. Flew just like before, even though the elevator was only taped on! Amazing how much easier it is to DS in marginal conditions with a slippery heavy plane, as compared to the Miraj which lost energy more easily. Nick tried with the Skua but it didn’t have a hope. But the DS conditions were dodgy. Nick patiently gunned for me again but it was hard work and I didn’t get over 110. Sometimes there was no effect there at all. Sometimes it was smooth. Then the same line and the plane would bounce back out on a big wave of invisible white water. Sometimes it was OK high up, and other times you had to go low. When you got it right it was really exciting but it involved a lot of coming up between the trees and over the fence. Periodically there’d be a big draft pushing/rolling you near the bottom. On one of these loops my reflexes were good for the first suckdown and she straightened out to rocket up over the fence but I wasn’t prepared for the 2nd suck and she just went in about 3 metres below the fence. Nick was laughing and showed me the Prospeed with exactly 100mph recorded just as she hit. But he said “you know, I don’t reckon it’s got any damage – it went in so flat”. And he was right! Not a scratch. Just a good coating of dirt around the nose etc! She was charging up again in a few minutes! That was amazing!
However the ratio of flying to rain decreased rapidly and it set in. Ever the optimists, we (me, Nick, Ray, Ken, Greg R, Greg H, Pete L) stood behind or sat in vehicles for an hour or so telling stories and looking at stuff. Greg R has the new 12ch Futaba radio which he loves. We also ogled his Vector, Pete’s Vento and more. Finally we gave up. Good move – it bucketed down all the hour drive home!
|
|
|
Post by nick on Dec 27, 2009 20:36:55 GMT 10
YES Unbelievable i wouldn't believe it unless i saw it Andrews plane as gunned by myself hit the ground at 100 mph it hit about 10 degrees angle with the wings level to the slope into nice wet muddy grass, im so glad it was ok, Andrew was getting tossed all over the place as it wasn't the best conditions for a ds, but if you know Andrew and there is ridge lift and a backside you can bet your left one he will dive in over the back and see how it goes. this plane had just been repaired onsite as the elevator and rudder had been broken off, both these parts were intact after this 100mph crash, just goes to show how good Andrew is at repairs. now we just need some more wind for a good session check ya regards nick
|
|
|
Post by sean on Jan 3, 2010 14:47:27 GMT 10
In an effort to get a little more speed out of my aging single carbon Bird I've made some mods to it. I covered the fuse in a carbon sock and added lead to the wings. The sock I bought was the 'heavy' sock from Soller Composites in the US, and it sure is heavy. When wetting it out I'd brush on a really heavy coat of epoxy that looked like way too much, and after a few minutes it'd soak right in and look dry, requiring another coat! I used heat shrink over the forward part of the fuse while the epoxy set, and wrapped electrical tape around the boom because I couldn't get small enough heat shrink past the nose or the glued on v-tail. The results are pretty ugly but with a little black filler and sanding it's not too bad. I didn't want to spend much time so didn't put much care into it, and it shows. But boy is it strong! You can grab the nose in one hand, put the tip of the boom on a table and then push with all your strength in the middle of the fuse and there is zero bending!!! It is quite amazingly stiff and strong. Such a difference to before when you could bend it left and right with no effort at all thanks to a crack in the fuse at the wing saddle (the fuse was cracked at the wing saddle where the ballast goes since its first flight two years ago, and every DS speed I've got with it was with the fuse cracked in this way).
Last time I DSed it at the Lighthouse it felt much too light for the conditions, so I added lead to the tips and some more lead mid span between the servos. AUW is now 1970g with no ballast! Before it weighed about 1450g with full ballast. I'm a bit surprised it came out as heavy as this, and I can still add the fuse ballast if I feel it isn't heavy enough LOL. I can't imagine that ever happening - the idea of adding lead to the wing was to keep weight out of the fuse to reduce wing bending.
I'm going with a very conservative 74mm CG to see if that tames it a little as it's never been a stable DS plane. I think a forward CG and tip weight should help. I'm not sure where the CG was before that but it only took about 70g extra lead to balance which was a surprise given how much carbon and epoxy was added behind the CG, and the wing weight was mostly slightly behind the CG too.
|
|
|
Post by sean on Jan 3, 2010 15:10:58 GMT 10
|
|
|
Post by sean on Jan 3, 2010 15:11:34 GMT 10
PS 1000 posts yippee!
Make that 1001...
|
|