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Post by thevon on Dec 31, 2007 14:31:30 GMT 10
Hey Jase and Simon, remember I kept saying the Reaper felt strange after that first crash, and it needed lots of up and side trim? Just had a hard look at it and found that one of the aileron horn (tiny) bolts had torn out of the plastic under-plate. Wasn't obvious till you pushed hard down on the elevon. Darn, that's why it felt vague and (gulp, shame) no doubt why it wouldn't pull up out of the bottom turn and the resultant big crash. Lesson to be learned (again) is if something feels wrong, it probably is, so look harder till you find it!
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Post by ding on Dec 31, 2007 18:03:58 GMT 10
Hey Jase and Simon, remember I kept saying the Reaper felt strange after that first crash, and it needed lots of up and side trim? Just had a hard look at it and found that one of the aileron horn (tiny) bolts had torn out of the plastic under-plate. Wasn't obvious till you pushed hard down on the elevon. Darn, that's why it felt vague and (gulp, shame) no doubt why it wouldn't pull up out of the bottom turn and the resultant big crash. Lesson to be learned (again) is if something feels wrong, it probably is, so look harder till you find it! That should be a reminder that if something doesn't feel right it probably isn't. There can't be too much room for error with these rocket ships
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Post by thevon on Dec 31, 2007 18:07:22 GMT 10
Got a photo before I started fixing .... Ouch! Actually it's not a big job - just cut and shape and cover a new nose cone, glue up the fuse, and re-glue the fuse to the wing. And cut a hole for the nose weight and get the CG right again. Really it's only 2 or 3 hours of work to get it flying . I'm really super impressed at how the wrinkles iron out! They're almost invisible now. The build method with spackle/PU, 2 layers of tape, plus Goop is fantastic, no doubt about it. If that had been a composite I think it would be trashed.
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Post by callun on Dec 31, 2007 18:54:13 GMT 10
You did such a good job covering that fuse too This is starting to become all too familiar though Andrew - too many pictures of mangled wrecks - how bout keeping them in the air where they're meant to
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Post by atmosteve on Dec 31, 2007 18:54:50 GMT 10
Wow, that doesnt seem so bad considering the described impact, I'm new to EPP but isnt it amazing stuff! My wee bee has cartwheeled, smacked into a low tree trunk at maybe 50Km/hr and landed on concrete without any real damage so far.
My next glider will be a somewhat modified Bat, for learning DS up here it should be perfect (they seem very tough and tweakable) and besides I have to start from scratch for sites, as far as i know no-one does DS up here.
Andrew it sounds like you did some really cracking times! Would love to see, look and learn one day. The profilm really seems like good stuff going by your covering method.
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Post by atmosteve on Dec 31, 2007 18:57:01 GMT 10
Pre-flight inspection....
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Post by skyboyken on Jan 9, 2008 20:17:02 GMT 10
I'm a virgin no more! Had a great day today at a slope near Kilcoy with Andrew and Sean. Maidened my new Bat and finally did my first circles on the back side. Did lots of plowing the ground with the nose of the Bat too! But it survived the abuse with style and I had an absolute blast. I'm officially hooked! Next is the Reaper .
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Post by Slopefun on Jan 10, 2008 0:05:27 GMT 10
Next is the Reaper . Hi skyboyken I was just about to place a order for some stock if you are interested. Thanks Paul
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Post by ezza on Jan 10, 2008 8:17:53 GMT 10
Congrats Skyboyken!
Sounds like you are well and truly hooked now. You will be chasing that same feeling all the time now....like a bad junkie. ;D
You must have worn Sean and Andrew out. All quiet? Hopefully they are out discovering a new ds site!
Eric
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Post by sean on Jan 10, 2008 10:06:18 GMT 10
Congrats again Ken, you handled the bad conditions very well!
It was my first fly at this site and when I first threw out the Reaper it was really smooth at the back with OK but not brilliant speed, I was very impressed. But as the rain squalls passed conditions kept changing and after this brief pleasant period the backside became really rough, with the turbulence extending to the ground at times. As usual my Reaper flew beautifully handling the turbulence well.
I gave the Bird a go and it was being chucked around heaps, so landed and taped some lead to the nose and tried again... much better! It still got knocked around but it would hold it's line which makes all the difference in the world. At home I measured the new CG and it's 70mm from the LE when the recommended range is 75-80! This would slow it down on the front but I think the ability to track the DS circles is more important on the back.
Not the best day of DS for Andrew and I but Ken getting in his first laps made it much more worthwhile.
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Post by skyboyken on Jan 10, 2008 22:25:55 GMT 10
Thanks Ezza, 'You will be chasing that same feeling all the time now....like a bad junkie.' Now how would you now that . Thanks again Sean for your help and advice. Onwards and upwards! Ken.
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Post by thevon on Jan 18, 2008 22:48:49 GMT 10
Sean and I had an excellent arvo of flying. As I was heading for his place the wind was looking darn good - a really fresh Easterly and the sight of the trees lashing around on the edge of the near vertical escarpment got my blood pressure up! At Sean's place at Flaxton we finished cutting up some Ballast for his Carbon Bird, set up the mixing a bit better and then headed for a spot on the main road, back past Montville, which he and Ezza had sussed out as having DS potential. Sean was keen to try to DS the Bird there. It turned out to be a spot not-for-the-fainthearted - I was pretty nervous! The flying spot was the top of a good looking knoll towering over the west side of the main road (with a good steep backside), but on the East side of the road there was a big tall line of trees. So the road sat at the bottom of a canyon between the escarpment treetops and the knoll! If you threw off from the knoll and didn't get the height to get over the trees on the other side, you were dead meat. That's what happened to Sean's Reaper a few days ago ... it's out of action, but will fly again, but only coz it didn't get run over! Today we launched Sean's modded Skua from the cliffedge and then walked back over the road and (swapping radio) climbed the fence and climbed the hill. The frontside lift was just incredible and man, that Skua is amazing! It's so aerobatic it rolls and tumbles around so fast, it looks like it's on fastforward, or too much espresso! Very nippy. Quite amazing. He DS'ed it in both directions and although it was good, the effect wasn't as powerful as expected, probably coz the Skua is quite light and spins tight circles well, but this spot needed big arcs. Sean was very keen to try the Bird but since we didn't want the day to end in tears so early we decided to postpone it till another day! It will probably be pretty darn good. So we headed for Bald Knob, and spent the rest of the arvo DSing at the north end near the gate, in rather idyllic conditions. The wind was never strong, but fresh at times and the DS effect was working 100% of the time. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it. We both had good sessions with my Bat (a bit) and my Reaper, (a lot) and the Bird (heaps). We both spent ages on the radar gun, mostly at some distance from the flier to get the best angle to the plane, calling the speed back to the flier. The Bird's highest lap was 133mph, lots of low 120's and probably 50 laps above 100. The Reaper when fully ballasted got up to 103mph, and even the Skua, just playing around near the gate was doing 87! It was really interesting to see how far back Sean could get the Bird circling. He'd get the speed cranking up near the northern end then move back towards the towers and let the circles drift further back from the hill. It was weird, it just didn't look like the shear layer should be back that far. The plane wasn't even coming over the top of the plateau at all - the tops of the circles were probably level with the top of the hill, but over the western fence. It was very spectacular to watch the Bird DSing, very enjoyable. The Reapers are good but for some reason, at speeds not much lower, they don't get your blood pumping as much as a nice crunchie, howling over the back! I reckon my Reaper's big carbon golf club wingspars, fuse spar plus the extra carbon dragspar and the paired carbon ribbon spars are blocking out my antenna which is embedded in the top surface of the wing. Sean and I got freaked out when it kept dropping out for significant periods again today. Intermittent but scary. So I just patched in another aerial, ran it from the Rx back and into the elevon gap , then let about 6" dangle out the back of the wing, near the tip. Absolutely no cutouts after that. Weird. I know the existing aerial has continuity, so to me it must be the carbon, when the plane's in certain positions.
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Post by sean on Jan 19, 2008 9:17:04 GMT 10
Andrew and I had a lot of fun yesterday, the first decent DS conditions for me in months. The Bird really is a magnificent plane when the conditions are good, you can see it holding its energy as it arcs through the DS loops, howling as it goes. Yesterday it liked to be driven round in big perfectly round circles, which is quite different to what I'm used to. I'm still getting comfortable with it, I still find it quite scary to fly really, it gets knocked around in turbulence a lot and it needs to be flown differently to a foamy - requires much more concentration to maintain perfect laps. I think the fact that it wasn't going that much quicker than Andrew's Reaper is a testament to how good a well built Reaper is. I was happy with the 133, it was a good speed for me on this hill and wind speed. To go over this speed and keep the Bird in one piece is going to need a better hill with a smoother backside - the search goes on! The Montville site Andrew mentions is pretty gnarly and totally unforgiving but could be capable of good speeds with a plane that can do big circles. It was great to see Andrew flying so many good laps with his Reaper. He gave me lots of time flying it and the best I could get was 100. It seemed that big circles were required and tightening them slowed things down. My usual practice of pulling the top turn after crossing the shear wasn't the best method - Andrew was letting it get much higher before making the turn and getting higher speeds, so we figured there must be some kind of wind gradient effect happening. When I tried the same line my speed went up as well. It is an odd spot, doesn't have the clean, well defined shear layer of a top DS site. The Skua is a top little plane - so nimble with impeccable handling. It was clearly slower than Andrew's Bat while DSing (not by much mind you) but much more forgiving. I think the Bat is better as a DS plane but the Skua is much more versatile yet can still DS if wanted. The smile says it all . The planes. Misleading shot - the Skua is 48", the others 60".
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Post by skyboyken on Jan 19, 2008 16:11:30 GMT 10
GREAT to see Andrew having fun with his Reaper!!!
Top stuff.
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Post by ezza on Jan 19, 2008 20:07:58 GMT 10
Great stories and photos guys!!
Sounds like a fun day was had.
I had a good day down here today. Good northerlies blowin until later this arvo. Met up with Rossco and his dad James. Rossco had a coreflute Stryker which was the best flying piece of coro I had ever seen. Rossco is a smooth flying, quick learner. I think he has mainly flown coastal sites so it was fun to take him and his dad up to some of the bigger slopes where he could range out as far as can be seen and hook a few thermals up as high as you like. Really was pumping today. We shared the sky with 3 full scale gliders and one of them put on a display that had us all cringeing with jaws dropped. He was a maniac!!
Ended up back at Lennox with about 5-10 knots of wind but the lift was huge as always. I was ds'ing the Jw and eventually Rossco couldn't help himself and followed me through a few circuits. After about 5 mins I landed and he just kept going!! It was really smooth and lite conditions, after about 20 minutes of him ds'ing I realised he wasn't spending much time on the front..........we have another addict!
Really was a great days flying and I am totally burnt out!!
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