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Post by Pij on Aug 7, 2008 0:51:52 GMT 10
I've got some old trawler net I picked up at the dump. I use it for tying loads of rubbish down on the trailer. If you can find one, they're huge, though oddly shaped. You can cut it up as desired.
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Post by thevon on Aug 7, 2008 8:22:51 GMT 10
We did discuss this in a previous thread some time ago, in relation to putting up a big net at Shorncliffe. I took a cast net over and hung it between branches but it was really hard to land in it! If you put up a big net, it would be quite a lot of work with poles and guy ropes, and not really practical, particularly in a rocky spot like Wild Horse.
But, I do think a big net could be spread over the top of the low shrubs to good effect. When I looked at my "preferred" landing patch of tallish soft shrubs yesterday they look like a solid patch but when you get amongst them there are some fairly big holes, not visible looking across the top. If you spread the net over, it would stop the plane falling down to the rock below.
I was quite amazed that Sean landed OK there. Mostly the hill is covered in sparse, woody spiky dead shrubs. No way to land in that stuff. The patch of soft stuff I referred to is quite small (about the size of a station wagon) and is on a slope too.
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Post by sean on Aug 7, 2008 10:13:02 GMT 10
what about setting up a badmitton net or similar lossely between trees/shrubs.......just fly straight into it? If you have a net I'd love to try it - but only with a foamy! I think there would be a lot of risk doing this with a moldie, if you missed the net there's a good chance you'd clobber whatever is holding it up - post, tree, etc, and that would put a hole in your wing. Also you might hit it and bounce back out! However if a system like that could be made to work it would open up a few sites that are too rough for moldies.
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Post by felix on Aug 7, 2008 16:34:44 GMT 10
my idea would be 2 alloy 1.5m tent uprights with a tent string holding them upright from the side the plane will be approaching from.the net i think would only have to be 4mtrs across (even i could hit that! ;D).the bottom of the net (something like badmitton/tennis net would be ideal as it won't scuff the plane too bad but the weave is wide enough to allow the fuse to go through) i would pull the bottom of the net tight but the top leave fairly loose. that should give plenty of give but not allow the plane to fall out of the net......should work?
edit* as for clobbering the poles perhaps wrap them in foam (those floating pools things come to mind). then,even if you do clobber the poles, as long as you hit it with the outboard wing it would still swing the fuse through the net without damage.
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Post by portfox on Aug 8, 2008 11:05:46 GMT 10
A net, come on you guys ;-), 'catch' them! At wild horse, just catch it or land on the concrete pad at the top. I've flown there a few times and landed on there. Even flown the old ricochet there, 2.5 mtr fibreglass beast. It was tricking landing but enhances the skills. lol
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Post by felix on Aug 8, 2008 20:45:11 GMT 10
.....maybe forget the net then and bring a helmet
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Post by thevon on Aug 8, 2008 21:11:07 GMT 10
I have to vouch that Steve (Portfox) is a bit of an expert at the catch. But wow, the idea of catching a Ricochet there is a bit scary. I wouldnt want to land a nice plane on the concrete either! Very game.
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Post by Pij on Aug 8, 2008 21:12:26 GMT 10
wicket-keepers gloves and pads I still like the soft net, though why not just use string to hang it between bushes, no poles? I'm sure I've seen that retrieval method for UAV's on ships. Not tied to bushes, though.
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Post by felix on Aug 8, 2008 22:51:13 GMT 10
andrew i think i'm with you i definately wouldn't like to hand catch a big mouldie but would love to WATCH YOU try (i'll bring the video camera )......hats off to portfox to have the nerve and skill to pull it off though!
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Post by portfox on Aug 14, 2008 11:33:00 GMT 10
Stall catch, basically bring her in, spoiler/flaps what ever you have., wash off the speed and bring it back into the wind. Dive brakes off, pull up with the brakes on, as it just about stalls, run and grab. May be best to practice this on a flat field first though, could end messy. lol
"the rico was old, so i didnt care too much"
S
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drcuzo
> 100
Now I have lost my avatar as well
Posts: 185
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Post by drcuzo on Aug 14, 2008 18:04:30 GMT 10
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Post by sean on Aug 14, 2008 18:35:46 GMT 10
Not a bad landing for your Erwin's first flight Steve, but your approach was just a tad fast...
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Post by chamm37 on Aug 14, 2008 21:05:35 GMT 10
yer i reakon i could do it ae i was doing it at the fields at Braken risdge but fust not th catching part of things because it was my first ever go at landing a moldy......If you had of watched me sean i brought it in nice and slow and on and off with the flaps, adjusting it as you go, and my first landing was just a flutter and just sat on the ground like she had not even been flying....... It is actually quite easy than wat it sounds but then again i have never flown at Wild horse before so i dunno but if i had my own model i would try it ;D
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Post by portfox on Aug 15, 2008 8:53:08 GMT 10
hahaaaaa, love it! I'd have a go at that, not a worry at all. (with sean's plane) heheheeee
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Post by thevon on Aug 16, 2008 20:47:54 GMT 10
Well it was a big day. A big day of carnage that ended on a better note.
Sean and I met up at Wild Horse before 11am. We didn’t waste time getting up to the top, as the wind looked good. But the DS was variable and never really “cracking”. The wind was OK, there was pumping great lift at times, but the direction was quite westerly; not the SW they’d predicted. I flew the Bat and later the Reaper with its new fuse and tail. Sean flew the Carbon Bird then later the Erwin. We had lots of keen spectators, not the least being a tribe of young Boy Scouts on a bushwalk who asked lots of annoying questions “Can I have a go?” “No”. “Why not? It looks easy”.
Shane turned up armed with his highly customized Burrly covered Reaper, and a Duck. He got the Reaer dialed on the frontside where the lift was good but lumpy, then started practicing his first DS circles. Sean landed the Bird into some soft shrubs but it under-shot, fell short and broke a chunk of leading edge on a rock. Bummer. He CA’ed it and taped over it. I was a bit dopey from lots of Panadol for a headache that still hasn’t abated as I write this. I added 270gm (half) ballast to the Bat, fiddled with the programming then threw it out again – no response – and it dawned on me that I hadn’t turned it on. It described a long arcing dive back into the rocky hill some distance away. I couldn’t believe I’d done that and headed off with the annoying Scouts in tow … “Hey this is going to be a long walk! You can’t come unless your leader gives you permission!” Good thing he did because after a few minutes one of the Scouts found the plane, not far from where I’d walked past it! It was a mess. It had gone in HARD. The spar system was intact but there were huge rips in the wing and the power had died. Ho-hum.
So I got the Reaper going and after trimming, it was good. Sean had launched the Erwin which was making its characteristic blade like whine and impressing the spectators. For a while we had the 3 of us playing around then Shane hit the rocks DSing. A real shame. The beautiful handcrafted wood fuse looked like a pile of firewood.
We got the radar gun out and the small crowd who were watching from up in the lookout or sitting around eating lunch got a buzz out of hearing us call the speeds: “that’s MILES per hour you know” I crowed. I think Sean was up around 118 mph at max. That Erwin is such an exceptional plane. I got around 90 with the Reaper and Shane played on the frontside with the Duck and tried to use it to practice DS occasionally. The wind shifted allowing us to DS on the east side of the tower occasionally but mostly we were DSing just below the tower. The wind wasn’t strong and I was pushing the Reaper low to get more effect. And after doing about 100 loops, although I was doing the exact same thing it just rolled on the backside and went in. HARD! The new nose was mush, carbon splinters protruding, wrinkles behind the wing spar and power was dead. I doubt that the batteries survived. Ho-hum.
At the same moment Shane crashed into a tree on the backside so I had to scrub-bash a bit further through the charcoal covered stalky growth to find the Duck too, and it had really big chunks of EPP torn from the wing. Ugly and out of action. Ho-hum.
Well, I had nothing left to fly and at that point I was giving up R/C gliding. Well, DS anyway. Completely stupid waste of time. I just couldn’t face the thought of repairing the foamies. And poor Shane. What a dumb stupid place to come – Wild Horse Mtn the scene of glider carnage on a large scale. We should stick to nice grassy places. I fought off the depression, scratched my head and mumbled tenuously that I wondered if I might head to Dayboro to see if I could fly the Wizard at Lemons. The other guys perked up and scratched their heads and said they’d be keen, so we we considered about the potential impact on our wives/ partners/ kids for 0.65 seconds and decided we’d all go. We helped each other put all the bits of carnage into bags and backpacks, and started the 10 minute walk back down to the cars. In no time we were looking at other parts of the ridge saying “Gee look how dead that air is! That would really work! Hey we need to come back here in a strong SW – it could be amazing!”. It struck me that we were like women in childbirth, swearing that the pain was so bad they’d never go thru it again. Then next day saying “maybe the next one will be a girl”. We forget the pain and remember the good bits, and can’t wait till next time.
Then we drove 45 minutes to Lemons near Dayboro, and that’s another story!
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