Tricky ideas, anyone?

[Pij]

I didn't see a thread for little ideas that might make things easier for somebody. Please let me know if there was one already and I'll shift this post.

Does anyone have any tricks they use relating to their slope gliders? Maybe in building, storing, carrying, charging etc.

Here's mine:

On the weekend, 4wd'ing to find a usable slope, I was concerned about my Duck being in the back with the esky and other stuff. I thought that for next time I wanted it up high, out of harms way. And today it proved to be easy.

In my Hilux s'wagon, on the hood lining above the load space, there were 4 plastic plugs. I thought they were for child restraint anchorage points, but no, they are just to keep the hood lining in place. I broke 1 plug finding that out.

From SuperCheap Auto, I bought a pack of 4 "Toggle Straps" for $5.99. They are a light weight bungy cord with balls on the end. I slid the plain end under the plastic plugs, and the ball ends hook through each other, to make a simple wing-hanger (hangar?).



Packs up very neatly when not in use.



The Duck just fits neatly across the Hilux. If you have a slightly wider wagon, like a Cruiser, it should fit even better.

[felix]

good idea there PIJ! allan was thinking about something similar for the jeep.
my idea was a wing bag made out of 2 car sunvisors.cut a front and back profile with an overlapping flap with velcro.stapled the whole lot together and overlapped all the seams with 100MPH tape and added a strap from an old hiking bag.came in handy at the time and now handed off to mark.

[Pij]

Felix,

You had me puzzled for a while. I was thinking about the sunvisors that are part of the car, which you fold down while driving into the sunset! Now I know what you mean - the silvered ones you put on a parked car. Haven't I seen something pocket- or bag-shaped out of that stuff? Not just the steering-wheel covers, something else...

I like it. Reminds me, has anyone heard of the 2-piece flying wing, from UK I think? Comes with a bag.

I had one other bright idea while building the duck. Instead of poking the receiver aerial bit-by-bit into the slot in the foam, I threaded the whole aerial in through a piece of carbon tube, and using the carbon tube sort of like a pen, was able to open the slit and simultaneously deposit the wire into the slit, starting at the receiver and "drawing" its way to the other end of the slit. Took about 10 seconds, perfect first time.

[ding]

May 7, 2008 20:04:16 GMT 10 Pij said:

Felix,

You had me puzzled for a while. I was thinking about the sunvisors that are part of the car, which you fold down while driving into the sunset! Now I know what you mean - the silvered ones you put on a parked car. Haven't I seen something pocket- or bag-shaped out of that stuff? Not just the steering-wheel covers, something else...

I like it. Reminds me, has anyone heard of the 2-piece flying wing, from UK I think? Comes with a bag.

I had one other bright idea while building the duck. Instead of poking the receiver aerial bit-by-bit into the slot in the foam, I threaded the whole aerial in through a piece of carbon tube, and using the carbon tube sort of like a pen, was able to open the slit and simultaneously deposit the wire into the slit, starting at the receiver and "drawing" its way to the other end of the slit. Took about 10 seconds, perfect first time.

Mate I'm not quite sure what you've done with the aerial, but I wouldn't be putting it up a carbon tube as carbon fibre tends to act as a radio shield.

[Pij]

No, the tube was just to help me apply/insert the aerial quickly. As I "drew" the carbon pen from one end of the slit to the other, the aerial was drawn out as it went along. So the tube did a few things for me at once: 1) it kept the remaining length of wire out of my way while I was inserting it 2) the tube opened up the slot for me, exactly the right bit, the right amount, and 3) it inserted the wire perfectly into the slot as it went along from end to end. The carbon was a tool, not a part of the finished job. I could have done almost as well using the plastic tube from a ball-point-pen as the applicator, but the carbon was handy.

D@mn, this is hard to explain. I wish I took a picture. I might be able to do it again with a spare receiver and some spare foam to show you.

[felix]

yeah if your implying a cooler bag out of the stuff yeah it worked well to keep jimmy's beverages cold too lol (not that i drink n fly.....much lol).

good lateral thinking with the carbon tool! i had a pr*ck of a time with a razor cut slit and a phillips screwdriver,especially when i cut thru the aerial a few times cutting out recesses for the ailerons and had to fit an aerial with several solder joints in back in

[Pij]

From Andrew:

Glue your servos in with hot-melt, so you can cut them out with a hot blade when you need to.

Thanks, Andrew.

[felix]

thought i'd throw this up.
brown paper and pva covering ;D
just about finished the zero with it and am rather amazed at how strong and slippery it is.all it is is the ordinary brown paper (the book covering/paper bag type) and any old pva.
here's my way
1.cut the templates but keep the sizes smallish.....say do one side of the wing in three sections to avoid wrinkles
2.brush on very slightly watered pva onto the foam wing and lay the pieces down
3.get a spray bottle and spray the paper on the wing with water
4.squeegee the paper down with your fingers.may have to lift the paper a few times to get it smooth than lightly dab it with a cloth to remove excess moisture.
5.allow to dry and give it another coat of pva

simple as and it drys tight as a drum and quite strong.a couple of other tips is where there are tight curves (wingtips,wingroots,tailplane to fin etc etc) cut a alot of 10mm wide strips and cover these points first,added bonus here is extra strength.don't use the pva straight as it will warp the surface badly as it dries.
next i will sand with 600 than spray with auto primer/filler the a coat of paint and clear.
see how it stands upto abuse and next i may cover a wing with it ;D

[Pij]

Sand covers for components, and a bit of streamlining too. The pic shows the plastic sthingy [S.P.OON...S.P.OON] cover for my switch and charge jack, and also the servo covers made from the cover off disposable razors. Both could be prettied up somewhat.



The Leukoflex tape is my preferred hinge- and LE-tape on park-flyers. It feels like skin, and allows some curving in both directions.

[felix]

hey mate stole your spoon idea
also where did you get that black tape from?is it just normal packing tape? looks tops with the orange and easy to see i bet.

[felix]

by sthingy i of course mean s.p.oo. n lol

[Pij]

www.wowings.com/australia/supplies_tape_aus.asp

Got it with my Duck. Can't get it locally.

The black makes a forward-pointing chevron which is easy to orient from the ground. With orange on top, with yellow underneath. It has been a good vis combo for me so far.

[lucky]

I have an idea which isn't genuinely new, but could be practical.

Sometimes flying at home or away we can find ourselves having such a great time that we fly on until the light of dusk is almost gone. A couple of times I've had to go walking to collect a glider in poor light and was thankful to have the homing beep of the lost model finder to give me direction.
But what can happen is the glider landing downwind and out of earshot of the beeper, and having to walk in the direction you last saw the glider to pick up the sound by ear. While walking to find the beeping and it being almost dark I pondered adding a light beacon to the model for visual ID as well as audio.

Electronic shops sell inline flashing LED's of different colours, flashing colour combo's and luminosities for a few $. Most all will handle up to 10V and draw almost no current to speak of.
You could build a surface flush flashing LED into any wing, fuselage or canopy easily and wire it inline to any active (+) lead of the radio. Even better would be wiring it into the LMF itself so it only flashes when the alarm goes off.

Its quite amazing how much light a flashing LED can generate in the dark even from a distance, and when your Rx radio system has sucked the battery pack almost dry and your LMF barely sqeaks there might still be enough juice to keep the LED firing because they are very energy efficient.

I'm going to give it a go with my next model project.

[lucky]

There is always plenty of banter on the forums about DP Radios, programable mixes and a Tx's ability to give your glider or sailplane the crow braking it may need.
If you find yourself the owner of a budget and one of the more modest digital programables, or even non-programable tranny's, you can still achieve crow brakes on a budget.

An old trick, and I am talking old, is to wire your crow servos into any channel you choose on your Rx with a Y lead, so the one channel operates both servo's. The throttle channel is a good choice, easy variable inner flap camber adjustment via the throttle slider will do the job and as most of us thumb a models roll with the right stick it can be intuitive to adjust the flap drop on this channel. Whats more you still have basic programable mixing for all the other control surfaces if you are using something like a Max66 on a full house sailplane with either V or X tail.

Now, I really better save more for a more versatile radio system, but the above measures are a get out of jail with a big grin measure for us poorer folks and works nice enough with some thought.

[Pij]

I love the LED idea. When I get my LMA's I should look into an LED as well. Thanks for that!

Crow braking has been something I've read mentioned, but never bothered to try to understand. Today I followed up a little, and found this interesting article with tips on useful mix setups for a glider. Just above half way down the page.
www.scsa.org.uk/news/mar2.htm
Great stuff, but I don't have all those control surfaces

What about a SU-27 style air brake on a Duck?