RafaelAvila
Very Strong User
Did the 3d printed BUG Dlg it's looks great and flyes absolutely incredible
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rcsoar4fun
Very Strong User
Ever buy a plane, swear to yourself you are going to just slap an RX in it so you can fly it. Then you look at the wiring and your eye starts to twitch? Then you decide you might as well chop up an irreplaceable fuse while you are at it?
MPX ASH-26. TopModel power pod.
MPX ASH-26. TopModel power pod.
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Red
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I just put this XK Models Rare Bear together. A good friend of mine gave me this, my favorite Unlimited racer. A group of guys from SCALED Composites and a few other surrounding companies race these every other Friday at their morning break. There are several models available P-39, P-40, Corsair, T-28 etc. They are a good bunch of guys so I wanted to play too.
They come as an all in one deal, Tx, Rx with gyro & servos, geared brushed motor on 1s. I flew the P-40 and Corsair and while they look really cool I thought they flew horrible. Probably some set up issues like CG, but mostly its the sucky Tx/Gyro system. They border on barely controllable to unflyable, you kind of just guide them around. I knew I would not be happy with any of that nonsense sooo.........I ripped everything out lol.
I had a spare outrunner from a UMX Turbo Timber waiting for another scratch built project. Digging through my scrap box I found a Jeti 6A brushless ESC. I installed an new Emax servo for elevator control and glued the rudder fixed. A 4ch Rx fit nicely behind that and the ESC in front. I left the aileron servo intact and just changed the plug, it had some micro thing on it. The TT also gave up its motor mount so some Dremel work to relieve the foam and I was able to epoxy that in place. I was able to cut away and clearance the spinner and get that to work too. A 2s 250 fits in the stock location through the existing battery door, so besides a different prop there are no outward appearances of any mods. I have not flown it yet (rain and wind here in SoCal - I'm so over it) but it has enough power to pull vertically out of my hand. If its flyable it should haul butt.
There is a Mod class in addition to stock, but I think I am the first to do so. I plan to enter it as a stocker, and hopefully only use enough power to just keep in the the mix until I get bored and smoke them all haha. I hope it flies well. It is a simple conversion with plenty of low dollar equipment choices, hopefully some others will do the same. The airframes themselves are fantastic looking. Oh and they slope too, so maybe I'll bring it to Sunset.
They come as an all in one deal, Tx, Rx with gyro & servos, geared brushed motor on 1s. I flew the P-40 and Corsair and while they look really cool I thought they flew horrible. Probably some set up issues like CG, but mostly its the sucky Tx/Gyro system. They border on barely controllable to unflyable, you kind of just guide them around. I knew I would not be happy with any of that nonsense sooo.........I ripped everything out lol.
I had a spare outrunner from a UMX Turbo Timber waiting for another scratch built project. Digging through my scrap box I found a Jeti 6A brushless ESC. I installed an new Emax servo for elevator control and glued the rudder fixed. A 4ch Rx fit nicely behind that and the ESC in front. I left the aileron servo intact and just changed the plug, it had some micro thing on it. The TT also gave up its motor mount so some Dremel work to relieve the foam and I was able to epoxy that in place. I was able to cut away and clearance the spinner and get that to work too. A 2s 250 fits in the stock location through the existing battery door, so besides a different prop there are no outward appearances of any mods. I have not flown it yet (rain and wind here in SoCal - I'm so over it) but it has enough power to pull vertically out of my hand. If its flyable it should haul butt.
There is a Mod class in addition to stock, but I think I am the first to do so. I plan to enter it as a stocker, and hopefully only use enough power to just keep in the the mix until I get bored and smoke them all haha. I hope it flies well. It is a simple conversion with plenty of low dollar equipment choices, hopefully some others will do the same. The airframes themselves are fantastic looking. Oh and they slope too, so maybe I'll bring it to Sunset.
That should be fun.
RafaelAvila
Very Strong User
thenated0g
Very Strong User
Looking for a light primer on the difference between "good" and "bad" times to go out for thermal soaring/dlg stuff. I have no idea what a good thermal day even is.
jure
Very Strong User
simple answer : a hot day with no wind
in reality , it all depends.
the best way to learn is to try with a powered glider , if there are no thermals, you can fly and do a lot of things anyway.
If the glider is not powered , try launching with a HLG , Hi Start , or even aerotow ( this last one is more complicated ...)
for more to the point info , see this book , in the library thread
Radio Control Soaring book compiled by Dave Hughes
in reality , it all depends.
the best way to learn is to try with a powered glider , if there are no thermals, you can fly and do a lot of things anyway.
If the glider is not powered , try launching with a HLG , Hi Start , or even aerotow ( this last one is more complicated ...)
for more to the point info , see this book , in the library thread
Radio Control Soaring book compiled by Dave Hughes
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Nate - I am not an expert on thermals, but here is my super basic starting point for you.
Start watching the birds.
They will teach you a ton.
You can have strong thermals even on cold windy days.
Thermals are generally moving around.
On a really good thermally day you would be shocked at some of the planes that can thermal. We have thermaled Slow Sticks and even ducted fan models at Sam27 field. That place can get some pretty amazing thermals. Jarron was just telling me about a booming thermal that he flew his Shendan (sp?) (japanese WWII conard) at Petaluma.
Of course when you are hunting them down...
You want to be very careful with the Hawk, they are not built to take the abuse from a new DLG pilot. Use your Pug to get in a lot of the basic training. Hand catch every landing etc before jumping over to the Hawk. No landing in the dirt, no messed up throws. we have seen plenty of these damaged very early on as many treated them as trainers. They are actually a very nice DLG in a smaller size.
Start watching the birds.
They will teach you a ton.
You can have strong thermals even on cold windy days.
Thermals are generally moving around.
On a really good thermally day you would be shocked at some of the planes that can thermal. We have thermaled Slow Sticks and even ducted fan models at Sam27 field. That place can get some pretty amazing thermals. Jarron was just telling me about a booming thermal that he flew his Shendan (sp?) (japanese WWII conard) at Petaluma.
Of course when you are hunting them down...
You want to be very careful with the Hawk, they are not built to take the abuse from a new DLG pilot. Use your Pug to get in a lot of the basic training. Hand catch every landing etc before jumping over to the Hawk. No landing in the dirt, no messed up throws. we have seen plenty of these damaged very early on as many treated them as trainers. They are actually a very nice DLG in a smaller size.
rcsoar4fun
Very Strong User
Bad thermal days are easy to identify, those are the ones when I am out flying. Good days were the week before, when I was stuck at work.
I am one of those people that needs to be able to visualize what I am flying through. Paul Naton/Radio Carbon Art did a pretty good job with their series.
I am one of those people that needs to be able to visualize what I am flying through. Paul Naton/Radio Carbon Art did a pretty good job with their series.
gp49
Very Strong User
@thenated0g
Best is to get a copy of 'Old Buzzard's Soaring Book - Dave Thornburg' easy read. GREAT reference on thermals to this day. Getting one is going to take some time, I found mine on fleebay. Going rate is around $50 (it's money well spent!) I remember reading a year or two ago about a website that was selling (officially) .pdf copies of the book, but have since forgot it....
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Check on youtube for some of the Joe Wurts lectures and talks. You should find several of them. He is one of the masters.
Hey, the man has a channel:
thenated0g
Very Strong User
watching, my wife works in Air quality and will probably laugh when i tell her what im watching, i should just have one of her engineers tell me when a good day is
thenated0g
Very Strong User
This will be a good start of what to look for.
dead/dark things get hot early in the morning and have a lot of lift. IE asphalt, buildings, dry fields and dirt
Green/watered things stay away from.
Lakes/water are bad and can be bad nearby them too.
Forests/trees are bad in the morning and great in the evenings
Sides of mountains: Bad in the morning, great mid day, bad in the evening.
Mornings have lots of smaller thermals, afternoon has really big thermals that are far apart, miles apart even.
dead/dark things get hot early in the morning and have a lot of lift. IE asphalt, buildings, dry fields and dirt
Green/watered things stay away from.
Lakes/water are bad and can be bad nearby them too.
Forests/trees are bad in the morning and great in the evenings
Sides of mountains: Bad in the morning, great mid day, bad in the evening.
Mornings have lots of smaller thermals, afternoon has really big thermals that are far apart, miles apart even.
jure
Very Strong User
you have been applying yourself, grasshopper !
gp49
Very Strong User
Don't forget to look for turkey vultures. One of my fun days flying thermals was flying slope Coyote Hills. You could see the pelicans riding the updraft thermal lift columns higher and higher and being blown thru our flying space down wind. Once the pelicans cleared our hill they would fly back upwind and start the process again. The Ahi specked out many times that day.. Winds were ~10 - 12 mph, sunny and warm.
Doc J
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The only, ah problem with Joe's, ah presentations, is that he's not used to, ah public speaking.
But he knows (ah) what the heck hes talking about!
Doc.
There are a number of flight videos with Joe where he demonstrates what he is talking about. Funny thing in at least one of them is you will see other pilots flying and they have short flights, here is Joe talking to the camera and he mostly is catching thermals where no one else is flying, and he is cutting out of them just so he can launch again for the video. The man sees thermals.
thenated0g
Very Strong User
I have watched a lot of full scale gliding and its really neat to watch people that know what the wind is doing and how to get around.
Doc J
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Joe could fly on a sparrow fart from two hours ago.