More on the micro laser track, Z22 Cape style

It has been traditional in past Hermanus visits to put together a foamy kit or suchlike during the couple of days pre the event, which oft meant an all night'er given the limited time. It was decided to return to similar ahead of the Two Oceans PSS festival this year but also rather go the option of the micro laser cut kits, which have recently proved great fun and reduced in assembly time. So to the Z22 pitcheron in slope form (also in e-power). 22 means just that, 22 inches only!

God daughter Aquina and I commenced assembly at mid day Thursday on 16 June, youth day, which is topical given her involvement in pinning, assembling and sanding the pre "gear and covering" carcass in the second pic (the ribs are all handily pre numbered). All built on a 30 centimetre bread board purchased for the task and donated to Mommy thereafter. Quite apart from the enjoyment of building something through the efforts of a youngster, the sense of achievement on her part was magic. That took care of the Thursday afternoon.

Her friend Brent joined us for the Friday session and his nimble fingers were a blessing for adding the servo arm holes (using his and her cigarette lighters to heat the wire and poke through the arm ;-) and putting the final bend to the pre bent pushrods - did I mentioned that the kit is complete in every detail, like the previous other two laser kits? Accuracy was scary good, especially in the way the completed wing slid on perfectly to the joiner / incidence control rods.

It was then up to Papa Smurf to gently complete the Solarfilm covering, anything heavier would likely have twisted the wings. The tailplane surfaces had been super glue reinforced after Aquina had sanded them to section, something quite superfluous given the clever ply supports.

Yes, the artistic fuselage shape is vaguely porno in being open to the elements but the manufacturer had originally opted not to carry the sexy shaping through to the closed fuselage bigger Z33 and Z55 inch versions, although this has now been addressed in the V2 kits. Folk were even suggesting an FL or suchlike over this one's nose area ;-)

The manufacturer has put a serious amount of thought in to this little gem. Only one example is the tiny magnet trapped on either side of the pivot rod - one then sands the root rib until there is a pleasant "slunk" as the magnet grabs the steel joiner end both ends and those wings are simply not coming off unless intended! The incidence pins float from the fuse rather than from the wings, as is traditional for wingerons/pitcherons - all floppy till the wings are slid on and then the tiny tolerances do their function and everything works to perfection.

I must at this point make mention of my bi-annual (no longer annual) trip visits to Andy and Alan at Hobby Warehouse. Andy patiently dug out all the bits needed for the RC gear, including robbing an indoor kit for two teeny servos and ferreting around for the Hyperion 250ma lipo ("I am a Hyperion man", to coin a Percy phrase) with JST plug I was seeking. Was a bit scary cutting down from two to one cell but I managed.

Whilst aware that pitcherons generally have their joiner/twister rod at 20% to 25% MAC (mean average chord), it was almost by hypnoses that one tend to aim for CG balance there rather than believe the presumably 33% MAC CG depicted by the handy little jig included in the kit (yes). This translated in to yours truly adding an completely unnecessary 5 grams nose weight, which resulted in the first two tests resembling lawn dart as the plane headed down the slope! To make matters worse, I had complete forgotten to check the pitch travels with ATV, so the craft pitched right every time I pulled hard up..... I am indebted to Kev and Mark for retrieving whilst we sorted things. One must remember that the tolerances are so tight that one spline on the servo arm translates to a helluva big difference.

Adjusting the down going left wing travel to 85% of the right wing's 100% sorted that and the second proper flight with 4.5 of the 5 grams removed was a real treat, thanks also to judge Kurt for the launch and encouragement. The little aerie was blitz and patently clear too much for teaching the two youngster on at the busy Chappies venue, much to the disappointment of the youngsters - I have to make it up with a Hermanus visit this year to teach them, I am told.... ;-)

For the intermediate flyer the aerie is a real sweetie and certainly a crowd puller, everyone came to have squiz at it, lying on the table. Anton Benning was quite captivated.

I am a very slow assembler so if you are looking for a one day build treat:
http://www.zaerotech.com/

It is so low on tedium, even for the kids, that I am tempted to suggest to Barry Mirtle that he should consider including in his school science kits ;-)

Staying with micro laser cut

Such was enjoyment in building of RadicalRC.com laser cut Micro Stick, it was decided to have the next "mini table in front of the TV" project lined up, so shot off an order to Speedwing for their Dart, only three inches bigger in wingspan than the Micro Stick, at twenty inch wingspan.

http://www.speedwing.net/product_info.php?products_id=28

As with the Radical kit, the laser kit cutting is amazingly accurate and a treat to assemble. I would suggest the back to basics ticking off the numbers on the excellent instructions, as I managed to omit the ply floor for the battery bay and resorted to super glue reinforcement there. It was a pleasure to plug in the fin and then find it exactly 90 degrees, such is the accuracy of laser cutting in comparison to the old "die crunch" style. Notice the flatted carbon tows added at the intersection of the carbon rods - once the soaked in super glue had dried, the frame felt so rigid it could be used for burglar guards!

The laser cut compartment lids fitted immaculately and this kit is so complete that it even comes with tiny hold down magnets for the battery compartment and all the pushrod hardware. The elevons are even pre-bevelled, for goodness sake!

The biggest surprise was in completing the model, to find the CG magically spot on half way between the two recommended extremes, without a single gram to adjust. I decided to go exactly with the recommended throws, with ailerons surprisingly at 3/4 of elevator throw but perfect in action, the plane completely solid and on rails, with twinkle rolls still available at the extremes of my own 30% expo on both elevator and aileron.

The only instruction I erroneously did not completely follow was that the craft does not need reflex of any kind. I set up with the elevons dead in line with the top surface, leaving a teeny reflex effect. Simon Nelson did the launch throw honours and the plane tried to do huge loops every time the throttle was pushed wide open, boot fulls of down trim soon sorted that and the plane was enjoyed for one of the best buzzes I have enjoyed in electric flying. Having found the transparent blue and solid white so vision effective on the Micro Stick, I did err in tweaking the combination here to checkers, which simply camouflaged the tips and there may be a retro fit to solid white.

Whilst ARF kits are a boon in the modern age, it is fun to revert to the builder of the model pride in assembling these excellent value, inexpensive gems. Foamies are becoming "so last year" ;-). Next up may be the Speedwing Dart XL or those RadicalRC.com built up space invader style wing options, after the laser cut mini Z22 wing twist sloper.

Sunrise with Mark's new camera

Saturday past saw the usual magic early morning weather and Mark was able to wield his new larney camera. We were chuffed to have a first visit from Mike Summers who revved his yellow Piper Cub around like a pylon racer - memories of slope days gone by!

Simon performed a successful first fly with the Internet plan e-powered Mustang, which looks to be a winner on the cheapie motor combo.

Mike Smith's maiden with flat plate wing balsa magazine pullout plan Whizzer was damn impressive - who needs balsa ribs......?

The rest is a rogues' gallery of the Saturday morning regulars, who seem to be on the full circle back to crunchy models. Morne has progressed quickly to even practicing the novice pattern with the trainer, which is spurring Paul on with the Fun 400. Russ has upped the PT19 to 480 power and the 19 does the Sportsmans pattern with verve!

and back to Springfield........

Michel Leusch and Rob Pirie holding the first stage prototype fuselage of a Kzn slope aerobat being developed from the fertile minds and handiwork of Michel and Russ, with more than a bit of enthusiasm from Ziggy. What this blog is about after all (watch out Tossers...... ;-)

The was a recent flutter of worlds excitement after some FAI feedback, which turned out instead to be formalising of F3F slope speed, something not common on SA coastal slopes but may be sparked with advent of world champs status.

to the seriously large.....

It was a pleasure to visit the serious business of 2011 National Aerobatics at the beautiful KZN Emoyeni site on 1 May. It may have been serious competition but the atmosphere pleasantly informal and it was magic to chat to the various competitors, including a long chin wag with Mark Wolffe of Two Oceans slope fame. It was also neat to see how well Johan de Lange and Arthur Eggar, both products of Neil Allen's monthly pattern series, fared. Quite apart from the old DMAC evergreen hands like John Dorse, Ian Morris and Neil himself.

Johan achieved an excellent second in advanced, along with another Kzn youngster, Brendan from Hobbytech, who achieved a creditable second in Sportsman, using a bog stock Hyperion Helios. This serves an encouragement for us local yokels starting to enjoy the novice side of aerobatics, thanks to Neil's ongoing hard work.

What astounded me was the sheer size and grunt power of the e-power FAI craft - a far cry from twenty-one years ago! Wolfgang Matt provided some retro but very up to date immaculate flying with his anhedral tail Peridot, at the tender age of 63.

It has been nice to read of the appreciative feedback from boffs like Pierre Marias and Andre Stockwell and Neil and his hardworking Nats team can take well deserved pat on the back!

Much chatting was done with Les Ward, Dave Hooker, Dave's buddy Alfred and longgggg time no see Dave Grosvenor.

The day ended with a professionally wow helicopter aerobatics display from Will Cranmer and his team.

From the Radically small.....

An impulse buy saw two teeny Micro Stick kits on the way from Radical RC for Mark and Dave. It was such a pleasure to clip together these well designed laser cut kits, on a small table in front of the TV. Mark took five hours for the whole exercise, Dave five evenings, so I guess Dave is the TV addict.... ;-)

http://www.radicalrc.com/category/Radical-RC-E-Kits-190

At $27 plus $9 post it is cheap and rewarding fun. There were only two areas of minor trickery. Using Solarfilm instead of the recommended light weight covering material tweaked the leading edge slightly and necessitated some super glue reinforcing of the fin, along with reducing the built in right thrust with sliver of 1/64th ply. Fin decoration was with a never tried before temporary tatoo that worked a treat and lasted, despite the morning dew.



The radio and Mini Ultra Stick (not a large model to start with) are shown to give an indication of the small size. The white top deck on the wing is a definite must for keeping orientation with this little twinkler!



Just could resist the gorgeous little Eflite 250 brushless motor, which proved an ideal combo with a Hyperion 450mah two cell pack and 5x5 prop. The beastie has yet to use more than 160mah for a satisfyingly long flight.

Umhlanga College flying on 22 April

Ryan takes a picture of Umhlanga Primary school building

and the moon.......

and Fern Road in Prestondale

And a video from his screaming electric-fox.....

Two Oceans PSS festival 2011

Go to the Toss web site for info on the second year of this classic event: http://www.toss.co.za/

Springfield in the Autumn

Saturday afternoon saw a rare visit to Springfield to trim up Russ's ASW26 for Sungazer, being pleasantly surprised to have Andre, Michel, Rheino, Russ, Morne and Dave all enjoying some pleasant light weather flying! The winter nip (in Durban terms) was in the air despite the magic sunny weather and seemed to prove our theory that the February unpleasant and turbulent North East winds were simply a result of the "overheated" hot and sweaty time of the year. Definitely a lot more enjoyable that a month or two ago.....

RC e-Heli flyer Morne Van Der Ryst had recently joined the Umhlanga Saturday morning e-plane mob and had his ear bent about the pleasure of slope flying. Yours truly dusted off the much flown and enjoyed OD flying wing that Fed Wittstock had invented and passed on. This little plane is pretty much viceless and Morne took to it and slope soaring instantly, after binding his Dx6i to the receiver. It was an easy decision to pass on this little gem to Morne to enjoy although we were a little at a loss at suggesting a nice locally available crunchy model kit for him to build at the same time. Russ's suggestion of the Sig Ninja seems the most practical so far....

Fred had christened the little wing "Klunk" after bouncing it on the first few flights, I prefer the re-christened "Little Dolly" but never did get around to putting on the appropriate sticker, below ;-) The only changes being the replacement of Fred's original parallel chord elevons with the tapered versions, along with a well deserved re-cover.

Attention to good advice

The last few years of e-power and 2.4G have been most enjoyable, with zero issues from the Dx6i or newer DX8, except where there was finger trouble by yours truly.

Some of us parkie folk had opted to dabble in some novice aerobatics, with enjoyable success from the parkie, like the Mini Showtime, only tempered by any real hint of a breeze!

A visit to Mark Savage of Radio Active to look at other low cost options had brought forward the Eflite Diamante as a recommendation. Yours truly was not enchanted with the colour scheme and thus took too long to follow up on this craft - and even more time to complete the actual simple assembly......

The only mod Mark had recommended was some form of support for the two part undercarriage, which otherwise was prone to levering the fuselage apart on a robust landing. An old slot car controller pc board was sacrificed for the simple and light support bracket, as shown in the second picture. Otherwise the model was a pleasure to assemble with even the elevator lining up perfectly with the wing and no massaging required - same story for the fin which slotted in, spot on 90 degrees.

The model only saw the light of day well more than a year after the original recommendation, powered by a Dualsky 900 watt motor on a four cell lipo. This cheapie option was a slight irritation to fit (in hindsight) as the motor mount is a perfect fit for the Eflite power 25 and 32 options. I failed yet again (my fault) to massage a spinner to fit in balanced form and gave up on that.

A quick call to the mob to witness the maiden turned in to a total damp squib as the new larney DX8 receiver was stone dead on arrival at the field, despite functioning fine during set up. Of course the assumption was that it must have been something else that fritzed the fancy 8000 receiver! It was with some trepidation that a replacement cheapie orange receiver and satellite were fitted instead and the fateful moment of first flight delayed for a few days.

The short story is the craft and receiver combo performed flawlessly in the fairly stiff breeze at sunset yesterday - what a pleasure to fly an e-craft that simply cuts through the turbulent air that would otherwise scupper normal e-flight. The plane was rock solid and vice less, with the control throws dramatically reduced from the manual specifications, thanks again to some more good advice from Radio Active's Mark and some useful reading on RC Groups.

After a false start to the novice aerobatics, I now look forward to trying out the Sportsmans pattern before revisiting those enjoyable Neil Allen pattern league events.