Rocket Glider Aleda-R

I have six successful launches on my Aleda-R Boost Glider from J&H Aerospace. This evening I made three launches. So far only the 1/2 A3-4T motors have been used which for the smaller area I fly from get it plenty high, Sometimes it gets rather low before the glider releases but other launches the glider releases rather high giving a long glide. The rocket powered portion of the flight has always been fairly straight vertical.  I have also built a swing wing rocket glider but have not launched it yet.

This is a real short blog post but I want to share some pictures and two videos.

Bill Kuhl

To purchase: https://jhaerospace.com/product/aleda-r-boost-glider/

Videos

Slope Flying With Friends

I have not done much slope soaring for awhile and it has been a long time since I have flown with other people so flying from a larger earth dam today was a real treat. I really was not ready with my gliders and forgot the fuselage for the glider that would have worked the best. The drive was interesting with all the curves in the road that seem to take you out in the middle of nowhere.

To dynamic soar over the grass covered back of the slope you need a wind that is close to North which normally is not real common in nice weather. By afternoon it was sunny and the temperature was perfect. When I arrived I had forgot how steep and long the hill is to the top, not that bad if you walk a diagonal path. Paul and Dave were flying as I arrived, Paul with conventional slope gliders and Dave was flying a F3RES sailplane. The light F3RES climbed easily in the not real strong wind on the front side and Dave even took it to the backside for DS.

Paul who is very experienced with DS had good laps at times and the wind would die also. So I flew the 2 meter Highlander glider that was given to me, I had never flown it before. After getting the ailerons moving the correct direction I launched it out over the rocky front side and it flew well. I landed for a time and when I tried to fly it again the battery was dead. That was a concern as I have no idea how old the glider is. When I was home I took the battery out and the builder had glued it to the foam. Darn near ripped the nose apart getting it out.

Super Scooter

I tried flying my Super Scooter but there really wasn't enough wind to stay up much of the time but at least being foam it survived landing in the rocks without damage. Later the wind picked up for a time and I could fly on the front side if very gentle on the controls. When it had some altitude I took it too the backside for some DS but never made more than 3 laps before running out of energy. Ali came a little later and flew tiny electric plane that climbed super high in the slope lift.

The trip back started a little challenging as I could get no cell signal in the remote valley so no GPS to help. I remembered enough of the roads to get where cell service was picked up again. It was a great day and hope to fly this spot again when my slope gliders are tested. 

Trying to Remove Old Battery

Paul DS Video

Retirement

Time for new adventures, this is my final week of work before starting a new chapter in my life, retirement. Everyone asks me what I will do, as I never seem to find time for what I want to do now, maybe I will start to catch up.  Like most people with a model aviation hobby, there is a never enough time to build all the airplane kits or plans in your stash. Maybe I will take up another hobby like golf, nothing too dangerous like racing motorcycles on frozen lakes. I was watching this winter, and they were trying to talk me into trying it.

For years it had been my plan to spend more time promoting science projects that are on my website for youth. Sadly it seems there is not much interest in this any longer but I really have not pursued finding interested groups either.  With my model aviation hobby I plan to create more videos. Also I want to get to more model airplane contests for sure.

Working with computers for over 30 years now has been interesting and always changing. My first job after college was mainly computer programming which I really enjoyed, it seemed more creative than what I do now. My current job is more about troubleshooting, and with computers there is plenty of trouble to shoot at. The issues change somewhat over time but there are always new ones. 

My attitude towards technology has changed somewhat over time in that I see the positives and a whole lot of negative also. The Internet has put me contact with a whole lot of interesting people who I would never have known if it wasn’t for the Internet. Negatively I think it has completely ruined the music industry, a lot of printed media, and much of retail. 

The biggest challenge right away will be fixing up a house that is very outdated in several areas. Some of the work I will do but major projects will have to be hired out. Hopefully I will learn much as the project progresses.  I certainly have learned much in constructing all the balsa model airplanes I have built in the last few years. The latest two nearing completion I am rather proud of, this was the first time covering UltraCoat Lite covering and using epoxy paint on the fuselage.

Bill Kuhl

http://www.ideas-inspire.com

Sig Cub Electric Free Flight

For me there is something fun and challenging about trying to push something of lower performance to perform at close to an optimum level. The people that build and race the full-scale solar cell powered cars would be a good example of this. My challenge has been to build and fly an electric powered free flight model using the STRIX motor timer, 7 mm coreless electric motor, and one cell lipo battery of around 200 mah.

Sig Cub Electric 

Constraints of the timer dictate a motor run time of 10 seconds or less, and the size of motor and battery are limited also. I have personally limited myself to not using a gear drive. The weight of the electrical components is around 12 grams, if I remember correctly. From my experiments with adding the electrical system to various rubber models I believe optimum wingspan is about 22” to 24”. The most recent plane that I constructed just for this electric system is the Sig Cub. Several years ago I had built a Sig Cub for the intended rubber power and lost it to a thermal with just hand winds.

Flying at 23 Degrees F Motor would cut out

To cut the weight and the drag down further of electric system I left off the landing gear and cut the height of the pylon down. For the wing I used 3 mil mylar and then tissue just on the bottom for some color. The tail surfaces are covered with Esaki tissue and sprayed with an art spray which someone suggested might help the warping problem. It has not worked well and at the right conditions the stab starts to look like a potato chip. I did not pre-shrink tissue, but I think some type of plastic will be used to replace the tissue on the tail.

Launched Too Steep

Beyond the specifications of the airplane, I try to improve the flight by constantly tweaking what I can easily adjust on the airplane. That is position of the wing, rudder trim tab, and angle of launch. To get a longer flight you want it to climb as steep as possible without stalling and the plane transitioning from power to glide as close to level as possible. With this rather weak power package a real steep climb results in bad stalling and a very short flight. Other times I notice the plane climbing and diving in a very gentle manner. No doubt it is stalling but by a smaller amount. The best flights are in a constant climb angle with no hint of a stall with a fairly large turn radius because too tight a spiral wastes energy also.

This Looks to be Good Altitude for this Power System

Straight Pins Used on Rudder Trim Tab

What I like about electric is it is possible to get a large number of flights in because time is not needed to wind a rubber motor or fill an engine with fuel. Batteries need to be swapped out fairly quickly however because performance goes down with multiple runs. What I like about this weak electric flight is the plane is relatively close in and easier to observe.  A negative I have found is that the electric system does not work well below 30 degrees F, but then that is not great flying weather either.

Bill Kuhl

Related Links

https://sigmfg.com/products/sigff1-sig-cub-kit  Sig Cub on Sig Website

https://scienceguyorg.blogspot.com/2018/10/experiments-with-strix-free-flight.html

https://scienceguyorg.blogspot.com/2019/01/electric-free-flight-strix-timer-2.html 



In the video the climb is not consistent all the way up and duration is not as good as it could be. Probably turning a little tight also.

Adventure with Green Hornet Electric Starter

Now that I keep acquiring more ½ A glow engines to power free flight and control line model airplanes, I decided an investment in a ½ A glow starter might be wise. Besides the starter I ordered a couple of new glow clips that are like a clothespin and some metal tanks for control line from Brodak. Last evening I was anxious to try the starter out on an AME .049 that had only been run once before. This time I used a Red Cap bladder cut in half because I did not need the larger capacity.

AME .049 Did not Run Well on Suction Feed

First thing I notice was the Hornet starter turns the .049 engine over really fast. Pushing it into the prop nut the prop came lose sending the nut, shaft, and propeller shooting across my messy basement. Luckily I found everything, this time I really tightened it. Yet it kept coming loose. Now I think it had something to do with the fit of the drive washer. After many times of tightening it stayed tight.

Starter Cone on Hornet 1/2 A Starter

As I had found out from questions after the first time running this engine, it does need to run on pressure. I did not want to run it for long as this was in my basement but I could tell that it was not having trouble with fuel suction as it did without pressure. I did not put a tach on it but it sounded like it was turning up pretty good. This is with a Cox 5x3 propeller; I have on order the APC props that people recommend for this engine. The new glow clip worked much better than using a Cox clip.

Bolt Ran into an Obstruction

After some frustration I was pretty happy that I will be able to start and run this engine without much trouble. As I put stuff away I noticed the aluminum cone on the starter was loose, there was a hole for a set screw but I could not see anything in it. I found a bolt that fit the hole and the threads matched perfectly. It would turn easily but about ¼” in it would stop; now I am worried I broke off a screw inside. Then it dawned on me that the set screw might use an allen wrench to tighten. Sure enough I found the correct size and was able to loosen the set screw and re-tighten the aluminum cone. 

Bringing the Set Screw Out

It appears to me that having the acorn nut used with an electric starter come loose is more of an issue than when I flew glow RC using a plastic spinner years ago. I am afraid if I tighten too tight something could break or strip out. The only prop nut I had for my Witch Hawk 500 came off at the Nats and luckily I found it in the grass. Any suggestions on this are Welcome.

Bill Kuhl
http://www.ideas-inspire.com

Electric Free Flight STRIX Timer #2

I have been having so much fun experimenting with electric free flights using the cheap STRIX motor timer and a 7 mm coreless motor. It will only run up to 10 seconds but that gives you a real good view of how the airplane is flying. You can really notice the slightest stall or if it is turning too tight. Making tiny adjustments to get the climb and glide paths just right can make a huge difference in the height of the climb and length of the glide.

This winter I finished a new plane for the electric combo a Sig Cub which looks to fly really well but I have been hesitant to make longer flights with it on the hard surfaces. Instead I have been flying a plane I made up from wing and tail of Flying Aces Moth, which is rather beat-up anyways. The wing is angled giving it too much stab tilt but I just do not seem to get around to fix it.

Sig Cub over Snow

The optimum size appears to be about 24" wingspan. Joshua Finn experimented with a plane using STRIX timer that appeared to be around that size. He even tried using the 8.5 mm motor used in E20 planes but found the battery was out of charge real fast. It would be fun to try a geared propeller too and see if the climb improves.

AMA Maxi Jr Electric

Dog Retrieved the Plane and this was the only Damage

One session flying the FA Moth type plane I had it in lift for a time and was happy it didn't fly any better. Recent flights have been from a frozen lake which gives a huge area to fly from but a crash into the bare ice would not be good. At some point I would like to design my own plane for the electric combo or maybe a couple planes with one using foam sheet.

The timer is now being sold for $5.99 https://www.banggood.com/STRIX-3_7V-1S-Free-Flight-Motor-Timer-For-6mm-7mm-Motor-p-1363923.html?akmClientCountry=America&cur_warehouse=CN 

Joshua Finn video on STRIX timer    https://youtu.be/kBThvOBYUzc 

First article
https://scienceguyorg.blogspot.com/2018/10/experiments-with-strix-free-flight.html

Bill Kuhl

I had much longer flights than this one but this is close.

Thoughts on 2018 Looking to 2019

It has been an interesting year, mostly good but not completely, my mother passed away just before Thanksgiving but harder than that was seeing her suffer before it was all over. I enjoyed my hobbies when I could but found time to visit her every weekend and pushed her in the wheelchair either inside or outside the nursing home where she lived. I was so happy to see how nice the other residents were to her even though she seemed rather grumpy at times. It was strange to hear them tell me how proud she was of me, something she never told me which seems typical for her generation. 

New Gollywock Repaired

Sig Cub Electric Free Flight

Eureka E36 Climbing After Wing Recover

There is so much to do now as I pretty much left everything go but sure glad I did that. By the end of March I plan to have much more time when I retire. I am not counting the days as I enjoy my job and the people I work with, it is just there are things I rather do.  Now I realize that all the time can’t be spent building model airplanes as my house is pretty well full now. Related to the model aviation I would like to work more again with young people and the science projects.

Profile 1/2 A Control -line 2018 

This fall I repaired some of my free flight model airplanes and started building new ones. Simpler projects first like rocket gliders, sport electric free flight, and a catapult glider. For 2019 I have a good start on the construction of the BMJR Satellite GLH 320 ½ A gas free flight and ¼ A for TeeDee .020 Foo-2. I am also constructing a ½ A control line with built-up wing and fuselage the ½ A Viper.

Satellite 320 Wing Half

The other thing I want to expand in writing in the future is just how important science and engineering are to society. It seems emphasis is on athletics and arts but science and engineering is forgotten.

Bill Kuhl
http://www.ideas-inspire.com