The Mossie Is Finished

Well. i took some time off over december. and what do you know i actually managed to finish the mossie. radios in. just need to pop in a receiver. but otherwise everything else is done. check out the nose art. zoom in on the pic :) its quite cute i think.

Foamie Cessna

These are pics of Louis little foamie cessna. not sure what make it is, but it features fowler type flaps and a sprung front undercarriage. its brushless motor provides enough power for a decent climbout. its got a 2200ma lipo pack which provides about 15 min of runtime. but the best bit is that it has super bright led's in the left wing which function as landing lights. its also got strobe lights on the tail and the left and ride nav lights. and it flies nicely as well. no tendency to tip stall like many cessna's

Saturday The 12th

Sat the 12th was a nice day. no rain. calm winds. overall good. flew louis foamie cessna with flashing lights and landing lights. even waited until it was almost dark so we could see what it looked like in the air. quite nice. was glad of the landing lights. in some instances would not have seen it otherwise. Test flew Wifly hobbies hk450 with standard setup(apart from a set of CF blades) and it flew very nicely. i punched it out to test the power and i heard a disturbing noise coming from the heli...zzzzzzzzz.........the sound of gears stripping. had to auto it back in. was a bit bumpy. but got it back in one piece. ALL the teeth on the main gear gone. turns out the screw holding the motor frame in place had come loose and under high rpm the motor was producing so much torque it moved the motor away from the gear resulting in it stripping. not a biggie. but at least now we know.

also took out my well travelled nieuport(the one which was sent back to the states becuase of our idiotic post office) anyway eventually got it. put it together. and its TINY. see pic. first flight was a bit hair the one wing was slightly warped. we corrected that it and flew nicely. but it only flies in no wind conditions. crusing speed is basically walking speed. see pic


just waiting for some pics from louis and others and ill post the as soon as i can.

BTW guys. Wifly hobbies is rapidly gaining momentum. they have some nice items in stock. give them a shout at wiflyhobbies@gmail.com or www.wifly.co.za

News 07/12/2009

Well. i havnt been out to the club for a couple of weeks. had a xmas party 2 weeks ago and i didnt feel like the long trip out this last week. will most likely be there this week

sprayed the underneath of the mossie with aircraft blue. didnt come out as nicely as i would have liked. i used humbrol matt enamel paint. gave it a slightly textured finish when sprayed. also the woodgrain is still visible. should have used spray filler as well. but this is expensive and adds alot of weight. i did use sanding sealer. 3-4 coats in fact. clearly not enough

anyhoo. going to paint the camo on with a fine brush. not going the airbrush route with that. too difficult etc to mask.

If anyone has news of the field or events or photos let me know ill post them here.

progress on mossie, almost almost

after a 3rd coat of sealer im almost near the painting stage. got the motors running in the right direction now. just waiting for a servo reverser for the one retract.

Saturdays Flying

well...saturday started out a bit rainy etc. but ended up nice and sunny. cept for the fact that we were attacked by a swarm of flying ants as soon as the sun came out. made heli flying interesting while trying to bat away the miggies.

Louise aerie went in on maiden. Still not sure why. not radio. it took off. climbed out. seemed a little tail heavy so i cut back on throttle to half. gave some down to stop it climbing, then it just rolled to the right and in it went. splat. end of nice aeroplane.

suggestions are currently that the tail area was too small for the aircraft and it was too heavy. personally im putting it down as one of those Fukknows prangs.

Then flying Fanies HK450 and suddenly flipped inverted and went splat as well. at least we know the cause. the rear screw on the CCPM swashplate connecting to the rear servo fell out. essentially making it lose all cyclic elevator control.

flew my stock standard hk450. flies very nicely. but i burnt out my 33a ESC. with the stock blades its SUCKS juice. so im going to get one of those 40a esc's from WiFly for R120 and try it out. also going to get some of the CF blades WiFly is selling.

Some coming WiFly Products

Hi Guys

Sat with Wifly last night helping them sort out stock and prices. and the prices are really good. R49 for a 9g 1.6kg Servo. R120 for a 40a Brushlesss Speed Control, R450 for a 450 size CCPM 3D Heli,R200 bucks for a 2200ma 3S lipo

not bad at all.

Louis New Aerie

check out louis nice new aerie. going to maiden it on Sat :)

1.20 size. 5kg weight. should be a lovely flyer

progress on mossie

well not much im afraid. but i have done some more snading and sealing of the wood in prep for the painting. went to builders to try get a tin of spray primer. and they merely pointed me to a spray can of grey primer....ummm no not what i meant.
anyway i think primer will add too much weight in any case.

Offer for water at the club

Hi Guys

One of the fellows i work with can organise us piping and fittings for water at the club at between R3 and R5 a meter based on diameter and type of pipe we want. So i was thinking it would be so nice to have a tap(which we can lock of course) running to Tonys tank and then we could have running water on the weekend. would be nice for the toilet too.
Say its 300m to tonys house it would cost between 900 and 1500 bucks to do it. What do you think?

wifle almost up and running

So wifly(ex flights of fancy) is gearing up to start again. check out www.wifily.co.za and email wiflyhobbies@gmail.com if you want anything. site should be fully operational from early Jan.

havnt done much building on the mossie of late. i got the new Call Of Duty PC Game for my Birthday and have been glued to the PC since.

hk450 heli

so ive built up my HK 450 heli and irritatingly enough the setup does not come with a pinion gear for the motor. so anyone buying one just be aware pof that. the part number you need(available from Ian Saunders at WiFly) and HK is F050
Hobbyking have just released their version of the famous Futaba Gy401 gyro. its labelled the HK401B. they claim its the same thing(although its uses a piezo crystal sensor and not SMM tech like the futaba) other than that its identical
difference is price. Futaba gy401 is $130, HK401b is $15.99
yes you read right....ive ordered one to test it out. if all goes well i will recommend them to Wifly to fit as standard equipment to the HK range of helis.

Specs(scuse the chinglish)

Functions:

Compatible with both Digital and Analog systems

Minimizes rudder trim changes caused by wind, other meteorological changes, and varieties of helicopter attitude changes are automatically cancelled.

Sensor vibration proofing

Simple sensitivity adjustment

Specifications:

Digital proportional RIC system

Operating voltage: 4.8V ~6V( common for receiver)

Operating temperature: -lOL r-.rf-45 C

Dimensions: 28x28x20 mm

Operating current: 80mA

woohoo. got my canopy from the uk for the mossie. and surprise surprise. they included a set of ABS spinners as well. looks just a like a madonna bra on its plastic sheet. ill take a photo. of course they dont tell you how to fit the spinners since its essentially just a plastic dome.
anyhoo. i did the radiator covers on the mossie., this covers the wiring running from the nacelles to the fuz. and ive started applying sanding sealer to the various bits and pieces in prep for painting. not looking forward to trying to paint it.

Mossie Pic

Here is a pic of the mossie so far. nacelles are glued on. its nearing the point of painting now.
bit worried about the power though. the motors provide 140w of power each(confirmed with watt meter) and the plane weighs 2.6pounds. giving a rating of 110w per pound. marginal for a fighter.

JR dsx7

so the Hitec aurora 9 has been delayed again until end november. not only is it quite expensive now. but i also dont trust it. why the delays?

so i bought myself a JR dsx7 from flying-hobby. same as the spektrum dx7 except its mode changeable and it has a timer. otherwise pretty basic. got all the major functions required.

only thing which i find strange is that they changed the modulation from DSM2 to DSMJ and the 2 are NOT compatible. so for the moment the new JR receivers are more expensive. Apparently DSMJ is frequency hopping and DSM2 isnt. Pertsonally i always though DSM2 was frequency hopping. so if anyone has a comment let me know

Ive roungh sanded the fuz for the mozzie now. made the hole in the side for the wings. goin to join the wings and fit them shortly

Mossie Progress

got the retracts in and working. almost at the point now where i can start to cover/paint still waiting for my canopy though

Mosquito progress

ok so i laminatd a bunch of 9.5mm balsa strips together to create a balsa block for the nose. gonna sand it to the required rounded shape. created the wings. sanded them down last night. had to wear a respirator there was so much dust. the wifes car looks like it was sprayed a different colour in front from all the dust.
i got the motors and esc's from HobbyKing. Im considering using 8x6 and not 9x6 props for it. i think 9x6 would quite frankly rip the wings off. too much power.
cooling is a potential issue as there are no inlets for the eletric motors. sooo i was thinking of drilling holes in the firewalls just behind the spinner and then making exit holes in the form of exhaust stacks. going to use some round tubing to do that. spray it a nice greyish colour(to replicate a leaded fuel burn exhaust colour)

so i want to spray the model. but now i dont want to spend 100 hours sanding the surface to a glass smooth finish using sanding sealer etc. this is also very susceptible to hangar rash. so i thought about an alternative solution. you get very thin tissue paper sheets from cardies etc. you lay this over the bare wood. then paint sanding sealer/dope onto it. this will then stick the tissue paper to the wood and seal the wood at the same time. and an additional bonus is that the tissue paper makes it ding resistant. kinda like fibreglassing just much lighter. not as strong obviously
havnt tried it yet. will this weekend sometime.

also been thinking bout adding panel lines and scuff marks to weather the aircraft. a pristine looking fighter just doesnt look quite right.

ive been thinking about hatch doors for the wheels. i got 4 different kinds of hatch hinges from HobbyKing. now i just have to figure out how to make them open and close short of using ANOTHER servo. perhaps some sort of spring loaded system that as soon as the wheel goes into the nacelle it pushes on a lever which closes the doors. when it comes out the spring pushes on the lever and opens the door.

Eflite Nieuport 6 months later

Sooo.... 6 months ago in april or so i order a Eflite 250 nieuport kit and eflite 250 motor off ebay from a place called atomic hobbies. no problems with the transaction. they send it along. but i never get the notice to collect. so i stomp into the post office. who knows me well from myhobby shop days. and i see its arrived. but they cant find it. lo and behold the morons sent it back 5 days after it arrived.
anyway i gave it up as lost.
but this morning i get an email from atomic hobbies saying theyve got the parcel back and they would like to resend it to me. wow. wish we had service like that all the time :)

Eflite Bonanza

Beechcraft Bonanza 15e ARF

Key Features

• Large magnetic hatch for easy access to electronics
• Optional electric retracts – sold separately
• Bolt-on tail
• Painted fiberglass cowl
• Genuine UltraCote trim scheme
• Can be assembled and flight-ready in just a few evenings
• Trailing edge flaps deliver slower takeoffs and landings
• Optional V-tail kit – sold separately
• Optional cockpit detail kit – sold separately
• Optional aluminum spinner – sold separately

Overview

For most private pilots, nothing says “I’ve arrived!” quite like taking the left seat of a Beechcraft Bonanza. Considered by many to be the finest single-engine airplane in general aviation, the Bonanza is renowned for its classic lines and sporty-yet-stable flight characteristics.

E-flite has expertly captured the scale lines and satisfying flying manners of the Bonanza with this 15-size ARF. It comes out of the box with a great-looking UltraCote® trim scheme and enough scale detail to satisfy any sport modeler. For those who want to push the scale looks and performance even further, E-flite offers several optional accessory kits (sold separately) that allow you to add cockpit details, electric retracts and even a V-tail.

Product Specifications

Wingspan:	48.0 in (1220mm)
Overall Length:	41.9 in (1065mm)
Wing Area:	410 sq in (26.4 sq dm)
Flying Weight:	4.20–4.50 lb (1.9–2.0 kg)
Motor Size:	Power 15
Radio:	6+ channels
Servos:	7 micro servos
Prop Size:	APC 11x7E electric prop
Spinner Size:	1.75 in
Hardware Included:	Yes
Speed Control :	40-amp
Recommended Battery:	3S 3200mAh Li-Po
Flaps:	Yes
Retracts:	Optional
Approx. Flying Duration:	10 minutes
Scale:	Yes
Approx. Assembly Time:	6–8 hours
Experience Level:	Intermediate
Recommended Environment:	Outdoor
Is Assembly Required:	Yes

so. anyone know of a large hall in which we can fly indoor helis and planes? its lotsa fun. just battling to get hold of a hall big enough. check out this little eflite nieuport 17. it even has a replica rotary motor(the entire motor spins) as per the original. very cute. cant get it locally yet. but when the local supplier catches a wakeup maybe we can buy it. until then. import.
no unfortunately the lady holding the model doesnt come with it

well i never went out to the field this sat. but if anyone has pics send them to me and ill pop them onto the site.
i did the wings on the mossie. just gotta sand the profile into them now. lotsa sanding involved with that.
i see the hitec aurora has still not been released. #@$@#$@#

check this out guys. its a counter rotating brushless system. swings 10x5 props(INCLUDED). would be brilliant for a shackleton etc. also would be nifty just to see it run. price is $59.99

specs are below

Dimension: 28mm x 51mm
Weight: 79g / 2.83oz (not including connectors)
Diameter of shaft: 3.0mm
Length of front shaft: F10.25mm
Max power: 17A*2=34A
Max power: 375W
KV: 1050rpm/v
Prop:10*4 or 10*5
11V 10.5A*2 Thrust:1320g/46.56oz
ESC Required: Two 25A

here is the link for it

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=6565

so my next thought on a nice scale project is a b-17. electric of course. i dont think a 4 engined bomber with glow engines would be the most stable aircraft in the world. especially if 2 or more motors are out.
Tony Nijhuis has a 72" 1.8m wingspan model
the nice part is that you can get the vac formed parts like the windows. cowls. gun turrets etc from him directly. so you dont have to battle your gat off trying to make them. always been the biggest hassle with scale aircraft build from scratch.
i think 4 x 400 size brushless electric motors outrunners swinging 3 bladed props would do very nicely. now the next question is...how the heck do i stuff a model that size into my Mini?

so does anyone know where i can get dope from? not the stuff you smoke....the stuff you put over nylon covering or tissue paper to make it stretch tight. i want to cover the mosquito in tissue. then dope it on to make the surface smooth so i can spray it. way to many compound corners to cover it.

bugger. rain came in. we sat at the field for a while. so i went home and sulked.

so, i tried out for 4 sims last night. works perfectly. realflight was a bit tricky to install but it is the best sim there. reflex xtr also comes in chinese by default. but you just click on the menus and change the language to english.


woooohoooo gonna try it on my 22" screen soon

Got my Stuff! WOOHOOO

yay! got my hk450 heli. Tig 325mm Carbon Blades and Motor from Hobbyking. just need a radio for it now

Also got my 4 in 1 simulator from helibuy its awesome. cant wait to try it out

Retracts for my Mossie

so ive got a set of robart mechanical retracts at home that will fit the diminuative size of the mossie quite nicely. But mechanical retracts are a ballache, getting the links setup, getting the servo not to bind, collapse etc etc etc

so i was browsing Hobbyking and i came across this neat little set

Micro Pneumatic Retract Landing-gear set suitable for models up to 3.5lbs.

Specifications :

Low profile 0.472in (12mm) when retracted

Frames 6061-T6 & 7075 aviation grade aluminium

Auto down if air tank is empty.

Each Retract weight : 10g / all parts 88g

Suitable for EDF & Warbirds models up to 3.5lbs

$59.94 which is NOT BAD. if you compare it to an equivalent robart pnemautic system

I would only use the main gear though on the mossie. not the nose gear obviously.

EDF Vampire

so i found another Tony Nijhuis plan. for a .25 sized Vampire. So i got to thinking that with a 64mm EDF fan it should be fairly spritely.
specs are as follows

i would put an undercart on it though.

Wingspan	1016mm / 40"
IC Engine	.15-.25ci / 2.5-4.0cc
Electric Motor	4-Max Recommended
Radio	3 Function (mini)
AUW	1134g / 40oz

SEE! It does fly

Thanks to henry for the pics!

so, i started scratching around on the weekend looking for something new to build. and as usual im looking for the weird subjects. so i got a short list of a electric canard. a ducted van vampire and a small De Havilland Mosquito. I decided on the Mossie.

Its quite small only 47" wingspan. im going to power it with 2 turnigy brushless motors. and im going to fit retracts and possible flaps as well. always wanted to build a mossie.

I cut out most of the formers last night and the pasts for the nacelles. this was before the knife rolled off my work bench and pegged into my fooot(EINA), blood snot and tranne everywhere! hahahahahahahaha

anyway. here is a pic of the model itself. its a tony nijhuis design. and came free in a 2005 edition of RCM&E

wow. the wind was howling yesterday. just a few peeps at the field. Fanie. Myself. Tony, Louie Henry and a couple of others. I had just finished repairing my autogyro. so i said what the hell i was going to try it. got it all set up. put it on the runway. powered it up and off it went. alhtough with a strange clicking noise. didnt quite figure out what it was. it struggled into the air. seemed a taf underpoweredf on the electric motor with the 11x5.5 electric prop. i think a 12x6e prop is more likely a better bet. anyway. i did one circuit. but we noticed the right hand side rotos were not spinning up as they should. which almost resulted in it spinning a few times. i managed to get it back. and lo and behold. the souce of the clicking sound was reveiled. The prop was catching the top of the rotor blades(DOH) and cutting them to pieces. i used a 9x6 on the rotary that i had on their previously. didnt realise the longer prop would hit. anyway easy to fix. and ill move the motor forward 20mm. it will also help with some of the balance issues.

Also few fanies HK450 again. nice heli.

well i see the weather is not boding well for tomorrow. but im a die hard. so ill be there with my newly electrified autogyro. cant wait!

Affordable helis(NOT the junk toys you buy from the flea market)

sooo. a while back fanie and i saw that www.hobbyking.com had a trex 450 clone called the hk450 on their site for $29.99.

sounded too good to be true. so fanie ordered one and put it together along with the suggested motor and htx900 servos and a telebee gyro. all recommended by the site. and what do you know. it flies. and it flies nicely. this could be a really good way to get into helis. I AM NOT STATING that they are BETTER than the Align helis. but they are damn close. and for the price its a good way to enter the world of heli flying.

Trex 450 parts fit it perfectly. they also make a HK500GT and HK250GT size heli. the HKT-500 heli i believe has problems. so i wouldnt go for that one. read the reviews.

Good Value For Money IC Motors

hey Boys and girls

a while ago i got to thinking about value for money Nitro(Glow) motors.
i think everyone agrees that OS max and Saito motors etc are lovely. but they are also a lovely price

soooo. using some musings i came to this conclusion
Decent value for money motors are:

ASP
Kyosho
Irvine
Super Tigre(some of them)
Thunder Tiger

anybody else have thoughts on value for money IC motors?

Scale Helis

So. im getting one of those cheapie 450 helis from hobbyking and im going to put one of these fuselages on it. gonna add a flybarless head as well.
i see www.heliartist.com also makes a unpainted version now in case you want to paint it yourself. would look nice with a nice sharks mouth up front like the P-40 Warhawk

ALSO I SEE THEY ARE BRINGING out an apache fuselage soon. wish they would make a comanche fuz.

Eflite Kits wanted

Im looking for eflite kits. anyone know where i can get? specifically the Elfite Nieuport 17 250 size

Internet Hobby Shops

Hey Fellow Flyers

As you know most(not all) south african hobby shops are a ripoff. so here are some sites which i feel offer good value for money and good service, some international. some local.

LOCAL
www.rcgear.co.za

If you guys know of other decent local shops post them here on the site for everyone to see. Dealers. Feel free to punt your stuff here as well if you like(within reason)

INTERNATIONAL
www.hobbyking.com (Fanie and i have tested the stuff from these guys. seems too cheap to be true. but so far the items have proved reliable)
www.flying-hobby.com (mainly helis)
www.infinity-hobby.com (helis, heli parts and upgrades)
www.towerhobbies.com (fairly expensive. but the discounts they give you make it worth while in some instances)

in many cases some guys at the club have dealer accounts with these dealers. so ask around. and it works out cheaper

Some of My planes

so ya. at the bottom is my A-10X turbine. havnt flown it for a year. mainly due to the runway being a wee bit too short. i plan to take the turbine out and mount it in something else with a shorter takeoff roll. then the pic of a airwolf similar to the one i had, this particular airwolf is turbine powered.....drool. then there is my little gyrace. half plane half autogyro. it was powered by an os wankel 30 at that point. before it got shot down due to inteference. motor got slightly damaged. so ive coverted it to electric power now. and of course the ME-262. Oneday itll be my masterpiece. but for now ill just sit and stare at pics of the real one.

Building the Field

so we had to move from the full size runway we were using. A nice farmer allowed us to use a nice spot of land on the edge of his property. We graded it. and put down a slurry runway ,taxiway and heli pad. we also did created a set of L shaped pits and a concrete longdrop.

I doubt if fanie wife will allow him to sit on the couch with those clothes

you can see how nice and wide the runway is. 7m wide. 102m long. just need to give it another coat of tar then itll be glass smooth!

Hi Guys

ok. so i decided to create a little unofficial website for RRF. chat here. post your pics. go wild.