Hi all and welcome to my world or the world of model flying as I see it!

No not knocking down walls or fitting new kitchen cupboards, the DIY I'm talking about is designing your own models. This is something I have done in the past I did make a model that was a cross between a fun fly type model and a wot4 this flew very well and until recently it was still flying. I say until because the gent that now owns it crashed it and came to me asking if I had a plan because he would like to build a new one. As it is I have no plan but I have got templates for the wing ribs. In the gliding club I'm in one of the founder members only fly’s his own designs, and they fly very well in fact they fly that well that he is constantly being asked if he is going to make any kits of some of the design’s he fly’s (isn't that right Ivan!) But doing your own thing isn't all a bed of roses, you get told all different things to do or to think about when you go it alone, and this as you would expect puts some people off. I think we all go down different paths when it come to own designs.

I am flying one of my own designs now. I was given a set of wings from a electric powered glider and so I decided to have a go at making a fuz to go with them. The wings have ailerons and are 63” span with very little dihedral. As to the fuz I have decided to go with a design that is a constant width from the nose up to the trailing edge of the wing then it tapers in to the tail.

Fuselage built and ready for covering.

I have made the sides from 1/16” ply with ¼” balsa top and bottom at the front with the bottom then going to 3/16” and then 1/8” balsa sheet. As for the tail that is a ‘V’ tail that I have made up by laminating 4 pieces of 1/8” balsa together with 50g per sq metre fibreglass cloth in the middle this is bonded together with resin and sanded to shape. The fuz is covered in film to help keep the weight down.

Waiting on the slope and ready to fly.

As to the flying, it fly’s very well. In fact I test flew it at the Welsh F3F open on the weekend of the 5th and 6th of October, as I have said I was looking to keep it light and that it is with an all up weight of 1lb 12oz. I have made room for ballast so that I can see how it fly’s in a good blow. By the way the model has a name “Gwynt Araf” that’s Welsh for Slow Wind the reason for the Welsh name is because it was in Wales that I test flew it! As to the way it fly’s in stronger winds well that is good because only a week later I had the chance to try it in wind that was blowing up to 27mph, with 6oz of ballast on it went as well as others so I'm very happy with it's performance over all.

As I told you last month I was at the LMA event at Much Marcle and this is for me the last show I go to. Now I don’t know how many of you have tried NiMh (Nickel Metal Hydride) cells, I have been using them off and on in some of my electric powered models. I have come to the conclusion that you don’t get the same punch as NiCads but you get a longer run time, in fact my Mini Lazer 3D will almost double it’s flight time on a 7 cell set of 800 mAh cells.

Sanyo 8 cell 3000 MaH NiMh flight pack

At Much Marcle I got myself two receiver batteries that are made up from 1500 mAh NiMh AA size cells.

1500 mAh receiver pack.

I have a FF8 that at the moment has 7 models in the memory, most of these are gliders and because you can in most cases stay up with a slope soaring glider from dawn till dusk you can soon flatten the battery, well I have been using NiMh packs in this and other transmitters for some time and as yet the battery alarm has not come on in use. To give you a idea of the performance, the pack that came with the transmitter was an 800 mah nicad and after about two and a half hours constant use the alarm would go off, now with the new pack of 1500 Nimh cells I have had three and a quarter hours of constant use so far with the read out showing 9.6 volts!!

8 cell NiMh transmitter pack.

I know that when these cells first came onto the market people reported that the cells would just go flat with little or no warning, but now these cells are becoming very common in fact my Multiplex Cockpit has these as standard!

We have had a new influx of members just recently up at the power club, one of these, John is a complete beginner and he got himself a right bargain in the way of his aircraft, radio and field equipment.

Precedent T180 trainer.

The aircraft is a Precedent T180 with a Super Tigre 51 the radio is a Futaba challenger 6 this came with a field box, 12 volt battery, starter, glow clip and some fuel all for the grand price of £150.

I don’t know how your club runs it’s training program but we have a list of approved instructors and we try to do all the training with a buddy box set up, we are very open with the training and by that I mean we don’t have a booking system as some clubs run. I know of one club that because they had a lot of newcomers they had to run a register

I consider myself lucky because, as you know, I fly gliders as well as power and with me being the training officer of the power club I see all the new comers, but not only that. I have seen new members come up to the slopes to learn to fly. Now I can hear you all say “so what!” Well up on the slopes the approach to learning to fly is very different than at the power site, a lot of slope soaring trainers are now made from EPP (that’s a very strong foam that all combat and slope pylon racers are made from)

EPP Combat Wings in various sizes and an EPP Slope trainer.

So what you get on the slopes is a new member comes up with his EPP model and has it test flown then he is given some advice and basically left to get on with it, now this is not because no body can help out or won’t help out it’s because with the newcomer flying an EPP model he is not going to do any damage to anything when he crashes. Unlike most ARTF trainers which are wooden or more brittle foam.

Email me on waynesworld@bumpygreen.co.uk

"Be Good"

Wayne.

Article by Wayne Haycock for Bumpy Green Model Aerodrome
November 2002

Comment by urs on 00000000000000. Rating 5

Hi Wayne liked your bit about NiMh (Nickel Metal Hydride) maybe its worth pointing out that not all chargers are sutable for nihms, to get the best out of them a dedicated Nihm charger is desirable and to adding an extra cell ie 8 instead of 7 makes up for the slight lack of oommppfff. urs keep up the good work

Comment by Alan on 20040828133405. Rating 4

Hi Wayne, I read your araticle on the internet and you mentioned EPP. I am into Shockflying at the and have been trying to find a source of EPP sheet and wondered if you know of a retailer who could supply in small quantities. Many thanks and best regards. Alan Litchfield. litchfield.alan@btinternet.com

Comment by Alan on 20040828133941. Rating 4

Hi Wayne, I read your article on the Bumpy Green site and you mentioned EPP. I have been trying to find a source of this material without success and wondered if you can help. Many thanks and best regards,Alan Litchfield. email..litchfield.alan@btinternet.com

VIEW / ADD Your Comments This is where you can leave your comments about the article itself or about the subject of the article. For example maybe its a review and you would like to tell people about the experience you have with this particular model. Name: Email Address (optional): Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent = 5 Comments: