One night's progress on a DLG

So I came home, and started building.  Sadly the plane is going to be about 10g over weight.  I have the proper servos in the mail, and I expect that if carefully built, the plane could be built for 40 g instead of 50g.

Weights - What things weigh.

Recievers:
Orange RX - 9.8 grams
Orange RX No case - 3.8 grams
 
Batteries:
420 mah 15c LiPo cell - 11.7 grams

Servos:
Servo TG9e - 9.9 grams

Time to ditch the affordaplane.... and design from scratch.

The more I look at the Affordaplane the more i'm upset with it.

First off, allow me to share a resource I've built for it:  http://theaffordaplaneresource.blogspot.com/

I've been collecting data for the airplane for a month now.  And I'm less and less happy with it.  I'm finding that the frame is weak, and heavy.  The plane more or less flies on horsepower versus finesse.  The plane builds up well outside of the part 103 rules, so I'd need to register it with the FAA and do all the experimental plane approval fun-ness I was hopping to avoid. 

To make a plane I'd be happy with out of an affordaplane, I'd need to completely remake the fuselage.  And landing gear.  I could make it come in under part 103 rules.  But at that point, I've essentially designed my own airplane.

OH... Well there's an idea.

Funny that. 

Now I'm developing something of an obsession over the Davis DA-2.  And... that means a pilots license.  I'm taking a discovery flight this weekend.  So we'll see how that goes.

Pretty isn't it?  120mph on 65hp.  And a solid 510lb useful load.

New parts from china: lets build a Nano DLG

 The new project is a Nano DLG. Here's what I have for radio gear.  A spectrum reciever, and some 4gram servos.  I need to decide if I am going to use that 420mah cell, and have it a powered glider as well, or stick with some 100mah cell. 

Here's the assembly video.. yes, the music is annoyingly christ heavy.  Nano DLG, build video

And here's a flight video:  Nano DLG flight video

I hope to have this built next week.

Going flying, for real.

So, I'm breaking down. For years I've dreamed of flying. And I am going to make it reality.

Back in high school a friend and I were going to build a set of hummelbirds.

Hummel Aviation

The problem then, was the Light Sport Aircraft license wasn't around, so there were a few hurdles to overcome. Well, as usual, plans are plans, and they sometimes pop and go away.

After doing some research, I happened upon the Affordaplane. The design seemed sane, and seemed like it would be easily under part 103 ultralight weight. I ordered the plans, joined the mailing lists, and started doing lots of math.

Cutting to the chase, I found the mailing lists to be caustic. The plane (even the prototype) builds up overweight. And.. well.. to make it work, it's going to take a lot of work. So, due to the condition of the community, I decided I needed to step up and collect information. I started a new blog. The Affordaplane Resource

I am building an ultralight. It will likely have it's base in the affordaplane. But it isn't going to closely follow the plan.

The next step is to take some flying lessons.

Two months on with a Parkzone Ultra Micro T-28

Flying is fun. Lots of fun. Enough fun that I'm willing to risk my airframe just to fly some more. My little T-28 isn't a very fast plane. And is much less fast when dragging landing gear around with itself.

I usually chose to fly without landing gear, but due to one late evening exercise in stupidity, I no longer have that option. I decided I'd try to fly under the parking lot lights at a local business park. It was quite a bit of fun, but one landing ended up contacting a curb, which ripped off the starboard landing gear. While gluing it back on, I managed to glue the landing gear into the mount.

I've managed to not get any pictures of my plane, really, at all. So while playing with the laser cutter at the pumpingstation I took a shot or two of it.

So this is after "well I've got nothing left to lose" repairs. The plane had started flying like it was carrying 30lbs extra in the air. And i figured it was all my glue and tape repairs. Buying a new airframe seemed sensable, so i did that.

I now have two T-28's. the one that didn't fly right, I decided I was going to dissect and put into a new airframe. Something custom, something more aerobatic. But while looking to take the plane apart, I found that the control horns weren't actually controlling the rudder or elevator.

It's amazing what a little foam safe CA and cardboard will do for control authority.

I still wanted to make a new airframe. .... And because it has a picture of my latest little model aircraft tool, I'm going to give you a preview of what I'm building.

Yes, that was cut on the laser cutter. It's a clone of the Ace Littlest Stick.

Left center you'll see a bunch of E-flite batteries. I have put Velcro on the back of a laminated business card so I can keep track of my cells easily. I hate losing $5 batteries at the turn of my head.

I think we're getting near time to review the T-28. I've put 20-30 batteries through it, so I think we're deep enough that we can say I know the plane well.

Oooh, Look, new bike.

A 1979 GS425 has entered my garage. it was a good price, and fairly close.

And here's my art shot, with the GS650 in the background.

It's really nice. The bike is complete, and works perfectly. It starts with a half hearted kick at the starter. And it's really, really light.