I Have been busy
Friday
I went out and Tested an idea about what has been causing a Plane (The FB version of the Reptile, Dragon II) to behave strangely.
This Video Represents a typical Day of the field for me.
Usually started with a Failure, or some malfunction. Sometimes it's fixable. Then I get some fly time. The 1st go is to check on trims, bring it in, make adjustments. then to verify the adjustments are helpful, if so, fly and enjoy. Then if I am lucky... change the battery and fly some more.
BTW - if you rubber band your planes, be sure you have enough bands to keep the fuse tight. I went with too few, and notice pitchy-ness during the flight... the Fuse or wing shifted and would make the plane Tail heavy. (a shift of 1/4" was enough.) the extra rubber band did the trick. She now flies well. Now I have to figure out why 1 motor wants to hit100% at random spots during flight.
Just before the build-night Hosted by the Aviation RC Noob podcast I built the FliteTest Style build version of the wing. With that I filmed a build video.
Saturday
I took this back out with the
Prandlt-D Modified Wing (
see here) to test the spar reinforcements, and to fly with it. Along with the FoamBoard Reptile Dragon II
@BATTLEAXE put together. As with my luck... As storm was rolling past a mile out. and the winds just started kicking up, 10 knots gusting to 23. Perfect time for a flight right? (most would have sense, and stay grounded.)
I decided it was time to see how they performed in the wind. Both did well.
Note the wind sock
Prandlt-D - After trying to launch with a different (heavier) battery without success earlier in the week, I just put on what worked at the marks I had. It launched just fine, and I began flying. I caught a few thermals, but I noticed the pockets of Rising air were aggressive, and the Gusting would take the wing time and try to bat the plane around. The roll is slow and the coupled Yaw is on pace. This made battling the frequent violent upsets slow and a bit scary. There were many buffets that looked like the end of the Video above. but this time the wing stayed put. It was the violent motion that loosed a battery and caused it to become tailheavy and come down (guided). She will Fly again.
the Foam Board Reptile Dragon II
@BATTLEAXE flew Great All around. now that the wing wasn't shifting around. on 3S it was gentle with some pick-up, and on 4S it was a ballistic missile. I hope to get the chance with the 5s.
Later I calculated out exactly where to place the LARGE 5Ah 3S battery for the Prandlt wing.
Started a Sub Nautica Submarine project - WTC ends, and bulkheads are printed along with fins, and the impeller. Perfectly.
Sunday - Fathers day and rainy. tried to figure out 3d printing failure... First big hull section. Looks like Under extruded from Skipping. Finished Black Sail (Starz) and I want to build a Man O' War Class RC Sailing Ship.