my flight log

[bracesport]

Actually with reading I think I should try and bring the CG a tad forward in a breeze before playing with ballast - I have made a small nose weight and two sections of lead ballast (have not weighed them yet) - next time out I will give them a whirl.

 

[bracesport]

I carefully rechecked the CG on the BAMFzilla upside-down with a screwdriver on a single point offset to the throwing peg side - it is 66mm from the LE - 66/150 is 44%.

Thomas from Armsoar calls up - Super calm conditions: 68-70mm - Regular conditions: 66mm - Very windy and turbulent conditions: 64-65mm - so I am in the ballpark for regular conditions.

 

[bracesport]

THURSDAY 31 MARCH

I had a late afternoon flight opportunity and grabbed it - the purpose was to look at the trimming of the flight modes - recently I changed the horizontal stabiliser and did not think to re check the trim.

There was a breeze again but it was more steady than the the last couple of outings - the breeze was in the opposite direction flowing from the west over the hills - I can't help thinking there was a down draft today.

The speed and cruise modes were pretty good but the thermal mode was way off - after getting that sorted (or close) I had a few minutes to fly but I didn't really have a lot of luck keeping it up today - I am not sure why!

I even had some weights to test a forward CG and some ballast as well but I completely forgot to try them.

 

[bracesport]

THURSDAY 19 APRIL 2022

I went out for some more trimming and CG experiments - my eight year old son was on the camera and had a wild time, but sadly the video is not representative of how great the flights were.

Actually I felt it was one of my best outings as the glider was launching well and flying hands free (apart from the yaw being off) - one of the first flights flew for 1.5mins mostly hands free.

It was flying well in both cruise and cruise 2 (no camber and 2mm camber) so I did some dive tests that do not show well in the videos, but all had a gentle pull out at speed - I moved the CG back and observed a slight slowing down in flight - I might leave that as is for a bit and see how I go - I do think my CG is mostly correct.

Under brakes the trim is still not good - am I right in thinking the boom should be above level as it comes in under brakes?

 

[bracesport]

Sunday 24 april 2022

My plan today was to not Pfaff around with tweaking and testing - just go fly and look for some lift - the rudder trim was off a bit and the elevator was a bit wild but I stuck with my plan and it payed off rewarding me with some lift - 3:22 off the flat park - stoked - I also had a couple of solid two minute flights, but knocking over the three minute mark was awesome.

I am not 100% sure that what I was perceiving as lift was always lift, but it was a thrill to make some progress - I was trying to be gentle on the turns and I guess it payed off at times.

Good launch height helped too.

Not shown in the video was some flights where I was toggling speed (reflexed) and cruise (no camber) to gain into the wind and it really did work - I am less afraid of reflex now - sadly it was time to head home so I will use it more next time out.

 

[bracesport]

THU 28 APRIL 2022

A quick session after work with some great results - anther personal best at 5:38 - I also had two +3's but did not have the video on - I added a curve to the elevator which reduces the throws around the centre - maybe that helped - I can't pinpoint what was different as my turns were still a bit random - any way a win is a win!

 

[bracesport]

Saturday 23 JULY 2022

I finally had a chance to maiden my bentBAMF - polyhedral - six channels.

It was trimmed pretty well off the bench and it seems to fly similarly to the BAMFzilla but turns with more stability - it was way lively in pitch so I need to dial back the throws - I also seem to have way more braking than the BAMFzilla so the trim for landing was way off - today I was running 180 mAh 2S and I did not top up the charge for the flight so I got a battery warning and called it a good maiden.

It was quite cold when I changed to the BAMFzilla, but along the way the heat came up and I managed to do another personal best at about 9:08 mins - I was extremely stoked with that - flying down wind and finding lift is a great feeling!

Also coming home with two ships intact is a blessing!

 

[bracesport]

This was the first time to use my programmed launch mode - I have a bad habit of launching upwards and the launch mode certainly helps with launching flatter and still getting up high - my best height was 52.4m which seems not too bad with a less than full power launch - It needs some more trimming yet but I will certainly use it from now on - regardless, at 58yrs, I am a bit stiff today!

 

[jonoashton]

58!!!! I thought you were way younger than me

 

[bracesport]

Not unless my mum lied about my birthday - having a young son keeps you young!

58!!!! I thought you were way younger than me

 

[bracesport]

FRIDAY 09 SEP 2022

The winter has been wet and windy here in Wellington NZ - but today was nice and I was at home so the gods of flight were being favourable - I actually flew two gliders today, my bentBAMF polyhedral (BAMF 1) and my bamBAMF (BAMF 2)

The bentBAMF went first (no video) and flew very nicely with a 4:12 hooking some lift - it was trimmed quite nicely and the brakes are awesome - it seems to just float smoothly under braking - I think the poly wing turns a tad easier.

The B2 went next and I like it - it tracks straight in launch and is very nimble - it has a bit more aileron than my BAMFzilla so that might be helping - 240g - launches easily to +40m - the wind picked up a bit and so the trimming became a bit pointless but nevertheless I was very happy first time out also having some fun with some aerobatics (first time for me doing a roll)!

I really like the DLG launch modes and it is certainly better using them than not!

 

[FoamyDM]

FRIDAY 09 SEP 2022

The winter has been wet and windy here in Wellington NZ - but today was nice and I was at home so the gods of flight were being favourable - I actually flew two gliders today, my bentBAMF polyhedral (BAMF 1) and my bamBAMF (BAMF 2)

The bentBAMF went first (no video) and flew very nicely with a 4:12 hooking some lift - it was trimmed quite nicely and the brakes are awesome - it seems to just float smoothly under braking - I think the poly wing turns a tad easier.

The B2 went next and I like it - it tracks straight in launch and is very nimble - it has a bit more aileron than my BAMFzilla so that might be helping - 240g - launches easily to +40m - the wind picked up a bit and so the trimming became a bit pointless but nevertheless I was very happy first time out also having some fun with some aerobatics (first time for me doing a roll)!

I really like the DLG launch modes and it is certainly better using them than not!

View attachment 230225 View attachment 230226

I love the look of that bird.

 

[bracesport]

Yes the Monarch butterfly is cool - not a bad maiden either!

I love the look of that bird.

 

[bracesport]

WED 09 Nov 2022

I decided not to film until I made progress today - so after about an hour of pretty average flying I got a 7min flight without my camera - here is the next flight of the bentBAMF with the camera!

 

[jonoashton]

was it hard to get it out of the tree

 

[bracesport]

I am getting too old to climb trees - but the motivation was there and up I went to retrieve it - it was all good!

FYI - I have be renovating a balsa trainer - used to be a high wing - it weight 1.9kgs I am hoping it would be a nice slow sloper - I propped it for the park, but it might be too heavy for that environment....

was it hard to get it out of the tree

 

[jonoashton]

just about anything will slope. looks like a good weight for it. Are you interested in a mid week fly??

 

[bracesport]

At the moment I am building an F5K fuse - https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...d#post48790147 - and for that I am going to use my BAMF-1 poly wing (poly'd by my good friend Pete).

This gave me the opportunity to put my BAMFzilla wing onto an original B1 fuse and reduce the weight to 240g @65 CG (from 270g) - the nose has a 400 MAh 1S and a GRX6 and 5g of lead to balance at 65 CG - I still need to sort out the antennas!

My BAMFzilla did not have enough Aileron travel to roll so I have set another 5mm of up travel to achieve that (hopefully) - now my B1 and B2 both weigh 240g @65 CG so it will be interesting to see how they compare.

I will be back in the workshop next week so I will be able to see how the B1 polywing looks on my F5K fuse.

 

[bracesport]

SUNDAY 15th JAN 2023

After swapping around some parts I now have a classic BAMF B1 weighing it 240g (down from 270g) - today I just wanted to check the trim as I only had a quick 40 minutes to spare - my son Alexander (9rs) decided to come with me and I was rapt he was keen.

I took my B2 and the B1 both weighing 240g so I was keen to see the differences - the B1 was pretty well trimmed off the bench only needing a small amount of up elevator - for me it is usual to have a few 1 minute flights then if lucky I would find some lift, but today it just wanted to fly so I was very happy to have good flights on each toss - I still need to dial back my elevator use, but at least I am conscious of it and am flying faster.

The B2 was a bit of fun with Alexander wanting to try and catch it - we did a few runs without the video on and missed some great aerobatic moves (oh well something for the next outing) - with the camera on we did at least get a catch by Alexander on video.

 

[bracesport]

Here is a screen grab of one of the sessions flying the BAMFzilla on Sunday - a 50m launch and a 80m peak on almost a 5min run - very happy to see the it was mostly one lift bubble after the dip behind the launch.