VISTA v2 - a slippery pitcheron

[Jackson T]

@Jackson T - thanks man - on the epoxy question, I did not think to do that - wing halves are 95g - I plan to weigh things this week - I was not too worried about the weight as it is a sloper!

I'm just curious, as that's one of my biggest unknowns when it comes to potentially making a composite glider. I guess you right, as a sloper it can (and probably should) have quite a bit of weight to it. When do think you'll have it done and flying?

 

[bracesport]

getting a bit more of the detail sorted (no sanding of the parts yet) - 3D printed the canopy and tweaked the rotor assembly to ensure the canopy fits - added the 4mm FG pins into the tail assembly - fired up the servos for a quick check - pretty happy so far!

 

[Wildthing]

getting a bit more of the detail sorted (no sanding of the parts yet) - 3D printed the canopy and tweaked the rotor assembly to ensure the canopy fits - added the 4mm FG pins into the tail assembly - fired up the servos for a quick check - pretty happy so far!

View attachment 175185 View attachment 175186 View attachment 175187 View attachment 175188 View attachment 175189

Superb other then the orange canopy

 

[bracesport]

@Jackson T - when I wet out the CF and rolled it under the foils I think the epoxy was at a reasonable minimum - in the future I will track the usage as it is certainly easy to over do it!

I'm just curious, as that's one of my biggest unknowns when it comes to potentially making a composite glider. I guess you right, as a sloper it can (and probably should) have quite a bit of weight to it. When do think you'll have it done and flying?

 

[bracesport]

glued the tail mount into position - the wings are pulled out of the rotor to sit on blocks to ensure we are level.

 

[Wildthing]

glued the tail mount into position - the wings are pulled out of the rotor to sit on blocks to ensure we are level.

View attachment 175274 View attachment 175275

That is going to be so slick when you are done.

 

[bracesport]

but wait there's more..

So all in all my expectations were pretty accurate - the AUW without battery, Rx, and CG balancing is 670g - the AUW balanced on the wing rod is 860g - my target was to be about 900g (like most of my ships) - the tail being 3D printed is a factor in this design as it is undoubtably heavier than a FG or CF tail - I think the true balance point was forward of the wing rod, so I think there is a bit of wiggle room to be under 860g - with a couple of lithium Ion 18650s there will not be too much lead to add at the front.

 

[bracesport]

here is some progress on setting up my Pitcheron with open TX on my Jumper T16

 

[bracesport]

I added 130g to the nose (lead and batteries) allowing a bit of wiggle room to add the Rx and finalise the CG - the lead is glueing into the nose at the moment - lets look at an update for the AUW - 670 +130 (800g) +Rx.

 

[bracesport]

So with the new weighted nose and batteries +5g for the Rx we are looking pretty close for the CG (AUW 805g).

 

[bracesport]

I tested the rotor throws off of the Tx today and everything thing seems to be in order - the Pitcheron wings have their TE going down for UP elevator, and a left roll will have the left wing TE up and right wing TE going down.

I have a whole heap of individual 18650's and a couple of two cells - so I set up a tray in series to accomodate individual cells (easy to charge) and wired up a two cell pack to see if I can charge them - I recycled the 18650 1600 mAh batteries from some old computers at work - in each battery bank there was one dud battery but the rest of them charged up nicely to 4.2v

 

[bracesport]

I decided to make the battery pack with a balance charge plug - I found the attached diagram on youtube and for a two-cell it is pretty simple - the outer pins (+/-) are on the main battery pins, with the middle wire to the base join between the batteries - I decided to make a plug so I can use one balance plug for all the battery packs - charging OK so far!

 

[bracesport]

I have been fiddling around waiting for the next chance to maiden this beast - I think it is going to need a good bit of lift as the calcs come in on wing loading at around 18oz/ft2 which is quite high - the other guys who fly twisties are targeting 14oz/ft2

My issue is the tail is 3D printed and the moment is quite long so this translates into requiring more nose weight to balance things out - I will still maiden this as is to determine if it is a runner, and will consider making some CF tail feathers if need be down the track.

I also have some full-size servos which are quite heavy, but luckily with a twisty, they are centred close to the CG so don't contribute heavily to the tip weighting - obviously if the tail is nice and light everything will be more responsive!

I shouldn't stress too much as the Spitfire has an even higher wing loading and that flew pretty well!

 

[bracesport]

I also bought a few of these Matec 5/9v micro BEC's - at the moment I don't have enough BEC's kicking around so I have to swap them in and out of the gliders - if these work well, my plan will be to have one for each glider permanently fitted.

 

[Wildthing]

I also bought a few of these Matec 5/9v micro BEC's - at the moment I don't have enough BEC's kicking around so I have to swap them in and out of the gliders - if these work well, my plan will be to have one for each glider permanently fitted.

View attachment 179667

How many amps can they handle?

 

[bracesport]

@Wildthing - 1.5A continuous and Max 2.5A - should be fine for servos - a 9g servo will stall at about 0.5A

 

[Wildthing]

@Wildthing - 1.5A continuous and Max 2.5A - should be fine for servos - a 9g servo will stall at about 0.5A

You only have 3 servos right?

 

[bracesport]

Yip!

 

[bracesport]

Even the stall current on a full-size servo does not look to be excessive either - in my twisty I have two of these, but with them I think they are less likely to stall as they have more torque!

 

[Matthewdupreez]

totally awesome... i love the look of the carbon fibre.... now to locate some that i can afford...
or maybe a should just use my fibreglass i already have.......

quick question what do you think of cutting out the fuselage from foam and then wrapping it in fibreglass... i do not have access to a 3d printer.

the wings i could do... and i kinda wanna make it as light as possible.. due to the fact that i have moderate wind here and not seaside winds....

but amazing job on this... except for the fact that there is NO MAIDEN VIDEO...
I KNOW I KNOW COVID... SAYS IT ALL...
but even a glide test would be awesome