RC POWERS F18 V3 250 FLIGHTS AND COUNTING... :)

Hi everyone -

Now that some of the snow from our recent storm has gone, I managed to get out today and burn through a few lipos... :)  Been almost a week since I got flying, so I was starting to go through withdrawals...!

I'll have to talk to airfield maintenance though, not only did they not plow the runway, they let "Bigfoot" walk all over the place!

Today I surpassed 250 flights on this particular F18 V3.  It has been through a lot, and although it is kind of the "ugly duckling" in my hangar, it still flies so awesome, I don't have the heart to "recycle" it.

I have learned a lot from this particular F18 V3.  After months of building far too heavy with the mindset that would make my planes more durable, the 12 step program of "over builder's anonymous" finally kicked in and this was the first plane I decided to build light but strong, so away went too much glue, too much tape and too much carbon.  It was a very enlightening experience for me as I discovered that by building light when I crashed or gonked the plane, the damage was far less severe and much easier to fix, so light but strong in the right places is definitely the way to go for me.

I also discovered by building light that I give myself far more options with respect to the light to medium weight power setups I can use in this plane.  I tested 8 motors in total in this plane and learned a lot about motor and prop combos and which work best depending on what type of flying I want to do.

This plane really helped me learn, develop and maintain pretty decent high alpha flying skills, once I developed the basic touch, it was very easy to work on my skills as the plane did most of the work... :)

I learned that although light setups and light batteries are great for whipping around in calm winds, sometimes planes just need a little bit of weight and wing loading by using heavier (2200) batteries to give the correct wing loading for aerobatics or special flight envelopes like high alpha.

Like her aging pilot, she does need a little bit more attention after a hard workout as the foam and glue joints creak and groan a little more than they did 6 months ago, but a little dab of Foam Tac or hot glue now and then and she is raring to go again!  Too bad it wasn't that easy for the pilot!

She has lots of character and her magic marker "paint job" is fading somewhat, but if I keep flying her with the respect she is due, I might just get another 250 flights out of her!

With the V4 planes on the horizon at RC Powers, the bar has been set very high by the F18 V3, so they will have their work cut out for them to make improvements, but I am sure they have something up their sleeves!

Cheers,

Scott

RC POWERS MIG 29 V1 COMPLETE

Hi everyone -

I managed to get my RC Powers Mig 29 V1 finished up yesterday... :)  My paint scheme is inspired by/loosely based on a paint scheme I found for a Mig 29 from  the 1st Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Czech Republic Air Force (CZAF).  The Mig 29 had a very short history in the CZAF from 1992-1995.  The government determined that the maintenance costs of 10 Mig 29s at the time would be too high, so they sold them to Poland in exchange for Polish Sokol utility helicopters.  The CZAF continued to fly Mig 23s (the last of which they retired in 1998) and Mig 21s (the last of which was retired in 2005) until they replaced the Mig 21s with SAAB JAS 39 Gripens on lease from the Swedish Air Force.  Anyway, interesting little bit of history I thought.

My build -

• 6mm depron constructed primarily with Foam Tac with a few dabs of hot glue and epoxy here and there.  Wing spar is 4mm carbon rod (wing is very strong and stiff :)) and the elevons are reinforced with 3mm carbon tube;
• power setup is the Focal Price 2700 Kv motor with a 6x3 EMP prop, Turnigy Plush 40A ESC and 30C discharge batteries in 1600, 1800 and 2200 Mah sizes.  Heavier batteries will be used when needed for the wind;
• control surfaces are elevons only, hinges made with Foam Tac and fiberglass mesh drywall tape;
• all leading edges bevelled and sanded; and
• paint is acrylic craft paint from the dollar store/Walmart/craft store.

My AUW with an 1800 Mah battery is 14.4 oz/408 grams, with this weight, my thrust to weight ratio with the power setup I am using will be about 2.5:1...yikes!

This is the third of these great little planes I have built and by using Foam Tac and not using tape everywhere for reinforcement, I am 71 gr/2.5 oz lighter than before, so I should get some pretty decent speed and crazy punch and acceleration with the power setup I am using!

Lots of snow still on the ground right now, so once that is gone and the ground dries up, will have some flight video to post, I'm excited to see her fly!

Cheers,

Scott

TIME TO BUILD ANOTHER RC POWERS MIG29 V1!

Hi everyone -

After finishing up my FRC Foamies F15 MK2 and while watching the snow fall steadily for the last couple days in the midst of a winter storm, I decided to give my workshop a bit of a clean up.  Then while cleaning up, I realized I had a copy of the plans for the RC Powers Mig29 V1... :)  I have flown two of these in the past and it was a really important plane in the development of my skills and confidence a few months after I got started flying parkjets.  It is also one of the most fun planes I have ever flown and is perfect when you are in the mood for lots of "dash and thrash" (speed and aerobatics...:))  So I thought, "time to have one of these in my hangar again"!  Besides, I would rather build than clean up!

So, I cut out the foam and building has started!

By using Foam Tac glue and some keeping the airframe as light as possible, I'm interested to see what weight I end up with.  When I built my last two, I used the D2826/6 2200 Kv motor with a 6x4 APC prop and that was a great combo at 17 oz with a 1600 Mah battery, I am hoping to get lighter than that and use the Focal Price 2700 Kv motor with a 6x3 EMP prop, should give me some pretty crazy speed and great pop and acceleration for aerobatics.

I will be repeating the German Air Force JG73 paint scheme that I currently have on one of my RC Powers Mig29 V3s.

It is pretty easy to do, looks really cool and I find that the contrast of color makes it pretty easy to keep track of in the sky.  Weather is staying bad for another day or two... :( , so should get lots of building done!

Cheers,

Scott

FRC FOAMIES F15 MK2 BUILD/WALKAROUND VIDEO

Hi everyone -

As mentioned in my previous post, here is a build/walkaround video of my recently completed FRC Foamies F15 MK2  :)

Cheers,

Scott

FRC FOAMIES F15 MK2 COMPLETE

Hi everyone -

After almost a month, I finally got around to finishing off my FRC Foamies F15 MK2...:)

My paint scheme was inspired by/loosely based on a paint scheme I found for the Israeli Air Force version of the F15E Strike Eagle, the F15I Ra'am (Thunder).  The real paint scheme is much more muted than mine, but I think having a little extra contrast will help me keep track of it in the sky.  I left the bottom mostly unpainted for contrast and to save a bit of weight.

My build -

• 6mm depron with 4mm dollar store foam for Kf4 airfoils.  Constructed primarily with Foam Tac glue with a few dabs of hot glue, epoxy, Gorilla glue and 3M Super77 spray adhesive here and there as needed.  I used 4mm carbon rod for my wing spar and used 3mm carbon tube to reinforce my elevons, vertical stabilizers and a small piece across the back deck behind the prop slot;
• my power setup is the NTM Prop Drive 2700 with a 6x4 APC prop, Turnigy Plush 60A ESC and 2200 3S battery;
• I'm using a 6 channel receiver from Hobby King compatible with my Turnigy er9x, the rudders are attached with a Y harness, all other servos each have their own channel which makes setup and fine tuning so much easier.  I used 9 gram metal gear servos for the elevons and 9 gram nylon gear servos for the ailerons and rudders; and
• all leading edges are bevelled and sanded along with a good overall sanding and smoothing of the plane and all sharp edges for looks and to help it be a bit sleeker as it goes through the air.  Paint is acrylic craft paint from the dollar store/Walmart/craft store.

A few mods I made to the build -

• as I did on my F15 MK1 and as recommended by Jay from FRC Foamies, I put my elevons on the wing plate, not on the piece of foam from the plans.  It might now look quite as scale, but it eliminates a piece of foam from the prop wash, gives more clearance for the elevons on landing and made it easier for me to install my servos and pushrods for the elevon servos;
• I extended the prop slot back about 5/8" to 3/4" and bevelled the back edge to help with smoother airflow;
• I went with one 4mm carbon spar for my wing and did not use the two other spars recommended in the plan that run parallel to the leading edge of the wing;
• I cut some small triangular vents behind the canopy and on the back of the electronics bay door to encourage airflow through the electronics bay.  As such and because I ended up with my battery so far forward, I didn't use the middle fuse support per the plans;
• I put my ESC on the bottom of the plane, I cut a hole in the bottom of the fuse in which to recess the ESC, then cut holes in the wing plate to put the wires through and to run a zip tie to secure it in place.  Stealing and idea from Flitetest, I put a small piece of popsicle stick under the zip tie so it wouldn't chew up the foam too bad when I cinched it down, works great!;
• since the way I built I ended up with considerable weight behind the CofG, I had to put my battery way forward under the canopy.  To make access to the battery easier, I had to cut off my canopy, but it is held on with magnets.  It actually makes life a little easier as it is easier to get at and manipulate the battery there than moving it around in the narrow electronics bay; and
• there is a section of the Kf2 airfoil that extends back along the fuselage to the prop slot, I cut that off and also did not use the "upper engine nacelle" piece from the plans to cut down on weight and keep the profile sleek.

Overall I am very impressed with the looks of this new plane, very sleek and more scale looking than the MK1 and it looks fast just sitting on the work table!  I have shot a walkaround video to discuss my build process/techniques in greater detail and will be publishing that when it has finished processing.

Weather forecast does not look great for the next few days, maiden will occur as soon as the weather Gods permit!

Cheers,

Scott

RC POWERS V3 SIZE PLANES AND WEIGHT

Hi everyone -

I have been doing quite a bit of flying and testing with 4 of my planes in recent weeks, the RC Powers F18 and Mig29 V3s and the FRC Foamies Su37/35 MK2s.  I have been trying to fly my planes in a more scale manner, smooth turns, aerobatics, pin point rolls, that sort of thing and have discovered that all these planes being a little heavier helps make this type of flying easier.

With a 2200 Mah battery, these 4 planes are in the 20.5 to 21.5 weight category.  I do lose some top end speed, with the Mig for example I lose about 10 mph over using a 1600 Mah battery, but the flying and handling feels much smoother to me at the heavier weight.  I have written that with the F18 I have always felt that about 21.5 oz is my favorite weight for handling, aerobatics and high alpha, so not much change there.

I know at one time I published my thoughts on having a wing loading of 6.4 oz/sq ft on the F18/Mig 29 and F22 seemed to be an ideal place to be, but now it seems that even though the wing loading on the 4 planes mentioned above won't be the same, they all handle more smoothly and more scale at weights above 20.5 oz in my opinion.

I also think that this performance has much to do with the power setup that I use, that is the Focal Price 2700Kv motor with a 6x3 EMP prop.  This is by far my favorite motor for all the V3 size planes.  I do build a few with the NTM Prop Drive, but overall I personally like the FP 2700 motor the best.  It weights about the same as all the other popular parkjet 2200 Kv motors like the Turnigy D2826/6 and the RC Timer 2212/6, but has 8-10 more ounces of thrust.  I do like to use a heavier (40A) ESC with this motor than would be required with the Turnigy or RC Timer motors, but I have found with experimentation a 40A works the best.

Getting about 36 oz of thrust from this motor, my thrust to weight ratios in the 20.5-21.5 oz range is about 1.7:1 which still gives pretty decent top end speed, but the pop and acceleration for aerobatic is what I really like as well as at 50% throttle I have a thrust to weight ratio of almost 1:1, so that is great overall performance.

The nice thing about this 20.5-21.5 oz range is that the planes fly smooth and stable in just about all conditions.  The RCP Mig29 V3 and the FRC Su35 MK2 handle very well in windy conditions up to about 15 mph/25 km/h at this weight, so that allows me to fly in almost any situation.

Granted there are calm days when I just love to put the lighter battery in there and really rip around the skies, but for overall smooth, scale flying, I have found this to be a great weight for these planes.  Good stability, good penetration through the air and smoother handling and with the 2200 Mah battery, slightly longer flights as well.

Cheers,

Scott

RC POWERS F18 V3 HIGH ALPHA MARATHON

Hi everyone -

About a month ago, I was doing a lot of work trying to improve my high alpha skills with my workhorse F18 V3 that I had used to test all my motors with.  I tested 8 motors in total with this plane, but now with testing over, I have returned to my favorite parkjet motor for this size plane, the Focal Price 2700 Kv motor with a 6x3 EMP prop.

We had been having a lot of very still days with nice cool, dense air and the day before I shot this video I tried to fly for a full five minutes non stop in high alpha and missed it by five seconds!  So that was kind of bugging me, so I set myself up to try and fly high alpha for the entire life of my lipo battery which is normally about 7 minutes 15 seconds.  It is not always the greatest quality high alpha in the world, but I think it turned out pretty well and it was fun trying to keep it like that for such a long time.

I measured my angle of attack and it is about 40 degrees for the most part (this is a rough measurement as I froze the frame and measured it on the screen).  Once I tried to get about 10 degrees higher than that in angle of attack and the wing rock started to become pretty severe.  This plane does high alpha so well if the CofG is per the plans.  My other F18 has the CofG about an inch behind plans and does not high alpha as well.  It does other maneuvering and aerobatics better than this one, but not high alpha.

Anyway, it was fun to try out this marathon and satisfying to fly the entire battery at high alpha!

Cheers,

Scott

FRC FOAMIES SU37 AND SU35 MK2 FLYOFF

Hi everyone -

About a month ago, I did a flyoff between these two planes.  They are essentially the same plane, the Su35 is a mod of the original Su37 plans without canards, modified intake and slightly angled on the top of the horizontal stabilizers.

I built these two planes pretty much identical from a standpoint of servos, power plant, etc, both have Kf4 airfoils.  I did not activate the canards on the Su37, rather I left them static to give me a little lower wing loading and for the aesthetic value.

For this test, both planes weighed the same, I went as far as setting the throws and expos in all three axes the same as well and did my best to fly all maneuvers with the same amount of stick movement so that I could evaluate the differences in handling and aerobatic response.

I tried to fly maneuvers as scale as possible, in other words not wild aggressive tumbles, drill rolls, etc.

If I had one word to describe the Su37, it would be smooth, I think the extra lift of the canards helped make it a bit more smooth and stable in turns and the pitch.  Loops were very smooth and round with only about half deflection.  

The Su35 could be described as aggressive.  It turned just a little sharper and in the pitch with the same amount of stick deflection, it really "dug in it's heels" in loops, making them more elliptical than round compared to the Su37.

A few days later, I tested them both again (no video this time) in fairly windy conditions, winds were between 12-15 mph 20-25 km/h.  I found the roles almost to be reversed in the wind.  I increased the weight on both by using a 2200 Mah battery, but I found that the Su37 was more of a handful in the wind perhaps due to the canards, it got bounced around a lot more and was more susceptible to being caught by the wind in turns.

The Su35 was surprisingly stable in the wind, it did get bounced around a bit, but I found it more predictable than the Su37.

Both are amazing planes and fun to fly, but since I am not really a canard kind of guy, I will probably stick with building the Su35 in the future.  I also prefer it's more classic look as it looks more like it's predecessor the Su27/Su30.  I will continue to fly the Su37 on a regular basis, but not so much on windy days.  

Great little planes to fly!

Cheers,

Scott

25 OZ RC POWERS MIG29 V3 ON 4S

Hi everyone -

About a month ago, I finally got around to testing my 25 oz Mig29 V3 on a 4S.  I built this plane a little heavier and stronger to withstand the punishment of the NTM Prop Drive motor and was excited to try it out on 4S.

I clocked it at 102 mph on my HK Data Logger on my phone :)  It was very stable at that high speed, a little susceptible to torque roll and it zoomed a little bit once the motor wound right out, but other than that it was very solid.  It didn't seem to be right on the edge of coming apart like my first speed Mig I built did.

The Mig29 V3 is truly an exceptional plane!

Cheers,

Scott

RC POWERS F22 V1 POST FLIGHT REPORT

Hi everyone -

I am very, very happy with how this amazing little plane flies!  It still has a little of the characteristic "tail wag" tendency that the F22 V2 and V3s have, but it is a real joy to fly in this configuration.

I built and flown it once before, elevons only, far too heavy, I am actually lighter with this plane with a 2200 battery and 6 servos!  Build techniques have come a long way!

I found aerobatics to be very smooth and crisp, speed is not that great, but I think if I trim out some of the nose section where it goes into the intakes, it will be more streamlined.  Also I think the prop slot needs to be opened back further, I can hear the air being forced over the back deck between the vertical stabilizers.

It does not have the "floatiness" of the V2 and does not have the crazy slow speed instability of the V3.  It still likes to be kept going fast, 50% throttle or better, but it is a real joy to fly.  I would have to say in this configuration it is my favorite F22 that I have built and flown... :)

Cheers,

Scott

RC POWERS F22 V1

Hi everyone -

I was cleaning up my work area a couple months ago and found a copy of the plans for the RC Powers F22 V1.  Having also found some templates that Scott Lott of RC Powers made for rudders, ailerons and Kfs, I decided to give this great little plane an "upgrade" and build it again with all these mods added.

I extended the Kfs on the top all the way up to the intakes.

My build -

• 6mm depron with 4mm paperless dollar store foam for Kf4 airfoils.  Construction primarily with Foam Tac glue, with dabs of hot glue, epoxy, Gorilla glue and 3M Super 77 spray adhesive where needed;
• Power setup is the Focal Price 2700 Kv motor with 6x3 EMP prop, Turnigy Plush 40A ESC and I normally run a 2200 Mah battery in it for CofG, CofG ended up being right on as per the plans.  AUW with battery is about 21.5 oz;
• using a 6ch receiver compatible with my Turnigy er9x, rudders connected with Y harness, elevons and ailerons all have their own channel; and
• all leading edges bevelled and sanded as well as a good sanding all over the plane, paint is acrylic craft paint from the dollar store/Walmart/Michael's.

Cheers,

Scott

FRC FOAMIES SU35 MK2

Hi everyone -

Lots of catching up to do!  About two months ago I built the FRC Foamies Su37 and Su35 MK2s.  Plans available here Su37 and Su35 MK2 plans, please donate if you download.

I had previously built the Su35 MK2, but built it way too heavy and it never flew properly, way too twitchy, very susceptible to torque roll, never really enjoyed flying it much.

Anyway, I wanted to try it again using much lighter build techniques and a lighter power setup.

My build -

• 6mm depron with 4mm dollar store foam board for Kf4 airfoils, bulk of the construction done with Foam Tac glue with a few dabs of epoxy, hot glue, Gorilla Glue and 3M Super 77 glue here and there as well;
• wing spar is 4mm carbon rod, elevons reinforced with 3mm carbon tube;
• power setup is the Focal Price 2700 Kv motor with a 6x3 EMP prop, Turnigy Plush 40A ESC, normally I fly with a 1600/1800 battery, weight is about 19.5 oz, or in windy conditions I fly with a 2200, weight is about 21 oz;
• receiver is a 6 ch compatible with my Turnigy er9x, six servos, rudders are connected with Y harness, elevons and ailerons each have their own channel; and
• paint scheme is based on Kazakhstani Air Force paint scheme, all leading edges bevelled and sanded, paint is acrylic craft paint from the Dollar Store/Walmart/Michael's. 

Here is some flight video of it

In a future post, I will post video and post flight reports on a flyoff I did of the Su37 and the Su35 MK2s.

Cheers,

Scott