Reached a nice milestone today, flew my 200th flight (201 and counting actually :) ) on my FRC Su35 MK2 with NAMC mods. Here she was at flight zero before maiden.
Here she is today after 201 flights...I guess my magic marker "paint job" could use a little touch up, but I don't want to jinx her... :/
This is one of the first planes that I took the time to research and plan out a series of modifications to not only prove to myself that different ideas work, but also to stabilize and smooth out how the plane flew within the limits of my flying skills. I had already built two FRC Su35 MK2s and an FRC Su37 MK2, details on those are archived in this blog earlier in the year. The first one I built far too heavy, it just never flew properly from the outset, lesson learned.
So I built a second one much lighter with a lighter power setup and really enjoyed flying it, I got about 80 flights on that one shown in the picture below before the accumulation of "gonks" were just too much for it. But over those 80 flights and experimenting with all different setups of expo and throws, I found that it was susceptible to thrust vectoring (TV) and tip stalls and I also wanted to build in a bit more stability and tone down it's responsiveness, hence the research and mods. As a side note, this was an excellent paint scheme for visibility and orientation, worked in all sky conditions and against the dark background of the trees at my flying field...will use it again... :).
Fortunately around this same time, Stephan and I started sharing our ideas and philosophies on park jets and their setups and how we could modify them to best suit our styles of flying. At that time, Stephan was working on an RCP Mig29 V3 KNex (knife edge experimental) to see if he could get some good knife edge performance with the Mig29 V3. So that is basically when the North American Mig Consortium (NAMC) was born.
The following two posts have the details, pictures and video of the modifications that I tried on my Su35 MK2 with NAMC mods, so I won't repeat all of them now.
As I have mentioned in many posts, the mods that I tried were certainly not my own ideas, I borrowed them from what I had seen other folks doing on the RC Powers forum and elsewhere and modified them with input from Stephan and from what made sense to me aerodynamically. Many of the mods were posted and some were not, but apparently from what some folks told me afterwards, they had been tried before. I did borrow the angled out vertical stabs idea from the Mig29 V3 with permission from RC Powers which I don't think at that time had been tried on the Su35 MK2, but again, I could be wrong.
One of my biggest takeaways from building this plane and subsequent modifications I have worked on with Stephan and tried on several other planes, is not to be scared or skeptical that something won't work until I try it. Nothing proves or disproves a theory or a modification like seeing what happens after the plane leaves your hand. Even all the post flight reports I have written, videos I have done trying to pass on my experience or reading what others have done on the RC Powers or other forums can replace the satisfaction of trying something out for yourself.
Before I started working with Stephan and sharing ideas, philosophies and results, there were a lot of these mods we now enjoy and employ on our planes that I would not have tried until I took the leap of faith, broke down my own paradigms and tried them. Before that, I was stuck in a bit of a rut, doing things because that is what the "herd" on the forums was doing, so it must be right... :/ Imagine my surprise when I found out that trying some other things that in the back of my mind always made sense to me was what I should have tried in the first place! I'm not bashing the forums, they are certainly gold mines of information, but if you find your plane is behaving in a way you don't like or a certain popular technique does not make aerodynamic sense to you, go with your gut and try out what you think makes sense, you might be amazed at the results... :)
Without pounding my pulpit too hard, I am a firm believer that your plane should do what you want it to do, not what someone else wants their plane to do. If you have an idea that has not been tried before or "flies in the face" of the conventional theories or even any of Stephan and my theories, give it a try... :) It is only foam and you might be surprised at what happens.
Stephan has an excellent philosophy, take one of your older planes that might be near the end of it's life or you are thinking about recycling and use it as a test bed, get out your knife, tape, glue, some scrap foam or whatever else you need and try out a new mod or two. That way if it works on that plane, it might breathe a whole new life into it, or inspire you to try out that idea, mod or technique on your next plane. And at the end of the day, if the theory didn't work, you didn't build a whole new plane to end up being disappointed... :)
So now that I have probably bored you to tears with my personal testimony, I guess I just primarily want to pass along my biggest lesson in almost two years of building, crashing, rebuilding, modifying and oh yeah...flying park jets. I always try and remind myself that all the great builds, blog posts, You Tube videos and what is popular on the forums is great, but ultimately they should only be important to me if they help me achieve the goal of building and flying my plane to my satisfaction, not anybody else's... :)
Now granted, it took me almost a year and a half to fully realize this and have the courage to follow my gut if a certain build technique or plane characteristic didn't make sense to me, so we all find our way somehow. If you are just starting off, it doesn't hurt to try some of the proven or popular techniques, but if you find it isn't working for you, don't be scared to change the status quo and go with what makes sense to you.
Fear and common sense can sometimes be highly overrated, sometimes you just have to build it to your standards and satisfaction, take it to the field, toss it in the air and see what happens. You might leave the field with a huge smile on your face or end up going back to the drawing board, but the risk is definitely worth the reward in my experience... :) And don't forget at the end of the day, this is supposed to be fun... :)
Cheers,
Scott
Scott,
ReplyDeleteVery eloquently summary as to the why and how of what we do. I want to reiterate your point about thinking outside the box and not drinking the Koolaid on a lot of the forums. These planes are $16 worth of foam, some glue and bunch of reusable parts. Build a test plane, cut it up, tape it up, glue it up. I learned that even with tape holding parts on, they fly great! I promise you they don't have to be perfect to fly.
Before I retire and recycle a plane, I give it one last chance at glory to prove or disprove some hair brained idea I have that comes from sleeping at the Holiday Inn Express reading an aeronautical text book. Once I even turned the LERXs into LEVCONs and you should have heard naysayers. My LEVCONs went up and down contrary to accepted design. I learned a lot and won't hesitate again to experiment.
The other point that Scott brought up that is very important is to not hesitate to modify a plane in an attempt to improve the flight characteristics as to how you like to fly. Airplanes are designed for the masses, step away from the pack and modify the plane until it fits you. It's like upgrading your tires, brakes, intake or Fooseing your car.
Even though the Mig-35 NAMC and Scott's FRC Su-35 Mk2 NAMC where modified to suit our flying styles, they are overall better performers than stock. I know, if I said this on the RCP or FRC blog lightening would strike me down and the naysayer asshats would have a field day. But hey, this is why Scott and I have split and started our own blog, freedom of speech. We want to report our thoughts and modifications honestly without having to worry about the repercussions. We are like a car magazine that doesn't take advertising money from a manufacturer.
Enough of my bully pulpit! Time to think about what to try next and do some flying.
Here's to blue skies above you.
Stephan
Thanks for the kind words, Stephan, very well said yourself, Sir... :)
DeleteIn among all the flying, I have started work on another Mig29 V4 (big surprise, huh...lol) with another rudder mod to kick up the rudder authority, I think I have increased the total moving surface area (between the two rudder surfaces) by almost 5 sq inches, so I think that should have a significant impact on rudder response, at least that is my hope, and if not, I have another cool plane to fly... :)
My plan after I do a fly off and compare this new variant with my V4M3e3 is to swap out the NG elevon servos on the V4M3e3 (the blue one) for MG servos and drop in the "V8" (NTM Prop Drive 2700) and then see how it does for some serious top end speed... :)
Weather forecast good for today, looks like more grass cutting at the field and oh yeah, some more flying... :) Just got a goody package from HK with some more batteries, some of my older (some are about 2 yrs old) batteries are getting kinda tired, so it was time to replace them, can't go without my fix due to not enough batteries!
Thanks again, my friend!
Cheers,
Scott