RCP Mig29 V4 NAMCV2 elevons only

Hi everyone -

Great day of flying at the field today with two awesome planes... :)

I also had a little company towards the end of my flying, a deer family, the doe is giving me the evil eye as the buck walks away keeping a close eye on the fawn which unfortunately is hard to see in the dead grass.  I was probably about 50 ft from them when I took this picture as they walked along the edge of the runway.  Awesome to see, all very healthy and in good shape... :)

Before discussing the NAMCV2 on elevons only, I also reached some pretty neat milestones today -

• 50 total flights now on the NAMCV3;
• 100 flights (102 and counting) on the NAMCV2; and
• 500 total flights (505 and counting) with all my RCP Mig29 V4 variants in total.

So the other day I was at the field and there were a couple of new folks there flying trainer type planes, one had an E-Flite Apprentice S http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFL3100 the other fellow had a Flyzone Sensei http://www.flyzoneplanes.com/airplanes/flza3010/

So in between flights we spent some time shooting the breeze and checking out each other's airplanes as RC pilots will do when one of the guys asked me if a relatively new pilot could fly one of the Migs.  I said yes, a very simple setup with elevons only is a great way to start.  Then I realized, I had never flown any of my NAMC Migs elevons only to see how the smaller elevons managed.

So when I went to the field today, I turned off the rudders and ailerons on my NAMCV2 (the all blue one in the picture above), cranked the aileron input up to 100% in my elevon mix and off I went.  I wanted to fly the Mig elevons only from a standpoint of how it would handle if I was a beginner (which I still feel like depending on the day... :/)

I flew seven full flights with elevons only and was very impressed with how it handled.  It turns very easily and without hesitation, not as much control input actually required as with other elevons only planes I have flown because the surfaces are more efficient and cause less drag and turbulence when deflected than larger stock surfaces.  Rolls were a bit more lethargic than I am used to with elevons and ailerons working together, but still very good rates for where a beginner would want to be.

So as I was flying, I tried to remember back to my first park jet, an elevons only RCP F35 V2.  Not the best picture in the world, but hopefully you can see that those elevons are pretty huge... :/  One of the first things Stephan and I both wanted to look at with our park jets when we got together was how scaling down the control surfaces, primarily ailerons and elevons would help with our plane's handling as we both found that the "control surface creep" that was happening in a few park jets was impacting how they flew.

So back to when I first started flying this F35.  I remember often getting into trouble being too slow in a turn, cranking on too much control (something I think almost all beginners do at some point) and my plane would just park itself in the air as those big elevons acted like air brakes, made the plane stall, do funky things, all of which caused me to try and over control even further, leading to...well not the best of situations.

So I got looking at the trainer planes these two fellows were flying as they are good basic trainers for learning how to fly.  Granted they are a scale high wing type plane, but their control surfaces are not huge, rather more in line with what they would be on a real version of a plane.  Enough that a person can fly them around fairly gently, or have some fun with basic aerobatics as skills progress, something any beginner plane should have I think.  So why would we not use the same thing on park jets?  Smaller, more scale size elevons for elevons only that allow for precise control without as much tendency to TV stall makes a lot of sense to me.  

I remember many a time having my heart race when I watched planes park themselves in the air because of very large control surfaces that suddenly acted as "un-control surfaces" making my life very difficult and often leading to my day being shortened due to a crash.

Obviously Stephan and I are big fans of downsized, more scale like elevons and ailerons, we like our rudders big, but prefer smaller more efficient elevons and ailerons as they are more efficient and allow for more precise control of our planes.  We both are huge fans of the fixed horizontal stabilizer and hinged elevons on the Mig29 V4 which is also on the RCP trainer the Su34 V4.  I am very happy to see this on the trainer.  I think this fixed horizontal stabilizer setup is the biggest breakthrough yet on the two of the V4 planes.  I have also tried it on an FRC Su35 MK2 and will use it on every plane I build from now on.  The stability it adds coupled with how it reduces the size of the moving surface thereby reducing drag and turbulence associated with the moving surface is a simple yet amazing improvement in the world of park jets.

So yes, we do push our planes hard and are not beginners, but I think the philosophy of having enough control so that you don't over control is very beneficial when learning.  I think smaller, more scale size elevons on an elevons only plane is a very good way to go.  Just my humble opinion backed up by what I saw today with the best elevons only flying experience I have had.

So I guess my message is, stop "control surface creep", like everything in life, moderation is a good thing and bigger is not always better when it comes to control surfaces... :)

Cheers,

Scott