For those of us that are interested in using those "alternate frequencies" If your in the S.F. Bay Area there is a one day "Cram and Test" tomorrow, Sunday. I plan on trying for my Technicians, wish me luck!Here's the infoRead more…
I Can See My House From Up Here! The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is quite an impressive piece of hardware. It can stay in the air for more than a day, has a range of 3,400 miles, and at very high altitude (its record is 19,928 meters (65,380.6 ft)). Usually it's the military that would have control over these UAVs, but two Global Hawks have been turned over to NASA for environmental research flights .
Hope this is not a duplicate post (I've seen it before somewhere)A mere 30 centimeters long, the MAVion combines fixed wings with two counter rotating propellers, allowing it to operate with high aerodynamic efficiency--even in adverse conditions, according to the professor.thought this might be of interest.http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10377358-42.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
Like many DIYers, I have way to many projects going on at once. Not sure how or why this is so but it always happens. This being Saturday I figure that I can dedicate most of the day to finishing my airframe.List of things to do:1. trim wing foam, use lightweight spackle to fill the defects.2. go thru my collection of heat shrink covering to see if I have enough yellow to cover the wings, with red for a wing tip.3. Cover the said wings in yellow on top and red on bottom, two colors really help with the visuals at a distance. (is the plane banking towards you or away from you?) The right wingtip will be red also for the same reason.4. Rough out a new Pod fuse, just got a Sony Webbie HD cam which will go in the nose. Need to figure out where to put the ardupilot and gear. With the twin boom set up the servos are in the wing so plenty of room in fuse with no constraints on how far forward or rearward equip. can go. The pods are carved EPP and can be built to suit each payload.5. weigh everything! I really need a better all up weight estimate, I am afraid my outrunner motor will not be up to the task. I would like to fly next week end so have to order a larger one if it is not.6. Document todays build, I always forget to photograph the builds so will try and be better with this project!My airframe is based on the Polly Pusher, which is based in part on the E-Cat. I think these designs have a lot to offer for UAV use. The Polly Pusher is constructed out of a $5 Walmart Glider and coroplast. Inexpensive, simple and anyone can build it. I use EPP for the Pods, more crash protection than EPS but I have a flying wing made out of the walmart glider (EPS) and it has withstood much abuse, five years and it is still flying! Check out acesims.com for more info and directions on how to build.
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