Comments

• Harry September 10, 2012 at 8:00pm

  It's ready to go again.  I'm tempted to launch it in stabilize mode, just in case It has a bad nose down tendency with power.  It glides, not all that flat but it glides and straight enough.  First few glides were horrible and then I added the tip dihedral and that fixed a few bad tendencies.
• Moderator

  Brian September 6, 2012 at 10:58pm

  I just got my Sky Fly Max back into the air.  Next step I'll be getting my APL setup to us the ArduIMU v2.  If I get lucky I'll strip out the excess code out of my older APL board and run that on my Stryker with a thermalpile sensor....  Much fun!
• Harry September 6, 2012 at 8:54pm

  Yeah, looks ok but it needed more dihedral so I added it to the tips.  I also replaced the servos with Hitec HS-55.  What a difference.  Cant even hear them when powering up.  The HK junk was noisy, irratic and probably the cause of at least one of my crashes.  I'm inching up to another try.
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  Anwar Ali Khan September 3, 2012 at 1:16am

  Hi Harry, the balsa wing looks fine.

  Hi Mike, yes I am almost mended now but being out of work for a month a lot of office work is now pending and so there no time for RC plane activities yet.
• Harry September 2, 2012 at 12:37pm

  I built my new wing.  I tried to sand it to an AG ish airfoil shape, but if it flies I'll be happy with it.  I considered cutting some holes in it to lighten it, but it doesnt feel that different from the foam wing.  I should put some kind of finish on it though.
• Moderator

  Brian August 30, 2012 at 6:58am

  I didn't even see that last part... Cool!  Should be loads of fun to fly/test/review.  I can't wait but have enough things going on that a wait is ok... Between Work, School for the kids, Karate for the family and visiting Grand Ma... Not a lot of time to get anything done in a hurry so.... waiting is a test of enduring spirit!  

  Have you done any endurance test yet?  How long you expecting to be able keep the viper up?
• Moderator

  Brian August 30, 2012 at 6:32am

  You can see that it's windy in the last pic, as the wind sock is more up than not...  Looks awesome Doc, keep up the great work!
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  Dr Mike Black August 30, 2012 at 1:14am

  HI Guys,

  Again, sorry not been around, (had visitors at my home now for nearly a month, so having trouble finding time to be here) Harry, Which version of the code are you using?

  With the 2.7v i experienced the same thing as you...

  However on mine, the process of setting up for correct flight is:-

  1. Adjust in config.h movements form 1000 to 2000 on both ail and ele (or higher - equally if required)

  2. switch into and out of FWB and see if any of the surfaces move

  (on mine i found that my TX trimmed(not neutral trimmed) elevator was popping down, when switch in and out, and caused crashes to start with)

  You know how your aircraft is trimmed to fly, so what i do is remove the TX trim and mechanically zero the surface so there is  next to no movement, switchin in and out of FWB...but make the trim mechanical close to flying trim, so any sub trim you may do when flying are small..

  (DONT set up the servos with say +120 in subtrim on ail and -100 on elevator for example on my ff9, if the servo's are not centred or the rods too short/long you need to fix that now)

  THEN...do a circuit...make sure shes trimmed...Land...

  DONT uplug the main board, but just hit the reset button with the craft flat (in my case slightly nose down)

  The main board will read the trims on startup or reset...so you have trim control..but not the overides of the subtrim from the tx.

  NOW you should be good....give it a try...

  For me now...as long as the GPS isnt screwing me about...they all fly, flight after flight, after flight with no issues.

  On another note the X-10 is done and flown

  in conclusion of the pre-tests, on Sunday is was blowing 25 knots and bumby as hell, in FWB-A it was rock solid...tracking was straight, in fact you wouldnt have known it was windy in the air.

  Brian: Your MK2 fuse is now done and all updates completed, i will set about sorting your wings early next week, then we can talk about shipping etc.

  We are having our Summer bring, fly and nosh-up at my company so the full Auto test will be done then. Will report back.

  Hope all is good with everyone, and Anway you are on the mend.
• Harry August 28, 2012 at 9:47am

  @Brian, youre correct.  My LHS still has the FBC wing.  I'll see if I can beef up the aerobird wing.  I've had good luck with that wing before, just never tried an Ardupilot before recently and the crashes have taken a toll.  I've even considered making a mold of the Aerobird wing, but I'm cheap. 

  Know anyone who can vacuum bag a wing @ a reasonable price? 
• Moderator

  Brian August 27, 2012 at 8:44pm

  @Harry - That wing looks like a Aerobird Challenger wing.  You should be able to use the Firebird Commander 2 wing, http://secure.hobbyzone.com/search/HBZ2522.html .  It's a tad smaller but they interchanged fine on planes.  I used to fly one that I beef'd up a lot by using a soldering iron to open a slot for a carbon fiber spar.  I also used carbon fiber tape along the leading edge of the wing.  I literally landed and bounced off that wing many times and it did not fold, bend or break.  Be you can find them at local hobby shops too.