RE: Boomerang Nano!!!
Go with 2 1100 A123s. Both of them and a very large 6-Cell ECU nicd all fit in my battery compartment above the nose gear. Two 1100 A123s is more than enough flying time. Chris
Posted on: 10/31/2009 8:50 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9217207

RE: Boomerang Nano!!!
Gordon, Off subject. Think a StuMax would power Nano? Or will the intakes be a problem? Thoughts like this pop up when one's power plant is off being serviced. Chris
Posted on: 10/13/2009 8:34 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9169122

RE: Discharge voltage of A123 packs
[quote]ORIGINAL: i3dm Chris, So in case i want to perform a periodic (seasonal) discharge and cycle, in order to avoid a misbalance of the cells or other ill effects in my pack (since i usually charge it after taking out 500mah or so as an Rx pack), you would recommend going down to 2.1V per cell ? [/quote] Yes, if you truly want to cycle the pack. Take the cells to as close as possible
Posted on: 10/11/2009 6:08 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9164495

RE: Discharge voltage of A123 packs
For cycling on a discharger it should be no less than 2 volts per cell. For a little safety margin, set the discharger lowest volts setting to 4.2 volts for the pack. 6 volts is too high for proper cycling for forming charges. Some guys have found that if the pack seems to charge only up to 80-90%, all you have to do is start the chage again and they most often take a full 100% the second time. Just a reminder, for flying don't use a voltage number to decide when to recharge. It is meaningless as a cut-off point for flying since the true re-charge point should be determined after totaling Mah use over time, not an arbitrary voltage reading. Remember the volt drop is a cliff not a slope. Your recharge point will depend on the amp draw per flight, and how many flights flown. For best results target around 50% capacity remaining.
Posted on: 10/11/2009 10:18 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9163497

RE: Turbine or EDF
Let's say EDF is the choice for either aircraft. Which BVM system, 4010 or 5212?
Posted on: 10/10/2009 11:53 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9161596

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
Thanks for the comments. Will other turbines have this issue? I can't say. Alan's P-60 powered prototype did not as far as I know. It puts out more power than mine. But, my T-500 is older technology and may be less efficient than a P-60. I don't know. In the past, other guys have modified Baby Boomers/Intros and some Sprints with supplemental intakes. I wonder if the true problems were airflow issues like mine rather than not enough intake area. At least if you have airflow problems you can try what I did before hacking up the airframe. I can't imageine running an MW44 will be any problem.
Posted on: 9/17/2009 3:51 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9102834

Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
I decided I should have a rain shower jet. Any flying field, anytime. Quick to assemble, quick to disassemble, sporty, but docile. Good for checking the cloud ceilings. In and out of the trailer in minutes. I missed my original kit built Baby Boomerang. (Battery Brown out crunched it at Mississippi in 2007). Called Patricia (she's awesome) Wednesday, it arrived Today. 3 days TX to KY, can't beat that.
Posted on: 9/16/2009 6:12 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8981654

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
Nothing unusual or surprising to report on the flight characteristics of Nano. Except that it is spirited with the T-500. I am also flying a bit nose heavy and will have to adjust it each flight until it's right. Before test flights at the Rt 66 jet meet could begin I found I had an engine running problem that was related to installation in the Nano. With the canopy hatch off, there were no problems at all through out the full throttle range. But as soon as I attached the hatch, the engine would compressor stall and run rough past mid throttle. I knew it had to be engine airflow so that's where troublshooting began. The first thing I did was add the two NACA inlets on the top of the hatch. They were cut between stringers to minimize affecting the structure. Engine test runs proved they had no affect, and the engine would still not run smoothly above mid range. I was about to cut more inlet area when I decided to sit back and think some more (2 more hours while everyone else is flying). The rest of the Elans and XLs at the meet had no additional inlets cut in, so why would Nano need them? The inlet design is comparable on all three aircraft. I began to believe the problem could be airflow within the plenum area in front of the engine. Perhaps the flow was interrupted or changing direction once inside. On the full scale helicopter I fly at work we have had plenum chamber airflow issues, so I decided to eliminate any pathway air could go other than into the engine. I started by closing off the opening inside the hatch above the fuel tank. For tests I packed the area above the tank with mattress foam and forced the hatch down and locked. I would address the area above and past the engine next. It solved the problem. The engine ran perfectly through all throttle settings with the area above the tank blocked. Apparently air disturbances, negative pressure, or reverse flow was being caused by the opening inside the hatch above the fuel tank. Simply closing it off allowed enough air to get into the engine at full power. Pictures show the flightworthy baffle solution applied and tested prior to the first flights. The material used is from a crashed F-15 wing provided by my friends John Roth and Joe on site. Parts of the F-15 live on in Nano! And there she goes on climb out! 15-20 degrees nose up until I had to turn around to keep it insight. From there it's all fun.
Posted on: 9/16/2009 6:10 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9101296

RE: Velox ??
You don't see a Flash in the video because da Flash is so much faster[:D]
Posted on: 9/14/2009 9:30 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9094299

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
Programming the 14 MZ is complete and all control throws are adjusted. Needed to clean up the KY shop. After that I took a few Hollywood pics. This is Nano Army. Nothing fancy, just easy to see. I liked my original Boomerang, it's nice to have one in the hangar again.
Posted on: 9/7/2009 7:17 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9076945

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
This rats nest will have to do for now. The T-500 has larger older components but there was room. Everything is removable. The batteries are also removable since often I take them out for charging to keep an eye on them or charge in the hotel room at jet meets. The A123s have a single 3 wire connection that charges and balances in the same lead. It plugs directly to the charger, or if I keep charge amps down to 3-4 amps, I can charge through the switch harness. The DSC white wire to the receiver has to be removed though, for switch harness charging. The engine mount is from Dreamworks, and is about the only one I could fit in this jet. It makes a clean install.
Posted on: 9/7/2009 6:59 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9076918

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
Wayne, you'll be done by lunchtime. [:D]
Posted on: 9/7/2009 9:16 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9075754

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
Alan was right (not that I doubted it) Nano balanced very close with no added balast. Note mine is at 10.75" by the book and came out slightly nose heavy even with my larger T-500 motor! It could be the smaller HS225MG rudder servos help. I also have a 6 Cell ECU Nicad in the nose compartment with the 2 1100 A123s. Since the nose gear retracts aft, I should've balanced with the gear retracted but the light wheel should make a CG shift un-noticable in this case. I also set the intakes temporarily on the wing bottom surface during balance and they made no difference. I was jealous of Gordon W's dowel and cork boom pins. But, since I didn't have occasion nor need to hit the bottle during this build, I didn't have a ready source of corks as he did [:D]. I'm using 4 spare 1/4" plastic wing bolts that have the threads sanded down a bit for a friction fit.
Posted on: 9/7/2009 8:30 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9075672

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
The Nano is pretty much done. Modifying the color (colour in the Queen's english) scheme added extra build time. Totally not necessary but I did it anyway. These pics show the rudder servo covers painted to match the covering. I also have the big parts assembled. getting ready to check the CG.
Posted on: 9/7/2009 8:15 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9075650

RE: Boomerang Nano!!!
that if desired. I apologize for failing to bring this up last month on my build thread. Chris
Posted on: 9/2/2009 4:49 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9064974

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
more pictures. Test flight dead-line is Labor Day weekend at our SKYMAC BG KY field. Chris
Posted on: 8/27/2009 6:47 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9050271

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
Mike, Most of my jets use the cable tie method, but this one has the plastic cable guides so I will use rubberbands to add cable tension. Cheers, Chris
Posted on: 8/23/2009 9:47 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9037566

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
I used the same length on the main struts as the length of the fixed struts included in the kit. The main wheels are Trim 2-5/8" with brakes mounted on BVM 3/16 axels. The brake flanges will need additional shimming in order to prevent unwanted brake rotation around the axels. One day someone is going to design a grub nut/allen key flat grinding jig for wire axels and pins. Had I had more time, I would have. Hand grinding the flats on struts is irritating and innacurate. Ignore the missing covering on the nose. I'll get to that later.
Posted on: 8/22/2009 4:22 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9036037

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
Next, I attacked the landing gear install. Did you know Robart makes air-up-spring-down gear? Some folks don't realize that. If you'd like Spring-airs but can't get them consider these. I had some Robart 510 3/16 gears in the spares drawer, so out of the drawer and into the Nano they go. The challenge is to get the nose strut long enough to match the main gear, but short enough to fit in the nose gear compartment in the nose. Other guys have added to the original wood mounts in order to lower the nose retract closer to the ground. This in effect, shortens the strut length. I added 3/8 inch. (numbers shown on American measurement tools). The other challenge is to place steering cables so that they clear the access cover. I ran the cables through plastic cable guides added to the former. The cables from the servo are redirected 25 degrees down to the strut steering arms. By-the-way(BTW) that pesky Futaba 3305 servo. It comes out as soon as I get off my duff and order a replacement. I'll say again, despite the torque, they center poorly and draw more amps even under no load. Futaba does not consider them aircraft servos. Keep them to a minimum or completely out of your jets.
Posted on: 8/22/2009 3:53 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9036028

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
The build is progressing slower than i'd like due to work. Work has been interfering with building. Maybe I need to get my priorities straight. I contemplated making the wing center section removable as in larger Boomers, but decided to keep it simple and bond it to the fuselage as designed. I spent a little time improving the fit, and adding some minimal triangle reinforcement but I hardly think it necessary. There is no evidence that any modification is needed even with my RAM 500 size engine. The center wing top covering was removed because I'm changing the scheme. Otherwise use your solder iron and remove only the covering where the fuselage joins.
Posted on: 8/22/2009 3:21 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9035961

RE: FTE 500 solenoid issue?
On mine Carlos found the circuit that controls the solenoid in the ECU was the problem not the solenoid. We did not need to fix the ECU, I chose not to run a solenoid. I use a manual fuel shutoff instead. Chris
Posted on: 8/21/2009 10:41 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9033386

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
The undersides got some retro invasion stripes. Contrast is everything especially on smaller jets. As soon as I get back to the KY shop, I'll be doing the retract installs.
Posted on: 8/14/2009 3:45 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9016518

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
The booms got some red tails too. Cutting covering away with the solder iron makes this kind of modification possible. That way a lot of the original base colors can be kept.
Posted on: 8/14/2009 3:42 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9016511

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
I had to leave the KY shop where most of Nano is to do some software flight test at work flying full scale. Flying at work is in those things with the wings that go roundy-roundy. That took me back to the Tennessee shop so I took some of the Nano pieces and customized the paint scheme. Not that there is any thing wrong with the way it came or the quality of the covering. Alan actually uses some high quality covering material so it was ashame to pull some of it off. Had to be different, didn't I. here I'm working on the stab.
Posted on: 8/14/2009 3:37 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9016492

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
Rt 66 will be its first meet. The plan is Labor Day test flights. Look for my registration in the mail. If I don't show, there will be one PO'd Doc Barry you know.... Chris
Posted on: 8/12/2009 9:58 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9010182

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
Here I'm using the solder iron. It leaves a very thin cut in the covering. Once the covering is removed the fuselage is ready to be glued to the wing. However, I'll assemble the wings, booms, and horizontal and fit it all as one unit to insure they are square as shown in the manual. The intakes won't get glued to the fuselage until the wing center is glued on first.
Posted on: 8/4/2009 9:15 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8990561

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
After work, I decided to trial fit the intakes to the fuselage. After some trimming and fitting I scribed the outline of the intakes with a pencil directly on the fuselage covering. Using a metal rule and my solder iron with a bevel tip, I etched the covering for removal. I use the solder iron rather than a sharp knife to remove covering. That way the sharp knife does not cut the wood and weaken it. After using the solder iron, the covering peels up easily leaving a clean cut line.
Posted on: 8/4/2009 8:25 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8990431

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
just in case. Components don't like Parrafin, Kerosene, etc. Chris
Posted on: 8/4/2009 9:25 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8988789

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
not to. Cheers, Chris
Posted on: 8/4/2009 9:14 AM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8988774

RE: Chris's Nano Build UPDATE First Flights
[quote]ORIGINAL: bigandy Hello Chris, I'm watching this build with interest, I've picked my Boomerang Nano up over the weekend :) I'm planning on starting the build pronto, but I'm deliberating on which servos to use at the moment. Have you decided which ones you are going... to a couple of NIMHs or NICDs (Ugh!). Chris
Posted on: 8/3/2009 5:45 PM by Author "Chris Smith" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=8987013