RE: Receivers for small models?
I've used generic ebay 6 channel micro receivers, branded Sunip and Turborix (and probably other names too.. on these two the innards seem the same). I've flown these on several wings and some speed or 3d planes, all electrics. These work solidly as far as I ever want to fly a small plane (up to a dot in the sky), and weigh very little. Another very nice thing is, when these things don't get a valid signal, they don't seem to send any signal to servos or speed controller either. I have full size hitec and futaba receivers that cost a lot more, and they always start to twitch all controls, randomly and destructively, in a second if I switch the radio off. :( I remove the plastic case of the rx and wrap a short length of fiberglass tape around it so as to keep the crystal tight no matter how much vibrations. Also it's always a good idea to suspend the rx in some soft foam. With these precautions I would not hesitate to use a micro rx even with IC engine.
Posted on: 5/25/2007 10:19 AM by Author "hauts" in the forum ""1/2 A" & "1/8 A" airplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5900154

RE: One Tough FFF Delta...Build It!
Okey, heres some images. No video yet. The Mugi in the pics is of 6mm depron with EPP ribs and you can see the very small 2500 kv motor with 5x43 prop. Then I put the motor on the pico-sized dazi wing. The Mugi got its old BP21 back.
Posted on: 4/16/2007 7:52 AM by Author "hauts" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5723204

RE: One Tough FFF Delta...Build It!
Huh... Saturday morning I made some coffee, had my morning cigarette, looked around... A 40 x 90 cm piece of 3mm Depron started teasing me. "make a small delta out of me. Make a Dazi, just scale it down a bit. And give me that fast small brushless and rip some of those pico servos off other models.. come on, I'm more interesting..." So warming up the glue gun, I opened the pdf again, wrote some numbers in kcalc as I went, and by noon I had a very sleek looking and nice small Dazi all setup and programmed into the Hitec. I had all my small lipos charged up so out I went. Came back half hour later with the small Dazi badly deformed, and in need of some hot glue and PP foam formers. Uncontrollable maiden flights suck... But it'd have been boring if it just worked out on first try. Went out again, with rates programmed way down (25% on elevator, 35% on aileron, as opposed to 40% and 50%). It was still too sensitive, but I finally got it trimmed and found the right balance spot without damaging it further. With 2s 800mah pack, it flies for a long time but is just a bit sluggish and goes to death spiral easily. With 3S 740 pack it flies like a much larger wing and climbs, does aerobatics, and recovers from most anything. One of the death spirals resulted in a great find. I was at a local archery club's field, and the plane ended belly-up on the side of the field. And there I found a piece of carbon hunting arrow shaft - hmm. Looking around the target stands, I saw some more arrows, all broken and splintered. But finally in the field's trashbin, I was rewarded with a bonanza of arrowshafts and complete arrows, both wood and CF/glass fiber versions. Apparently there had been a cleanup of premises or something. I was hoping for a couple of pieces of unsplintered cf tube. Now I have full length arrows, and also strong and light wood sticks, for the foreseeable future. :) Best of all, there's a few different diameters of the arrow tubes, some of which fit snugly inside one another. I think I'll have to cut them outdoors to avoid asbestos lung. Now if I could just find my camera's usb cable, but I think I left it at work. Anyway there's a card reader there, so maybe tomorrow pictures of this small monster.
Posted on: 4/15/2007 5:24 AM by Author "hauts" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5717887

RE: One Tough FFF Delta...Build It!
I would use a 3S lipo with speed 400. You can get a suitable pack (say 2000 mah) for less than 40 bucks/euros. Use a Gunther 125x110mm push-on propeller (reverse the spinner). If using Nickel battery, go for a 800-1100 mah, 8 cell pack. Both speed 400 6V and 7.2V versions work nice with the 3S lipo, the 6V will produce some more speed and will die sooner. Got my 2500kv Ebay outrunner. A 100% size Mugi of 6mm depron does fly with it, even though a bit sluggish at first, it does pick up speed in level flight. :) The motor is advertised as weighing 24 grams so I put the motor mount about as far back as possible. The motor came with a 5x3 prop, but a 5x43 GWS was a lot better and still didnt warm up the motor or battery noticably. With gws pico servos, micro rx, and this motor + battery combination, the weight of the depron version is less than the "standard" coroplast Mugi in slope soaring configuration. So far I only tried a 740mah 3S pack, and the plane was tail heavy. Tonight or tomorrow will go up to first 1000mah and then 1800, 2000, 2200... I suppose if speed 400 can fly these packs then this motor also will. It really feels like this needs more wing loading to become more stable and easier to launch.
Posted on: 4/13/2007 7:06 AM by Author "hauts" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5708998

RE: One Tough FFF Delta...Build It!
Fly it did, even though there's quite a storm outside. I made the airfoil quite thick and almost symmetrical on this latest Mugi. Was a bit difficult to get it to fly right, next one will have a flat(ter) bottom again. Also I'll take out the foam formers and make them sleeker, no need for it to be so fat. Flying was cut short by a broken off control horn and nose got some crumbles, but it'll fly more tonight. It's nice to have a glue gun at my office. :)
Posted on: 4/11/2007 6:22 AM by Author "hauts" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5698161

RE: How to start flying a foamy 3D Newbie!
Try these things on the simulator: - set up some wind and learn to keep the plane upwind of yourself - set the trims on the controller wrong, and then correct them while keeping the plane safely up in air - set the control throws to more sensitive, up to the point where you really have to keep your finger movements to the minimum. - if Realflight allows it, set the plane's center of gravity wrong. Try both forward and backward. These exercises will help a lot, you'll learn to not panic in unexpected situations, and if your model doesn't fly right, you'll likely know right away how to fix it.
Posted on: 4/11/2007 4:12 AM by Author "hauts" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5698033

RE: One Tough FFF Delta...Build It!
Thanks for comments. :) I don't have almost any nice fields here, even the sea got good ice only for a couple of weeks this winter. So it's guerrilla flying in nearby parks and soccerfields most days, if I want to fly at all. I've hit those trees a couple of times, but Mugis never seem to get stuck up there. I do have experience climbing and fishing other planes out of trees and they usually need repairs after that. I just threw together the 6mm depron Mugi last night, and glued in the servos this morning. Feels much tougher and totally solid, not bendy lilke the versions made of 2mm coroplast or 3mm depron with ribs and spars. This one needed neither, but I modified the airfoil a bit just by stuffing a couple of pieces of foam into the wing after gluing everything together. About to maiden this one soon on the way to work. Still with the BP21, but I should have 2500 and 3400 kv motors in the mail any day now. :) Are Mugis a lot harder to launch with high-speed, small-prop power setups?
Posted on: 4/11/2007 3:35 AM by Author "hauts" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5697977

RE: One Tough FFF Delta...Build It!
To Artyfact - use a 7x6 GWS propeller. Still enough thrust for a Zagi-size wing with these motors, and a lot more speed (of course never enough...) I've been reading and stealing ideas from your nice thread for quite a while, maybe it's time I gave something back. I started making 2mm coroplast Mugis late last year and did a lot of learning on those. Then I stumbled upon this thread and started making Mugis from 3mm depron. Huge weight saving over coro. This thin depron requires taping over before bending, and some spars and ribs (i used scrap foam, kitchen knife and TLAR for those) so the weight saving over thicker and sturdier foam is more or less null. The taped depron becomes horribly mushy before having to be retired. Here's a video I had a friend shoot some weeks ago: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7277122859530863527 Now I finally have a 6mm depron version cut and bent, I expect that to last a lot longer. Lately I've made the fins out of 2mm coroplast for less cross-sectional area and much better survivability. The fins were the only part that kept getting destroyed. Also from the beginning I've used a triangular piece of bouncy EPP, front cut to airfoil shape, glued inside the nose of the plane. This is to save both the lipos and the airframe shape upon nose-ins. Works. I have 3s lipos ranging from 740 to 2200 mah, and have flown the bp21 mugi's with all of them. Smaller packs go right inside the nose, larger packs need to be stuffed with some foam quite close to center of gravity. A speed 400 installed in the back works too, but requires one of the larger packs close to front. I'm going to try some high-kv ebay outrunners next. This kind of aviation is quite addictive, I've flown 4-6 amp hours on the best days just on the way to or from work. [:D]
Posted on: 4/7/2007 1:07 PM by Author "hauts" in the forum "Foamies! - RC Electric Foam Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5678964