IAD

Ok, video being uploaded now. Not the super footage, but still, here it is http://home.comcast.net/~louisosweldlurky/SVCompressed3.AVI (Divx compression, right-click and Save As.) YouTube: Notes: The aircraft is NOT jumpy/twitchy, however the camcorder definitely is. The 'kulbit' maneuver looks like a loop in the footage, but not in real life, where it appears much more 'rotational'. (Has to do with how the camera tracked the aircraft. That, and no horizon reference. Oh well.) Yes, the exit out of the kulbit was very sloppy, but not as bad (dangrous) as it looks. In hindsight, the trick is to push the nose down 45 deg., instead of trying to climb out after finishing the maneuver. Also it didn't help that the aircraft was still nose-light. ~Luke

Perfomed a flight early this morning. ABSOLUTELY SUCCESSFUL! Pulled three rolls, a loop, and a flip. The longest flight was 7 minutes, but that was with a couple other short hops, so total time on a charge was about 10 minutes, with power to spare. Thanks to the upgrade work, it has very precise control response, very easy to fly the traffic pattern with. It even glides nicely. The structural upgrades paid off, the reinforced intake sawtooth ripped up hunks of grass on landing, but didn't stress/break at all. The only items that need addressing are the balance point (I needed to add a pocket comb inside the nose to get it to fly nicely) and nailing down why one motor occasionally goes out of sync. (Throttling all the way down resyncs the motors, but sometimes, that isn't an option. It happened twice, and that's too much for me.) However, I'd say that's the last flight I'll have to perform on this ship. Aerodynamically/flight-performance-wise, it is already superb. (And yes, there's a video. ) ~Luke

Going for test-flights tomorrow, if the wind dies down. (If, only if... Big "if".) ~Luke

Ok, here we are, post repairs/upgrades: I've reinforced the nose, replaced the intakes, increased control surface precision, added speed-control cooling, and reshaped the nose, to look more SV-ish. Still have to put the pointy spikes back on a couple of the fins, but that's a minor detail. (Don't mind the 'patchy' look of the covering. It's all smooth, I spent a couple days feather-sanding the overlaps, it's just the new tissue I picked up is slightly off-white.) Weight gain was roughly 0.25 oz., but I hope to lose 0.1+ oz by reducing wire length. ~Luke

Clip of the second SV. Let's see if that works. (Uhg, it works, but YouTube resolution is HORRIBLE..... Oh well.) ~Luke

Not that small, or that light... The EDF40's I'm using are pretty much as small as you can get, off-the-shelf, and they weigh about 28g per, not counting a 6g speed control, and a hefty battery, to feed them. (88 g battery, for two of them, and that's about as light as you can go.) ~Luke

Yep, that's my SV there... Big long thread on it in the Fan Works section. ~Luke

Will do. I'm really sorry about this taking so long. These unanticipated issues really hammered me. ~Luke

Got the control system 'rewired', and significantly improved the overall precision, while I had it all apart. The fin is reinstalled as well, so pretty much everything's settled. Still trying to get around to compressing that video clip. ~Luke

Yep, it'll be fine, don't worry. ~Luke

Sawtooth intake lips look really neat. (Note: intakes are not glued onto the airframe yet.) ~Luke

Two intakes finished. Installation, then thrust-test. ~Luke

Yes, I was quite impressed with now nicely the balsa did the compound curves there... I'll keep you posted. ~Luke

No video yet... But, Sean, here are the intake options...

I've actually have a video, but it's not zoomed in, so it's a bit hard to see. If you'd like, I'll get it posted when I have a chance. Yes, though. It does the flip quite nicely. By the way, the flip wasn't related to the hard landing... Ironically, it was a simple descending turn that lead to that. It just happened to hit the "flaperons overpower canards + elevators" speed, and I couldn't arrest the decent. So, back to the original (horribly inefficient, but effective) elevons on the wings. Oh well, they'll help it flip better, anyway. ~Luke

Well, not entirely successful... I logged about 6-7 minutes of flight, but had a fairly bad encounter with the dirt... Broke a carbon fiber rod in the fin, and really chewed up an intake. But, I'm about 75% done with repairs already, so things aren't so bad. I got killed by the flaperons, they've got enough power to override everything else at a certain airspeed, so they're getting switched back to elevons. (That 'certain airspeed' just so happens to be launch and landing speed, so...... Not good. ) The good news is... The new motors are a good deal more powerful, which allowed me to perform a very nice Russian-style standing flip. Overall, the aircraft performs quite well, so once I reconfigure the elevon/flaperon mixing, it should be able to put on quite a show. Got to watch the full-throttle usage, though, the battery was pretty warm on landing. ~Luke

Well, heading out. Batteries charged, 10 oz. of thrust, 12.5 oz. AUW. ~Luke

Well, sort of tricky, since there aren't really any plans. I wish I had accurate section data, but as it is, all the shaping is done by eyeball. Anyhow, I hope to fly the second ship tomorrow. I just finished the ducting, and I have a little more wiring to do, but after that (and double/triple checks of everything), it's show time! ~Luke

Ok, I might be the minority here, but I really liked the gag-panel format... Either way, glad to hear you'll be working on it again! ~Luke

HAHA. Really, though, I think this thing will be extremely easy to land... I mean, I've done it about 5+ times now with mine... Just every time, it's been by accident. It does seem to land on it's feet, though. ~Luke

Wow, better motors + better ducting really pays off... I modified the ducting arrangement to have constant cross-section, to minimize losses... Dropped it in the airframe, and ran a thrust-test. Test results: 5 oz. of thrust, at 6.44 A. With the two motors, we'll be looking at 10 oz. of thrust, for 12.88 amps. (Thrust will actually be a bit lower, because of voltage drop under load, but... Close to 10 oz.) On my ship, TOTAL thrust (both motors) was only 7.6 oz, at 11.33 A! This thing should really go places in a hurry! ~Luke

Yep, Sean's correct. These things are a TON of work for me to fabricate. (Was it really two years ago!? Wow. :eek: ) Now, I'm working on building a CNC milling machine and 3D digitizer, which could change things a bit, but that's still a good year or more away from becoming a reality, and even then, there's the hot, humid breath of the copyright/licensing lawyers breathing down one's neck... ~Luke

Don't worry, always do. Lots of them. Range checks, control direction, motor interference, etc. Finals are done on Wednesday, and the weather's nice for flying. ~Luke

Yep, the motors are only 12mm in diameter... The fans themselves are 40mm. ~Luke

Fireball pilot: "Does this make me look fat?" Sorry, couldn't resist!, something about the pose there. Looks great so far! ~Luke