dongfang
Aug 18, 2008, 07:39 AM
Hi,
I have built a delta-winged R/C water rocket plane (a water rocket is a pressurized plastic container, such as some soda bottles glued together, that ejects water through a nozzle at the rear for reaction propulsion). It flies OK, but it's a little dull. You can find it on YouTube, search for "An R/C water rocket plane", or for my user name, skuula (Can't check the exact links from here. YouTube blocked). And on the Water Rocket Achievement World Record Association's forum (http://www.wra2.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=319).
So .. I want more power. A 1st stage booster tank. It's not going to be beneath the plane, like a traditional staged rocket (unstable in flight), so it will be parallel to the plane. Like the external tank on the space shuttle. Maybe even with the same 2 side boosters, to push the main weight of the external tank until it has relieved itself of some water.
It will definitely not be able to fly without some sort of active stabilization on the pitch axis. So, I had this idea of a tiltable rocket nozzle, placed between the axis of the external tank and that of the plane. Like the space shuttle again, except that an external rocket is used during the lifetime of the external tank - not the rocket on the plane. I have the staging mechanism working already; when the external tank starts to lose pressure, the plane will detach and fly off by itself.
Now - which kind of gyro will I need for my first naive experiments? I have zero experience with them.
- Will heading hold be needed?
- Are there gyros available with internally adjustable gain? The boost phase will be too short for playing with adjustments anyway, so I could save myself an R/C channel, and I don't want to have my R/C in heli mode.
- How drifty are normal inexpensive gyros? Good enough for, say, 10 seconds between "guidance release" and launch? 5 seconds boost phase?
Does anyone know a good gyro:
- generally available
- not ridiculously expensive
- not too tightly coupled to helicopter usage
- not requiring special servos,
that I could use for experimenting?
(edit: Oh yes, why this group? It was the most relevant I could find. The thing will fly autonomously during the boost phase).
Regards,
Soren
I have built a delta-winged R/C water rocket plane (a water rocket is a pressurized plastic container, such as some soda bottles glued together, that ejects water through a nozzle at the rear for reaction propulsion). It flies OK, but it's a little dull. You can find it on YouTube, search for "An R/C water rocket plane", or for my user name, skuula (Can't check the exact links from here. YouTube blocked). And on the Water Rocket Achievement World Record Association's forum (http://www.wra2.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=319).
So .. I want more power. A 1st stage booster tank. It's not going to be beneath the plane, like a traditional staged rocket (unstable in flight), so it will be parallel to the plane. Like the external tank on the space shuttle. Maybe even with the same 2 side boosters, to push the main weight of the external tank until it has relieved itself of some water.
It will definitely not be able to fly without some sort of active stabilization on the pitch axis. So, I had this idea of a tiltable rocket nozzle, placed between the axis of the external tank and that of the plane. Like the space shuttle again, except that an external rocket is used during the lifetime of the external tank - not the rocket on the plane. I have the staging mechanism working already; when the external tank starts to lose pressure, the plane will detach and fly off by itself.
Now - which kind of gyro will I need for my first naive experiments? I have zero experience with them.
- Will heading hold be needed?
- Are there gyros available with internally adjustable gain? The boost phase will be too short for playing with adjustments anyway, so I could save myself an R/C channel, and I don't want to have my R/C in heli mode.
- How drifty are normal inexpensive gyros? Good enough for, say, 10 seconds between "guidance release" and launch? 5 seconds boost phase?
Does anyone know a good gyro:
- generally available
- not ridiculously expensive
- not too tightly coupled to helicopter usage
- not requiring special servos,
that I could use for experimenting?
(edit: Oh yes, why this group? It was the most relevant I could find. The thing will fly autonomously during the boost phase).
Regards,
Soren