Well, there's a really interesting phenomenon with my new BL micro champ:

At 40% throttle, it attracts dragonflies to it! I have seen this on more than one occasion, and the flies follow it along as best they can and even fly in formation with it, as if it is some sort of "queen fly" or something!

There must be a motor resonance that emits an audio frequency they respond to. Maybe a paper in Nature is forthcoming! I'll try and get a video if I can before the dragonflies are done for the year. It is mesmerizing to watch them follow in formation with the plane!

The new plane is doing very well - I have it balanced and trimmed out almost ideally now, and it flies very much like my original modified brushed champ, except that this unit can easily fly successively without over heating at all! It runs very cool, the motor and ESC have excellent airflow. It also has slightly better control throws, which allows very tight snap rolls on the rudder, and tighter loops than the stock unit.

I am exceedingly impressed with this Turnigy T5A-1S ESC/A05 motor combination. It has plenty of pep, uses less power than my stock brushed champs I used, and flies very well. Stalls are a bit more extreme/deep due to the extra weight of my setup, but I have that managed well for landing now. THe best part is that this BL system WORKS: I tried several el-cheapo generic 1S ESCs which just did not handle the A05 at all - two smoked with no reasonable performance. I just think that...Continue Reading

Here's a video of my new micro BL Champ!

BLuChamp1 (3 min 19 sec)

SkyCadet

Just finished my BL micro champ. Always wanted to try this!

I used an AR05 BL 3700Kv motor and 5A Turnigy ESC from HK. Brick (RX) is an AR6400L multi channel rx.

Tested it out and mounted a 3-blade 110x80 prop using graphite-epoxy after reaming carefully the prop hole in the hub. THe AR05 has a 1.5mm shaft size, JUST larger than the hub hole. There was a touch of play, but enough to glue the prop on. Just before curing (~6-7 min until pretty much solid), around the 5 min mark, I adjusted the track and then ran the motor slowly enough to let it self-center and rotate in a plane, and self-balances.

Let sit for another minute, and repeat. Care was taken to avoid over rotating the prop and having it fly off the shaft!

Motor was mounted using 1/32" thin ply in 2 layers (1/16" total). Holes drilled to match motor and shaft rear. I then used 2mm cap screw hardware to affix to the wood. Total weight was just under 2g above the stock brushed motor and mount system. Not bad!

I then hard wired the whole assembly and put in the plane. The ESC was positioned aft of the RX to help balance a bit better. Also, the motor is connected using a spare 2S balance lead plug to ease motor replacement if necessary.

Running is close to the brushed for draw: 1.66Ap. Run time in the 9 minute range at mid-throttle (0.6A), with nominal draw around 2.5W, about 6W peak. The 3A nominal, 5Ap Turnigy ESC runs this VERY well. I could never get the el-cheapo generic ESCs to run...Continue Reading

Some Hi-res extracts from the videos shot and posted earlier. The Pitts 12 15e is a fun plane to fly!

Cheers all...

SkyCadet

Well, we finally did it! A windsock.

I've been meaning for the past year to put up a decent windsock at the park/field we do most of our casual flying. When HK (Hobby King) finally got in their new inventory of very affordable windsocks, I ordered 3 of them. They had been backordered for months!

They are quite nice: The sock is a decent size, with a 10" opening, on a 12" aluminum 3/8" tube, with about a 30" length. Only $2.99/ea. We used a 1/2" SS pipe (surplus) that was ~32" long, sandwiched between two hardwood blocks with a "U" clamp on a backstop pole to mount the unit ~22 feet up. It was tricky using the 18' ladder to attach the pole, but we did it!

I used a 5/16 washer with a piece of plastic coat hanger inserted into the sock's tube (using graphite epoxy to adhere it) to extend the sock about 9". It slipped into the pipe perfectly!

We had a hoot with several folks flying after we installed the sock. It was great to have some local help, and the kids can use this to determine whether the wind is enough for kite flying! The sock's stripes are about 2 km/h (or 1mph) per stripe, so when fully inflated, the wind is pretty much 10-12 km/h (or higher). Good to know in that field! The nearby church has a large flag that we used to use, but it did not always indicate wind well. This is WAYYY better!

See pics below...

Sky Cadet

MVI 6712 (1 min 10 sec)

Low field flyby, plus landing (a bit fuzzy after the flyby)

MVI 6713 (1 min 50 sec)

...Continue Reading