Originally Posted by StarHopper44

Hi Jax!
Always enjoy your productions & here's yet another superb example! Gosh I gotta get out & find me some slopes somewhere nearby to give that phase a try - it just looks to be a lot of fun, & would imagine that once you get 'engaged' you just don't want it to end & it's like you could go on flying forever! I fear tho, we just flat out don't have any features like that around here. I sure don't know of any; closest might be a one of the cliffs along the river but there's the trees to contend with so.....alas! One of the curses of living in a place known as the 'Coastal Plains', I guess.

But especially, thanks for taking the time to send New Year's wishes, and I'd very much like to return the favor, and pass the same wishes along to all our hearty & hardy 'krewe' here! May 2013 be your best year ever - all of ya!!

I'm trying to cob together an order from that Great Demon in Hong Kong (*LOL*) to beat out the expected freight increases so, need to get back to it! As my parting shot for 2012, I'll also share a brand new video -- not mine but from m'bud Francois....and it's a wee bit 'OT' also, as these aren't electrics. *ROTFLMAO* It's got some great shots I know you'll enjoy, so please do - & we'll see y'all sometime next year!!

Hi Starhopper,

Thanks for your note. Yes, ridge soaring is a whole lot of fun and if conditions are good you can pretty much stay up as long as you want. On a good day I would typically have 45-60 minute flights with five minutes of motor time. Just like a good soaring day.

Francois' video is incredible. Great flying and spectacular shots! Thanks for sharing.

One thought for you: how far are you from Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers had their first flight? Seems like that would a good place for ridge soaring on the big dunes.

I did go out in the 20 degree temperatures this morning for one flight with my new Dynam Peaks biplane. That is one nice ARF. Looks good and flies well.

Tomorrow I am co-hosting the annual "Chilly Fly" event at the Crosswinds RC Club. The idea is to get at least one flight in, then sit around and eat, drink and carry on. Should be fun.

Cheers,

Jackson

Originally Posted by Jackson Stone

Hi Starhopper,

Thanks for your note. Yes, ridge soaring is a whole lot of fun and if conditions are good you can pretty much stay up as long as you want. On a good day I would typically have 45-60 minute flights with five minutes of motor time. Just like a good soaring day.

Francois' video is incredible. Great flying and spectacular shots! Thanks for sharing.

One thought for you: how far are you from Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers had their first flight? Seems like that would a good place for ridge soaring on the big dunes.

I did go out in the 20 degree temperatures this morning for one flight with my new Dynam Peaks biplane. That is one nice ARF. Looks good and flies well.

Tomorrow I am co-hosting the annual "Chilly Fly" event at the Crosswinds RC Club. The idea is to get at least one flight in, then sit around and eat, drink and carry on. Should be fun.

Cheers,

Jackson

Happy New Year to all of you folks!

Hi Jackson, loved that last video! That is about the pretties spot I have ever seen for flying. I pray that no developer comes along and plants a bunch of houses on that ridge.

A friend just got one of those Dynam Peaks and is VERY happy with it. A couple of the 3D types in our club flew it and both were quite impressed and said 'I would buy one of those' almost immediately. You should be real happy with that one.

Regards,
Gord

Gord,

Yes, the Peaks is one sweet plane. I am looking forward to some calm, warm days to really explore her capabilities. I may have to wait awhile...

Cheers,

Jackson

Hi Jax; (bows to the rest) ,
Sorry for the belated response -- things have been rather hectic 'round the old homestead lately, keeping me on the run!

Originally Posted by Jackson Stone

...
One thought for you: how far are you from Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers had their first flight? Seems like that would a good place for ridge soaring on the big dunes. ...

I know what you're getting at, & believe it or not to fly there is one of the items on my RT 'Bucket List'. Surprisingly maybe, even tho I'm down here on the same end of the state, getting to it isn't as easy as it seems! Via optimal routing my best way is still 200 miles 1-way, & nearly 4 hours driving time. (Not the greatest of roads out in that region.)

Originally Posted by Jackson Stone

Hi Starhopper,
... Tomorrow I am co-hosting the annual "Chilly Fly" event at the Crosswinds RC Club. The idea is to get at least one flight in, then sit around and eat, drink and carry on. Should be fun. ...

Super kewl! Would have to be fun! Our RC club has something that's supposed to go about like that -- an annual 'New Year's Blackeyed Peas Cookout' per the old Southern tradition -- & it's far more than just peas! The last couple years' have turned into quite the trough-fest! I know.....after my first I sure's heck wasn't gonna miss our 2nd, that's for sure! *LOL* We also, as it turned out, caught exceptional weather & quite a bit of flying was enjoyed as well.

Starhopper,

OK, I understand that it doesn't make much sense to spend four hours driving for an hour of ridge soaring. I am fortunate that my sites are all within five to fifteen minutes.

Your Blackeyed Peas event sounds wonderful. We had good food and fun flying at our "Chilly Fly", but the event lived up to its name with 25 degree temperatures. I am definitely looking forward to warmer days ahead!

FYI, I had the Peaks out for some evening flying tonight. I have her equipped with lights which means I can fly for about twenty minutes after the sun goes down. It is really a fun thing to do. We had a cloud bank that was brilliantly illuminated by the already-set Sun. This made a gorgeous backdrop for the Peaks.

Cheers,

Jackson

Ya -- you guys raved so much about the Peaks I just ordered me one earlier today. Along with my first 4S LiPos. Ouch!

It's a sickness.

Oh....that reminds me. Wonder why the heck the plain white Peaks is $30 more than the darn red or yellow one?!?!? I would'a got that one & 'militarized' it but for that extra cost. Seems as counterintuitive as paying more for food with lower sodium and/or fat content.

Starhopper,

The Red Peaks is the best looking in my opinion. I was out flying mine last night at sunset. I have mine equipped with nav and landing lights. This is one nice-flying and fun plan. Good luck.

Jackson

Before I ordered I saw an 'angle' shot of one where Nitro was flight-reviewing, & the black undercoating seemed to show thru the over-coat, kinda dulling down the finish so I went for the yellow for that reason. Plus the last 3 planes I've gotten have predominantly red base finish & I's kinda tired of red so.....spice o' life kinda thang.

Starhopper,

Yes, yellow is a good color! LOL

Hope you have a great time with this plane. I was out flying mine again at sunset. Had a great time.

Cheers,

Jackson

Originally Posted by Jackson Stone

Hi NIgel, Starhopper and Beanz,

Just wanted to wish you guys a very Happy New Year. Here's hoping you all have many successful flights of your Minimoas and other planes in 2013!

I also wanted to share a video with you that I shot last May and finally got edited and posted this morning. It is not of a Minimoa, so this is slightly off-topic, but it is about an electric sailplane and has some superb camera work. I hired a professional videographer to help me with this project and got some excellent results.

Enjoy!

Jackson

https://vimeo.com/56557675

nice vid again Jackson!
Not flown my moa for a while, still very much into the blaster dlg, flew on my little 10ft footbal field ridge other day managed 15 min slope flight with some very low efficient flying in high winds great fun! Today I went down with it and it started snowing-I carried on flying for 10 mins or so b4 my controls got too wet to stay out, looked great flying around in the snow though.
Someone suggested a nearby slope that I had not realized was accesable but apparently it is so I will investigate when I can steal my car back from the missus long enough to go over and check it out, it faces west which is where the winds come from most of the time these days so should be good for when the winds are blowing down my east facing slope.

Originally Posted by StarHopper44

Ya -- you guys raved so much about the Peaks I just ordered me one earlier today. Along with my first 4S LiPos. Ouch!

It's a sickness.

Oh....that reminds me. Wonder why the heck the plain white Peaks is $30 more than the darn red or yellow one?!?!? I would'a got that one & 'militarized' it but for that extra cost. Seems as counterintuitive as paying more for food with lower sodium and/or fat content.

OT, but just for the record the (yes, Yellow ) Peaks arrived today. So....6 days from order, including 2 of a weekend (tracking shows it was in town Friday but didn't make the truck) Meanwhile, my HK order containing parts (electrical conns) needed to do any further building, ordered a full 2 weeks prior, lie a-loitering in some cargo hold of the veritable slow ship from China, somewhere at sea. *sigh*

Starhopper,

Welcome to the Peaks club! She is a fine flying plane. I wish you many hours of blissful concentration learning every aerobatic maneuver you can throw at her.

Sorry about the slow passage of your Hobby King order. My sense is that it will arrive any day now. I have made 38 orders from Hobby King now, most of them from Hong Kong, and none have taken three weeks to get here.

Cheers,

Jackson

Originally Posted by Beanz

ued it using Araldite 24 hour and it's much firmer now.

I've run the motor but there's now a slight 'grating' sound coming from the motor.

I'm gonna fly it anyway. If the motor goes belly up, then it'll be time to invest in a new motor.

First and foremost, Beanz:
SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR MINING EXPERIENCE. I have had some myself and wanted to share 3 possibilities besides the one that is probably coming to mind...bearings!
1. there may be some dirt that made its way between the bell and stator
2. the shaft may be bent
3. My (meticulous) friend noticed a strange sound from the prop in flight. I tightened the blade pivot bolts until they began to resist and backed off one quarter turn which solved that for now-to his standard. I was foccused on the gliding!!!!

Sorry to reply a month later but I just found this thread.

PS The bell may have bent withor wthout bending the shaft. If this motor is built typically you can pull the "C" clip on the back of the shaft, and slide the bell and shaft out without separating them, and put the shaft ens on your prop balancer or in some good spindle and spin by hand to check.

In the process of trimming out the Minimoa and would like to make a few comments.
What surprised me are the axial rolls with a decent roll rate and the inverted flight with just a hair of down elevator. Really didn't expect that from a gull winged glider.
I've got Throttle-Elevator mixing, Aileron-rudder mixing, and Spoileron-elevator mixing. cg is back about 65mm.
The wings have been glued together which makes assembly easy but transportation hard.
About the wing screws - I switched out the plastic screws with Al screws. On the 3rd flight I noticed one of the screws was just turning in the hole. Found the nut in the fuselage. The plastic small postage sized plastic screw holder can be poked loose from the top and the nut re-glued in and the nut holder reattached.
It's a very good floater and handles nicely.

The prop is much smaller than the ones that were burning out the motor and I have noticed no motor overheating problems.

The rolls on mine are not axial and need a LOT of elev when inverted and my cog is further back then yours! SOunds like you got a really good one there!