Originally Posted by like.2.fly

It isn't that hard. I have zero artistic ability, and my redtail sceme turned out a lot better than I thought it would. Just copied a wing feather pattern outline to the Alula, and colored it in with 3 Sharpie markers (black, brown, and red). Just scribbled it really, which is what gives the feathers realistic detail. Only took a couple of hours. Problem is the local redtails don't like it much. Gets attacked every time I fly a certain slope. Caught some of it on video yesterday with a micro camera on the Alula, and will be posting it soon.

Very nice looking. Good point about keeping it less 'perfect' being more realistic. That gives me a little bit of hope for reproducing something like that. Can't wait for that video!

In case you haven't seen my "Raven" Alula slope videos... includes an interested falcon.

http://www.vimeo.com/album/144447

Very nice Dawson. Gives me a couple more ideas.

Ditto the nice vids, Dawson. Got mine out to the slope today, threw it up and it disappeared behind me over my head....whoops! Eventually managed to keep her up for several minutes but I was barely in control! sure is a sensitive little ship, it's going to take a while to dial into it.

Be sure your CG is on the dimples (for now at least) and your throws are setup per the manual and the little bird should be all the more controllable. If there's adequate lift at your slope try a gentle forward toss instead of a SAL.

Flying wings in general are pretty sensitive to CG and pitch. Adding forward sweep only makes it that much more critical. If winds permit I'll be flat land soaring with my Alula tomorrow. I finished assembly, balance and programming tonight so I'm hoping for low winds for my maiden flight and some boomers as the temperature rises.

Originally Posted by Hoges

Ditto the nice vids, Dawson. Got mine out to the slope today, threw it up and it disappeared behind me over my head....whoops! Eventually managed to keep her up for several minutes but I was barely in control! sure is a sensitive little ship, it's going to take a while to dial into it.

I found that a couple of clicks of down got me a smooth flat launch out into the lift band on the slope.

On the flat land, the speed developed in the launch makes it want to climb, but on the slope, the lift generated by the slope plus a firm launch will be too much, causing it to loop up where the wind will blow it over your head.

Mark

Finnished my build today as well. AUW with the stock battery, Berg 4 reciever and 2 hxt500 servos was 5.90 oz. I needed to add 5 pennies as nose weight to balance. CG is right on the dimples. A quick test toss had a long straight level glide. I set up evelon mixing in my Optic6 with 60% airlerons / 30% elevator. Will double check my control end points tomorrow.

Did not have much success with my launches today. I did a few light throws to try to trim and I think my CG is off. No matter how I tossed the plane would nose up into a stall and then drop straight down. Even with level overhead tosses. I kept playing with the trims but got no better. Do I need more nose weight? I'm balanced right on the dimples. This is my first glider so any pointer would be very appreciated.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Steve_A_Reno

Finnished my build today as well. AUW with the stock battery, Berg 4 reciever and 2 hxt500 servos was 5.90 oz. I needed to add 5 pennies as nose weight to balance. CG is right on the dimples. A quick test toss had a long straight level glide. I set up evelon mixing in my Optic6 with 60% airlerons / 30% elevator. Will double check my control end points tomorrow.

Straight level (slow) glide is good. When you throw harder (as in your next post), it will want to climb - which will lead to a stall and then a dive into the ground. As it climbs, you must quickly correct with down elevator to avoid or lessen that stall. If you throw hard, it will need more control (down) to avoid the stall (or loop). Once you transition to slow speed (at the top of your launch) you fly slow like your test glides.

I throw these things all the time. I handed my Alula to a power buddy who thought it looked cool. He threw it and had NO idea how to add down elevator to avoid the stall. I thought it was easy. It's tricky to learn, but well worth it.

Flying on a slope you don't need the hard toss, but in a big lift situation you need a lot of down trim to increase the speed.

Originally Posted by Steve_A_Reno

Did not have much success with my launches today. I did a few light throws to try to trim and I think my CG is off. No matter how I tossed the plane would nose up into a stall and then drop straight down. Even with level overhead tosses. I kept playing with the trims but got no better. Do I need more nose weight? I'm balanced right on the dimples. This is my first glider so any pointer would be very appreciated.

Thanks

If you are balanced on the dimples, your CG is right where it needs to be. I would give it down trim until a firm level toss gives you a level flight or just a slight climb, then give it a click or two of up. An ideal throw will go up at about a 70 degree angle and you will have to level it out at the top before it stalls. I can give mine a screaming hard launch without it looping.

Mark

After many tosses and a lot of fun I finally managed to tear and break loose my home made EPP tail. This gave me the opportunity to make one from 3mm Depron. (Some stuff I had from pervious scratch builds.) Anyway I had purchased some carbon tow which I have never used but thought I would give it a try. I gotta say it seems to have worked pretty darn well! I ran a little of it length ways across the tail and some around the outside of the tail and used foam safe CA to hold it down. It came out at about the same weight as the EPP tail (4 grams) but it is stiffer and thinner. Hope to give it a try soon.

I doubled checked the CG using the pencil method described in this threaad and it was slightly tail heavy. I added a bit more weight to the nose and had much better glide and control. Howerver, my mastery of the launch and down elevator skills left much to be desired. I managed to get a few launches to level at a decent height but most continued to loop. I felt like I had no authority on the elevator to push it level. That said I looped at about 30 ft while holding the elevator foward and managed to nose it straight in and crack fuse. I will need to do some repairs before I get any more practice in.

That sounds strange Steve. Yes, you must use pencils/pens or something with a fine enough point to fit inside the dimples (not over them) so the bird can tip back and forth freely. How much was the CG off? It doesn't take much to significantly alter the handling of the Alula. If it's flying well on straight glide tests it should fly properly when you toss it up.

Two things come to mind. Have you double-checked your throws? Your elevator throw is especially important. You won't believe how drastically excessive elevator throw will foul your experience. Be sure you have the low rate set to the specs in the manual which is +3 / -3mm. Low rate aileron is +8 / -8mm While you're at it you might pay close attention to the flex in your elevons. Are they moving up and down uniformly or twisting so the inner part of the elevon has more travel than the tip. If they are not moving uniformly you may have to remove the control rod and repeatedly flex the elevon up and down to loosen the arcel hinge. Some Alulites have very lightly sanding the inner portion of the hinge to relive a bit of tension.

If you are still having problems after all of this I'm thinking you might have some sort of mixing issue in your radio. Patiently double-check all of your radio settings to be sure something isn't configured or tweaked in the wrong direction. Keep your radio settings simple until you get the hang of the Alula in "basic" mode. For a reference point, search through both Alula threads to see how people have setup their optic 6 or maybe someone can post a nice starting point.

If you have a sloper friend have him/her come out with you. Sometimes a buddy will think of something obvious that's been going over your head (no pun intended). I know this happens with me and my friends all the time. Teamwork!

One more thing just popped into my head. This is a long shot but I've seen it happen a couple times on Weasels, not sure if anyone has done it on the Alula. Are your servos installed backwards? The servo arm gear should be closer to the trailing edge than the leading edge (see pics in the manual). I'm not sure but if they were oriented improperly it may create some sort of undesirable differential.

If you're flying in the presence of wind be sure to launch nose into the wind.

Ok, I'm out of ideas for now...

Best of luck!

My hinges are very stiff. Even with repeated flexing I felt they were not moving as free as I would like.

When I launched my alula it wanted to go straight up. Even with fairly moderate tosses.
This put it directly over my head, about to loop and out of my line of site. I guess that is what they call a recipe for disaster. But if I dial in enough down trim to get it to launch a 70% angle wont I be riding the up elevator to keep it level during the glide?