Yeah, I know, I can't believe it either - I actually flew it!!!!

BTW - I did try to find my original thread about this build but couldn't - I'm on 28.8 dialup and have little patience so, here's a new thread which is a continuation of blah, blah, blah.
I taped the underside of the wing with blue tape to indicate the "middle" of the recommended c/g (front edge of tape). About three weeks ago I took the plane & gave it some hand tossed test flights - finally got the c/g about right but didn't mark it down (bad mistake). During these earlier test flights I managed to totally destroy the first "fuselage" which I was using to place the battery in front of the wing so I could achieve balance.

Okay. I created another pod/fuselage/whatever this morning and then balanced it out (according to the instructions) and blah, blah, blah (see photos). Everything was charged up, checked & rechecked and so I went to the field. Beautiful afternoon - hardly any breeze and I found a nice place to fly. So, set up, launch, and boom! Nose dive. Gave it some up elevator, more power on the motor, launched again, boom! Nose dive again, but the new fuse-pod-thing was taking the abuse well and there seemed to be no damage. So, this continued until I was throwing harder and at higher angles and with full power on.

Finally, I managed to get it airborne and boy, what a handle it was to fly. I got it back in after two short circuits around the main field and moved the battery back. Took off, flew better, but not great, brought it in again, and moved the battery back a bit moa.

Now, it was flying! What a difference a little balance can make! It certainly wasn't trimmed to what we would consider "hands off" flying, but it was going where I wanted it to go. The climbing was somewhat disappointing and after bringing it in after about a 4 minute flight, the motor was DANG HOT! I think I have a gift for cooking motors. This makes two test flights and two cooked motors. Maybe it's my gift.

Anyway, I let the motor cool off a bit and kept putting the battery pack further and further back and kept trying to achieve the best flight characteristics. I think I know now where the c/g should be - for this plane.

Now that I know where the c/g is, I want to minimize the battery pod, perhaps making a totally new, smaller, more streamlined pod. To me, it seemed like the ZN did really well in turns, loosing not too much speed or altitude. Perhaps this is just a characteristic of flying wings? Even though the pod was quite dorky looking, it was beautiful and most rewarding to see my plane in the air and I kept thinking how thankful I am to CTF for making this all possible - MEGA THANKS GENE!!!

I think the only thing this plane needs is a good motor/battery combo and perhaps it's time to drag out the brushless and let the Zagnutz have some fun. I am pretty confident the next one I build will be lighter, stronger, and will fly much better. Having said that, I am quite happy with what I have and it's certainly been worth the effort thus far.

Thanks also to others who have given advice, recommendations and suggestions.

Happy flyin',

Buzz

I've made several pods for various planes lately and I like this method - it's quick, strong and, IMO, light.

- two pieces of foam
- spray glued together
- cut out shape
- sand & model corners
- spray w/Super 77
- cover w/strapping tape
- finish w/packing tape

I hot glued the pod to the wing.

Last week when hurricane Ivan was coming through I asked my wife about going to Home Depot to get a generator. I can remember tellin' her "Forget the lights baby, I got planes to build and I haveta use my hot glue gun". She looked at me kinda funny.

Happy flyin',

Buzz

Congrats on your successful flight Buzz_Man !
Nice photos too.
Maybe you can gets some in-flight shots the next time?

Hermitt

PS... What is the Wing Span? Motor & Batt?

You are most welcome, Buzz.... now that you got the first one, the next dozen or so should come really quick!

the next dozen or so should come really quick!

I was thinking about making another one as I was walking off the field to the car. As I've mentioned in other threads, I'd love to do a/p and I'd love to make an a/p ZN - with the pod in the middle and so forth - somewhat like the Shaker (if that's okay). I am anxious to also build one with slightly less wingspan and much lighter - this was my fault as I totally over-built this one and made it way too heavy. I am confident my current ZN would perform better with a Speed 400 DD if I'd built it right, but it still flies anyway and that's very cool!

Somehow I have to figure out my motor problem - maybe going brushless would fix the motor burnout thing, but I only have one brushless motor and I'm very apprehensive about using it because I feel like I'm going to ruin it - crashing or overheating, et cetera. Oh well, I guess I need to get over it - if I ruin it, it won't kill me - so what, big deal. I'll get to go flying again on Tuesday or Wednesday next week - can't wait!

See ya'll,

Buzz

Oh Hermitt, to answer your question
--> wingspan is standard Zagnutz 52"
--> motor was Speed 400 direct drive (the motor got burned up & is now serving as an anchor for my mouse's miniature ski boat, r/c of course)
--> 5x5 "Wingo" type push-on prop
--> battery is 3 cell 2100 mAh lippo
--> ESC is CC Pixie-20P (which I think is programmed correctly for 3 cell lipo pack)

WOW! Buzz,
I built a Delta Wing-span 31" (simply a flat sheet of FFF)
running a Graupner SPEED 400 7.2V motor running a 6x3 prop - a 30amp ESC - a 6 channel HiTec feather receiver - 8 cell 1800 Mah NiMh batt & a V-Tail mixer and the AUW is 18 ozs. (it's my Avatar Pic) and it flies like a dream. In fact, my Son likes flying it much better than his Zagi 400x.
Dang! can't figure how you made a 52" wing to fly with a speed 400.
Do you have pics of your build?

Happy flyin'
Hermitt

Hermitt?!?!?!?!

We've been doing that for about 4 years now! We use the standard Graupner prop, but have had loads of fun with the full size Nutz at 52". That's the way it was designed!

CTF

Well I just got into R/C in March of this year 2004 and discovered this forum last month. Sorry if I'm 4 years behind everybody else..... oh what the heck, I'm having fun anyway.

Buzz_Man - is this the thread you were looking for?

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=261640

Tony
Co-Moderator

is this the thread you were looking for?

Yeah - thanks, that's it.

Do you have pics of your build?

Yeah - that's the link in post #10 in this thread. Do you have plans or build info for your plane? Looks almost as cool as a Zagnutz.

I have another question - is there any way I can use my folding prop with this plane? It's a puller, but I'd like to use it in a pusher configuration & I've fiddled with it but can't seem to figure out if it'll work. It's a Grauppner 6x3 folding prop.

Thanks,

Buzz

Just a suggestion - Try only overlapping your tape by and 1/8-1/4", might save you a bit in weight by the looks of the above pics..

I bet the pod helps get the CG alot easier than on something that doesn't have one too. I know on my ezippermkII, I had a heck of a time getting it sorted..

Kinda make me want to grab my Weasel Pro and motor it up ! (just not enough wind around here to glide with a weasel)

Try only overlapping your tape by and 1/8-1/4"

Yes, good suggestion - I did that for the pod - and on other planes that's what I do - for some reason, I didn't spray this one with Super 77 before taping it - I was experimenting.

I bet the pod helps get the CG alot easier than on something that doesn't have one too.

Yes, but I made the mistake of digging in the battery instead of taping it on first. Live-n-learn. Next time will be better. Get the Weasel Pro and toss on an Astro 020. You'll never have to care about the wind conditions. (ha)

Hi Buzz Man..Thats a very nice flying wing wiht a fuselage...Really hope to see how it fly ya.

isnt 3 lipoly cells and a wingo prop a bit much for a s400?

i think you should prop down a bit if you dont want to burn out another motor....
or go to 2 cells lipoly/ 7-8 nimh/nicad