Well, the weather was almost good enough to try a maiden today. a little breezy...but doable. ill show the pictures and let them speak for me. first the preflight, then the flight, then post flight. commentary to follow

and now, for the maiden flight!!

more flight pictures....

and now you will see why i wanted to just build it first instead of doing all the details before the maiden....

a few of the things i learned with my plane is that at 6/5 lbs, it was borderline too heavy for the motors (twin 7.2V Speed 600/MIDI fans, 45amp ESC, twin ThunderPower 3s 4200 lipoly packs) even if i rebuild it, and cut out a pound or so in weight, then im back to over 6 when adding retracts. i will probably have to go brushless, as i was full throttle the entire time. i was also nose heavy, as i was pulling back on the stick quite a bit. i should have video up by wednesday. until then, here are some crash pictures for your entertainment

Too bad about the crash. Nice pics. Looking forward to the video. I hope you rebuild.

Amazing how just one little crash really puts the screwjacks to'em.

The Phrase "I'm Givin'er all she's got Captain!" comes to mind.

hehe, thats funny. yea, the crash really wasnt that bad...as far as speed and force of impact goes. the fuselage broke at the one weak spot i knew of prior to flight. that section of the fuselage was built before i realized that its best to take off the plastic film coving blue foam. and glueing the two layers of film together is only as strong as the film bonds to the foam. which really isnt that strong. i added some reinforcements after the fact inside the fuselage. which probably kept it from splitting in two.

also during flight, which might be apparent in the video, the motors were fluctuating in speed and power. i dont know if it was because the motors were strained to the limits, or if it was interference, or something else. the effect was most notable through sound as the plane still flew relatively smooth.

i still may repair this plane. basically use the new fuselage i have built for it already, and a new nose with better steering (the current set up was damage in the crash). and rebuild the tail section with lighter stabilizers. however, in proceeding with my goal of having a plane with retracts, flaps, spoilers...i am going to have to build a bigger plane. the brushless set ups will just about double the thrust, and there is no sense in having an airliner which can go vertical. so i am changing my build from a 777, to a 3 meter long 767-400. i have already started the fuselage, and will begin a build thread for it shortly. i will use MIDI fans powered by Mega 22/20/3 with 5s 4200 mAh lipolys. this should give 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) of thrust per fan. i should be able to keep the plane under 8 lbs, 10 lbs at the most. which would be plenty of power.

at any rate, for a first build, the plane above did pretty well. i am enthusiastic about building again, and hopefully it will be a much better one than before.

Originally Posted by alabamaboatguy

and now you will see why i wanted to just build it first instead of doing all the details before the maiden....

hi, i was just wondering if you could have miss calculated the direction of the wind? It appears that in the landing pictures(the third picture), the windsock displays the wind in blowing in the same direction as you're landing or is it just a wierd angle displayed in the picture?

hehe, what you see as a 'landing' is not a landing. like i said, the CG was off and i was basically at full up elevators during the flight. the motors were also at full speed the whole time. the crash came as i was turning, and the wind coming from behind the plane. whether it was a gust or just a stall from slow speed, the plane began losing altitude quickly. as i was cutting power to try to gently put it on the ground, the plane regained its lift, and i gave it full throttle again. the pictures are in sequence, so you can see how it was low, then began to climb again. i was hoping to get to bring it around for a safe landing, but once again, it stalled. this time i was not able to recover and it went into the ground. this was actually some distance from where i was standing, the picture has been magnified.

Hey there ABG,

It was a nice attempt. At least it got airborne and now youre armed with way more knowledge for your second build.

I just got one of those Hasegawa model kits of a 777 at my LHS and put it together.. I totally recommend buying one of these models.. I think Revell has a 764. Just having the model to look at inspires confidence in building it..

G'luck with the 764.

-adrian

yea, i have the 777 plastic model...although i think mine was Revel (spelling?) it at first inspired me, then frustrated me because i havent quite learned the art of details are you building an airliner?

Its in the works.. I have alot of other priorities to deal with, so I'll make a build thread after Im done....whenever that will be. But basically its a 777 with hw-750's. I was thinking a step up using GE90's, but Im a little short on cash.

You could buy another model, glue the fuse together, and cut up the nose section into calamari rings, then scan or trace them, and then blow em up in a xerox machine. Or maybe another way is to take a 3 view, cut a side and top profile, glue them together, and improvise with the formers.

ok, ive got the video that was taken. its still in DVD format. as soon as i figure out how to get that to MPEG (or something similar) and how to post it, i will have video up!

Sorry about your crash ABG! Your plane was an inspiration to us all! However, I was told when I started in this hobby, that they never fly perfect till you crash them once or twice! Rebuild her and she'll deliver!