Friends,

This evening I finished, and test flew, a LRF based on the Plantraco
Butterfly electronics. In keeping with the Plantraco notion of naming these
models after insects, I've decided to call it "The Noseeum" (a tiny pesky
insect that's so small it's hard to see). This model's a Noseeum because
I covered it in thin mylar, so it's hard to see...

The wing span is 13.8 inches with a max chord of 3.1 inches, giving it a
wing area of around 40 sq in. The all-up weight is 4.0 grams. So the
wing loading is about .5 oz per square foot.

The construction is standard indoor FF: balsa sticks, sliced ribs, tissue
tubes to hold on the wing pylons, solvent-based glue.... Nothing exotic
if you're an old FF're like me. Otherwise, the electronics are stock
Plantraco Butterfly stuff.

After a couple of test glides to get the wing incidence close. I said to my wife,
and a friend who was visiting, "watch this.." Now, as we all know, "watch this"
can mean anything from here-comes-a-spectacular-crash, to yee-haw-she flies!
In this case, the latter occurred. She flew just fine. A few circuits around the
living room and a safe landing on a couch. Now I gotta make a nice box for it..

Here are a couple of pix.
--del

WHOA NICE!!!thats a big airframe for those electronics!

Great job i like the design!

It's all about wing loading.. It would be fairly easy to build an even bigger
model with lower wing loading. But then it would become hard to
handle, and subject to destruction by a nasty cough at the wrong
moment...:>)

--del

Lmao Good Job Buddy!

Very nice model, Del. About the same wing loading as mine but mine is a tad smaller and lighter. 2.996 grams. I fly it in the bedroom while the wife is watching TV, drives her nuts when I fly in front of the screen.

Jerry

I like it! How do you rate it's speed? And how tight can you turn?

Cool Model, Jerry!

What covering are you using? For this one I used PPP that I got
from Roy White, The next one will be covered with OS.
That is, if I can figure out how to touch it without tearing it...

--del

Originally Posted by ifxmnfly

I like it! How do you rate it's speed? And how tight can you turn?

Speed? Slow enough so that even I can fly it..;-)

The minimum truning radius is yet to be determined. The fact
that I could fly it in the living room is enough for now. It goes
into a box 'till I can get it into the gym where I can "push the
envelope" after having gained enough altitude to be at least
three pilot-errors away from the walls and the floor....

--del

Nice one Del.

Del builds some of the biggest livingroom flyers you'll ever see. I fairly sure that a Butterfly could do circles around this one:

Del,

Mine is covered in Ultra Film from Ray Harlan. I save my PPP and OS film for my serious indoor FF models. The turning diameter on mine is about 3 1/2'. PM or email me if you would like some suggestions on handling OS film.

Jerry

Originally Posted by Tim Wolff

Nice one Del.

Del builds some of the biggest livingroom flyers you'll ever see. I fairly sure that a Butterfly could do circles around this one:

Well Tim, that one wouldn't stand a chance of being a living room flyer.
It's too dang big! The cool thing about that duration model was that
I used Wattage Microflyer electronics. It did 15 minutes on 3, 50 mAh
NiCad cells. Of course I didn't come close to beating Henry Pasquet.
But, not too bad for a $US 40.00 radio. She would slowly climb up near
the roof of the golf dome. I'd let it glide for a while, and hit the "go"
button again.

And, again, Thanks Tim for a great report on the NIRAC meet.

--del

Originally Posted by Jerry Combs

Del,

Mine is covered in Ultra Film from Ray Harlan. I save my PPP and OS film for my serious indoor FF models. The turning diameter on mine is about 3 1/2'. PM or email me if you would like some suggestions on handling OS film.

Jerry

Jerry, that was a bit of over-statement for comic effect.
Truth is, as an old FF'r I've got a fairly good handle on dealing
with film.

Two of my favorite tricks are:

Glue stick on a piece of 1/16" square balsa and put on the free end
of the roll. It's better than masking tape.

And, some RC 56 or similar glue diluted at about 30% glue to 70% water
is good for sticking it down to mid-span ribs and for applying patches.

As for wing loading, in future I suggest that we use grams per
square inch. That way folks all around the planet will be equally
hard-pressed to convert it to their local units of measurement...;-)

--del

Del,

The 1/16' trick does make it a lot easier to get it off of the roll! I crinkle it afterwards and then brush it out before I mount it to the covering frame, sure helps eliminate warping the model. I am an old dyed in the wool indoor FF guy myself, still trying to make the F1D team. I like the idea of using grams per square inch. <grin>

Jerry

Jerry,
I used to crinkle-up condenser paper and then iron it out for the same reason..

My first attempt at doing that with OS was a disaster. All it wanted to do
was find ways to rip. We'll see how the "Noseeum" goes in the gym.

I'd really like to build a model for the Plantraco Butterfly system that will ROG.

--del

Friends,

When I took the Noseeum to the gym last week I couldn't find the
batteries in the field box! Of course, when I got home I found 'em,
in the field box...

This week I knew where to look in the cluttered box... It didn't fly
worth a dang. If I trimmed it to glide, when I applied throttle it
would head for the floor. It needed !up thrust!... So I put it back
in the box. Too many times I've just made things worse by bad
decisions made at a flying sesson.

Last night I started working on it again. In the calm space of my
building area the obvious idea hit me; I didn't have to try to move
the motor on the fuselage stick, all I had to do was increase the angle
on the tail boom. At first I made small changes. There was improvement
of sorts, but not good enough. As the desire to sleep took me over
I decided, "lets go nuts".. I glued in what looked like extreme negative
incidence on the stab; and left the glue to dry.

This evening, after a few test glides to get the wing posts set
right, I "gave her the gun".. Dang! She flew nice. Punch the throttle
and the nose comes up but it doesn't power-stall. Close the throttle
and it glides slow enough that I can pick it out of the air with my
hand and not break it..

Too cool! I'd estimate the turning diameter to be around 4 feet.
I flew it out of the living room into the dining room and back.
My guess is that a bit of aerodynamic balance on the rudder
would let me turn it tighter.


Anyhoo, here's a pic that I hope will show the angles..

--del