Butch, we're all looking forward to reading about the upcoming maiden and a video would just make our day!

Test flew my ww boomer for the first time tonight! I love this plane! )) I broke the nose but its easily repaired. I crashed a few time and all I broke was the nose (nose dived into the ground, see pic) This is my first ever time flying an aileron plane and its a blast to fly! Of course I over controlled it the first few times and I would not have crashed so bad if it wasn't for a glitch I'm having with the radio I think...?

Please let me know what you guys think the problem is coming from. I throttle up with the stick get her up in the air then I move the stick all the way down to shut off the motor but the motor stays on full throttle and I was forced to fly around really fast trying not to crash (no luck, I lost control and crashed a few times lol) I'm going to switch from my esky radio to my futaba to see if its the radio that is glitchy. The motor does in fact shut off eventually after about an 8 to 10 second delay at throttle off. Could it be the transmitter? faulty crystals? Rx or esc glitchy?

Anyway, the throttle glitch just made it way more challenging to fly it without crashing and my heart was sure pounding! after over controlling it a few times I was more gentle on the sticks (it can turn on a dime! )) luckily there was no one around (it almost hit the wife once though but I pulled up in time) My wife had no idea I lost control a few times because of the throttle jamming and thought I was trying to do acrobatics with it looping in the air trying to avoid the ground LOL! This little plane flies better than I thought it would, it handles really well in the air even at really slow speeds. There was as gust of wind, but no problems at all, its a dream to fly in my opinion and way more fun (to me) then flying those bigger 2 meter electric gliders I used to fly at club fields (no more driving out to the far off club fields wasting gas! yay!) The park I went to was just a 5 minute drive away compared to the 45 minutes to the nearest club field... bonus

Of course, used to launching the tractor pullers and this being my first pusher plane, I put in full throttle then tossed it into the wind OUCH! luckily the prop only scratched my hand

I hope I can figure out the radio glitch, I'm dying to go try it again!!!!

This is a wonderful plane Butch, thanks again for all your hard work.

Jasper135

I replaced the esky's crystal and the Berg's rx crystal with the ones I use with my futaba and so far there is no throttle delay. I'll try to test fly it again tomorrow and hope its the end for the radio glitches The nose is glued back on so I'm ready for test flying again! hehe. OMG this is SUCH a fun plane to fly.

Jasper135

Congrads on the Maiden!
Once you get used to flying full throws and then drop in a 3 cell, the fun really begins.

Radio problems can really be a pain. I started out with GWS rx's and with 12 million people in the SFO bay area, I was always getting glitches. I would get these real bad glitches that would make the plane dive into the ground, so after that happened a few times, I reversed the control rods and horns so it glitch up instead!
Back then Bergs were real expensive and I only had a couple along with JR's for my good planes and helis.
I'm glad you like the design, Butch

Toss it gently into the air, then hit the throttle. This probably sounds hard, but it's not with a little practice. Your fingers will thank you for learning this trick.


Dave

Originally Posted by Flatulator

Hi, I just finished a successful 48" chuck glider to boomer conversion that flys great. I just bought a smaller 25" chuck glider that I am going to convert to a boomer. Maybe I just got lucky when I built the first one but I just guessed at the dimensions of the vertical and horizontal stabs. Is there a formula for figuring out how big to make the stabilizers?

Those Chuck gliders are fun to experiment with. I have several I've messed with. I'm messing with a Boeing blended wing design, using Chuck gliders for parts. Butch

Originally Posted by timocharis

Toss it gently into the air, then hit the throttle. This probably sounds hard, but it's not with a little practice. Your fingers will thank you for learning this trick.


Dave

My first Boomer launch with power left a good size deep cut in one of my fingers.
Luckly, a well trimed 24g outrunner WW Boomer, will glide 40ft on a good toss. Butch

Originally Posted by Butch777

Those Chuck gliders are fun to experiment with. I have several I've messed with. I'm messing with a Boeing blended wing design, using Chuck gliders for parts. Butch

That's a pretty cool design, I'd love to see it fly. I had so much success with my first chuck glider conversion that I just picked up a 25" chuck glider I am going to convert for a 16g brushless I have in my flight box.

I've got another question about the horizontal stabilizer. I've started on this 25" chuck glider/boomer conversion and was wondering if there is a prefered placement for the horizontal stab? In looking at the boomers pictured in this thread I've noticed that most of them have the h-stab a couple of inches or more higher than the wing itself. Is there a reason for this?

In the beginning, the h-stab was wing level, so the tails were more vulnerable to breakage. Next I tried the h-stab on top of the tails, but again the tails were weak at the base and the control rod was longer to reach it. So I decided to put the h-stab about 2/3's up the tails, so anywhere from 1/2-3/4's up seems fine.
Also, I noticed I got more control from the elevator with power at 2/3's, as the prop puts out the most thrust in the outer 1/3rd of the prop. Butch

Well I just couldn't wait since I just soldered up the batts for the Micro-Boomer, so I took it out front under the street light on a calm evening.
I did a few glide tests and had to power up to keep it out of the bushes. It was nose heavy and a bit pitch sensitive.
I got it close and flew it around a bit. Very sensitive and too fast in the dark.
It would fly at under 50% power and the inexpensive 3.7g servos seemed a little
step-ie.
Its too early to tell, but it seemed like part of the pitch sensitivety was like that of a flat plate wing. The extra wide cord may make it more so.

But! It turned out weighing 2.3ozs/65g's and has plenty of power, so maybe a thicker airfoil would be the next step. The wings do need a little stiffining, so extra EPP instead of a spar might be better. I'll post some pics later, Butch

I got off work early enough to take the Micro-Boomer out to a grass field, just before dark.
It flys, but not good. It has plenty of power, loops real tight and rolls well.
But it would pitch down when pulling out of dives.
Luckly it was light enough to see the wings flexed too much. With the angle of the aileron pushrods, the flexing up of the wings would push the ailerons both down and of course pitch the nose down.
If I flew it slow and smooth, it did ok, but any abrupt up elevator, caused it to pitch down.
The easy fix is a C/F rod, but I may just make a thicker wing. Maybe even hollow, with EPP ribs and a spar. I'll have to think about it. Butch

At that size, hollow will save almost nothing in terms of weight. Which is something to toss into the think pot. But it can add some stiffness from the glue joints.

Here's another thought: laminated layers might also be stiffer than just epp. Probably add a hair of weight though, depending on the glue used to make the layers. Two at most, of course, if you're shaping a foil.


Dave

To stiffen the Micro Boomer's wing, i tried some scotch tape accross the bottom.
That helped, but just not enough. So I ran a piece of kevlar thread from tip to tip.
That helped a lot so I took it out saturday morning with the boys, on a nice calm day.
It helped a lot, but still not enough.
I ended up just adding a .080 CF spar across the bottom. That really stiffened the wing. Flying weight went from 2.3ozs to 2.4ozs.

I took it out just now, in a breeze, 3-4mph. It loops and rolls very tight, has great climb, but still I get a slight pitch down when turning into the wind.
I think with the large wing cord, the flat-plate airfoil pitchyness, is increased.

All in all it flys good. It will fly very slow and still have control at under 50% power.
I think I'll get some thin EPP sheet and do a built up wing next.
The size, weight, power seems to be about right. Butch

So Butch, I know you ended up at 18" wide with the WW sweep, but where did that leave the root & tip chords? Might want to try a shot at that same layout...


Dave