Originally Posted by Butch777

Wow, I already get attacked by a couple of hawks setting in the neighborhood trees, just waiting for me to fly something around the house.
One of these would really draw some serious Bird attention!!

This bird is BIG! I wonder if your hawks are going stay in the trees while they figure out if it's safe to fly?

Originally Posted by deadduck

The Don
Nice bird!
What motor / prop / batts are you going to use?

I am using a KA20-20L motor on a 3S 2050 lipo and Pentium 18 ESC. All available on my website (shameless plug )

Don

Hey DeadDuck,
I have family that lives in a shantie, close to the end of the runway at the Manila Airport.
Maybe I'll get one for my nephew to buzz the airliners with!! Ha Ha!!!

Originally Posted by Butch777

Hey DeadDuck,
I have family that lives in a shantie, close to the end of the runway at the Manila Airport.
Maybe I'll get one for my nephew to buzz the airliners with!! Ha Ha!!!

Ah, I will keep an eye out for reports of an EPP birdstrike.

A guy I know is planning to get my other Eagle because he needs it for his farm.

He has a coconut farm and he also keeps bees. In December, migratory birds fly through his farm and wipe out his bee colonies.

A neighbour of his (also a bee keeper) shot one of the migratory birds and found over a hundred bees in its stomach.

Hundreds of migratory birds x > 100 bees = no bees = no honey.

He wants to try a non-fatal flying scarecrow. We're talking about extended flights all day, so am looking at the possibility of using A123 cells (2S), so he has fast charge capability. We'll probably hook up the transmitter to a lead acid battery. His farm hands are all going to have to learn to fly the eagle.

Dawn to dusk eagle patrol!

Maybe we can find a sound file of a demented eagle and have it broadcast at the same time!

Yea, a carbonfiber Eagle, with a video cam for eyes and a shotgun barrel under each wing and go hunting!

Looks great Don!

Maiden flight is tomorrow morning. AUW is 20.1 ounces I have over 1:1 thrust ratio with a GWS 9 x 5 HD prop and it pulls about 13.5 amps WOT ( around 140 watts). I will try to get some video.

Don

Maybz,

Are you still working on a manual? How's it going?
Looking forward to it. Your painting tutorial was impressive.

gb

I've always wanted something like the Eagle, something that really looks like a bird and this fills the bill. I ordered mine last Thursday, hoping it will arrive before I have to go out of town. The painting tutorial was fantastic Maybz, I appreciate you taking the time to do the writeup and shoot the photos.
I'm gathering all of the electronics for mine, I'm going to use Spektrum so no dangling antenna wire for me. Probably use HS-55 servos since they are small and light. A LittleScreamers "DeNovo" Micro OUTRUNNER Brushless Motor will provide power and I have a few 1800 25C PolyQuest packs for power. A Jeti-12 speed controller and I'll be ready to take to the skies. With 19 oz of thrust it should nearly go vertical, or at least I hope it will. It appears to soar well and I love soaring, I'll probably take it out to a local spot where buzzards fly and see what they think of it! Keep the great posts going guys, this has been very entertaining.

Gary Morris

Maiden flight was great! Half throttle is more than plenty to fly. CG was perfect at 6cm and needed no trim to fly. Rather uneventful maiden really. Put probably about one hour of stick time on it today, I was getting about 30 minutes on a 3S 2050 lipo. Got the attention of a few local birds who tried to swoop at me a few times Had my altimeter on board, got to 1528 feet on my last flight. I love this plane and it was a big hit at the field today.

Don

Originally Posted by deadduck

Ah, I will keep an eye out for reports of an EPP birdstrike.

A guy I know is planning to get my other Eagle because he needs it for his farm.

He has a coconut farm and he also keeps bees. In December, migratory birds fly through his farm and wipe out his bee colonies.

A neighbour of his (also a bee keeper) shot one of the migratory birds and found over a hundred bees in its stomach.

Hundreds of migratory birds x > 100 bees = no bees = no honey.

He wants to try a non-fatal flying scarecrow. We're talking about extended flights all day, so am looking at the possibility of using A123 cells (2S), so he has fast charge capability. We'll probably hook up the transmitter to a lead acid battery. His farm hands are all going to have to learn to fly the eagle.

Dawn to dusk eagle patrol!

Maybe we can find a sound file of a demented eagle and have it broadcast at the same time!

Maybe a few kites would be more practical. Don't know how long your motor would hold up flying all day. Look for some kites with falcon shaped or hawks pattern or even a clear kite with the pattern painted on. At least then you wouldn't be flying all day. This may keep them away from the area of your hives.

If the birds are catching the bees in the air there maybe nothing you can do. I'm sure the bees have a large range when foraging.

Originally Posted by Steve_A_Reno

Maybe a few kites would be more practical. Don't know how long your motor would hold up flying all day. Look for some kites with falcon shaped or hawks pattern or even a clear kite with the pattern painted on. At least then you wouldn't be flying all day. This may keep them away from the area of your hives.

If the birds are catching the bees in the air there maybe nothing you can do. I'm sure the bees have a large range when foraging.

I think he tried kites already, but they may not have been bird shapes.

He told me the birds just fly around with their beaks open through the swarms.

Did a quick power test.

BW 1100kv
Hobbywing 10A esc
DualsSky 11.1v 1000mah (gold rate)
Folder prop 40mm pitch with 9 x 5 blades

WOT was 8 amps measured at the battery lead.

7,300 to 7,400 rpm at WOT

I'll maiden this coming saturday.

Originally Posted by deadduck

I think he tried kites already, but they may not have been bird shapes.

He told me the birds just fly around with their beaks open through the swarms.

Well I know very little about bees but alittle about birds. Birds in the air may not be threatened by an Eagle or even large hawks. These birds grab their pray on the ground. So in the air the smaller birds will have the advantage against them. Falcons take their prey in the air. So a falcon above where the birds are flying may spook them. Especially non resident birds ( migrating) that won't have time to acclimate to the fact that it is just a kite.

Just saying that an eagle may not disrupt thier feeding, the kite might not either but I think a hovering falcon may appear to be more of a threat.

Maybe you friend should get a real falcon to chase the birds away. LOL

One thing I noticed today when flying with other larger birds today was that they seem to not care about you as much as long as you are at a different altitude. At one time two other birds and I were thermaling all at different altitudes. If I climed or dropped altitude to meet them at the same altitude that is when they got mad.

Don