MJC - you deserve a medal flying that while that peanut gallery was spouting off in the background.

Nice flight.

T

Originally Posted by TRP

MJC - you deserve a medal flying that while that peanut gallery was spouting off in the background.

Nice flight.

T

Tell me about it! See what I have to put up with! The forecast is good for this weekend in England, so the Ptero should be getting another outing. I will ask my fellow flying buddies to keep their traps shut this time and show the person filming where the zoom feature is on my camera!

Added an arming plug today. Now I don't have live motors as i fasten the wing on.

--
Tom

Nice idea!

I plan on wiring LEDs in the head to shine out of the eyes to have an "armed" indicator.

The weather forecast was spot for England over the last weekend and with that, I took my 52' Pterodactyl for another outing. A fellow club member Andy Prime (see more of his work here) was able to capture the following excellent pictures of the Ptero in action.

More photos can be seen on my blog here.

Watch out for a further flight video over the next couple of days too, this time with some closer in video footage.

Enjoy.

Third pic is maybe the best shot of a Ptero I have seen yet. Nice work.

Rob...

Thanks Rob.

Here's the flight video I referred to yesterday.

Marston's 52' RC Pterodactyl 2nd outing LMAC Leicestershire (4 min 24 sec)

Great video and music ! Thanks !

I'm very highly interested in this plane as well. I flew it on Real Flight and it flies like a real sweetheart. Looks like a great plane, and I'd very much like to get myself one as well. So count me in as a lurker...

Welcome builderdude. It is a sweet flyer

Thanks.
Looks to me like the 52 incher is a little bit better. Although the 80 inch Ptero has a much bigger wing, it's also got a higher wing loading! From my calculations, 13 oz/sq ft compared to the smaller one's 11 oz/sq ft. I think I'm leaning towards the smaller of the two.

Originally Posted by RCPtero

I plan on wiring LEDs in the head to shine out of the eyes to have an "armed" indicator.

I like that idea a lot!
I usually don't use a switch. I just unplug the battery when I'm done flying. Seems to work out fine without the extra wiring. However, having the eyes light up red when the system is energized is a GREAT way of knowing if your battery is still plugged in. I have ruined a Lipo battery before by forgetting to unplug it, resulting in overdischarging.

Another thing you could do, in addition to the eyes glowing red, is to have the wings and tail outlined in LEDs too, which would permit night flying. Just an idea.

Well the time has come to grab the wounded bird off the bench and start the repair. I am lucky that the wing was not too badly damaged, worst of it is that I have to make a new engine mount for 1 motor. I have just finished putting the head and neck back on the body. Slowly does it but will get there in the end.
Andrew

Mine is in the final stages of completion. Just got to size up some pushrods and then balance at the CG. Program the TX for rates and expo. Might be ready in a couple of days when I can find an hour to finish it up. Been flying so no time to build. I don't like building planes so I found it to be a tedious process. I'm really hoping it was all worth it.