CTH Bullseye - Orange Blossom Special Touch and Go (1 min 46 sec)

November winds, ENE to 25mph.

About the time of year for me to fly ... at sunset
with my LED loaded EPP foam flying wings.

Winds no problem for them. Also they land on grass
so no problem with wind direction or speed.

No 'runway' to deal with.

Will fly 3D planes and sport planes with landing gear
whenever we get calm weather. Should have several
Extreme Flight planes for 'first flights' then.

Recent video of homebuilt flying wing....

Mother Ship 2 Sunset 1 (2 min 21 sec)

After my first video... knew there was a problem
because the plane was at the far top of the video,
and disappearing sometimes because the camera
was not aimed high enough. Shown is my 20 degree
riser block solution for keeping the model centered
in the video frame.

Mobius shows a hat rig on their website
without an angled visor mount.

So, after a few tries, I found a 20 degree
wood block, through-bolted to the Mobius
mounting plate worked best for me.

Hundreds of videos later and this is my current
preferred setup.

The Mini was added using velcro. I can fly
the Mini on the plane or shoot a backup video
from the hat. The settings can be changed in each.
You could have the mini doing time lapse,
wide angle, zoom, or other settings.

I use the original narrow angle lens A,
for less distortion, on the hat.

I use wide angle Mobius onboard the planes.

All hats/visors fit differently so best to
calculate each one separately.

NightFlyingOrientationLEDs (1 min 1 sec)

Still use 3 Watt Eagle Eyes for running/headlights
on all my night flyers. Very intuitive. Similar to
seeing a cars headlghts coming at you on the road.
When you see white, hit the throttle, it is
coming back at you.

I went with skid pad.

ESC brake set to 'off'.

Video of first two flights to
confirm 3/8" EPP skid pad
works.

Reason to try a skid pad is that many
model planes with landing gear run off
the small, oddly angled runway ... hit the
heavy grass and flip.

Also, have seen some prop strikes as other
Leaders try to taxi through heavy grass.

This skid method exchanges the weight of
wheels for EPP foam pad / Extreme tape.

Works OK so far.

Biggest advantage (heavy grass) is being able to land
directly into the wind, regardless of wind
direction for the lowest ground speed/ best flare.

Secondly, the pad acts as a brake.

Leader 480 Modified Some (1 min 42 sec)

Built this EPP foam wing from a Crash Test Hobby "Hercules' kit.
No longer in production, this wing is over 5 years old, and still
flies great. The LEDs are all custom.

Markham Park Vista View Flying Wing Crash Test Hobby Herc Night Fly Clip (1 min 13 sec)

...explains a few things.

Foam Concept Jets has a PDF plan.
Foamboard/EDF (70mm). Not perfect scale
representation.... but it flies OK.

I used the plan but modified it slightly.
I retained elevons only, but changed
their shape. It will fly better if you
change to a more perpendicular
hinge line (across the wingtip),
and use their dihedral, as shown.

Their PDF was a good starting point,
and the CG is good as shown on
that PDF.

Fun project. Changed to 47”L x 44”W,
80mm, 6s. Arm launch, belly land.
Simple, cheap, and fun, but foam
board just doesn’t last long enough!

As you can imagine, a large flight
envelope doesn't exist. Best to stay
at, or near 'military power', use shallow
banks, and don't forget to add about
3/8"+ reflex at arm launch, then trim
some out on first pass.

Keep your airspeed up in shallow,
level banks or the nose will drop
fast under the horizon.

What else.... I gave this F117 a 'Nascar
fan/ pace car' paint job... 75 feet,
at 75 MPH detail. Dull black hides
the modified hinge line, dihedral,
and 30% wider body. This is definitely
not 'scale'... funny, I get more comments
at the field about this plane than
anything else.

Planning another larger F117.
Only change will be using
an EDF (or two) with more blades
for better sound than the
Delta-V 32 80mm fan.

Have fun.

F117 VVP (1 min 30 sec)

F117 VVP (1 min 30 sec)

'Simitar' styled, home built, EPP foam, film laminated,
pusher-motor plane.

Always liked the Simitar style. BUT, know not much
about balsa construction, or fuel/gas motors, so I built
an EPP foam plane that had a pusher motor, and was
launched by hand, and belly-landed on grass
... no landing gear.

I borrowed, and blended the build techniques from
CTH foam wings (Lee), and the style of Flying Foam
Nurf (no longer in business) and Bill Evans Simitar.

I was, and still am surprised how easy it flies.
This plane is 4 years old, and is still my favorite
for unique style, tight turns, and big presence
in the sky.

I have since built many Simitar styled foamies,
both tractor and pusher motors...yet the most
durable, has been this particular yellow version
because of the rear prop and rear skid.

Great blend of styles borrowed from Bill and Lee.

Simitar Style Flying Wing Maiden (0 min 30 sec)

Tight Turns 6ft Plank Simitar style EPP foam flying wing with elevons only (1 min 13 sec)

...Continue Reading

Dug up some old info about the killer of flying wings... flutter.

Interesting. Check out the info in the attached PDF.

Problem is finding a good battery position.

Will hotwire a test EPP wing, long ws, high aspect, tapered to test this idea.