Here is my own personal design of a mobius gimbal. It is a vibration isolated pan/tilt gimbal in a dome. The main frame is able to lower the dome 45mm below mounting surface, as well as raise it above the mounting surface to allow for doors if one were so inclined.

The dome comes in two forms, traditional, and vented, which helps relieve pressure build up inside during forward flight. Future improvements include servo accommodations for tilt and gimbal retraction. As well as a sliding dome-opening door, to help seal the dome from oncoming air.

This was a fast, and rough print, with humid ABS (in otherwords, ugly, but functional) for testing purposes. The Print does not reflect the quality of the STL Files.

This Gimbal is still in BETA testing, and there will be improvements discovered and fixed in later variants.

Here is the Thingiverse file drop.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:783577

As a PP, GA enthusiast, A/C mechanic, and being raised in a family of aviation, I still believe the benefits outweigh any over regulation.

Now, that being said, I believe operators should take a minimalistic class, similar to ground school which should teach airspace, regulations, and radio communication. I do not believe a CoA or Pilots certificate is necessary, and I personally believe if the FAA takes this route there will will be trouble.

I personally believe we, as GA enthusiasts should be able to compromise, although none of us want to give up our airspace.

The safest way (in my opinion) to implement UAV's into the GA:

Hobbyists: allow up to 300 ft with 200 ft seperation from any building. Only allowable flights are class g, with implemented airspace blocks in the software which will not allow flying in designated class B, C or D.

Commercial: This category would have a few different ratings, dependent on size of craft. These ratings would allow the user to fly within proximity of the point of interest (for example, within inches of a building, power line, etc.) This certificate would have differing altitude restrictions depending on rating. The ratings would include light, medium and heavy aircraft (up to 55 pounds, fixed wing). All ratings would require a similar class to ground school, being trained on communication, airspace, etc, meanwhile being able to provide 2 hours of proof (camera or data logs) for manual flight, and 8 hours of hobbyist use, all flying...Continue Reading

As I am working towards a long distance flight with a certain, high endurance airframe, I decided it was time to attack the "small things."

My experience in the full-sale world shows that even the small things, when added up, make a huge difference.

To date, I have a fix for essentially the worst aerodynamic shape you can imagine, Cylinders.... Generally when flying UHF, people use straws (I used to prefer a coffee mixer/straw) to hold the antennas directly straight up and straight down. My fix for this was a tiny 3d printed fairing. So what does it really improve in the long run? Who knows... probably not much... However it test flights, the antenna stays fixed and has much less vibration.

The second is creating a more efficient spinner for a pusher configured aircraft. The craft its self was designed around a laminar fuselage. Pusher configured aircraft often have less surface friction, and can be designed with a nice laminar flow, whereas tractor configured aircraft are often more efficient at the prop, however suffer greatly by the disturbed airflow over the fuselage.

A great demonstration of an efficient use of a pusher configuration is Burt Rutans Varieze, which with the proper spinner, is actually a very efficient aircraft when compared to others in the same class.

The Pressure-recovery spinner is designed to fit 50mm firwalls. The spinner is now on its 5th iteration, and shows a 27% decrease in drag In just this area alone. What does this...Continue Reading

After doing some work on a highspeed F5D Forward Swept Wing, I decided to apply what I learned into the DLG world. I have taken my own personal blend of the Zone V2 Airfoils and Drela's Ag455 airfoil. Came up with a nice CL/CD, and what appears to be a shallow stall. It is the MOST forgiving when it comes to fine tuning the CL/CD:AoA but, once achieved it seems to have a VERY high CL/CD

Forward swept wing to help incorporate the aerodynamic advantages, and inherent stability they add. I added my own blend of 3 different foils along with twist and dihedral in the tips, almost entirely getting rid of vorticies between stall and 28 mph, then they are almost nonexistent until 100 mph. PLenty of range for a DLG. According to software it also doesn't seem to want to stall out the tips either, Thus meaning no more dropped wings when trying to stay in that thermal!

Building disadvantages are complex cores, or molding. And throwing peg interference. You will no longer be able to get the throwing Peg as far back as other wings, however I think it is definitely an advantage I would give up.

This is just a gallery to serve as a gallery For my father to check out.

This airframe was received generously as a FreeBee, However I never got a good chance to work on it as I was offered a smokin deal on the TS2 Disser to replace a DLG that I broke due to a bad build/unclear instructions.




Hey Dad, Im thinkin you will really enjoy this whole Discus Launch Glider thing. It tons of fun to just give it a nice good spin and all of a sudden be 180' high. They thermal in next to nothing and it is very easy to find thermals. I'll help you With setting and adjusting everything. Starting with Aileron position. It will be beneficial to set up multiple flight modes. By this I mean a Penetrate mode (ailerons ~2-3mm up), Best Glide (0mm of aileron, perfect airfoil), Cruise ( about 3mm down) and thermal (about 6-8mm down). You will also need a launch mode which is often somewhere between 0-3mm up aileron, mixed with an up elevator trim. This allows minimal parasitic drag from the airfoil (drag being a byproduct of ALL lift inducing surfaces) and some up elevator which allows the plane to naturally climb up at about an 80 degree angle till almost stall speed then level out.

Your gonna have a Blast with this thing! scratching can be the most fun you can have and its fun as hell to get a 3-5minute flight Which took a solid 5 minutes of work and concentration.


It has some minor Defects But nothing to hard to fix! There are two cracks in the Fuse, which a simple SINGLE...Continue Reading

Well Here it goes! I originally Started this as I wanted a mid level DLG. I had previously broken a Super mini Topsky and the guys at skip miller were kind enough to offer me a pretty darn good deal on the Tsky 2.0 Disser. However At the same time I read up on the P2 and its amazing performance for the cost and couldn't help myself. So I got pulled some strings and got a bulk deal going. Now all 6 airframes have been ordered and we will be getting them mid August! This gives me plenty of time to properly, and skillfully build My Disser, as well as fly the piss out of it! Then when my P2 Low Wing comes, I will do the same with it =]]