Its been over a year since my last blog entry so I thought I'd get you up to date a bit.

So last year I decided to buy a Phantom 3A to take some aerial footage of random stuff in seek of hopefully making it into a business. I haven't flown much slope fixed wing stuff since. After flying my Phantom for a few weeks I met up with a group of guys that fly racing drones and immediately took interest and started to dive into that world. The learning curve was steep and almost gave up a few times but I stuck with it and things started to click and make more sense. I try to fly drones every weekend and I'm still at a low level of flying and building knowledge. Its my new addiction and I have had no interest in fixed wing stuff since. I still want to fly fixed wing but just dont have the time right now. I'm posting a few pics of my latest drones and outings.
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I'm placing pic's of Jim's wing build so he can follow along as I progress.

Sorry if I got some stuff in there that I've posted already.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX5...G4uNWDdJOyBGAg

Today I cut my first set of wing cores. I have been wanting to do this for a long time now. I finally put a super simple hotwire unit together and its working great. I used Ideas from TFLG's hotwire setup and mixed them with an idea I saw on you tube.

Over the past few weeks I collected all the necessary supplies and today I put it all together and cut my cores. I did a few practice cuts on a pice of scrap epp first. Then I just went for it. I think they came out pretty good for my first set.

Cant wait to get them on the Used Spitfire fuse I got from Andy. He also gave me the templates for cutting my cores. Its a RG 14 airfoil.

Here are just some of my most recent projects and stuff I've done in the past year....Continue Reading

Super light JW60 (5 min 34 sec)

Im helping out a local sloper get his plane in the air. He bought a used but in good shape wing and a new but mismatched fuse. It doesn't have a canopy, rudder or horizontal stab. I will design and build my own from balsa and cover them with Ultracote.

Today I laid up a fg canopy using the bottom of the fuse. I used 3 plys of 4oz cloth.

I've been busy building and have not kept up with my blog. I will try to recap some of my builds since my last post here....Continue Reading

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...2259321&page=7

This was a fun project I built for a friend. So much that I decided to build a woody for myself. I traded another friend of mine a rtf plane for a nib kit (Bobcat) a Bob Martin.

I have plenty of time but no money so I started scratch building a wing from a box of cores I got from a friend. The cores are made of a very flimsy Styrofoam. Airfoil unknown flat LE looks symmetrical. 48" ws cut to make a 16" micro wing for light lift days. Adding gear today so will post flight report soon.

The stand is made from an industrial telescopic light stand that was being thrown away at my old work place. The cradle is built from 3/4" pvc pipe and fittings. If anyone is interested I can take messurments but the pictures should be all you need.

My latest creation
Zephyr Maiden Nipomo Mesa Ca.:

Zephyr Maiden Nipomo Mesa Ca. (4 min 12 sec)

The Cobra is sold and I'm almost done with the Panther. I've started the Zephyr and will be hopefully finishing that one in a week or two. After that I hope to receive my B17 so I can just keep things rolling.

Finally starting to build my P-36 Kingcobra today.

9/2/14
1) washed fuse and sanded seem
2) Glued magnets in the fuse and oh hatch.
3) cut out tail pieces from 3/32 sheet balsa.
4) laminated them with 3oz glass.
5) sheeted the wing cores with 1/16 balsa using super 77.

Letting everything cure overnight and will get back on it tomorrow.

I've had this plane nib for a few years now and didn't really have any interest in building it till recently. I've been building and buying mostly light lift aerobatic planes for the past year. Light lift and cross wind conditions are common at my home slope so it's been nice to have planes that will fly in these conditions. Such as the Kato, Viper, Colibri, Zulu, Mini Zulu and now I have the WEDGIE !!

It's intended to be E powered but I don't fly power much so I converted into a sloper. I'm extremely happy and surprised on how well it turned out and how it flies. It's light at 4.95 oz, 32" ws, 1cell lipo, 3gm servos, lemon rx, 1.7 mil NS on entire plane and 10 mil on LE and nose forward of CG only no spar.

It's the first time working with an eps plane and was not sure how it would be to sand, glue and cover. I thought it would melt if I tried covering it but it handles heat very well. I thought it should take glue like epp but it doesnt. C.A. and Goop type products melt it but white foam glue and epoxy works well.

Flight performance is spectacular. It penetrates well and has very good slow, fast speed and aerobatic capabilities.

I'm not even sure these are still available but if they are I need to pick up a few more of these guys.

http://www.mmglidertech.com/wedgie.php

http://www.mmglidertech.com/wedgie.evolution.php

Got too excited to fly and didn't program in any expo or dual rates so my flying was a bit shaky for the first flight. Second flight was much smoother with a little expo.

"Wedgie" Maiden (3 min 42 sec)

I was very fortunate to get my hands on this plane. The cores and pod were given to me by Rob (Beunperro) but designed and cut by Zach (Zupair.com). Not many of these were made so I consider myself very lucky. It was painted by Robs daughter Jenna (HangerQueenDzine). It has 2-5gm servos, lemon rx and a 1cell 160mah lipo. It has the unique addition of drooperons. Im a true believer on them adding additional aerobatic performance. It weighs 2.90 oz. And I absolutely love flying this plane
Mini Zulu Maiden Flight:

Mini Zulu Maiden Flight (3 min 28 sec)

Built this Zip 55 about a month ago. It's a wingeron with 2 -9gm servos for wing and 2-5gm servos for the tail. This was a fun build and it's a great flying plane. This one will be hard to sell.

I started building my moth yesterday. I hope to be done with it and ready for maiden tomorrow. I'm building this one light so I can fly in light conditions.

I have many planes I need to build but sometimes I loose my motivation. I've been building foam planes for the past few months and I have a nice collection of wings for every occasion. What I want to start next is my Zip 55 all wood wingeron and then I'd like to start building the 3 pss planes I have an Aircobra, Panther and Zephyr. I've only built one pss plane so far so I'm still a little intimidated by them. I also have a Moth and a Mini Zulu at Jenna's waiting to be painted.

Below is a few of my last builds. I had a blast building them and they fly great too. I also have been enjoying flying my Mamba, Viper and Halfbad....Continue Reading