It really was. I have a Z2 new in box in the attic that has just been bumped up the build queue.

Thanks!

DAMN IT.... mine hasn’t never been flown

What kind of motor is best to use on a Zephyr 2?

Originally Posted by juanej

That's vinyl, I tried to achieve a similar look on mine with 3m matte vinyl and failed horribly, maybe that carbon fiber look vinyl is thicker but the one I used looked very ugly because of the wing imperfections

What kind of motor do you use on your Zephyr 2?

Originally Posted by Ard Schell

What kind of motor do you use on your Zephyr 2?

28xx-1200kV with 10x7 APC prop. 4s6600.

Resurrecting this thread as I have been resurrecting my zii. I don’t know if many people are flying these any more.

I never really flew my zii that much when I built it many years ago. I had never got it setup in a way that I was very comfortable with. And it was difficult to get in my tiny car. Even more importantly, I never really get comfortable launching it. So I put it aside for a long long time. But now that my daughter is old enough to come the field with me, I’ve been able to start getting out to the field more regularly. So I wanted to get this airworthy again. I removed the old beat up camera box that was on there and replaced it with a 3d printed nose from Thingiverse. I also made up a 3d printed bezel for the hole I cut in for nadir photos a while ago. I also always had trouble getting the cg far enough forward, so I cut out the motor mount and pushed it forward a bit.

I re-maidened it last weekend for a very short but promising flight. Today I was out at the field and it was real gusty, but I figured if it was flying well the zii should be ok. And it was. Not a long flight, or a particularly graceful one, or a very interesting video because of the wind, but it felt great to have it back up in the air with a camera on board. Also, having flown many many more hours on smaller wings since I last flew this, I feel way more confident than I used to tossing this into the air.

December 6, 2020 (2 min 55 sec)

Originally Posted by achiii

Resurrecting this thread as I have been resurrecting my zii. I don’t know if many people are flying these any more.

I never really flew my zii that much when I built it many years ago. I had never got it setup in a way that I was very comfortable with. And it was difficult to get in my tiny car. Even more importantly, I never really get comfortable launching it. So I put it aside for a long long time. But now that my daughter is old enough to come the field with me, I’ve been able to start getting out to the field more regularly. So I wanted to get this airworthy again. I removed the old beat up camera box that was on there and replaced it with a 3d printed nose from Thingiverse. I also made up a 3d printed bezel for the hole I cut in for nadir photos a while ago. I also always had trouble getting the cg far enough forward, so I cut out the motor mount and pushed it forward a bit.

I re-maidened it last weekend for a very short but promising flight. Today I was out at the field and it was real gusty, but I figured if it was flying well the zii should be ok. And it was. Not a long flight, or a particularly graceful one, or a very interesting video because of the wind, but it felt great to have it back up in the air with a camera on board. Also, having flown many many more hours on smaller wings since I last flew this, I feel way more confident than I used to tossing this into the air.

https://youtu.be/mosKxLy5Tn0

Hey not bad for not having flown it in a while, serious windy conditions. Here's a flight with the Z2 I had just last week.

Z2 Across the Great Valley (3 min 51 sec)

BTW - Is this the Valley Forge Signal Seekers flying field? If so, I was a member there in 1981-86; it's where I first learned how to fly mostly glider off the winch. Good to see it's still an active flying field.

Happy Flying!

Mike

Mike, that is beautiful. That landscape reminds me a little bit of the region I have flown a fair amount in eastern Jordan. When I built it, I had plans to bring the ZII here, but it never happened:

Drone Archaeology Survey, Jordan, 2015 (3 min 42 sec)

That IS VFSS. I just joined there a few weeks ago as it is closer to where I live now than the field I used to go to. Nice field for sure. Seems like a nice club, too!

Nice catch Achiii. LoL Yes, surprisingly the two locations look like the same landscape but thousands of miles apart.

Keep on flying!
Mike

Still got mine!

I'm still flying mine with ruby a.p. and ground station

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