Two sessions today and charging up for a final round before the light quits for the day. -2 deg C when I went out this morning, third launch and I slipped on a hidden pool of ice and went in. It was save my face or the tx and the tx won. Farmers’ fields can be rough places when the ground is frozen solid. Back at lunch time for more and was bumpy as hell, 7 deg C with a light breeze. Loads of slack lift about but I could just not stay centered in it. To add insult a buzzard came over to a pocket of air I was scratching in. It took him some about 5 or six turns to center it but in the end he started climbing away all be it slowly. I launched and re launched in to the same air that he was in but just couldn't make it climb. Phone cam is junk so pic is a little flat.

I like that color scheme on the B3. did you buy it that way or did you paint it like that?

Originally Posted by Mr. Wiz

I like that color scheme on the B3. did you buy it that way or did you paint it like that?

It's stock Mr Wiz. The pic does not do it justice, I'll get a better pic at the weekend with my DSLR

That is one beautiful Blaster! Nicely done!

I have a Hobby King wing cam that I velcro to the top of the wing. Camera looking back really lets you see how much energy there is involved in a launch.

Currently looking out of window at a calm sunny day, with frost on the ground, perfect thermal recipe , waiting to take my little one to school and dog will need a walk but once that's done I'm going thermal hunting with my blaster, should not need ANY ballast today, cant believe how excited I am about it lol, but after a long session of poor conditions I'm easily pleased!
My M8 sold his blaster again on friday cause he got fed up with the crappy weather, he'll be buying another one now lol and get it flying just in time for crappy weather to come back!

light winds, sunshine and cold ground, perfect for thermals, caught a thermal with just about every other throw, did lots of around 8 mins and mostly just came down due to boredom and wanted the thrill of hunting another thermal, was flying with the ballast out and just left 5g in nose, then took that out too and cog must have been over 90mm and in the light winds was still very flyable and really shot up in the thermals, I had climbed a thermal as high I am comfortable within 3 mins of throwing it, after a 16 min thermal I did some loops etc and came back down, only to find no lift to go back up in, then the winds picked up and I did a 17 min slope flight.
2hr30 later I decided to come home for some lunch as I was VERY cold and sky had clouded over completely and was only getting 4 min flights lol.
It feels like spring is close now thank goodness.

well i flew a new Predator 2 that was built by my son for me. His first build and man does it fly nice. weather in az slight breeze about 75deg. sun had gone down and i was getting 1;30 to 1;50 flights with a busy feild of other electric flyers. I am very happy with this plane for me it launches higher than any thing i have flown. Not sure how high.
Son you did a good job.
we have 2 more of these to build. one for him and one more for me(just in case)
these planes are part of the last P2s being built and CJ does a great job in manufacturing these. cant wait to see the P3.
more flying this coming weekend at the Red Rocks contest in southern Utah

Did another hour this aft seeing as winds were still coming up hill, the thermalling was not as good, I did manage 2 climb outs but had to come back pretty fast due to the wind, but the sloping was alright, managed a 20 min and a 10 min then just kept losing lift every 5 mins or so, played with the ballast again, but flys fine with or without it when there is some lift about, the climb outs were without it though!

[QUOTE=nigelsheffield;24467814
was flying with the ballast out and just left 5g in nose, then took that out too and cog must have been over 90mm and in the light winds was still very flyable and really shot up in the thermals, [/QUOTE]

Nigel Did you spend much time pushing the nose back over? I find that when the CG gets this far aft I spend lots of time pushing the nose back to level as anything that upsets the DLG just drops the tail.

Yes, the nose did need a fair bit of attention, it would pull put up a lot in when entering a head wind and drop and speed right up when entering a tail wind, but when the air was calmish it was fine and the nose was a good indicator for what was happening with thermals, obviously in turbulence it was pretty hopeless and I just put the 5 gram back in then as an when things got too silly!
Launch heights was noticeably lower with no weight in too but that probably could be sorted out with trimming, I just did not bother much apart from elevator as conditions were changing so often.

Another thing I noticed was with the lighter setup needed less camber to fly properly, in fact virtually none was needed to thermal when there was no weights in at all, the normal thermal camber setting would just slow the plane down in a circle setting up a stall.

I think my older blaster was able to turn tighter in a thermal without stalling then this new one and was generally happier at lower speeds then this newer one, I wonder if they altered the aerofoil a bit or maybe this newer one just has some defect as my M8 who sold me this one has had 4 blasters now and said that he could launch the others better then this one and they floated round better, not going to fall out with him though - he did tell me b4 I bought it lol.
To look at them we can see no difference though, and it may be the 9g servos that are in this one thinking about it, cause the 1st one he got was already built, then he got this one new and put 9g servos in it, the next 2 he put 5g servos in so 16 grams lighter in servos would make a big difference after seeing how just 5 or 10 grams can change things, BUT he puts in more then that in weights to get his cog to 80mm.

David, you said you design wings, I just wondered how much equipment would be needed to build a molded dlg, and how much time would be spent making each one, reason I ask is over here we have a very limited choice of dlg and they are almost twice the price then in the US, I am not working but have a modest income from a rental property and have a garage that could be made into a small workshop which would be great for making dlgs to sell over here, if I could make a couple a week it would be a great boost to my finances and mean I could buy more planes lol and maybe even a second car so I could go out and find some hills to go soaring!

Originally Posted by nigelsheffield

David, you said you design wings, I just wondered how much equipment would be needed to build a molded dlg

Everything you could want to know about building RC gliders can be found here on rc groups. Be it balsa, foam core bagged, molded, etc.

Ryan

Nigel, maybe it'd be a little easier over there, but at least here in the us building DLGs isn't really a money-making scheme. Those who build over here do it for the love, not for income.

Probably depends on what you consider acceptable income and if you already have the tools/space and a design that you can build.

If you already have the tools/space and if you don't have very high expectations on income then I would imagine that building planes or parts could be for fun income for a retired person or a stay at home parent or whatever.

BTW, rather than trying to build a full plane I would suggest with a part of a plane that people would really want. For example, I know that some guys are making after market awesome tail sets. There is a market for that kind of thing and that could be a small money making endeavor. Not a lot of money compared to any professional endeavor but perhaps some extra spending money or whatever.

Ryan