Here is what I've started slowly converting to an AP plane. It started life as a Hobbyshack Schoolboy .09 glow powered trainer, with an AP Engines Hornet .09 and trike gear, with stearable nosewheel. It was a fun little plane, but was a bit heavy with three standard servos and a 4-cell rx pack onboard. It weighed in at 34 ounces like that, but could still float around like a glider. Here are some specs:

Length: 34.5 in.
Wingspan: 50 in.
Wing area: 325 sq. in.
Weight: 34 ounces
Wing loading: 15.1 oz./sq. ft.
Engine req'd: .09 to .15

I've since took the heavy landing gear off and converted it to a taildragger, and made a new radio tray to hold sub micro servos. It's now fitted with a geared speed 400 motor. I'm expecting an AUW of about 22-25 ounces, depending on what battery I use. That's with no camera. That'll put my wing loading at about 10 ounces/sq ft. It's got a flat bottom airfoil, and the heavier wing loading should help it cut the wind better. I just need to finish putting the radio gear in and get some pushrods to finish it up, and if it flies well with this setup, I'll stick my Aiptek on it and see ho it works. Here is a picture of it, with the SS in the back ground as a referance.

Looks good! I've had good luck with planes that stay in the 10 oz wing loading range. I like flat bottom wings also. Penetrates better IMO.....but if you want to really beat the wind the dihedral is still going to be an issue. Even with dihedral though, my Snoop-E will handle 10-15 mph winds comfortably, with its flat bottom dihedral wing and about that wing loading. (I'm currently addicted to my Slingshot...modified Slinger flying wing, though) Looks like you will have plenty of room to mount the camera in a protected area. Hope you will keep us updated on your progress.

Randy

Well, I put the pushrods, receiver ,and servos in, and the AUW, minus an ESC is just over 22 ounces. That should put it right on target. That is with two HS-55s, but it seems that one of them is acting up, and doesn't want to work properly. I have a spare pair of GWS PICO-BB servos that I'll put in it until I figure out what's wrong with the Hitec servo. I should be able to get a flight test in with it real soon, possibly even tomorrow if the weather cooperates. Once I do fly it, I'll let you all know how it goes.

Keith

I got a test flight in this morning. I flew with a 8-cell 600AE NiCd pack, which put the AUW ready to go at exactly 24 ounces. It flew really well, better than it did with the glow engine. It clibs out pretty good, and on the 600 pack I got it pretty high up there. I do need to move the CG forward a bit, it's a bit sqirley with the power off when landing. At any rate, it looks very promising as an AP plane. It's a good bit faster and alot more solid than the Slowstick. It does take more room to take off and land though. I'm happy with it.

I'll post more when I get to try it with the Aiptek onboard.

Any way you could add flaps to slow down landings, a 3S Li-poly would also lower your AUW and give you a little more power. Looks like a nice platform, wish Hobby People still sold it.
Neil

I guess you could add flaps, but I'm not sure they would be worth the added weight. A brushless and litium polymers would be very beneficial in this plane, but my budget isn't up to that right now. The S400 in it is a 7.2v from Great Planes. A 6V motor would give a little more power, at the same weight as the current setup.

I changed my mind about this plane. Instead of hauling teh Aiptek camera, I got a wireless video camera to go on it. I mounted it just in front of the landing gear, looking to the front and down at 45 degrees. It's mounted on the output wheel of a HS-55 servo, that's on the rudder channel. That way I can pan the camera left and right.

I'm into flight sims as well. There is a program I use with FS2004, that enables the pilots head to move around in the cockpit of the plane your flying, it's called ActiveCam. I really like how much nicer it is flying with it, so I got to thinking. I mixed channel 4 to channel 1 in my transmitter, so that the camera will "look into the turns". Kinda like turning your head as you roll into the turn, then back to center. Then I still have the rudder stick to manually pan the camera as I see fit. It should work pretty good.

The AUW is now at 27.5 ounces, more than I hoped for originally, but still less than it was meant to fly at. As soon as the wind decides to calm down, I'll be able to try it out and see what happens.

Here are a few quick pictures of how the camera is mounted, and how far it will pan left and right.

I was lucky enough to get a test flight in with it earlier today. That was still in about 10-15mph gusting winds though, so the video leaves alot to be desired, but I was very pleased with how the plane flew despite the extra weight and wind. I'll try to edit the video later and have it posted.

Keith

Well, it seems that my capture card and the VCR I used to record the video don't get along very well. The colors are real messed up when I view it on the PC via the capture card. The quality is great when voewed on a TV, so I don't know what the problem is, it should work. I guess next time I'll leave the receiver inside connected directly to the capture card and see if that works better.

Hi Keith,

Nice set-up you have there. Simple and about as lightweight as one could get!

So you know, a friend at work tried to eliminate that 'large' connector but in doing so, rendered his camera inoperative. "There's something peculiar about that connector" is what he said to me. He does know his way around electronics to be able to replace such a simple simple connector so something is fishy here.

On the motor issue to which you may already know this, depending upon which way the motor is currently rotating you may want to try retiming it. On some gearbox set-ups, the motor is actually running reverse to what a mfg had set it up to run as. This can give you an appreciable amount more rpm (thrust) per power in. In this forum, there was a post about a year ago (sorry I can't remember who it was) showing how i was done for a GWS combo on a SS.

Looking forward to seeing some video from you!

-Roger

Roger, thanks for the comments.

That connector has a voltage regulator in it, that supplys 8V, and 5V, there are two wires going in, and three coming out. There is a picture of the disected plug on Mr.RC-CAM's site, here: http://www.rc-cam.com/imagehkv/vreg1a.jpg

I retimed a GWS 300 motor before and saw an improvement in power. Both the 400 on my SS and this plane are running backwards. I intend on retiming them one day, I just need to find something that will catch the little metal tabs. I don't remember what it was I used for the 300, but can't find anything around here now... lol

I'm off to try another video, this time on the SS, just to try with the receiver connected to the capture card to see if it works ok like that.

Keith

Hey,cool that is the plane I learned to fly one. crashed it my first flight
good luck

Originally Posted by KeithLuneau

Roger, thanks for the comments.

I intend on retiming them one day, I just need to find something that will catch the little metal tabs

Keith

I use a pair of small right angle snap ring pliers in the back plate,there are usually two small holes.Most of the time I end up with about 5-6mm,rotated clockwise looking at the back of the motor.Often, the capacitors don't even need touched

Hi Keith,

Thanks for the feedback on the connector and RC Cam's link, I'll take a look later.

As to the endbell tabs, look carefully at the rear endbell tabs and see if they 'key' into the endbell. If they do not, then insert the tips of a pair of round needlenose pliers into the two small holes on opposing sides of the endbell face, you can then 'twist' the endbell. At least that is what worked for me on several S300/S400 LPS drives. I guess I was fortunate that I did not have to do anything with the little tabs.


-Roger

Just a small update. I'm still trying to get better results out of the video camera. I should have bought a better one, but I could only afford this one for now. I'm getting some OK range from it, but during the flight I have to keep tuning the rx. Mr.RC-CAM suggested I build a regulator for the power supply, and that should help stop the frequency drifting. I also removed the regulator from that heavy plug, and saved almost half the weight of the camera. The finished camera with the new connector and longer lead is 13g, and the plug I removed was 11g. So I have plans for a regulated supply, and better antenna for the receiver.

Once I can get the capturing issue figured out, I'll get some video online. I have two goos flights on VHS so far, but the look horrible once I capture them onto the PC. What really gets me, is that they look fine on a TV, and I can capture other videos from VHS just fine, with excellent results. It may be the way it's recorded or something else, I'm not sure. I really need a camera with composite inputs for a portable setup, but the only one I had died a short time ago. My last good camera has no inputs... I guess I'll have to watch the local stores for a good used one.