The straw that the motors are mounted on is inside of a slightly larger straw that serves as a bearing so the pitch of the motors can be adjusted.

I have the blimp balasted slightly heavier than neutral bouyancy, and the motors are angled up. So at low throttle settings the blimp flies level, and at higher throttle it climbs. To decend you just let off the throttle.

Construction is just a piece of 2mm depron for the gondola and soda straws for everything else. Lift comes from 4 standard party balloons.

here's the video:

http://web.mit.edu/ajw61185/Public/a...limp%20008.avi

Cool - I didnt expect it so fast and agile ! Thats a nice outbreak from just AA-planes. Would have loved to have something like this in last winter, for indoor flights in smaller rooms. Next winter I'll have for this purpose the 10 gr picco z heli for hovering over the TV during commercials
I just have mentioned (jets thread) that I also think about other ideas and fun planes like this. What about a real zeppelin replica for a more directed flight?. One should have a more "cigar-like" baloon for one....

Bye

What is it wit you guys!!!! I SWEAR 2 GOD, every time I got an idea, or think about posting sumthing, THE EXACT SAME DAY some1 beats me to it!?! This has happened a few more times than the average 'weird coincidence'. 4 instance, Estes new flying wing by micro_builder, sat down to post about that thing the day after I saw it for the second time (it was posted right before I sat down!!) the uhh... 9v power jack mod for the AA tx, although mine was slightly different, that was posted the day before I decided I'de check out the forum, c what was new, and possibly add that mod if nothing new was added. Honest 2 god, there are freakishly more coincidences like these.
Now I know it is very possible for a couple of us to have the same sorta ideas within' a certain field of interest [u know, tha whole "Great minds think alike" think )

>>>BUT THIS IS TOO MUCH, I WAS READING ON THIS FORUM ALL DAY, LEFT 2 GET MILK, AND THOUGHT I'D STOP AT HY-VEE AND GET THE CHEAPEST, BIGGEST HELIUM-FILLED BALLOONS THEY HAD (have been wanting to do a micro AA driven blimp ever since I started modding them!!) SO I TELL THE GUY THAT IF THEY"RE CHEAP I WANT FOUR, HE SAID that would be $4, talked effortlessly \/ to $3. HE ASKED IF THE COLOR MATTERED & I SAID NO< BUT RATHER NOT END UP W/ PINK. HE PROCEEDED TO POP THE 2 RED ONES HE FIRST TRYED AS I NOTICED THE SILVER ONES< AND REQUESTED THAT AS THE COLOR,
I CAME HOME WITH 4 SILVER BALLOONS TONIGHT< THE EXACT SIZE & COLOR POSTED UBOVE...... THIS IS UTTERLY INSANE FOR ME NOT TO LET THIS BE KNOWN< FOR I AM GOING INSANE ( I AM TYPING IN ALL CAPS AND I KNOW ITS NOT NECESSARY, BUT FEELS THE CORRECT WAY TO EXPRESS THE WHOLE "No 'n WAY!?!?, You gotta be kiddin' me!!!" SCENARIO I" GOING THROUGH< AS FOR THIS 1 IS TOO CREEPY!!!

thank you to those of you who took the time and read this babble, And to everyone who's minds r sumwhat tuned to the same frequency as my own , no hard feelings what-so-ever, but there IS ALWAYS next time...... "M-wah.........Mwah-hah........MWAH-HAH-HA-HAH, HAAAAAaaaa,,,,!!!!" ... no, but honestly, and I highly doubt it's not just me, but sometimes when I have an idea I want to do immediately, depending on the project, I might pause to check out the Forums and see if someone has already done it (cuz I'll tell ya, it HAPPENS!! ) That way, I possibly save some trouble, but mostly just get a bigger idea of the whole operation.
-)v(@-

-Not All Who Wander Are Lost-

Mitkid,
that's brillant. What are the cost of the party ballon incl. the gas?
Stephan

stephan-

you can get a party baloon kit at walmart its called the "Balloon Time party kit". It comes with ballons and a little helium tank that will fill 30-40 ballons (10+blimps). I got it a while ago and i think the price was $20-30. I know that if you bring the tank back when you're done they give you a discount for a new kit.

relaxr-

the first one I made I had the 4 ballons in a line (more zeplin like). To keep the ballons from moving around I made a sort of tube out of some very light garbage bag then slid the ballons into it. It flew with more elegance than the current design, but it didn't turn nearly as well.

---adam

Adam - that sounds logical - a long zeppelin is bad turning with its long "fuse lever", I didnt think about that. Therefore you have found the best design. He he again , with two sets of gears on could steer a zeppelin with two gondolas. Mhhh, coming always back to two engines sets. Maybe I should really think about entering serious rc flying - just saw that vid here in the vidsection about the F-15s in UK fighting with the winds - the music is Yello - "Oh yeah". That rocks....and makes appetite.

Bye

relaxr;
Nice vid on your Cutlass. Seems to fly very well. I still think abt your previous post abt it bobbing the nose up and down like it was saying "yes". That had to be funny.
Your communication skills are fine. You need not apoligize.

MIT KID;
Thats different for sure. It does seem very agile. A very unique AA conversion.

I ordered 10 sheets of 2mm Depron from rcfoam.com. Had it in 5 days and they also added some extra foam. Different types. 1 was a full sheet of 1mm Depron.! Nice guys.
Already have my first foam plane ready to go. I went with Selfo's SU-27. Been to windy to try it. Didnt have any foam safe CA so I just went with regular CA and hit it immediately with accellerator. Did it all from the bottom. It still ate the surface of the foam a little, but no holes! So, the top looks good. I'll just be happy if my first one flies! Due to my gluing method, I may have my own Selfo "kit" when it wrecks. haha

Tony

Hi - just was thinking about a method to measure and compare the thrustvalues of x-twin planes and individual gears. Setup was to place the fully charged planes fixed vertically head down (in a paper roll) on my old, classic mechanical letter scale ( bias from value and reading maybe +/- 0,5 gr) and measure the difference in gr between switched off and full thrust. To share the infos (all in this special setup) with you :

-new gears make about 12 - 13 gr downthrust (1st and 2nd generation, no significant diff., I sometimes thought the new ones are stronger somehow...nope)
-my oldest, worn out gear makes about 9 gr (thats close to just going down with any plane)
-the cutlass makes freshly charged 12gr, after some 3-4 minutes, you feel that the power gets real lost. The bird is just able to fly around heavily, no more climbs: again 9 gr spare thrust.

The question is, if the lipos loose capacity becoming older (I fly and charge often) or if the motors become more and more inefficient - or - both together.

The loss of 25% of full power (12->9gr) slows a jetdesign like the cutlass down , so that flying is nearly possible. The profiled bipes and eagles can take imho a bit more of loss, perhaps about 30-35%.

We see - fun and frustrating flights lie close together. The AA/xtwins really fly around the limits of electric flight. The lipos are coming down quite fast in flight.

A question : does someone know how long lipos have constant power. Whats is the best way to treat, charge, discharge lipos for the x-twins/AAs? How should be the long term storage, charged, discharged, recharge, do not - to keep them alive and fresh. Or should one change to new lipos after some time.? Your experiences ?

Bye

Hi All;
Going to Lowes tomorrow. Anyone have a favorite glue from there for Depron?
My local hobby shop is 50mi. one direction.

Thanks

Tony

RELAXR...i have two aa's both batteries still do just fine but moters seam to go out first. Ihave many lipos for other planes...still work fine after 4 or 5 years maybe problem with the moters...Jeff

Hey Guys- Does anybody know the current draw and resistance of the AA motor with the it's stock prop?

Just had two motors at the multimeter, it said some 5,5-6 ohm. To check motors: How man volt can you use for just testing the motors? I am still looking for a way to measure the motors rpm, for selection of good and worn out ones. Any idea? I feel the motors dont last long, as growermn said.

Bya

I'd test at 3.6v... Only tests worth making.

Just on the motors topic: has anyone got much more than the 12-13 gr downthrust (see setup in my post above) with those other motors (those "slickers" or how you call them, with their color codes...) . Would be interested in some more thrust. Could one of you with such a tuning please measure this value for me/us? Thank in advance

Bye

Originally Posted by Pete P

Hey Guys- Does anybody know the current draw and resistance of the AA motor with the it's stock prop?

Pete

Try looking in the text file at the begining of both these threads !

Paul