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Yes, I’ll angle the camera down a bit & clean the dome before next flight.
Generally I was pretty happy with it for a shakedown flight. Things can only get better !!
Perhaps you should try your GoPro 9 on the Ranger 1600, I’m sure it will fly with it fine as in the very early days I was flying with a GoPro 2 (in a waterproof housing) on the Bixler 2 and on the Firstar 1600 which is a forerunner to the Ranger 1600.
Another quality production Gerald, thanks for all your effort.
Bit of a tossup this week between you & the Frog !!
Both great videos, a shame that Kermit’s is only 720P
Well done Mr Frog and definitely worth the wait.
It’s a real toss up this week for the Peoples Choice Award between yourself & Uncle G. Both great videos of the day’s antics.
What a letdown, I logged in to check out your masterpiece and it wasn’t there. Well it actually was but low resolution again. Seems you have changed back to 720P rather than 1080P
As for your Seaplane, I have a couple of Bixler 2 motors here that are designed for your size prop, if they are of any use.
I should have your TrainStar up and running by lunchtime tomorrow as well.
One thing I can guarantee is that the wing is NOT flexing at the joiner.
The Wing root mates up to a fully epoxied Plywood box and 20mm CF joiner that is epoxied onto the wing spars and screws into the Ply box.
The wings flex fairly evenly along their length starting from around 150mm from the Pod.
I have run 50mm reinforcing tape along the top and bottom of the leading edge but I could definitely run another 50mm strip overlapping the edge of the first strip which would then cover around 90mm of the top & bottom of the wing.
But for now I’ll just try it as is with the new FC tuning and see how it goes.
That’s a nice shot Gerald and from the onboard video you can work out the exact timing of it (fairly early in the flight, with no FC enabled). I was flying it rather aggressively at the time just trying to keep it airborne (with all the trims out of whack)
Like you I was initially worried about the rather small CF wing rod and thought seriously of replacing it during construction but after a fair bit of research on the build site I decided to build it as designed & see what happens.
As the designer states it is NOT for aerobatics or any form of aggressive flying but for Long Range FPV/aerial photography so the construction is light weight & very flexible (not unlike a glider).
The majority of wing flex comments online are from people trying to fly it like a stunt plane, those using it as intended either don’t mention it or just in passing. I guess only time will tell.
The amount of flex shown in your pic is similar to what I got out of the original smaller Fox glider before I learnt how to fly it less aggressively. As we all know since Chris took ownership, it has been flown far harder than I ever did and the wing flex issue never comes up.
Just a quick update.
After a fairly uneventful maiden flight yesterday (Tuesday 10-05-2022), apart from flying the first half in manual mode instead of activating the FC, I have made a couple of minor programming changes to the iNav flight controller (FC)
1) adjusted the FC board Roll alignment by 2.5 degrees so that the plane will actually fly flat. The auto tune had adjusted the ailerons to compensate yesterday so these have also been reset.
2) adjusted the FC board Pitch alignment pitch by 4 degrees which should help with level flight in manual mode. Once again the auto tune adjusted the elevator to compensate yesterday so this has also been reset.
3) reversed the rudder throw in the FC output for correct operation.
It was obvious from pre-flight checks yesterday that the rudder control was reversed but as this is not controlled to any great extent by the FC, just used the rudder stick in reverse when needed for testing.
May try angling the GoPro camera down slightly next flight to get a bit more ground coverage & a bit less sky !!
G’day Chris, hope you are all well. If you are buying apartments I’m guessing we won’t be seeing you back here any time soon?
First thing we checked was Kermit’s prop direction, it was fine. Think the problem is a too low a KV motor with only a small prop. No doubt he’ll come up with something new by next week.
The TechPod is still a work in progress but so far its shaping up OK.
After burning the late night oil the TechPod is completed & (I hope) ready for a test flight tomorrow .
It’s carrying twin 3S 2200mAh LiPo batteries for correct CoG (even with the GoPro 9 in the nose) but I haven’t made up a parallel connector yet so only one will be connected tomorrow.
It is likely that one only will still give around 30 minute flight time so all should be OK.
I was hoping for a TechPod maiden tomorrow (Tuesday 10-05-2022) but it looks like I’m going to run out of time to complete the GoPro camera & battery installation.
Ailerons & Flaps are now connected to their servos & all tested and functioning correctly.
The other side of the Pod is now in place as are the hatches etc. The damn thing seems to grow bigger every time I work on it !!
With the GoPro 9 and 3s 2200mAh battery installed forward in the nose pod the CoG seems about right.
Just making a temporary ply mount for the camera and battery as the camera needs to be slid back to switch it on and off so I’ll mount the flight battery on the same tray (at least for the first test flight or two).
I also checked that the plane (all 2.6metres of it) will fit in the Outback without removing the wings, because of the short tail boom it fits easily with plenty of room for other models.
Today I also added a bit of colour to the lower wing area to hopefully make it more visible against the clouds
I’ve covered the downward facing camera window with reinforcing tape as it currently not in use and I need to see how the plane lands. I suspect a couple of skids may need to be fitted as there appears to be nothing in the design to protect the lower window when belly landing.
Now to finish the forward facing GoPro 9 camera/battery tray and somehow make it secure in the pod.
One final update, I’ve flown two flying days (and several flights each day) since adding the tab (above post).
The little mod to the canopy worked a treat, no more problems with the prop getting stuck now.
Another quality production Mr Kermit.
I think you should be in line for the Peoples Choice award this week for that mammoth effort.
It’s been a while since any work was done on the TechPod so today it was time to progress a little more towards completion.
The Motor, ESC, iNav system & Rx have now all been fitted & wired up.
It all tested ok so just need to tidy up the wiring and make a few minor changes to the iNav programming and then assembly can be completed & she is ready to test fly.
The RHS of the main pod has been glued to the form-work for rigidity however the LHS will only be attached with reinforcing tape (as suggested by several TechPod owners online) as this makes working on the internals much easier.
