Ian's Cox Flight Contest progress

That looks good. How long are your lines going to be?

Only 10 ft! No room for any longer. Single line only. Engine and elevator RC.

Plane being built to fly SLOW.

Best of luck to you Ian.
If you find the sweet spot, catching up should
definitely be do-able.
I only hope that watching her rounding the pole for
extended periods, doesnt' drive you nutty.
Break a leg,
Bob

Cool, I remember you saying something about this...

So the question is: Which category, or an entirely new one, that you are certain to win? LOL! Neato!

Good luck!

It will be the CL category even though it has RC assist. I see no advantage above anyone else. Tank sizes are not limited for anyone. The real advantage is standing back and not getting dizzy.

It was time to make a tank. A long time since I have done this but the first step was to find a "tin".

An old tea tin!



Chop it up and clean off the finish - paint stripper and a pan scourer.





Cut to size (tin snips) and bend main body to shape.





Soft solder using resin cored electrical solder. ( My 30 watt iron wasn't powerful enough, I had to resort to a 50 watt gas heated jobby!)





I also forgot to say "tin the joints first!"





Oh! Why am I making a tank? So that it will fit the space available - exactly! Well, near enough!



Cut the feed hole. Look for the curious dog!





Fit the tubes



et voila!





How hard can it be?

Dagum that looks purdy.

Not like any of my efforts. I'll have to try some of those tricks myself, the pre-tinning especially.

Phil

After quite a few sessions, I finally managed to get the Hiscott/Medallion combination to run successfully. Not as straight forward as it may look!

Here are the "destructions" for the Hiscott



There is quite a bit of fiddling to do to get the silencer/muffler to "seal". It raises the cylinder and so, with the Medallion, I had to use a higher compression head and mess about with gaskets.

It took some time to get the engine set up so that it would start easily - messing around with the needle and gaskets. I tried quite a few different heads but settles on the Cox.

It is remarkably quiet and responsive.



It runs at between 5,000 and 12,500 on a 6x4 propellor. Seemed par for the course. Now to fiddle about with propellors

The wing area is 120 sq in. I have just fitted the servos and before I finish it - I will be moving the receiver and battery around to get the C of G in the right place.

However, I am conscious that the weight is piling up (Not me! The aeroplane!).

What do you think the maximum weight I could get away with is? It will be powered by the Hiscotted Medallion.

ian1954 wrote:...However, I am conscious that the weight is piling up (Not me! The aeroplane!).

What do you think the maximum weight I could get away with is? It will be powered by the Hiscotted Medallion.

My Streak with a Tee Dee .051 is pretty fat at just over 9 ounces with 150 sq. inches of wing, and it's fully aerobatic. So I'd guess for your around the pole plane with 120 sq inches, you could maybe go as high as 12 ounces. I really don't know for sure. I feel a Tee Dee should have no larger that a 5.5" prop. I use a 5.25x3.

How much do you think it's going to weigh?

At the moment it is looking like 14oz but I am hoping to trim that back to 12oz.

Well it is finished now - sort of!

I lost patience painting and doping so it is a bit rough but I managed to get it under 10 oz. (282 grams = 9.94726 oz)

Only the lines to prepare now!

Very nice! 9 oz. is fine. If it turns out you need more power, it's easy enough to boost the Medallion with a TD or BW cylinder. Looking forward to seeing it fly.

Ha ha, cool! Well, I don't think that it will be slow, or lacking in power! My "Stik" plane, that I'm using in the contest, weighs 13 ounces, before fuel. I'm running a TD .051, and it really scoots! So...10 feet of line-9 ounce plane- ZIP! You're wise to be on the outside of THAT circle. You may have to fly it with the trim lever. I want to see this go. Keep us informed, please.

Well, today was the day to join the Cox Flight Contest for real!

I made up the lines. Went through my old "box of bits" and found some laystrate. Out came the soldering iron and 10 minutes later........








I started with a 5x3 propellor. After several launches, my average flight time was 1 second! (Yes----- One second!)

Here is an example



I couldn't understand this. There seemed to be plenty of pull on the plane - I played around with the elevator, checked the C of G but .. it just fell out of the air!

Then I changed the propellor for a 6x3. The engine didn't rev as high and I launched with some trepidation. It flew ........



I had wondered if the pole and water filled stand would be up to the mark and I found out!

Not to worry ..... string and wood to the rescue



Followed by ............



and ..............



and on and on.............

Must work on landings!

That's too funny! But really, that is an ingenious way to be involved. Good one! How about some cardboard for a runway? Sort of like in carrier contests? Then, you might be able to R.O.G. , and perform touch-and-goes! So you say: there is nowhere to fly around your town? Looks like necessity is the mother of invention - again!

Now, log some time! (and trim that purple flowering bush!)

GUS THE I.A. wrote:That's too funny! But really, that is an ingenious way to be involved. Good one! How about some cardboard for a runway? Sort of like in carrier contests? Then, you might be able to R.O.G. , and perform touch-and-goes! So you say: there is nowhere to fly around your town? Looks like necessity is the mother of invention - again!

Now, log some time! (and trim that purple flowering bush!)

I am on a roll with it now! I am thinking about:-

1. Building a runway
2. A new pole for a little more confidence to do stunts! (It rocks about a little bit too much!)
3. Restricting how low the lines can go down the pole. I almost had an incident with the hooky thing I was using on the pole!



4. Building a plane with flaps to fly even slower


What I can say is that some of the flights today were between 10 and 15 minutes and I didn't get the slightest bit dizzy!

Oh and the plane trimmed the purple bush! (and a few other things!)

I also got bashed on the knee. Normally it is fingers that take the pain when starting an engine. I was kneeling in front of the plane to start it and while maneouvering to pick it up the propellor struck. This was through denim!



I do hope it gives others ideas and I welcome any suggestions. You could easily do this full line length!

That's great! I'm glad you weren't wearing short pants. So now you've racked up more Cox flight time than I have. Good work.

That is great!!!! I loved the second video. Can you drive an 8ft pole into the ground about 3 feet? That would make it plenty stiff.

I am glad your idea came to fruition.

Ron

That is awesome! Very well done.

Jim

The "Round the Pole" was invented by the Brits, I believe. But the way I understand it, you run them on one line not two and you put your attachment point ahead of the CG to stop it from going high on one side and low on the other. It just gets worse until it crashes into the ground. They fly level the whole flight with one line ahead of the CG. I have the stuff at hand to do this and have been thinking about it since the two of you started your projects and inspired me. Nice project, hope to see more!

Good idea Ian, and I love the design-as-you-go-along bit. I bought recently an umbrella foot in resin with a weight of 30 kg. would such a weight be enough to hold the pole steady?

Lieven

duke.johnson wrote:The "Round the Pole" was invented by the Brits, I believe.  But the way I understand it, you run them on one line not two and you put your attachment point ahead of the CG to stop it from going high on one side and low on the other.  It just gets worse until it crashes into the ground.  They fly level the whole flight with one line ahead of the CG.  I have the stuff at hand to do this and have been thinking about it since the two of you started your projects and inspired me.  Nice project, hope to see more!

Although I have two lines attached - the leading line takes the strain and is slightly (only slightly ahead) of the C of G. In the photos you will see a green round headed pin. This is the C of G. ( I also use this to hang up the plane as well as balance it).

Why do I have two lines? This is not a lightweight electric job and as you can see there is quite a pull. This is strange as there is no engine or rudder offest! The model (in case anyone hasn't recognised it!) is the Black Hawk model "NightHawk.  For me - this is all trial and error - all comments and ideas are very welcome - I used the bellcrank for the attachments - mounted as per plan but against the fuselage side so that it could only move 3/32". (Why 3/32"? Because that's how it ended up!) The second line is "just in case". Because the bellcrank can rock slightly the model chose its own preferred line.

The C of G is per plan.

I flew some original RTP models - with ball bearings on the pole, copper brushes and a copper cable. No elevator control. 12v battery and slot car motors (re wound with thicker copper for more power and rebalanced). We tended to concentrate on speed and level flight!

I am looking at this particular project for modellers who want to create a hybrid of CL and RC.  CL and RC are both excellent mediums but .........

RC needs quite a bit of space and good eye sight. It is easy to become disorientated with RC - forwards/backwards/upside down......

CL really needs two people and is not easy to get into solo.  Once in the air - you are committed for a tank of fuel and, at least while learning, have to spin like a "Whirling Dervish"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Cf-ZxDfZA

From the "flyers" perpective (well my opinion anyway!). CL limits the flyer to the models profile - the audience gets a better view of the plane.

With the CL/RC mix - think you get a better view. I have found it more relaxing. Cup of coffee and cigarette while flying, answer the phone ........

Some of us are at an age where our reaction time, eyesight ..... is not what it was!

Now my set up is size limited. Imagine what you could do with 30' + lines.  I am determined to stunt once I make a more secure pole. My neighbours aren't going to thank me for a visiting plane towing laystrate cables!

I have been lucky so far!