Blustery Old Fogey

by alibopo | September 4, 2013 | (0) Posted in Just Fun

Blustery Old Fogey!

My standby plane for gusty/stronger winds is normally the FT flyer. OK it gets knocked about a bit, but it still keeps going roughly where you point it.

(I’m a newbie, so I’m talking 15-18 mph max here – so don’t go launching your planes into gale-force winds on my say-so!)

Recently I’ve found a new windy-day plane – my modified Old Fogey.

Here it is in action. My CG is 10-15mm forward of the plan CG, I’ve a modified tail, double elastics on the wing and it’s a 1400KV 14A motor driving a 9x3.8 prop. It still floats along in lighter winds but if I let the speed drop in this wind, it gets very jumpy and unpredictable in the gusts.

OK I spent a lot of time travelling in the same direction but it was still loads of fun. I couldn’t quite get it to fly backwards – but I came pretty close.

I’m well impressed by the way this plane handles the wind.

Here's another windy day outing;

COMMENTS

sailorJohn on September 12, 2013
The wind is your friend-----HE- HE.
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alibopo on September 15, 2013
But terribly 'thrawn' (Scots for contrary) - when I take out a kite to fly, there's no wind, when I take out a plane to fly, there's too much! I could just keep both in the car.... :)
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Purplezinger on October 4, 2013
The last few weeks have been focused on getting my Old Fogey to fly correctly. Trial and error (sometimes crash) but have finally arrived at a really good, slow flier. The end combination is as follows: Main wing 4" longer than drawing, CG 15mm forward of CG on drawing, Rudder and Vertical Stabilizer 25% larger (mostly taller) than drawing. This combination flies really well using a Turnigy SK3-2826-1240KV motor, a Master Airscrew 8x3 prop and a Turnigy 3 cell, 1000 mah, 25c battery.
Without going into all the details, the plus 4" wing seems to be the ideal wing size, longer ones have more drag and shorter ones don't glide well. In my tests ailerons are ineffective. Flaperons are also ineffective. For questions email me at purplezinger@gmail.com
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alibopo on October 10, 2013
Hi - I'm going to try your improved zinger-wing on my O.F. and also the Smash Drone that I built. I have noticed some fatigue on my original O.F. wing - the one I've been flying in stronger winds - near to the fuselage. Just around where my popsicle (lollipop) sticks end. I think your longer wing will increase that 'wear' tendency due to the longer lever arm - to combat that I reckon there's two quick and easy fixes - reinforce the centre of the wing's leading edge with a skewer or 'iron' the wing's leading edge using tyoho's TIP - "HOT tip, iron your edges." I did my repair before I saw the edge ironing and I actually replaced my lollipop sticks with oversize ones that are wider and longer, which for this wing design in particular is probably a good idea anyway.
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Blustery Old Fogey