South Leicester AeroNutz

    Aeronutz News Letter No 50.
Next Fun Fly Saturday 25th Nov. 2000.
5pm until 11pm.
Parklands Leisure Centre Oadby.
£7 per flier, Bring a warm jumper as the heating will be off, tables are provided.
All fliers with models over 10g must be insured. Remote control machines must have semi scale appearance - on sticky looking things please! If your are unsure please email before travelling.

New weight limit.
From Jan. 1st 2001 our max. weight for any model will be 80g.  This would have been lower but we are pleased to see the super scale Falcon kit's DH2 and SE5 balsa machines from Chris at RCS Technik. We now have several folks flying 2,3 and 4 cell models with weighs less than 60g so there is no reason to build heavier,- smaller machines have a smaller turning circle.

Two Cells, Two Channels, 25g
New Nut Graham, flew a 16" version of our Jigglet design using a wing made of two layers of foam and a Depron spar. It went very well using two cells and direct drive KP00, flying weight of 19g without undies. It was fitted with the Z Tron IRRXFA combined Esc/Rx and a coil/magnet actuator, but not a voltage booster, so it was flying free flight. Bernard has made one of his 25g F/F two cell planes 3g lighter while Ray has also made one at 22g so our weight of 25g should be seen as a maximum.
Graham has found a more efficient DC/DC voltage booster chip. We will be able to boost the voltage up to 4.8v instead of the current 3.3v, which will allow Dr Chris's new mini coil to draw more current and thus produce more power. We are using the new Maplins 3mm Dia. Neodium magnets.
Mark test flew our first 2C2C 25g machine at Watford and it flew Ok but the rudder had little effect. The coil actuator was only drawing 8mA but could still move the rudder to full lock with the motor running at full revs.   The new voltage booster will allow us to draw about 18mA which should sort that problem out nicely.
We hope be able to use direct drive KP00 motors as they are a much quieter than geared ones, but they do take a lot more current, should not be too much of a problem if we can make the plane a little lighter and then throttle back.  Going full circle - Simon made a DIY plastic prop for our first ever electric planes three years ago. It was noticeably better than the Union 80mm version, so this would be good for the D/D throttle back idea (code named DDTBI)
Mike, Dr Chris and Graham are trying different coil shapes and sizes to find what would best suit the 3mm Dia magnets.
The Danes are having-a-go too. To avoid sticking to the coil former they are winding round a candle ….
Paul Channon has made a super Muscle Wire servo with feedback that weighs 1g !! Said to be very powerful - sounds excellent, more details later.
Graham is building a circuit board factory so we could have the voltage booster on a very light circuit board along with the IRRXFA.

Free flight electric - Bernard has a new twin motor, Depron, sea plane ready for its maiden flight on Saturday. It uses two direct drive KP00's and two cells. Looks nice and weighs in at 3 oz/Sq. Ft.
Barry and Andrew had a couple of nice F/F electric twins at our last vent so there could be a nice selection.

Lots of new rubber powered machines about at our last fun fly, good to see some more new families,  hello to them and our new family who are coming from Singapore! Don’t forget that you can release the stored energy slowly for a longer flight or quickly for a short but higher altitude flight  - the fishing pole is near the door with Mark!! Don’t wind them up as much, use a thinner size rubber and more turns to just skim under the roof. It’s a good idea to paint your machines right from the beginning  too as it takes a long time to learn to spread a bit of colour about.
 

Park Fliers - Peter Smart has some excellent new balsa / tissue outdoor jets for us with rocket motors. One was a red Vulcan while the yellow Knat looked superb. He hand launched the Knat and it's glide was so flat it flew right across the hall! Richard Crossley has designed a rocket powered X15 which is reported to have a super glide considering its small wing area. Peter is building a scale B29 for his X15.

Alas a conflict between Peter Frostick's IR system and the Z Tron one caused Peters super Bleriot to crash. It seems the two systems only clash when both Tx's are on.

Ray has had some success with his twin motor steering, infra red controlled, ex-flying wing! He has retro fitted booms and a tail/fin. He has also got his super twin D/F Camberra off the ground which will be something to see!

As there is no Int. Model Expo. this year you might like to come and have a look round our Indoor Fun Fly on Sat 30th Dec?

Our first event of the new year will be on 27th of January NOTE! IT’S A 6:30PM START as Parklands have a late booking before us.

Flite Hook will be coming along to our next Fun Fly but Boy Zone's manager (cant remember his name) won't be there.

Mark has finished our Project 56 F/F rubber power machines designed for schools and colleges as a learning aid in product design. It is now called Groove Jet and is being tested/reviewed by our new family fliers. Uses the new 115mm diameter Ikara white plastic prop. All 2mm insulation foam construction.

Bernard has built a test rig and done some tests to investigate the static generating properties of foam. When the air goes over a wing it goes faster over the top surface, so it generates more static on the top, which releases ions and speeds up the flow of air reducing the pressure, causing more lift.

Both Graham and Geoff now have IR systems so we hope to see some nice small models from them, Graham also owns a circuit board factory and a CNC coil winding facility.

Simon has added some more photos and details of our latest remote control planes to our web site, including a photo of Ray's old D/F Hunter.

IR control systems are becoming more popular since folks have seen just how small the new Z Tron IRRXFA Rx/Esc is. Mark has made up several Tx semi kits - he makes up the circuit boards you do the wiring to the pots and cells. See wiring details

Some folks are talking about using a DC/DC voltage booster to run the flight motor. This is not really necessary if you want a 25g plane as the KP00 works fine on 2v. However I think I am right in saying these devices work on Watts. So, if you want to run a motor at 600mA and 4v = 2.4W. The input current to the DC/DC at 2v would then be, 2.4W /2V = 1.2 Amps. This assumes the DC/DC converter is working at 100% efficiency, which it wont be, more like 70%. What will your battery pack think to a load of 1.2 Amps ? Don’t forget that the bigger DC/DC circuits are quiet heavy too, say 1.5g? Coreless motors need lots of volts too and expensive Esc's.

Electric Flight International magazine have a one page, colour article by  Mike Watter's about his version of Mark's two channel R/C Albatross.
This month they will have a plan of his stick and tissue, infra red controlled, profile Piper Cub.
Aviation Modeller International will have an article on the Falcon kits DH2 in the next issue