Sunday, March 23, 2008

Guppy

The slope season is almost over, past few weeks have been pouring rain, with the occasional sunny days in between which we managed to get some good lift. I was able to complete the Guppy and had some air time with it.

It is a smaller version of le fish at 48 inch, the build is almost similar to le fish except the placement of the servos are on the outside. This made the build slightly easier and allow the servos to be serviceable if need be.

At our slope, le fish only managed to keep up on good lift days, so i wanted to keep the guppy as light as possible - only used single filament tape at places when its really needed, placed the electronics as far forward as i can and keep the weight at the tail down.

Sand it round as usual

Dry fitting to measure the amount of weight needed for correct C.G which was set at 2.25 inch from LE. HS65 for ailerons.

Only the CF rod reinforcements, battery and weight goes inside the fuselage this time. 4xAAA eneloop rx pack.

Everything else goes on the outside. HS56 for elevator, HS65 for rudder, Berg 4 rx.


The vertical fin was glued to the horizontal stab this time round and glassed at the joints.

Cover it all up with the left over oracover from le fish and cut a slit for the wing extension on both sides.

All done top and bottom


Head to head with le fish

The build was straight forward after having experience with le fish. It turned out ok and not much trim was needed on madien. With a lighter wind loading, it could stay up in lighter lift conditions and climbed higher than le fish could. That said, it still need quite some lift to fly though and fun only starts when the lift picks up.

It felt much more agile and nimble than le fish, i needed to turn down the rates to keep it from being too twitchy. Due to the lighter weight, it doesn't has as much energy retention. The tail as similar to le fish is the weak area, after a few tumbles the epp at the tail area tore open. A few drops of light CA and back to flying again. All in all a fun plane to wack around with.

With the wind dying down, i will have to wait til the next season to fly her again. It has been a fun 3 months sloping with the guys during which we flew, chatted, ate, complaint abt the wind together and in the process knew each other abit better. It was great, see you guys next season!

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Online hobby shops

I had received a couple of emails and PMs before asking where and how to purchase certain stuff. A lot of times, certain items are not available at LHS or they are simply cheaper to get overseas, the Internet is a great source to search for stuff. For easier reference, I thought might as well list down the shops that i have purchased online from before, the good buys, and the shopping experience.

In no particular order of merit,

shop :www.aircraft-world.com
products :hyperion stuff. connectors, berg rx
method : web shop direct
payment : paypal
shipping : very fast ( 3 days from JP to SG via ems) , cheap (2.50usd normal shipping)

shop :www.shyau.com.tw
prdts :Thundertiger, Futaba, JR. Click on shopping link at the top of website to browse
method :email the items to tom@shyau.com.tw
payment : Credit card
shipping :very fast (3 days from TW to SG via ems)

shop :www.rc-champ.co.jp
products :Futaba, JR, hirobo, japanese brands , pricelist on the left side at www.rc-champ.co.jp/Champ_koukoku/air_index2.html
method :email champ_international@yahoo.co.jp
payment :paypal
shipping :very fast (3 days from JP to SG via ems)

shop : www.b-p-p.com
prdts :Castle-creations, Hyperion chargers
method : web shop
payment : Credit card
shipping : Slow (2wks from US to SG), but cheap, sometimes free shipping.
others : Have a habit of mixing up orders and delays. Have 5% discount sales ard US holidays. Often have sale of CC ESCS

shop : www.lenger.de
prdts : Sailplanes, gliders
method : email info@lenger.de
payment : bank telegraphic transfer
shipping : Slow (2wks from DE to SG)
others : Gliders galore

shop : www.icare-rc.com
prdts : sailplanes,scale gliders, spares
method : direct webshop
payment : Credit card
shipping : Slow (2wks from Canada to SG)
others : Gliders galore

shop : www.z-rc.com
prdts : Kasama heli prdts
method : direct webshop/ email
payment : Credit card
shipping : fast (3days from Thailand to SG)

shop : www.leadingedgegliders.com
prdts : EPP gliders, Le fish, guppy
method : direct webshop
payment : Credit card
shipping : fast ( 1 wk from US to SG via EMS), but expensive

shop : www.dream-flight.com
prdts : EPP gliders Weasel pro, alula
method : direct webshop
payment : Credit card
shipping : slow ( 2 wk from US to SG)