Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Fly well, fly safe, cheers and many happy landings

As the year come to a close, news of two major flying fields had been closed down due to various reasons did indeed leave a sour end note to many. However i m sure the passion in RC will see this precarious hobby through. I urged all modelers to be responsible in their flying and conduct.

It has been a great year of RC flying. Besides the new planes and helis, most important to me was the bonding and friendship that had built up with fellow modelers. Without them, this hobby won't be as much fun and enriching. Thanks guys, i hope we have more good flying years to come.

Fly well, fly safe. Cheers and many happy landings.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Combat ready!

Flying wings are versatile, fun, great for combat and commonly seen at slopes, one of the most popular one is the Windrider bee. Ming of Windrider has recently came up with a new version , BeEvolution. I bought one during my trip to hk.

It was suppose to replace his old version Bee, however the old bee was so popular that i think he continued production. The new Beevo has a thinner profile n less sweep ,is said to fly faster than the old bee which can float n recover better during combat , so both has its merits.

This is going to replace my weasel as the to-go sloper.

The kit came very complete, with 2 wing cores made of modded epp, balsa elevons, CF ribbons, various tapes , hardware and even a bottle of CA. However the CA is foam safe type and takes longer to cure so I used normal CA which i had around. The EPP foam is CA ok. Build was fairly easy and can be completed in a few nights. Just need to glue the CF ribbons in with CA, glue the wings together, install the electronics and tape them all up. Done.

Build

Whats in the kit

Glue in the CF ribbons, glue both wings together, tape the center.

4xAA Eneloop going to power this bumble bee

Taping pattern for reinforcement

Install electronics, i used the new Hitec HS5485 digital karbonite gear servo as they were on sale at good price. Any standard servos will do though.

Tape it all up

Choose your favorite colour packing tape. Can be obtained from Art friend or SKP. Use a credit card to help remove air bubbles during taping.

I changed the stock horns to better quality ones, less slop.

Bottom view

Ready for combat!

Lastly Goop the leading edge with thinned goop to protect the tape from tearing during combats and those bad landings.

Flying

Managed to fly this in fairly light conditions a few days ago. It needs to be on the move, can't fly it too slow or it will be tipsy. Once it gets into speed, the handling is quite good. My CG is around 8inch from nose, (RCG recommend 8.5inch). Reduce throws on elevator and keep it smooth and it will fly OK. Haven really tried out combat yet, so cant comment on the recoverability, speed wise it felt slightly faster than the old bee.

Time for combat!