Flying low and slow and sorta in control..


R/C Microflight
We talk at http://www.ezonemag.com/
A List Of My Favorite Micro-light RC Vendors.
Make your own propellers.

First attempts..





Here's one of my first attempts at indoor R/C. It was based on the "I- Racer" infra red remote control model cars made by Nikko. Twin counter-rotating props, differntial thrust steering, but the range was limited to about 15 feet. Not good!

Cute model tho.. Too bad it didn't work. More research is needed. I gotta bump up the IR radiation on the transmitter.

Then a miracle occured...



It was then that I found Clerence Hurd's RFFS-100 micro light RC system. My credit card became too hot to handle...

If you want to fly slow indoor R/C models, A good place to start is Dynamics Unlimited. Clerence makes a quite nice light reciever/actuator system. It works with most of the usual FM R/C transmitters. And the all up weight of the reciever and the magnetic actuators is around 4 grams!


Here's a pic of my stick model up near the rafters. It was scary, but I just throttled back and she flew fine. We're guessing here, but most folks estimate that it flies at about 3 mph. About the pace of a good walk.. (Did I mention that the RFFS-100 reciever includes an ESC (electronic speed controller (pulse width modulated "throttle" for electric motors))?).


OK, in this closer view of the model you'll notice that the ribs are missing from the left wing... I dropped the model box in the parking lot. The box came open to the wind, and rib shards were gone with the wind. Fortunately, the model didn't seem to notice that it was missing some ribs. Well, it did want to tuck-in the left wing when I tried to ROG. But a twist of the wing post in its socket fixed that and it took off from the floor just fine.


In spite of the fact that it was an ugly proof-of-concept stick model, the folks at the gym seemed to like it.

So did I. It flew!



The "Sorta Sopwith" Triplane flys! I need to move the CG a bit further forward to make it less "twitchy" in pitch. But it looks cool in the air. It was a hit at the gym...



A new model is called the "Upsy Dasy". It flew fine right "off the board." 200 square inch wing area, gross weight 27.9 grams. No exotic materials or strange home-brewed parts. An easy builder, and an easy flyer.




The next model is called the "BI-BI". Made of left-over parts, and some new bits, it took a bit of tweaking to get it right. A balsa rudder aerodynamic counter-balance greatly improved the rudder authority.

But at 300 square inches of wing area, and still weighing less than one ounce... It was worth the effort.
Is that cool, or what? It flies sooo slooow.




This model is called the "Whipper Snapper" and, thus far, it's lived up to its name. It flies. But at 13 inches of wingsan and a gross weight of 26 grams, it's bit up a hand-full in the air.



This one I call the Mylar Overcast, version 0.0.. It's my first attempt at bulding a model for the NIRAC indoor electric duration event. It flew fine "right off the board". But it needs inprovement in prop/motor/battery efficiency. And, at over 30 grams, it needs to built lighter when I get around to version 0.1..


Intersted? A good place to start looking for the stuff that makes indoor slow flying R/C possible is: The vendor list at R/C Micrfoflight But beware, your family chief financial officer might not be happy with the damage done to your credit card...

Or, if you're _really_ interested, take a look at A List Of My Favorite Micro-light RC Vendors. You'll find sources for all the parts you need to build it light.

And, if you're intersted in home-brewed propellers, ya might wanna take a click at, An introduction to propellor theory and construction.


Wanna talk?

I hang around the indoor/micro r/c discussion group at http://www.ezonemag.com/ It's a fun group of folks.

Or just email me:
--del