I did my first attempts to practice steering yesterday. The local
football hall is only 18 metres, so it was not too high, but I suppose
it is better to start practice with a easier task. It will be hard
enough in Belgrade in August...
So a few comments to the responses that I got from John several months ago:
John Kagan wrote:
> <mailto:Indoor_Construction%40yahoogroups.com>, Tapio Linkosalo
> <tapio.linkosalo_at_...> wrote:
> > Have you noticed any difference in getting the rope to the left vs. to
> > the right side?
>
> I don't have enough info. The only times I've gotten on the right side
> is by accident.
>
> But getting in on the left side has always been fairly easy unless it is
> near the end of the flight. Getting on the prop too soon is problematic
> too, BTW. It usually results in breaking the outline and ribs at the hub.
>
...
>
> I get on the left side of the motorstick primarily so that the model
> doesn't try to turn off the line as I move forward. I assume this is
> the reason others do it, too. Unless the model is near the end of the
> flight – and very low on power – the props seems to get past the line
> pretty neatly when I come in from the left side of the prop.
Agreed. Even though my previous conclusions about prop turning direction
suggested the right side, it actually turned out to be much easier from
the left. Actually, from neither side could I really make the model "fly
the prop" past the foam rod, but rather had to come in from the left,
between the prop and wing. Which of course was a little hard, if you did
not time to move right, you only hit the wing tip and got the model bump
out of the rod. As you can easily see on the vid.
Another thing was that I did not find it too easy to engage the prop,
but pulling forward tended to pull the rod past the prop blades.
Constantly turning to the right, to get some pressure against the motor
tube helped somewhat, but still it was a delicate balance moving forward
fast enough to keep the prop engaged, and not moving too fast to pull
the rod in front of the prop altogether. I guess I just need more
practice...
> I use a 3' Qualatex balloon inflated tightly. The pull and drag
> combine to make it reasonably maneuverable. There is nothing much as
> frustrating as trying to steer with a flat balloon. It takes way too
> long for it to react, and it's very hard to catch and move the model.
>
> The higher you try to steer, the more the lag gets in the way. But the
> 3' balloons have worked for me at the top of Lakehurst and Akron.
I was using an 80cm rubber balloon. The only reason to pick this size
was that it was the largest one that fits the trunk of my car. I do not
have a helium bottle, it would be way too expensive to buy or rent one
for a single balloon, thus the only practical solution is to get one
from the balloon shop filled. Luckily, the 80 cm balloon was quite large
enough to give solid pull on the steering rod. I measured about 100
grams of lift from it. As a matter of fact, on one flight I put a camera
on, it weights about 20 grams, so even 80 grams of lift turned out to be
sufficient for the steering. FWIW, a large mylar balloon provides 75
grams of lift, so even that one might work for the purpose....
The vid? Yes, I taped a small kaychain camera to the top of the foam
rod. Unfortunately there is a short lenght of string between the balloon
and the rod, and this allowed the camera to rotate quite freely. Next
time I should tape the camera to the balloon itself... Anyways, got some
aerial footage of my steering attemps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4odO3UyEEuE
-Tapio-
Received on Sun Apr 18 2010 - 23:50:17 CEST