more on the Glider

10/17/2008 15:10

Looked more closely at the glider (stickered 'Coyote') last night. It has no scratches on it, so either it has never been flown or it was always caught in kid gloves. Build quality is poor. Nearly every bit of covering has loose edges, and needs a bit of tightening. Glue in places it should not be. Ailerons are stiff. The hinges are ok, it is the drive arms that are stiff, probably not straight after being bent, judging from the state of the push rods. I am considering butchering the wing a bit and mounting the aileron servos in the wing, outside the fuselage.

The elevator snake will have to come out, if possible. I'll replace it with pushrod and bellcrank up the side of the rudder. Alternate is a closed loop driving around some small pulleys at the base of the tail. That might be lighter and create less drag. I'll talk to the blokes at the club and see what they say.

   Perfect easily assembled sport aerobatic model.

   � Compact, lightweight slope or thermal glider
   � Highly aerobatic with aileron & elevator controls
   � Pre-covered in tough pre-printed film
   
   SPECIFICATION:
   Wing Span: 1.32m (52")
   Weight: 0.62kg
   Motor: None
   Build Level: ARTF
   Skill Level: Beginner

So it appears this is a Ripmax/Balsacraft Coyote slope soarer. If it is the Balsacraft is was a balsa kit, if the Ripmax version, an ARTF. I note that the original had no rudder, just ail/ele. Maybe I'll take the rudder off since the thing is tail heavy and the rudder is a bit of uncarved 6mm balsa.

10/20/2008 10:07

Some images so you can see what I am dealing with.

Can you tell I still need to figure out a workspace for this hobby?
Not much down travel available, and the snake binds tight in the down direction such that the servo stalls.
As you can see the workmanship is somewhat rough. How does one get the edges of the covering to stick down?

10/26/2008

Had a spare hour and a problem to solve so butchered the wing a bit.
What?

The foam wing build has some issues. My battery pack is a bit heavier than expected, and with the standard servos in there, it will be hard to achieve CG without adding weight at the trailing edge, something I want to avoid. Also, the servo arms don't stick out far enough and I don't have any longer ones. So I have decided to put 2 micro servos in the wings instead. I chose the 2 wing servos from the Coyote, but getting them out was a chore. Though they had nice screws into balsa blocks, removing the screws did not let them out. Turned out one of the blocks had been glued messily over the wire, in each case. SO, a little balsa sheeting came out with each servo, and the wires suffered a little. This was going to happen anyway, since I am going to move the wing servos.

The plan is to put 2 servos in the wing outboard of the fuselage, and one in the fuselage for the elevator, and remove the rudder entirely. A small drag penalty in this, but it frees up space inside the fuse for a flight battery, for when I electrifly this thing.

Very tempting to rush out and spend on 2 more of the Art-Tech AS-100 servos instead of using the old ones, but money is now in short supply so I'll just use what I have got.

Oct 2009 (and still pending in May 2010)

I have got a 2217/8 outrunner for this now, and have made more plans though this plan will have to wait a while for funding (mostly for the receiver).

Fit 5 servos.
A 5g servo in the tail for the elevator, 9g further forward for the rudder.
3 9g servos in the wing. Split the Ailerons and fit outboard servos for ailerons, single inboard one for flaps.
Tail dragger undercarriage for ROG and landings.
2217 motor and 2100mAh battery giving 200 watts on a 9x7 folder should do the job nicely.

This will then be my first full house plane so I'll need to spend some time on the simulator to nail the use of rudder which if course the wing is not teaching me.

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