Live with Alpha

[BluesDragon]

Thanks again Alpha for your time, insight, and education. These streams are always a great time.

For anyone who hasn't had the chance to join in, chose one of the days and times, and get in on the great conversation. You're missing out! The link to the Discord for the audio chat (although you will still watch the Twitch stream via different link) is: https://discord.gg/db3yp3

Thanks for the Discord link, T-Cat. I use discord for my gaming. Hadn't realized most of y'all are in there too. Not much into Twitch, haven't even checked it out yet, but will see how it goes in there.

[T-CAT]

Thanks for the Discord link, T-Cat. I use discord for my gaming. Hadn't realized most of y'all are in there too. Not much into Twitch, haven't even checked it out yet, but will see how it goes in there.

You're welcome . It is great chatting with everyone, and being able to ask Alpha questions. Definitely consider joining in next time.

Twitch has also been great to visually see what Alpha is doing via CAD/CAM programs, and he always shows interesting insight on various aspects of design.

[Aros]

I'll try to jump in to more of these when I can. I think it's ridiculously fun and informative and I doubt there is anyone else in our industry as entrenched with helping deliver top flight RC aircraft as Alpha that is doing these types of live shows. It's really triggering my old CADD/3D Modeling finger again, that's for sure!

[Airguardian]

These live streams are just amazing and offer very valuable information and insight, I am thrilled at the opportunity, thank you Alpha for taking the effort and time!
By the way, you finally lured me into getting an account at Twitch, Discord and Hobbysquawk all at once... innocent me thinking I could try and cut down on social media usage, lol

Well, so far, well worth it! :)

[CM_Aero]

These live streams have been a great resource, even tho I am sometimes not available to watch live. Currently designing a dolly to move my RS Huey around. I figured this would be an easy first project to design and 3d print. The 2 frames are the front portion, and will add 2 more frames at the rear. For wheels, I am going to use Lego airplane landing gear (dual wheels on one axle). Also still have to design the tow bar. Not sure if I want to design a deck to 3DP or use wood for a more scale appearance. Still a lot to learn but having fun in the process. Plan on pulling the dolly (slowly!) with a WPL 16.

[Airguardian]

As always, a great stream!

Regarding the request for ideas for the next stream, here's a few techy questions that have come to mind, please forgive me if they are a bit dense...

- Aerodynamic calculations for vortices:
Having in mind: changes in lift and drag, delaying wing boundary layer separation, keeping rudders fed with airflow, flight stability at high AoA, etc...
When designing jets in particular, does Motion/Freewing get to the lengths of calculating the effects of LERX-generated vortices (and/or other vortice sources such as fences, canards, vortex generators, etc), and if so how do you do it?
Are these just base approximations or do you perform detailed analysis? In case you do design with vortices in mind, I assume a lot of that may well be 'classified', but if there's anything you can tell us, I will be happy to hear about it. :)

- Thrustline vs CG and z-axis drag profile:
In the design stage, before the first prototype is made, what are all the considerations that come into play when calculating the appropriate thrustline?
Do you mostly consider thrustline as needing to be aligned with CG in order not to cause undesired pitching moments or do you also account for the vertical drag profile of the airframes?

I.e. I have my Su-35 very neutrally balanced, it will basically dive perfectly at 45º without deviation with throttle off (Meaning, neither tail-heavy nor nose-heavy) and I have my TV nozzles adjusted so the jet will not pitch up or down when adding or removing throttle in normal level flight.
With this setup though, if I get the jet to stand still in the air (kinda hovering but under 1:1 T/W), the jet will systematically pitch up, indicating that my thrustline is in fact, not aligned with CG (and that's why I suspect the jet presents more 'belly drag' than 'upper surface drag' which makes the nozzles' trim to not work well throughout the entire flight envelope). How do you face this kind of challenge when designing a jet? (More so for fixed nozzles that can't be trimmed out later on).

Also, on that regard, I find the thrustline on my F-18 to be a bit off, pushing the nose down a lot and a few other forum guys have pointed that out as well.
I noticed that the plastic nozzle piece is not perfectly aligned with the foam of the exhaust duct, leaving a gap on the bottom, which would explain the down-pitching thrustline that ensues.
Are all Freewing F-18s assembled like that or could this be a matter of fitting tolerances? As in, jets having slight variations in nozzle-angles resulting in differing thrustlines? (And thus, potentially improvable for future production batches?).

And since we are at it... any reccommended way or suggestion on how to 'unglue' the plastic nozzle part so as to be able to glue it back with some pitch up thrown in?
Otherwise I'm considering using a plastic film to modify it... but that would reduce exhaust area.

- Lofting operations, guide curves and 'bulkhead design' on CAD... and how to get aircraft shapes right:
How do you face the challenge of designing, say, a complex fuselage with a lot of surface curvature going on? (For example, MiG-29, Su-35, particularly the blending from nose section to cockpit, LERX and aft body)
In particular, assuming you have some cross-sections to start with, what techniques to use in order to get smooth transitions between parts?
Other than the bulkheads, do you eyeball the overall shapes or have a more 'smart' method to make the aircraft surfaces as scale-looking as possible? If so... can you even tell us about that? :D
In particular, I often find myself struggling when trying to make a shape like a complex-surface fuselage in CAD as lofting operations will usually produce uneven surfaces, even when using a lot of guide curves. How to tackle that kind of problem?

- Shelling operations with CAD (Particularly SOLIDWORKS):
Could you give us any tips or tricks on how to succesfully produce shelling operations with complex geometries?
From the CAD works I've done, I have mostly got on trouble when trying to do very thin skins... operation errors pop up regarding minimum curvature radius and things like that... and the operations fail.
I guess this is not a big issue for foam parts (since they are thicker) but probably it is for plastic injection-molded ones? Any work around or good-practice design philosophy to try and avoid getting stuck there?
Example: Making wing skins intended for 3D printing.

- Merging objects, edge rounding on CAD with complex geometries:
I find this one a bit difficult for me to explain but gonna try anyway and hope I make any sense at all... let's say we want to merge two different solids with complex shapes that are each the result of lofting operations.
We want the end result to be a single piece with smooth rounded joints where the hard edges resulting from the merge would be, but automatic rounding of these edges (necessary to make the piece manufacturable) either fails or produces undesired geometries.
What to do at this point? Is there maybe a more 'manual' way of making further 'custom' solids that will be later combined with the original two to produce the 'smooth coupling'? How do you force the surfaces to be tangential then?

Well, I guess that's already quite a lot, will be happy if any of this ends up resulting in an interesting stream! :)

Done my part!

[JLambCWU]

2-3 a.m. in Europe ... ouch!

Here is a link for your next project Alpha 🙃🙃🙃

Well....
what did you think of today’s announcement? 😏

[The43rdHammer]

Well....
what did you think of today’s announcement? 😏

Amazing 😎😎😎 I was completely blown away and ordered one as soon as I could 😂. I can’t wait to see the flight video and moreover I can’t wait to get my hands on her. I’m still in shock 😂.

Andy

[crxmanpat]

Man, other activities have kept me away from the live feeds lately. But starting Tuesday I should be able to get back online at the scheduled times. Fortunately the "other activities" have been assembling planes!

[The43rdHammer]

Man, other activities have kept me away from the live feeds lately. But starting Tuesday I should be able to get back online at the scheduled times. Fortunately the "other activities" have been assembling planes!

Me too, work has been crazy ... I'm not complaining, more Freewing tokens earned 😇

[Jdcrow]

Great insights and have been enjoying the interactions with the group.

With the 3D printing direction the TV Modules are going, that is what ive been thinking regarding B-24, B-25, B-17 retrofits for bomb bay cassettes.

The images are an example of the B-24 cassette i have thought about and mentioned

And with the innovation Alpha shared regarding the JAS-39 Gripen Main Gear doors, maybe something like that could be incorporated into B-24 garage doors. Sprung quick opening, and cabled closure. And an additional channel or use the third position on the channel switch to release the payload. (1-Door closed, 2-Door Open, 3-Release bombs)

[Elbee]

Great insights and have been enjoying the interactions with the group.

With the 3D printing direction the TV Modules are going, that is what ive been thinking regarding B-24, B-25, B-17 retrofits for bomb bay cassettes.

The images are an example of the B-24 cassette i have thought about and mentioned

And with the innovation Alpha shared regarding the JAS-39 Gripen Main Gear doors, maybe something like that could be incorporated into B-24 garage doors. Sprung quick opening, and cabled closure. And an additional channel or use the third position on the channel switch to release the payload. (1-Door closed, 2-Door Open, 3-Release bombs)

JD, I like the notion of drop-in cassettes for any 3DP part mods to A/C. Did you create those pictured in your attachments? Matters not, really, great ideas. So these will be available when....? Best, LB

[Jdcrow]

JD, I like the notion of drop-in cassettes for any 3DP part mods to A/C. Did you create those pictured in your attachments? Matters not, really, great ideas. So these will be available when....? Best, LB

i just searched the internet for (b-24 bomb bay) and ran across them.

[Alpha]

Heads up, the Livestream is starting in 15 minutes:

Join the voice chat by clicking on this link, then selecting "Voice Channel":

https://discord.gg/Vwwz5u

Watch my live screen by clicking on this link:

https://www.twitch.tv/alphamakesa

We'll be covering some fun topics, including this:

[Jlink125]

Now that looks awesome! Wish I could join you but im at work 😕

[Alpha]

Good show, guys. We covered a lot!

[crxmanpat]

It was nice to be able to join again after missing the last 3 or 4 sessions. Glad to see Evelyn finally make it to the show as well!

[quitcherbitchen]

Sprung quick opening, and cabled closure.And an additional channel or use the third position on the channel switch to release the payload. (1-Door closed, 2-Door Open, 3-Release bombs)

I have lots of experience dropping bombs from RC planes. I have mulled over the B-24 door idea for a couple of years and came to the same conclusion that the doors need to be sprung open with a spring and forget about trying to close them. Kind of like setting a rat trap. Also, a release mechanism in a bomber like the B-24 or B-17 is a waste of time as the doors opening fast will work fine with accuracy and no one can see them at altitude anyway open. The perfect altitude for almost any RC bomber is between 75 to 60 feet. Any higher and you better be good,(really good) and any lower and no one has a chance to see the bombs free fall. Loading with mechanisms just makes things more difficult. I have lots of planes with more then two bombs and I find that I end up disabling the third bomb in favor of two. These tend to be Skyraiders. Even my Corsair I end up with one bomb only on any given flight as it is easy to reload and take off again. My B-17 can hold five and the carpet bomb of five hitting the ground is a huge crowd pleaser. But landing the B-17 to reload takes time and would only be longer if I had to attach every bomb to a drop mechanism. I like the idea of printing up a release bay that could be duplicated easily by anyone. That makes for more bombers. Flying in formation with everyone releasing on the lead plane would be a mini Arc Light I would love to see.

[Alpha]

Another fun show in the books, thanks to all who joined.

[T-CAT]

Such an awesome show. Thanks, man. The Fusion work I really enjoy. I love anything artistic, so this is right down my alley. I can watch and learn about it for hours. Roughly 3.5 hours worth tonight, in fact.