What did you fly today?

[Hugh Wiedman]

Got out today with kinda an odd assortment of aircraft (fits me perfectly as I'm also kinda odd).

An 8S Canadian F18 (From the Great White North, Eh?), a US Navy 8S F4 Blue Angel (protecting us from the Gulf of America to Lake America ), a wood Extreme Flight FW-190 Red Tulip (hochgefahrlich-translate that one ) and one of my Extreme Flight Extra 300 V2 3D plane.

Though I have to admit, despite spending more time fling these 3D planes, I'm only at 2 1/2D at the moment. I can Flat Spin, Inverted Flat Spin, Blender, figure 8 knife edge, Hover (but not 1 foot off the runway yet like real 3D pilots), Rolling harrier and a few more crazy maneuvers. Just have to accept the fact that I'll never be as good at 3D as some of these younguns, but I do have fun trying. Must say the F4 and F18 fly great on 8S, the FW 190 is also a sweet flying warbird. Have 2 speakers from Model Sounds Inc (now out of business) in it, so it sounds great, but quite heavy with those speakers. Still flies for over 10 minutes on either a 6S SMC HiV 5900 or 6400. Can't ask for more!

[davegee]

Had a couple good flights on my HHH P-51D Flightline 1.6m airplane today. That brings me to 43 successful flights with this airplane, really enjoying it. Did a tank drop again, am working on a lightweight filament to make lighter and stronger drop tanks in the future, over the PLA tanks, which are more accurate detail-wise, but more subject to damage when they hit hard ground.

Took a pic after today's flights, undercloudy but interesting skies, I think.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Got in 3 flights yesterday on my HSD 747 turned Shuttle Carrier Aircraft piggybacking the Shuttle Enterprise. The first 2 glides were a bit short and ended in the grass, but the last one made it to the runway.

Very impressive!! Congrats on the successful flights of Both aircraft(spacecraft)!

Davegee

[Elbee]

Got in 3 flights yesterday on my HSD 747 turned Shuttle Carrier Aircraft piggybacking the Shuttle Enterprise. The first 2 glides were a bit short and ended in the grass, but the last one made it to the runway.

Incredilbe. What a great project. Congrats on the flights. Truly well done. Best, LB

[F106DeltaDart]

Got in 3 flights yesterday on my HSD 747 turned Shuttle Carrier Aircraft piggybacking the Shuttle Enterprise. The first 2 glides were a bit short and ended in the grass, but the last one made it to the runway.

[Grossman56]

I actually started out with a 1/32 size drop tank from my P51 and measured from there. How much the fore and aft sections were as a percentage of the whole length. That way, once the actual dimensions were know, it was pretty easy to upscale. The dang program is addicting, I swear!


Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[davegee]

Just got through with version 3A for the 108 gallon drop tank.
For anyone that hasn't designed on Tinkercad, here's a little tour...
this is the fore section of the tank with the gas cap and blank separate.
This is the whole tank, its actually three sections.
The grey piece is the negative shape that carves out the positive shape. Just checking to see how it fits over the ring of the center section.
The tip of the negative shape shows that I'm leaving some thickness to the nose for strength. Previous versions showed a weakness there when hitting the ground.
This is what the finished piece looks like looking in.

As like anything in life, you get better the more you practice.


Grossman56
Dangerous Dan)

This revamped version by Dan should be much closer to the dimensions at 1/7 scale of the real 110 gallon Bowater paper tanks that were manufactured in England during WWII. Although not perfect, (leaky sometimes necessitating filling the tanks at the last minute before engine start up for their missions) but they filled a gap when steel and aluminum tanks were not available.

Dan has done a sterling job as we work through scaling these tanks for various airplanes like the P-47 and P-51. Then, to "flight test" where we see how well they did in practice, and learn from our mistakes. Then, we make improvements and go back and fly again until they are right!

Excellent job on the designing, Danger Dan!

[Elbee]

[QUOTE=paulrkytek;n452396]Revamped my pre covid Mig 21..../QUOTE]

Great work, Sir.

She's a beauty.

Best, LB

[paulrkytek]

Revamped my pre covid Mig 21 with the 3658 2159kv 12 blade, 4500Lihv lipo and repainted the top in desert scheme to contrast with original blue and white underside to make it easier to see in English grey skys. Just waiting for paint to go off for a couple of days before remaiden

[Grossman56]

Just got through with version 3A for the 108 gallon drop tank.
For anyone that hasn't designed on Tinkercad, here's a little tour...
this is the fore section of the tank with the gas cap and blank separate.
This is the whole tank, its actually three sections.
The grey piece is the negative shape that carves out the positive shape. Just checking to see how it fits over the ring of the center section.
The tip of the negative shape shows that I'm leaving some thickness to the nose for strength. Previous versions showed a weakness there when hitting the ground.
This is what the finished piece looks like looking in.

As like anything in life, you get better the more you practice.


Grossman56
Dangerous Dan)

[davegee]

Motion r/c need to retain you and Dan for added scale items for their fleet. Many modelers would be interested adding these. Be a great retirement adventure.
Best Regards, Rex

Thanks, Rex. Perhaps. Although it is a passion for Dan and me, I don't know how many people really care about scale stuff. RC Geek has been very successful, not sure if we could approach the same experience as him, though. If nothing else, it's good to work the old brain cells to come up with some stuff that not that many have done before. Even if no one else is interested, it is worth the challenge to me, anyway. I've had a pretty good run with my PrecisionAerospace.com venture over the past 15 years or so. I'm going to go to Washington, DC probably the first week of December to check out several projects that I did as contract work for the NASM. By that time, the last of the exhibit galleries will be open.

Davegee

[jetfool]

Motion r/c need to retain you and Dan for added scale items for their fleet. Many modelers would be interested adding these. Be a great retirement adventure.
Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

I only got one flight in today because the winds came up, but it was worth coming out to do it. I did a drop tank release using the OEM stock foam silver drop tanks, a non-event these days. Might try again tomorrow if the winds stay light, but that might not happen. My Estes altimeter showed I attained a maximum altitude of 99 feet during the flight, for what it's worth! Danger Dan and I are doing a rework on the 110 gallon drop tanks as they were a bit too "fat" or large in diameter. Hopefully we'll get them spot-on for this iteration.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Spring hàs has just come(yesterday). Down under so looking forward to some warm weather
.. just don't like the mid summer 🏝️ heat. Here. As always great pics dave. And that pilot does look awesome.. no doubt from the Grossman stable.

Happy Spring Down Unduh! I wish you a happy season of spring and summer (when not too hot!) flying rc airplanes and other fun stuff. We'll stay tuned for your posts!

Yes, that pilot was painted in the Grossman Paintworks, and he does a marvelous job! Now he's painting smaller 1/16 scale tank figures which will hopefully bring a lot of armor clients to him to paint their crews.

I think I flew my 80th flight on Penrod and Sam yesterday, and it is one of my favorite P-47s to fly, not that the other FMS planes are anything but great to fly. My Flightline Corsair is probably the best of them all slightly, and with the mods I've put on it like the Robarts hollow tires, it tracks the runway centerline with ease, especially with that wide-stance gear. I'm hoping for a long and glorious fall here in the northern hemisphere and can fly well into November before putting the toys away for the winter. However, I still have my E Flite Timber waiting in the wings for snow covered days just to let it rip and do impossible maneuvers I would never try with my scale planes!

Have Fun!

Cheers

Davegee

[f4u ausie]

Spring hàs has just come(yesterday). Down under so looking forward to some warm weather
.. just don't like the mid summer 🏝️ heat. Here. As always great pics dave. And that pilot does look awesome.. no doubt from the Grossman stable.

[davegee]

I'm running through all my airplanes, all of them flyable, as we have some good flying weather with fairly low winds, for now. Most of the planes will go into storage over the winter. I still have an ace up my sleeve, the EFlite Timber, which can fly in almost any weather, snow or clear, hot or cold. It's a blast to keep some semblance of my flying skills up during those months.

Today, I flew my Penrod and Sam for a couple of flights, and the FMS F-86F. Both flights went well, the first flight with the P-47 I dropped the foam centerline belly tank for grins, and just flew it for fun the rest of the flight and the second flight. The F-86 was its usual self, a great flyer and has a beautiful presence in the sky.

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

Good looking planes

[davegee]

Took my Flightline B-25J up again for some landing practice and dropping of scale "parafrag" bombs, those dropped from very low altitudes in the Pacific Theater in WWII. These explode-on- contact bombs were dropped by parachutes from extremely low altitudes, well under 100 feet. The parachutes gave the planes just enough time to get away from the explosions. The airplanes were modified to have tremendous forward fire power brought to bare against enemy targets at low altitudes. In my plane's case, they had eleven 50-caliber machine guns facing forward for devastating fire brought to bear on the enemy ships, armor, and personnel. This particular airplane was lost with all five crewmembers killed on a mission over Saigon in-then French Indochina in January 1945.

Also got a flight in with my F9F Cougar with all the "bells and whistles" attached like the nose-mounted aerial refueling tube.

[davegee]

Took out my FMS P-47D modified bubbletop to run a test on the 150 gallon drop tank that Danger Dan and I have been working on. This was its third operational drop test and that thing is built like a Sherman tank! It was printed by Craft Cloud and I finished putting it together, adding an E Flite drop mechanism, and painting it. Worked great, again. I don't think we need to test it any more. It's good to go.

Also photographed the plane with the cylindrical silver 108 gallon drop tank, and shots with 500# bombs under the wings, and the M10 bazooka rocket launchers that they experimented with to knock out ground targets in France. It had limited success for them but were more successful in other theaters of the war. The 56th Fighter Group and Hairless Joe flew a few missions with them. They didn't do all that much with them after tthat. Another problem was you could not jettison the tubes when expended, a big drag item.

[davegee]

I took my FMS P-47D razorback Ol' Cock out from the rafters in the garage to do some more drop testing and get it back flying before I put it back for the winter. It flew great, typical of this FMS airplane, and I did two drop tests of a foam centerline drop tank. I especially worked on dropping the tank in a specific area where I could retrieve it ok afterwards. I think this was about the 55th flight of this airplane, and it worked out great.

Also flew my FMS F-86F for a flight and was pleased with its performance. I have a nagging problem with the small gear strut doors breaking off from one of their mounts. Even with a good landing, these very fragile pieces can break off and have to be repaired or replaced. I fixed mine again today after today's flight and will put it up tomorrow to see how it goes. They were out of replacement parts at FMS, but finally got restocked so I ordered two more sets. Everything else about the plane is great, no issues.

Here's some pics from today.