flyingwings.co.uk Venturi FPV and laminating

[krikey]

Here's an update on my Vent, now using the GoPro case which is heavier and also a custom front cut from 3mm ply.

[krikey]

...and this is a shot prior to the black solar film and the flyingwings gopro box before I removed it.

[ROVguy]

Funny you should say that Krikey I was thinking of sticking my Go Pro in its housing. Im pretty sick and tired of having to repair the old one after it takes a nose dive into the ground. Had it flying today after a couple of test flights from Marklincs, its completely different to flying a plane, very responsive. Im gonna see if I can dial it down a bit more to make it a bit smoother. Unfortunately during my last flight something happened... I dont know what but the wing went into a spiral nose dive into the ground an I couldnt do anything to pull out of it. Hopefully, from initial inspection theres no major damage. The camera mount took most of the impact.

Ive also had an issue with the minimosd, in that I have display when no throttle, but apply a bit of throttle when flying and it disappears occasionally flickering on. Ive no idea what that may be?

[krikey]

i rejigged it as i had to add 250g to the nose, so i though that rather than carrying more weight that i need, why not put it to good use and the case is around 100g. My replacement 3mm plyboard nose is about the same weight as the gopro box supplied by flyingwings.

Ive still to add a flying camera but right now im around 120g off when i put the prop on the back.

Next step is the FPV camera and a decent way of securing the wing tips to the wings. ive tried velcro on the edges of the wing but they are very wobbly. How have you done yours ROV?

[ROVguy]

I just taped mine as suggested by the manual. They are nice and firm

[Brucey]

For the winglets I used nylon nuts and bolts, with the nuts imbedded and glued into the wing.
As for the spiral dive, was it a stall? My wing spins on a stall. It's good to practise a stall when high up so you can see how our reacts.

[ROVguy]

That's the thing... I was at 50% throttle heading pretty much into the wind. My only thought is that I still need more weight at the front. The worrying thing was that as soon as it went into the spin I had no control. I was commencing a turn and then it just span! Fortunately the wing survived but it's had a fair few hard knocks now, I don't know if it can take much more!

[Brucey]

Hmm, strange. It would be good to meet up again with both planes to compare notes and see why your having troubles.

[krikey]

The Vent is finished, balanced and looking good. The prop is balanced and the ESC has brake enabled. I've velcroed on the winglets using Velcro strapping. I'm pretty much on c/g of 190mm and AUW of 1.8kg which includes GoPro, flight cam 2x 2200 3s and 1x1000 3s.

Just need someone to come and help me fly it now.

[krikey]

How much deflection should I have on the elevons?

When trimming I've assumed that elevon neutral is horizontal when the vent is sitting flat on the table. is that right?

[Brucey]

You don't need much movement at all. I would have dual rates setup just incase it's very twitchy.
As for the neutral point, I originally set mine up with the elevons in line with the top of the wing. But as soon as I launched it I realised it needed a few mm up from that.
It'd be happy to meet up, but the way work its going, it wouldn't be for a couple of weeks :(

[krikey]

Thank you to all of you who have helped with the build. I maidened the Vent on Sunday with CurryKitten who bravely offered to launch it. I have to say that it was a great experience, it flew well straight off the bat and once I'd gotten used to the twitchiness (even with dual rates and expo) it was a joy to fly. The flight(s) were made more interesting by an unexpected jetisson of the batteries when I did an inverted manoeuvre and the LiPos fell out causing the wing to sort of do an inverted steep glide into the ground. No damage done and LiPos found so we went again.

My door catch needs to be stronger :)

Heres the video:

http://youtu.be/2vrF014ZaRA

[Brucey]

Nice one, glad it went well. Now you need to work on launching it yourself!

[krikey]

Yes, just looking into that now. following the Ritewing method of an overhead throw.

[Brucey]

Yup, 90% throttle and a good chuck overhead. You got to fully commit to the throw!