Thursday, April 7, 2011

Dethermalizing with R/C

During a long conversation with Don Broggini (of Stardust Special and Flying Wing fame) he pondered the possibility of an R/C DT but then dismissed it as impractical for normal flight regimes. He was amazed how quickly I found a reference to it on line.


In Radio Modeller Mar 1984, a diagram was published of an r/c operated dethermalizer to fit to to a fully flying stab replacing the usual horn. You fly normally, but if full up trim is selected, then full up stick applied, the stab went to 30-40 degrees up, causing a deep stall. The airplane then descended almost vertically, but horizontal, and fell more or less gently. Normal control could be recovered by reverting the stab to normal. I can not figure out how to make the linkages because the outlines are confusing. Has anyone made one? It could be done by using 2 servos, but this neat as it only used the one servo. I can email a pic if anyone can help. I want to try it as I want to fly in a clearing in the midst of trees, and this would be the way to "land"!









Take a look at the drawing I attached:

You need 2 of part A. SInce this part is fixed to the fin, it could be integral to the fin, and doesn't need to be this exact shape.
Part B has a tang that rides axle 1 between the 2 part A's. It also has 2 lower arms that engage the slot in part C. You could most easily make part B from sheet stock by using one "tang" piece and two "lower arm" pieces. Axle 1 is also the main axle/ carrythru for the stab.
Part C rides on axle 2, which wasn't clearly shown on the original. The slot in C, engages the 2 arms from B with a pin.
It's all just a mechanical way to provide extreme exponential.


 Thanks to the contributors at R/C Groups for providing this info.

Monday, April 4, 2011

The 2011 Toledo Weak Signals Show







Click here for the slide show with >300 photos.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Toledo Show 2011

www.thebalsastore.com











The internet speed here in the Toledo Hilton is too slow to post my own photos but here are some videos of what others have made so far.  See the coverage at R/C Groups




Friday, April 1, 2011

April Fools!




I'm off to the Toledo Show. Report to follow

Thursday, March 31, 2011

The PAL Imp

Bobby Lang's latest venture. The PAL Model Products Imp .020 cu. in. diesel prototype has proven to be exceptionally easy to handle for
an engine of this size. It will swing a wide range of props from 4.2X2 right on up to 7X4. It features easy radial mounting ( 2 screws )
and an integral fuel tank which will be available in different capacities and also clear. An R/C carburetor is also planed. Stay tuned.

Dave Acton

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ugly Stick

Hi Tom,

After crashing the Stick twice and ripping off the tail of the fuselage, I decided the Stick needed a pilot to stop anymore crashes.

Bucky