ASA Member Projects

About a year ago I thought of building the Cleveland Albatross from an old, nearly faded out original plan I had from the 50s. I found out there is a Cleveland Models plan site still up and operating selling every Cleveland plan (clvmod@iquest.net), and there are thousands. They did not list the Sr. Albatross. But I emailed them and asked if they still had a good copy plan. Not only did they, but by my asking, they decided to list it on their plan service.

Then, my brother who had some wing ribs for other models laser cut by Top Notch Models (TNPRODUCTS@CS.com), suggested I contact them. I asked John of Top Notch if he could make the fuse, rudder and stab parts laser cut, and wing ribs (modified for carbon fiber spars). He could and he did and still maintains the patterns if anyone else would like to build the glider. I had the fuse formers made of 1/16 aircraft ply, and they were excellent. I built the model stock, per plan except for the wing spars and center joints, the wing is two halves plugging into steel rods.

Specs:

Wing span- 120 "

Area 7 sq. ft.

Covering- Red Transparent Solarfilm with silver solarfilm trim.

Tail- 41" OAL- 220 sq inches.

Total weight as is- 56 oz.

RC gear- Hitec Electron 6 receiver, two Cirrus micro servos, 600 ma battery for ballast.

Fuse- Formers, stringers and planked , covered with silver Solarfilm- Length- 44"

I installed 1/4-20 blind nuts inside the wing fairing cover for mounting a future electric power pod.

I flew it twice in calm air. Good glide, good vertical control via stab, but almost no rudder control due to very small control surface, short moment and and huge wing. I would never fly it in wind as is. I feel judicious placement of ailerons is the way to go. This is a project in itself I will tackle until winter, until then it lays in wait.

Flemish Patient
by Richard Shagam

Not exactly (okay not at all) an airplane project, but any modeler can appreciate this. Check what Richard has been up to here...

SuperGeeII
by Aradhana Singh Khalsa

Aradhana has just entered the discus-launch glider (DLG) world in a big way. He's built the Mark Drela design SuperGee II and here are some photos Aradhana supplied.

"A Beautiful Plane"

Hey, I didn't know ZZ-Top was into Hand Launch.

Concentrate.. concentrate.

CNC Router
by John Ihlein

John has been getting serious about CNC foam cutting and 3D CNC router. Here's his CNC router table.

"That workshop looks way too clean for any real work to be getting done"

Looks just plane great!

Dan's Own Planes Web Page
by Dan Tandberg

Dan has is own web site with photos and specifications on his many planes.

Check it out at Dan's Planes

Here's a shot of Dan and his Optma Pro

Assorted Planes
by Aradhana Singh Khalsa

Aradhana is one of our newest club members and here are some shots of his planes. He has built a beautiful Bubble Dancer shown below held by his son, Fateh Singh.

"A 5 footer and a 10 footer"

Here's Aradhana's "Cloud Ranger" awaiting completion.

As Aradhana put it "On Final". Is that final approach or final flight? Looks like a rough place to land.

Club Racer
by Kevin Berger

Here's a shot of Kevin's Club Racer. For those of you who aren't familiar with these, the Club Racer is an all EPP foam pylon racer using an inexpensive 05 can motor.

For some specs and several construction photos of Kevin's Club Racer have a look at this PDF file Kevin's Club Racer.

Assorted Planes
by John Ihlein

Here are several photos of some of John Ihlein's planes.

First is John's Eraser Xtreme 3m, molded, thermal duration sailplane. It is being held by one of our younger club members, John's son, Brandon.

Here we have John's Orion Speed 400 electric sailplane.

Here's John's XP3 Discus Launch Glider (DLG).

A-Cinder Electric Sailplane
by Clin Lashway

Here's a scratch designed and built electric sailplane meant to address the issues Clin has with his Astro-Challenger. It is similar in overall proportion, but the wing was strengthened significantly with a leading edge D-tube and trailing edge V-tube.

Large flaps were added to provided more control for de-thermalling and landing. However, it doesn't have ailerons but relys on the rudder and diehedral. It also uses the same power system used in his Astro Challenger described below. Finally the airfoil is an SD7032 which has much better low-speed characteristics than the E193 used on the Astro-Challenger.

Overall construction is built-up balsa with 0.75 oz fiberglass. On the wing, all sheeted areas were covered with 1/32" balsa and 0.75 oz fiberglass then painted. The open bays are covered in Micafilm.

Initial flights show that in floats much better than the Challenger (probably due to the better airfoil) and that the flaps do provide the control hoped for in making precision landings.

Specs:
Wing Span: 2m
Weight w/CP-1300 battery: 41 oz
Airfoil: SD7032
Power System: see below

Astro-Challenger Modified for F5J
by Clin Lashway

Several people have asked me about the power system I recently put into my electric sailplane. So I thought I would pass along the details.

Power system:
Trinity Serpentine 14 Turn RC car motor $35
MP Jet 3.8:1 inline-gear box about $30
Jeti 50A controller
Aero-Naut 13.5" x 7" carbon folder
7-cell CP-1300 (green cells) battery
or 1250SCRs (old red cells)

Setup:
Motor provides for adjusting the timing. Advance motor about 22 degrees. There are timing marks on the motor. I won't even try to describe the direction to turn the motor end-bell. Just keep in mind that the gearbox works in a way that makes the motor turn the same direction as the prop.

Performance:
My airplane's all-up weight is about 36 ounces. This power system has unlimited vertical, but not much extra, so optimal climb is at a shallower angle. It climbs to about my comfort limit in 40 seconds.

Motocalc estimate of 1200-1300 ft/min climb equates to 800 to 850 feet in 40 seconds. Current draw is about 36 Amps static. This pulls the battery down to about 6V. Anymore loading and the BEC kicks off the motor.

This combination allows me to draw about 1000 mAHr from the batteries (before BEC cutoff) and provides about two 40-second motor runs. In other words, more than enough for a 40 second F5J climb and plenty more for multiple shorter climbs for fun flying.

UPDATE

This same power system in my A-Cinder draws closer to 44A. I believe this is due to a difference in timing of the motor (more advance), but I haven't confirmed this. In any case, the A-Cinder has a more powerful climb, but I have to use the CP1700 cells. The smaller CP1300 won't supply this current at a high enough voltage.

Comments:
Obviously, this system doesn't have the performance of a brushless system, but it also doesn't have the price. The motor is heavier and less efficient. But for those that have seen my plane climb, it certainly is very usable.

The Trinity Speed-Gem series of car motors are available in just about every number of turns from 9-19. So you could play with other motors or prop sizes. If you wanted a little more power, you could go to a separate radio RX battery (no BEC) and if the controller will run at a lower voltage you can pull more amps.

Just keep in mind that more amps, does not necessarily mean more power out. The system I describe here is very close to maximum power out. In other words, a larger prop will pull more amps, but it wouldn't take much more before you actually get less power out. The extra power just goes to heating up the battery and motor.

I've been running this system for about 3 months and probably have run about 40 battery cycles through it. No problems or reason to believe the motor isn't doing fine.

Airframe:
My airplane is a Astro Challenger. The kit was originally sold by Astroflight, but is now sold by Spirit of Yesteryear. It's a simple rudder-elevator plane. Note: The flat center section wing.

Span: 72"
Flying weight with 7- CP1300: 37 ounces
Wing Area: 630 square inches

B-17

Within the ASA is a special interest group that is constructing a VERY LARGE, 1/9th scale, electric powered B-17 model.

Click HERE to go to the web site that has been created to show the progress of the project. (The URL is http://www.swcp.com/~dthrall/B-17page/ )

Other Projects

SE5A Bi-Plane by Clin Lashway