Estes SpaceShipOne RC

kooch said:

Nice Kevin.

Regarding roll issues with small span rc models, there are a lot of nice light weight gyros out there that could solve this I think. Once oriented (I'd leave on for boost and then glide transition), switch off and fly it.

Kevin K.

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I hadn't thought of adding a gyro. I know where I can get one and there is plenty of room for mounting it. I'll have to loom into it.

kj

The roll gyro is probably a pretty good idea. Depending upon the sensitivity in the pitch axis, another one connected to the elevator control might not be bad either.

As for flight testing, ever consider carrying the SS1 up on a larger aircraft and dropping it at altitude for glide testing?

RangerStl said:

The roll gyro is probably a pretty good idea. Depending upon the sensitivity in the pitch axis, another one connected to the elevator control might not be bad either.

As for flight testing, ever consider carrying the SS1 up on a larger aircraft and dropping it at altitude for glide testing?

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He's got a drop rig setup on his Radian Glider already. Weren't you already planning on glide testing your RC SS1 with that rig, Kevin? Not sure if that ever plan materialized.

foose4string said:

He's got a drop rig setup on his Radian Glider already. Weren't you already planning on glide testing your RC SS1 with that rig, Kevin? Not sure if that ever plan materialized.

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Sweet. That would be great to see photos of as well.

This would let you get the feel for the glide and maybe set up the controls to be balanced on the sticks (I'm struggling with a 65" Corsair model with high pitch sensitivity compared to roll).

Another brain fart... How about eject-able nose ballast? That way you could ballast it for boost and upon reaching altitude the ballast package would leave the aircraft and float down by parachute while the properly-balanced SS1 is piloted down in optimal trim for flight instead of boost.

Could be ejection charge-activated or servo-activated. Cylinder from a piece of BT with appropriate mass and a parachute attached? Shoot, now you got me thinking about my own project...

The gyro might make that unnecessary, though.

Here is the 4th flight from this weekend. I added a little noseweight back in, and changed the programming to a delta wing. Still need to put in some expo for the ailerons, but this flight was higher and straighter than the last ones.

[YOUTUBE]u4iHJOVgEYs[/YOUTUBE]

kj

...So was the high speed fly by intentional? If so (and even if not), very cool!
You could hear it rip as it passed by.

I lost this thing on youtube right after liftoff. How tough is it to see during boost?

KK

It does get small quickly, but in person it's very easy to see the whole flight.

High speed pass? That's the glide speed! I did take a little time to orient it on the way down, so it had some time to build up speed before I leveled it off.

I may just do away with the scale decoration and go with a high contrast/ high visibility paint job for the next flights.

kj

foose4string said:

He's got a drop rig setup on his Radian Glider already. Weren't you already planning on glide testing your RC SS1 with that rig, Kevin? Not sure if that ever plan materialized.

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I was seriously considering it, but never got around to it before the launch date. At that point my couple of test throws were enough to get me in the ball park.

I'll post a couple pics of the drop rig, which was created by Herb Vinyard for carrying S8D and S8EP models. I've dropped those, free flight gliders, eggs, stuffed monkeys, and TARC rockets from the Radian.

Here are the photos of the drop rig- it's basically a balsa plate with a servo on one side and a plank sticking out the other side for an elastic connection. The blue foam is to hold the payload. The elastic is tied to the plank then looped over the payload and over the servo arm. I'm using the gear channel, so when I throw that switch the servo arm moves down and that releases the elastic.

Kevin. I think that you need more speed to drop SS1 from ypur Radian.

kjohnson said:

It does get small quickly, but in person it's very easy to see the whole flight.

High speed pass? That's the glide speed! I did take a little time to orient it on the way down, so it had some time to build up speed before I leveled it off.

I may just do away with the scale decoration and go with a high contrast/ high visibility paint job for the next flights.

kj

Click to expand...

Man, that thing dematerialized and rematerialized out of thin air at 0:41