DynaSoar
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- Joined
- Mar 14, 2004
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Some kits are a bag of standard parts. Some kits are thought out, designed and planned. This bird is yet another step: it is *engineered*. Sure, the Fin-Lok system is a neat hack. But even in the design of the parts themselves you can see real rocket science. While everyone is familiar with friction-fit as a means of keeping a motor in a bird, AT has obviously taken structural integreity and load bearing concepts behind fit into account when they came up with this. It's not often enough that I finish a bird that I'm pleased to own. I'm looking forward to many flights with it. I'll probably end up holding it back and not over-powering it so I don't lose it.
If you build this bird, do check out the EMRR reviews and check out the tips by previous builders. The one that helped me most was using epoxy instead of CyA on a few steps. Sometimes you need that extra couple minutes of flexibility. Also, if you load in a lot of CyA into a small space, such as the nearly impossible task of filleting the motor mount parts after inserting the mount into the body, it can (a) create a lot of nasty fumes, and (b) drip out, which can not only make you stick to the floor, but to a real job on the tile when you try to wipe it up with acetone.
Elapid just posted about buring the chute in his Initiator by trusting the baffle cooling system. I'd been afraid of something like that myself. This bird is getting a nomex chute protector on the shock cord.
I ended up not using most of the decals (nice self-adhesives, not water-soak) because I didn't go for the "stock" color scheme: white, grey and a few black highlights. Sorry, but that just seems like cloud camoflauge to me. I did use the "Mustang" portion of the decals, being black on clear, despite the fact that the body is glossy black. It looks kind of cool, being black on black, just like those black helicopters; they are not really "unmarked" no matter what the Foo Fighters and X-Files say.
Someday, if the parts are available, I plan on upscaling this bird. Until then, I've got a lot of flying to do, as this thing will run on everything from D through G.
If you build this bird, do check out the EMRR reviews and check out the tips by previous builders. The one that helped me most was using epoxy instead of CyA on a few steps. Sometimes you need that extra couple minutes of flexibility. Also, if you load in a lot of CyA into a small space, such as the nearly impossible task of filleting the motor mount parts after inserting the mount into the body, it can (a) create a lot of nasty fumes, and (b) drip out, which can not only make you stick to the floor, but to a real job on the tile when you try to wipe it up with acetone.
Elapid just posted about buring the chute in his Initiator by trusting the baffle cooling system. I'd been afraid of something like that myself. This bird is getting a nomex chute protector on the shock cord.
I ended up not using most of the decals (nice self-adhesives, not water-soak) because I didn't go for the "stock" color scheme: white, grey and a few black highlights. Sorry, but that just seems like cloud camoflauge to me. I did use the "Mustang" portion of the decals, being black on clear, despite the fact that the body is glossy black. It looks kind of cool, being black on black, just like those black helicopters; they are not really "unmarked" no matter what the Foo Fighters and X-Files say.
Someday, if the parts are available, I plan on upscaling this bird. Until then, I've got a lot of flying to do, as this thing will run on everything from D through G.
