- Joined
- Jan 27, 2009
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I finally got a 12 pack of reloads to try. I built one of my IntR/Ceptor kits but left off the carbon spar to save weight, and fit an 18mm motor mount. AUW is 141 grams, which is a bit heavy for this motor but I wanted to see if I could fly it on one of these kits as an option for folks, since the casing is inexpensive. I did not need any nose weight at all so that saves one ounce compared to the 24mm version, the 18mm motor is about .7 ounces lighter and the spar saved a few more grams, and I did some other foam reduction. I would have switched to a lighter battery but the balance point was perfect as is. I could have saved about 8 grams using lighter servos. The 24mm version is 8 ounces rtf with an E-6 as a reference. I think a good weight would be about 4 ounces rtf for a sport plane like mine, I think I could maybe get as low as 4.5..
It was really windy today, 11-12 mph gusty, but I wanted to try anyway. Used an 8' rail. I had to stand there and hold the wing so that the wing gusts wouldn't twist the rail buttons out of the foam. Had a very slight dip in the wind and had my wife hit the button, very fast off the rail, about 4 seconds in, the thrust starts to be approx 1:1 and I had to pitch into the wind. glide was very docile at 4.5 ounces glide weight. I'm going to try some more launches tomorrow as there is supposed to be no wind. I know fighting a head wind robbed some of the altitude, so we'll see how it does in calm conditions. Model was dead stable and hands off for most of the boost which is great given the high wind.
If I chop off the wing tip pods and go to a single vertical stab instead of the twin tails, it wouldn't look like an Interceptor any more but may save a few more grams in the tail and mean I could use a slightly smaller battery as well.
Anyway, wip. Interestingly the o rings don't compress much but there were no issues, just filled the ejection well with JB as per the instructions, grease and install the guts. About an 8 second burn. Guts came out easily after the flight and wiped clean easily.
Frank
It was really windy today, 11-12 mph gusty, but I wanted to try anyway. Used an 8' rail. I had to stand there and hold the wing so that the wing gusts wouldn't twist the rail buttons out of the foam. Had a very slight dip in the wind and had my wife hit the button, very fast off the rail, about 4 seconds in, the thrust starts to be approx 1:1 and I had to pitch into the wind. glide was very docile at 4.5 ounces glide weight. I'm going to try some more launches tomorrow as there is supposed to be no wind. I know fighting a head wind robbed some of the altitude, so we'll see how it does in calm conditions. Model was dead stable and hands off for most of the boost which is great given the high wind.
If I chop off the wing tip pods and go to a single vertical stab instead of the twin tails, it wouldn't look like an Interceptor any more but may save a few more grams in the tail and mean I could use a slightly smaller battery as well.
Anyway, wip. Interestingly the o rings don't compress much but there were no issues, just filled the ejection well with JB as per the instructions, grease and install the guts. About an 8 second burn. Guts came out easily after the flight and wiped clean easily.
Frank
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