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General control line discussion => Open Forum => Topic started by: Bootlegger on July 04, 2016, 12:14:19 PM

Title: grass flying
Post by: Bootlegger on July 04, 2016, 12:14:19 PM

  With the grass at 1/2" to 3/4" tall what size wheels are you flying with? Sometimes 2 1/4" work, but 2 1/2" is probably a lot better.

  What have y'all found to work well??

 Thanks a lot, and Happy 4th of July... #^ :! n~

Title: Re: grass flying
Post by: Frank Imbriaco on July 04, 2016, 01:02:07 PM

Gosh, at a 1/2-3/4" tall- either should be a breeze. I mostly fly off grass at my  wide open(as in NO turblence)R/C field.
 Our newly hired grasscutter won't go below 2" because he feels his equipment is too precious; God forbid he  should  scalp a bit  here or there.  Its clean dirt with virtually no rocks/pebbles. Guess these guys  can't be bothered  with touching  up a little nick on a blade with a file because it's sooooooooooo time consuming !
So, I take it upon myself to cut the circle (a 12' swath) beginning at 63' and extending to 75'.
No fun for a 65 year old man, but someone has to do it. I've got a Craftsman push(yes, push) mower at the field , cut it one inch and it takes 20 minutes or so. During the spring, it needs it every other day. Happy that it's burning in the sun these days.
My electric powered stunters have wheels that range from 1 3/4 to 2 1/4" and there are no problems

Title: Re: grass flying
Post by: Dave_Trible on July 04, 2016, 01:13:48 PM

Gil I fly 100% off the grass and 2 1/4" wheels are good enough for my big birds so should be fine for anything.  You may have to place the wheels a little further forward and use stiffer gear wire (like 5/32 instead of 1/8").  I haven't found the setup to cause any notable problems when I DO fly off pavement.

Dave

Title: Re: grass flying
Post by: Steve Helmick on July 04, 2016, 01:50:11 PM

I like wide "slicks" when flying off grass. More area to keep the wheels on top of the grass, allows quicker acceleration on takeoff and reduces the deceleration on landing. IMO, a wide LG track is also a plus, letting one wheel touch down first.

If you can take along a sheet of old paneling, that would be a good place to start the takeoff roll, also prevents dead spots in the grass from fuel spills.   D>K Steve

Title: Re: grass flying
Post by: Motorman on July 04, 2016, 02:06:49 PM

You want to minimize the landing gear size on a stunt ship. I also use 2 1/4" wheels on everything. I find the wide flat slicks catch more grass and are very draggy on take off unless the field is mowed real short.

MM

Title: Re: grass flying
Post by: FLOYD CARTER on July 04, 2016, 02:30:07 PM

I brought a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood to our grass/dirt field for take-off.  So wheel size isn't a problem.  Landing, with any size wheels results in a nose-over, but this causes no damage.

Floyd

Title: Re: grass flying
Post by: Tim Wescott on July 04, 2016, 03:34:31 PM

At the Regionals one year (I think it was my first), Intermediate was off of TALL grass.  The prop had to trim about an inch of grass just to take off.  Takeoffs were a trial -- basically, the airplane could barely move forward at first.  I dimly recall getting it started on one occasion by wiggling the handle until it gathered forward momentum.

This was with 2 1/2 or 2 1/4 inch wheels.  IIRC, thinner wheels do better in really tall grass, but I can see how thicker wheels would do better in short grass.

Title: Re: grass flying
Post by: john e. holliday on July 05, 2016, 08:47:41 AM

I have a remnant of a strip of carpeting scrap.  couple of feet wide and about 12 feet long.