Author Topic: New ride finally completed - Flight Report (Read 6585 times)

Randy Powell · « **on:** January 30, 2010, 07:09:18 PM »

Thought I'd start a new thread to post this. Here are the pictures I promised.

New plane is 590 square inches. A bit porky at 56oz, but it's two ounces lighter than it's predecessor (the Ring Deluxe). RO-Jett 65 should pull it along. Finish is OK, I suppose. Not my best work, but the plane should fly OK.

James Mills · « **Reply #1 on:** January 30, 2010, 08:15:06 PM »

Randy,

Very cool, you put out some nice stuff.

James

Russell Shaffer · « **Reply #2 on:** January 30, 2010, 08:17:32 PM »

Your idea of "OK" is way ahead of most. That is a very nice looking set of plans, by the way.

Jack Mulinix · « **Reply #3 on:** January 30, 2010, 08:51:45 PM »

Randy, Thats just BABABABAD looking. Way cool.

Steve Helmick · « **Reply #4 on:** January 30, 2010, 10:40:07 PM »

I like it, Randy! "Something Drastic Slider 4.0" Looks great, and plenty light enough for the area and power. No bat skidmarks looks like the hot setup! Holla when you want to fly it.

Steve

Randy Powell · « **Reply #5 on:** January 30, 2010, 11:42:57 PM »

Thanks, guys. Trust me, it looks better in the pictures than in person. the woodworking was pretty good, if a bit heavier than I would have liked. The paint is less than sterling, but serviceable.

Steve,

Well, if the weather will ever cooperate. Still need to tidy up with it. Have to wrap the leadouts and a couple of other minor details. Perhaps the weather next weekend with be better.

Matt Colan · « **Reply #6 on:** January 31, 2010, 05:52:15 AM »

Randy, Randy, Randy...I think it's a great looking airplane!!! I don't know how anybody can not like it, the color choices are fantastic.

Dennis Adamisin · « **Reply #7 on:** January 31, 2010, 06:42:59 AM »

Way cool. I love the mix of scallops & stripes in your wing graphic. Another attaboy for this one!

That weight shouldn't hurt too bad, power is a great enabler.

Claudio Chacon · « **Reply #8 on:** January 31, 2010, 06:47:09 AM »

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL job Randy!
I just LOVE the canopy treatment -and I'm one of those not fond of painted canopies- the color selection, the shape, the shadowing job...as good as it gets! Very well thought...

I like that retro/modern blend the plane has. Well planted, sleek and aggressive.
A magnificent job by all means...

Oh, by the way...didn't I tell you?
I LIKE IT!!! ;)

Kind regards,
Claudio.

Clint Ormosen · « **Reply #9 on:** January 31, 2010, 10:31:28 AM »

Another winner, Randy. Clean and sharp looking. Not a busy as your last one. Awesome!

Shultzie · « **Reply #10 on:** January 31, 2010, 11:06:38 AM »

AMEN!!!

Bryan Higgins · « **Reply #11 on:** January 31, 2010, 12:42:22 PM »

Randy

Your Sliders always look awesome! This one looks great.

Mark Scarborough · « **Reply #12 on:** January 31, 2010, 01:19:41 PM »

Well Randy,,
I really want to poke fun, and pick it apart, just cant though,,
It looks good from here
Cant wait to hear the flying reports on it. good luck with the weather,

Randy Powell · « **Reply #13 on:** January 31, 2010, 02:23:27 PM »

Thanks again, guys. I hope it's a good flier. We'll see when we get a weather break.

One thing you can kinda see in the first picture. On the fuse side (outboard side only) is lettering. You can just seem the part of the first word in the picture. It says:

Hae Iki Pu'ali

Hawaiian. Means something like Fierce Little Warrior. Let's hope so.

Shultzie · « **Reply #14 on:** January 31, 2010, 02:51:24 PM »

Quote from: Randy Powell on January 31, 2010, 02:23:27 PM

Thanks again, guys. I hope it's a good flier. We'll see when we get a weather break.

One thing you can kinda see in the first picture. On the fuse side (outboard side only) is lettering. You can just seem the part of the first word in the picture. It says:

Hae Iki Pu'ali

Hawaiian. Means something like Fierce Little Warrior. Let's hope so.

PERFECT NAME FOR A GREAT LOOKIN' MODEL..RANDY!!! Truly an beautiful CLPA model that should fly as good as it looks!
Congrats Randy!

Randy Powell · « **Reply #15 on:** January 31, 2010, 09:26:27 PM »

Donnie,

Maybe we can drag your back side out for the maiden flight in a week or two.

Shultzie · « **Reply #16 on:** January 31, 2010, 11:23:45 PM »

Quote from: Randy Powell on January 31, 2010, 09:26:27 PM

Donnie,

Maybe we can drag your back side out for the maiden flight in a week or two.

Trust me....I will be there Dead or Alive! To borrow MJ's words

"THIS IS IT!"

john e. holliday · « **Reply #17 on:** February 01, 2010, 09:01:56 AM »

Absolutely gorgeous for a simple paint job.

Remember if it don't fly to your satisfaction, let me know and I will come take it off your hands.

Randy Ryan · « **Reply #18 on:** February 01, 2010, 11:27:51 AM »

Looks GREAT!! Randy, but then that's what I expected. Your "simple" scheme is like way too busy for my short attention span when it comes to masking and painting!

Randy Powell · « **Reply #19 on:** February 01, 2010, 02:12:29 PM »

Randy,

This paint scheme was pretty easy. Not having the color butt against each other makes it easy to mask the whole thing in one setting. Then just cover what you don't want painted. Usually it's tape, mask, shoot paint, pull tape, re-tape, re-mask, shoot paint, pull tape, ad nausium. Hours and hours of taping and masking and 2 minutes shooting paint. being able to mask all in one setting makes life quite a bit easier. The hardest part was the checkerboard and with mostly being on flat surfaces, even it was pretty easy.

Pat Johnston · « **Reply #20 on:** February 02, 2010, 06:03:06 AM »

Spectacular, Randy, as usual. I think you are the King of the jet look, along with trim schemes which complement them perfectly. You have a knack for hitting the bullseye for what stunt people like to see. This is a Bo Derek "10" for stunters!
Pat Johnston
Always in Awe
Skunk Works

wwwarbird · « **Reply #21 on:** February 03, 2010, 08:08:22 AM »

Another killer trim design Randy, great stuff once again! What is the lettering font that you use on most of your stuff? Is it just your own drawing/lettering or is it a named font?

Tom Niebuhr · « **Reply #22 on:** February 03, 2010, 08:12:07 AM »

Simple, Elegant, Tastefull, not over done. Love it!

Next you have to start doing some cockpits.

Randy Powell · « **Reply #23 on:** February 03, 2010, 10:03:59 AM »

WW,

I use a lot of fonts. The last Slider used a font called BADABOOM. I've used that one a couple of times. Honestly, I can't remember what I used on this one. I'll have to look it up when I get home. This was done with OpenOffice and the Fontworks program (nice open source program similar to Microsoft Office).

Tom,

I've done cockpits, I'm just not very good at them. It's something I need to practice. Truth is, I had planned on doing a clear canopy on this plane, but couldn't come up with one that made me happy. I thought about making a vacuform setup and making a canopy for it, but just got sidetracked by other stuff. Maybe the next one. Once I finish the profile I just started, I have soem ideas for my elliptical design and that will likely have a clear canopy and what will probably be an amateurish attempt at cockpit detail. Hey, learning takes time. Maybe I can get Mark Scarborough to help me with it. He does pretty nice cockpit details.

Shultzie · « **Reply #24 on:** February 03, 2010, 04:00:36 PM »

After looking at this latest and greatest simulation canopy of yours....WOW! To me....this truly is a CLASS ACT ARTISTIC RENDITION that should score as much or even more appearance points than a good share of the above average CLPA with a regular detailed canopy. Little Dinky Doll heads...and a paper dashboard just doesn't punch my beauty-buttons.

Bryan Higgins · « **Reply #25 on:** February 03, 2010, 08:39:21 PM »

Randy

On your earlyer post "Painting a New Plane" You mentioned skipping the fillercoat (Primer)
to save weight.

Did you do this on the New Slider?

This may be a great advantage if i can get a flat enough surface with the dope & sand.

Thanks Bryan H.

Randy Powell · « **Reply #26 on:** February 04, 2010, 10:31:41 AM »

Bryan,

My plan had been to just use clear and build it up until the grain was filled. That part worked great over wood surfaces. But I wasn't happy with the areas over the open bays. So I ended up shooting some primer (gray paint, zinc sterate, clear and thinner) over just the open bays and sanding as much of that off as I could (probably too much - ended up with some dips along the cap strips). Again, paranoia about weight gain made me probably a bit too aggressive in sanding. I suspected, after the fact, that a couple more coats of unthinned clear over the open bays would have likely done the job and I will do that next time and completely avoid filler coat.

Just a note: I spent some time last night machining up and balancing a couple of spinner weights. I suspect that the new ship is going to be just a touch tail heavy (based on earlier calculations). Maybe a 1/4-1/2 inch too far aft (hmmm, maybe I should have sanded a bit more aft of the CG -

). So I made up a really cool set of spinner weights from some brass dowel I have. I'll fly it first to see where I'm at, then put on the heaviest one. successive flight will see progressively lighter ones until I hit the right spot. Then I can convert to some lead in the nose, depending on what I end up with.

Randy Powell · « **Reply #27 on:** February 04, 2010, 10:18:01 PM »

WW,

So, I went back an looked. The font on the underlying part (SLIDER 4.0) is Concielian. The overlay is Bermuda Solid.

Hope that helps. Most of these were obtained from 1001 FreeFonts: http://www.1001freefonts.com/ Or Font Freak: http://www.fontfreak.com/main.htm

Example below:

wwwarbird · « **Reply #28 on:** February 05, 2010, 08:08:07 AM »

Thanks Randy!

Randy Powell · « **Reply #29 on:** February 05, 2010, 11:48:21 AM »

No problem. I'm always looking for cool lettering.

Matt Colan · « **Reply #30 on:** February 05, 2010, 11:57:46 AM »

Quote from: Randy Powell on February 05, 2010, 11:48:21 AM

No problem. I'm always looking for cool lettering.

Was that a decal Randy?

Randy Powell · « **Reply #31 on:** February 05, 2010, 02:37:56 PM »

Matt,

Yes, it's a decal.

Randy Powell · « **Reply #32 on:** February 07, 2010, 04:01:14 PM »

Thought I'd just post this here rather than starting a new thread.

Maiden flights today (big two flights). It flies pretty well. Really grooves nicely in spite of having a fairly aft CG. The spinner weight I put on (probably due largely to my paranoia) is too much so I'll back that off a bit. Too much tip weight too, but better too much on a maiden flight than too little. Need about 2 more feet of line, but I sorta saw that one coming. I figured shorter was better for first flights. Needed just a little flap tweak. Second flight was fairly level. Nice track, turns very well, though with some hinge if I really bang it. As I said, too much tip weight. Turns and stops turning very well.

All and all, a successful first outing. Near the end of the second flight I blew the pipe coupling (man, I knew that thing was too short). Went kinda weird for a lap or two then quit. Sigh... That's OK, it was starting to rain again anyway. Hey, I'm not complaining. I could be living in DC with 3 feet of snow on my head.

So, back to the shop for some tune up. A bit of this and that and hopefully the weatherliars are right for once and we are starting into a drying trend so i can get back out to fly it again. It's fun to fly.

Shultzie · « **Reply #33 on:** February 07, 2010, 05:32:31 PM »

RANDY...PHOTOS?

?
ANY ONE SHOOT SOME MAIDEN SHOTS TODAY...Those puddles at the Narrows this morning were HUGE and lots of gravel all over the tarmac!!! Your choice to move to another site was a good one...
SORRY! I just missed you guys....had all my camera stuff ready to record the event!

Randy Powell · « **Reply #34 on:** February 07, 2010, 06:55:53 PM »

No, I forgot it. Oh well, I'll take it when the weather is better.

Dennis Adamisin · « **Reply #35 on:** February 07, 2010, 08:31:17 PM »

CONGRATs Randy, that is great news for ya! Sounds like you are within a tweak and a nudge of gettin it under control...

Randy Powell · « **Reply #36 on:** February 07, 2010, 08:55:46 PM »

Hi Dennis,

I was surprised how close I got on the bench trim. Took a slight tweak to the flaps to get it to fly dead level, but that was fixed after the first flight. I touch too much tip weight initially and the leadouts a bit too far back. Much better the second flight. Unfortunately, when I was building the thing, I had to take the header off about 10 times while I was coaxing it into the, ah, proper orientation. That last time, when it was fitting perfectly, I, ha, well, heck, I'll just say it. I forgot to put the gaskets in and tighten it down. Hey, it made it all the way through almost 2 flight before the screws rattled all the way out and the header came off. Weird thing was, the exhaust spacer (BSE RO-Jetts have a little spacer between the block and the header) and the screws were right there in the bottom of the engine compartment when I got it home. Good luck after all I guess.

Almost didn't fly the thing when I got there. Had a series of unfortunate incidents before I could even get the lines on starting with a flat tire (on tires that were a week old - sigh...). Oh well, it seems it's going to be a good plane.

Steve Helmick · « **Reply #37 on:** February 08, 2010, 08:34:13 PM »

How'd it go with the boys from "Less Swabs" (sic) tire store? My son is shopping for tires...this will be a shocker for him...

Steve

Randy Powell · « **Reply #38 on:** February 08, 2010, 10:53:19 PM »

Hi Steve,

They are replacing the tire for free. It was a blown valve stem. They didn't have the size in stock and had to order it from the warehouse. I can pick it up tomorrow. Bad news was, when they had it up on the rack, they found a broken motor mount. sigh....

Oh well.

By the way, the plane is all ready to go again. Just about done making up another set of 2 foot longer lines. Maybe we will get some decent weather this weekend.

Jim Pollock · « **Reply #39 on:** February 11, 2010, 01:39:01 PM »

Nice plane Randy, Good going.

My own preference for a name would be something like "Blaster" or "Big Gun" things like that!

Jim Pollock

Randy Powell · « **Reply #40 on:** February 11, 2010, 02:20:37 PM »

Jim,

Well, this was a complete redesign (though I retained the looks of the previous versions). It seemed a bit drastic at the time...

Bill Little · « **Reply #41 on:** February 12, 2010, 09:38:42 AM »

Awesome job, Randy!

Now, put the women and children to bed and go out and hunt some gold!

Big Bear

Randy Powell · « **Reply #42 on:** February 12, 2010, 05:21:29 PM »

Bill, I got it home after the initial flights and worked over a couple of issues, got the hingeline taped and have made up new lines (2 feet longer as noted). Too bad the weather report is ugly for the next 3 or 4 days. Oh well, maybe next weekend.

Chris McMillin · « **Reply #43 on:** February 12, 2010, 08:50:00 PM »

I slide...

Steve Helmick · « **Reply #44 on:** February 12, 2010, 09:01:03 PM »

Can somebody please define "Slider" for me? AFAIK, it's a 4-pack of mini-burgers. I don't want no mini-burgers, but I'd take Randy's Slider v1.0 or v4.0 in a NY second. Will a RO-Jett .76 fit in der?

Steve

Randy Powell · « **Reply #45 on:** February 13, 2010, 11:39:59 AM »

The name actually came from the TV series Sliders. But maybe is refers to the baseball pitch. Hmmmm....

Steve Helmick · « **Reply #46 on:** February 13, 2010, 04:07:22 PM »

Quote from: Randy Powell on February 13, 2010, 11:39:59 AM

The name actually came from the TV series Sliders.

Huh. Never heard of it. You sure it wasn't "Stinkers"?

Steve

Randy Powell · « **Reply #47 on:** February 14, 2010, 12:32:34 AM »

Steve,

You lead a sheltered life. Clearly, you don't watch enough TV.

Randy Powell · « **Reply #48 on:** April 12, 2010, 11:37:41 AM »

Just a quick note:

After waiting some 6 weeks for my engine (hey, Dub's a busy guy), I got it back and re-broken in and finally got to fly this plane last weekend. We were blown out on Saturday but Sunday got some nice flying weather. So, the first patterns went on the new plane and I'm pretty happy. It flies quite well. Nice groove and good track in the rounds. The corners are very predictable. No complaints. The extra ounces didn't seem to hurt it at all (final, all up weight with the ounce I had to put in the nose was around 58oz) The second flight, the wind picked up quite a bit (maybe 9-12mph with gusts to maybe 15) and the plane did fine. Nice to have a small plane with a big engine. Cut right through the wind without much issue (though it pulled like a truck dead downwind - need some trim there).

So, the overall verdict is, it's a nice plane with some potential. It's nice, for once, to have a plane doesn't hunt at all with no wiggle on hard outside corners.

Randy Ryan · « **Reply #49 on:** April 12, 2010, 03:41:04 PM »

Outstanding Randy, always nice to hear a good report.