Swinging with the Comet 'nickle and dimers' and other stuff

[simpleflyer]

...I started on the Javelin last nite. I think I'll set it up for power first....

Good to hear that you have started on the Javelin, Lynn. What kind of power do you plan to use, electric or fuel? Looking forward to seeing how it comes out for you.

Al

[Sai1704]

Hello, simpleflyer. I seem to have picked interest from your posts on swing-control. I am eager to try it out with any scratch build. Anything you suggest?

[simpleflyer]

Thank you, Sai, for your interest in the swing-control models. I researched your posts and note that you have built the 900 series P-51, 500 series F6F, and the Lancer. All of these will make swing-control models. To see our flight experience with the 900 series P-51 and its conversion to a profile version which flew even better, go to the bottom of this page:

http://balsamodels.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1646&start=90

And the conversion is on the next page.

We also had good experiences with the Javelin and Lancer. These were built as SC models from the start. See:

http://balsamodels.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2315

These still fly to date, and are continually evolving.

A good simple and good flying beginners SC model is the modified Phantom Flash that is on the previous page of this thread. A modification that I will make on it soon is to change the vertical tail to sheet balsa and change the rear fuselage from sheet balsa to sheet bass or similar wood as the tail boom has broken twice already. The second time was this afternoon while flying in some gusty air. It entered some bad air and in an abrupt movement of the swing pole to recover the model we overstressed the little model causing the tail boom to break in two places.

If you have any specific questions, pleas feel free to ask them.

Al

[simpleflyer]

Here is the 'swingin PF' with its broken tail boom and two boom blanks for more tail sections.



A bit of glue and tissue reinforcement and the PF was ready to fly.





These simple little craft build up very quickly and repair easily, and swing control gets them up into the air easily and conveniently.

Al

[Sai1704]

Thanks simpleflyer, for your support. I want to start with a new build for swing control, maybe I'll try with the Phantom Flash. Are there any tutorials for something like this?
Because almost every google search with swing control leads to Golf!

[simpleflyer]

We've been tinkering with the modified Phantom Flash. Currently the fuselage is being revised and simplified. It has been streamlined and the structure has been developed into a generic structure that can be quickly assembled and modified into various configurations/sizes.

This picture shows the first three versions. On the left is the original modified PF. In the middle is the generic streamlined fuselage with the wing and horizontal tail from a modified Guillows GoldWing glider. On the right is a generic fuselage modified for a removable mid wing. Were going to rename the PF and its derivatives the 'Simple Swinger'.



The versions in flight.

First the SS #1



The SS #2 with GoldWing wing and horizontal tail.



And the SS #3



More to come,

Al

[simpleflyer]

We'll bump up this thread and show how the mid-wing version of the Simple Swinger works. This picture shows the simple lines of the SS, quite a bit different from the Phantom Flash from which it evolved.

This version of the SS has a bass tail boom to replace the initial balsa boom which is is more fragile and breaks easily. This next picture shows SS with the balsa tail boom which has now been repaired twice.

The mid-wing version consists of four parts: wing, nose pod, tail boom with vertical tail, and horizontal tail. The use of separate parts offers some unique advantages. In hard impacts the parts often are more likely to come apart with less breakage. The less breakage is easier to repair. Also the model breaks down for easy storage and transportation.

To attach the wing, it is slid onto the tail boom and this combination is slid into the nose pod.

A flight picture of the Simple Swinger with the twice repaired tail boom. It is still a good flyer.

We'll work up a little tutorial for the construction of the mid-wing Simple Swinger and post it.

Al

[simpleflyer]

To provide more options for flying the Simple Swinger, another wing has been built for it. The wingspan has been increased from 16 to 19 inches. This was done by adding 1 and 1/2 inches at each wing root.



The number of wing ribs remains the same for the new wing, except the spacing was increased.

[simpleflyer]

To the best of our recollection, the tissue used to cover the 19 inch SS wing is white Guillows tissue from their smaller kits. The tissue is a bit fragile and and tends to tear during application, especially when applied with thinned white Elmers. To overcome this problem thinned Elmers wood glue is used.





Perhaps it is only my imagination, but the thinned Elmers wood glue doesn't cause the tissue to become as weak and mushy as the thinned Elmers school glue does.

[simpleflyer]

After the tissue is attached the excess material is trimmed off and two or more coats of thinned Elmers school glue is applied. Again, the thinned school glue seems to fill the pores of the paper with fewer paint coats. However, it sags the thin paper and is easy to tear while painting, so quick light coats with gentle brush strokes is required. But it dries quickly and tautens well.



The pairs of strips beneath the wing are for making the capture rails for mounting the wing to the fuselage pod. The smaller strip is a spacer strip of 1/32 x 1/8 balsa. The other strip is 1/64 x 1/4 plywood. The wing is pinned to the mounting platform on top of the nose pod. One spacer strip is clamped on each side of the platform and glued in place.



Before the glue sets up, remove the pins and gently slide the platform a few times between the spacer strips to keep them from sticking to the platform. When the spacer strips are glued in place, the plywood strips are glued on top of the spacer strips and clamped in place.



The sandwiched strips form open slots facing each other into which the wing platform is slid into to hold the wing in place.



Now the longer winged Simple-Swinger is ready for flight. Test flight of the SS went well

[simpleflyer]

The 'Simple Swinger' is now on U-Tube. Check it out at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUCMSZhTkK0


The video is a bit rough, but we hope to improve in time. These are some of our first video shots, ever.

Al

[simpleflyer]

A new wing for 'Simple Swinger' series, about 16 inches wing span.

[simpleflyer]

Some progress on the 16 inch mid-wing Simple Swinger. Dihedral is glued.



The key element of the mid-wing mounting is the gluing of two center ribs spaced the thickness of the fuselage stick. In this version it is 1/16 inch.



Test fitting of the wing frame to the fuselage of the prior mid-wing Simple Swinger and the fit is OK, except the fuselage slot is too short. The shorter wing on this earlier SS had a shorter wing chord. The fuselage for this longer winged version will need a longer wing slot.

[simpleflyer]

After a few busy weeks of family obligations and household chores and trying to cope with the hot summer, we've been able to make some progress with the Simple Swinger mid-wing #2 model.

A couple of days ago the new longer fuselage with a mid-wing mount is completed and the wing is ready for a few coats of thinned white glue.



The covered wing is test fitted to the new fuselage and the fit is good.



We were anxious to see how the new lengthened fuselage would fly so we installed the wing from our profile Air Tractor 402B profile model, this wing has a mid fuse mounting system.



The combination fitted together and flew well.

[simpleflyer]

After about 3 coats of thinned Elmer's white, the mid-winged Simple Swinger #2 is ready for a test flight.



The wing from the mid-wing SS #1 is overlaid the mid-wing SS #2 for comparison.



Early afternoon was hot and windy, not so good for flying. At almost sundown some good flights were made. First, with the long wing.





Then with the shorter wing.