• Pocket Rocket

    From Angus McLeod@VERT/ANJO to Digital Man on Mon Feb 4 01:55:00 2008
    Got two good flights off the Synapse this afternoon. The first flight
    lasted 8:25 on the UP-count clock, but with the clock stopped when the throttle was pulled back below 15%, which I do when gliding fown from
    height, so the actual flight time may have been longer than that. Even
    so, it doesn't sound fery long when with a vintage aircraft and a 4-stroke motor you can better 20 minutes easily! But that little thing moves FAST
    and it's a handful in the sky, so at that flight-duration, you are just
    about reaching the point where you WANT to come down and relax.

    For the second flight, I programmed a DOWN-count clock, with an initial
    time of 7:45. The field-charge went OK, but was delayed when the rain sprinkled for a few minutes. I was actually charging outside, so I had to stop the charge, and restart the process later. By the time the charger reported a full tank, it was well after sunset, and the light was fading
    fast. Still took some time and had fun with it though. It's quite a
    handful. I had adjusted the reflex on the surfaces to eliminate the need
    for trim. It was flying last time out (Sunday last week) with eight
    clicks of up-trim. I guaged the reflex on the elevons, zeroed out the
    eight clicks, and reset the elevons to their original reflex position.
    She is not tracking well enough. Of course, with an aircraft so small and
    so fast, a *hair* difference in the adjustment makes a significant
    difference.

    She is still twitchy, even on low rates and 40% negative exponential. I
    was on it fine, but it takes intense concentration every second. I'll try maybe going to -50% expo, or reducing the throws.

    She glides well. If I shut the power off at a reasonable height at the departure end of the strip, I can complete a downwind leg, a base leg and
    a full upwind pass, gliding, and be at maybe 20 feet at the departure end again before I have to put the power on and climb away again. That's far better than I ever anticipated! But she likes moving fast, and will bite
    if slowed down too much. I tested that characteristic at a safe height,
    and she gave me a vigorous snap-roll for my pains!

    I was just telling myself how the light was failing fast, when one of the other members suggested calling it quits and coming in. I made an
    approach and cut the throttle, but she whistled over the strip so I
    powered back up and went around again. Second time, I cut power to the
    bone on the downwind leg, and greased it in. The count-down clock says I
    had 1:45 left, so a 6:00 minute (plus) flight. And short as that is, it doesn't *feel* short.

    Still no decent photos -- I forgot my camera, and everyone else did the
    same. But plenty of fun, even so!

    ---
    Playing: "Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)" by "Foo Fighters"
    from the "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" album.
    ■ Synchronet ■ The ANJO BBS: Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!
  • From Angus McLeod@VERT/ANJO to Digital Man on Wed Feb 13 04:31:00 2008
    Finally got some shots of the new Synapse, taken while I was flying it.
    (I can't figure out how to fly and photograph at the same time!) Have a
    look:

    http://tinyurl.com/2rpmkr
    http://tinyurl.com/3cmhv6

    Who knows? Maybe some crude video will fall into my hands...



    ---
    Amarok: 17,459 tracks from 1,238 albums by 1,349 artists, but none playing.
    ■ Synchronet ■ The ANJO BBS: Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!
  • From Digital Man@VERT to Angus McLeod on Wed Feb 13 05:06:00 2008
    Re: Pocket Rocket
    By: Angus McLeod to Digital Man on Tue Feb 12 2008 11:31 pm

    Finally got some shots of the new Synapse, taken while I was flying it.
    (I can't figure out how to fly and photograph at the same time!) Have a look:

    http://tinyurl.com/2rpmkr
    http://tinyurl.com/3cmhv6

    Good pics. I like the second one with the blurry flag (?) in the foreground.

    Who knows? Maybe some crude video will fall into my hands...

    Yeah!

    digital man (xbox-live: digitlman)

    Snapple "Real Fact" #158:
    The first MTV video was "Video Killed the Radio Star," by the Buggles.
    Norco, CA WX: 56.8°F, 54% humidity, 0 mph SW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Vertrauen ■ Home of Synchronet ■ telnet://vert.synchro.net
  • From Angus McLeod@VERT/ANJO to Digital Man on Wed Feb 13 15:49:00 2008
    Re: Pocket Rocket
    By: Digital Man to Angus McLeod on Wed Feb 13 2008 00:06:00

    http://tinyurl.com/2rpmkr
    http://tinyurl.com/3cmhv6

    Good pics. I like the second one with the blurry flag (?) in the foreground.

    I like that too. It's the blue/green ribbons on the tip of my Tx antenna;
    a sort of personal, portable wind-sock.

    Here is another sorta interesting shot

    http://tinyurl.com/2qwvp7

    Who knows? Maybe some crude video will fall into my hands...

    Yeah!

    Maybe I need to let someone else fly it while I film. My camera does
    sucky video, tho...

    ---
    Playing: "The window" by "The Steve Miller Band"
    from the "Fly like an eagle" album.

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ The ANJO BBS: Made of wood and glue, but mostly glue!