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Greetings Joe...
Gracious thanks for the maiden flight update and
happy "shared" thoughts! It is much appreciated!
On the CG, our
stated 1-1/4" back from the LE is an excellent starting point, albeit a tad
conservative, since we don't know how much LE's will be rounded or not rounded,
etc. In your comments, I wasn't sure if you were adding 1/4oz fore or aft
of the CG; if it was fore, you might be a smidgen nose heavy now. For the
most part, 1-5/16" back from the LE usually ends up being the sweet spot
for the Moth, where it will snap a turn bigtime without quivering, and still fly
inverted will a micro-amount of forward stick (about 1/8" with avg
throws).
Since "dive testing" is near useless on a flying wing, I
typically use inverted flight and turning characteristics to help dial it
in...
Many thanks again Joe and please let me know if the winds tomorrow
materialize and you have a chance to really see the top end
speeds!!!
:)
Always happy
air,
dvc
____________________________________ Derek
Choice North County Flying Machines http://www.northcountyflyingmachines.com760.439.7037 ____________________________________
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 1:03
PM
Subject: The Moth! - Initial Flight
Impressions...(Probably Too Long)
Fellow Slopeheads...
Well for those of you in the
Nashville area there is good news. Effective
today 6/13/02 the east
side (The Notch) of Percy Priest Dam is again open.
With winds forcasted
to be shifting to the west throughout the day I was
working on my new
slope ship "The Moth" until late last nite to take
advantage of being able
to fly one of my favorite spots.
The Moth, from North Country Flying
Machines, looks alot like the JW by
Bowman Hobbies but was advertised as
being a good light wind slope ship and
a howler when ballasted up so for
65.95 delivered to my door I figured I'd
give it a try. If you have
built a foamie before it is pretty straight
forward. Very complete
kit as far a hardware goes. Carbon tube spars with
basswood caps in
the wings and a carbon longeron in the fuse and a balsa
tail. I
tried a new technique on the fuse that proved to work out very
well, okay
at least so far. I used 2 coats brushed on coats of Plasti-Dip
(The
stuff used to dip tool handles in to give a rubbery plastic finish).
The
wings were covered with ultacoat after the messy 3M spray had dried.
Flight pack was a pair of HS80's (they recommend HS-85's but the 80's were
sitting on the bench and needed a home), an FMA Fortress Rx and a 600 mAh
NMH battery pack. Took about 5 hours total to build, not counting
drying
time for the epoxy, goop, and Plasti-Dip. I set the balance at the
recommended 1 1/4" back from the LE and the total weight came out just
over
18 oz.
Winds at the dam were blowing from 260 at about 6 to 10
when I made my first
toss. Wow dipping down pretty hard, dialed in
some up trim and leveled out
for a nice 5 minute first flight.
Landed and took out 1/4 oz. of lead and
launched again, it still wanted
those couple of clicks of up and was a
little more unstable than before
but still very flyable. So landed and put
the 1/4 oz. plus another
1/4 oz just to see what would happen. It still
wants a couple of
degrees reflex on the TE but very stable and a real joy to
fly now.
Another slope junkie showed up with his DAW 126 HLG and we were
having
some fun. The winds were pretty variable with some good thermals
busting off from time to time and this little ship will hook a thermal and
ride it out with no problem.
So if you are looking for a good light
wind slope ship that I'm betting will
honk in good winds (forecast for
tomorrow is for WNW at 10-15 which is
perfect "Notch" conditions) and I'll
find that out tomorrow, you need to
consider getting one of these.
For $66 delivered to your door in the US you
can't go wrong. And no
I'm not getting paid for this but Derick if you
wanna send me a beta ship
to test for you, just put it in the mail you have
my address!
Visit
Derick's site at:
http://www.northcountyflyingmachines.com
Joe,
hoping the winds stay up til after work, Gullett
Spring Hill,
Tennessee
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