Eflite Blade mQX Quad Copter

I took the mQX for her first real flight outdoors last night.  There was about a 5mph breeze and that was enough.  You can fly it ok but a 10mph will put you out of the comfort zone for this little guy.  The mCPx is definitely more wind tolerant.  It is like flying a foamy plane but cooler.  About the same weather conditions as a micro foamy plane are appropriate.

I learned one interesting thing when I was doing a full throttle climb out and then the wind caught it up in the air and tipped it violently.  When you’re at full throttle there’s nothing more to help it out of trouble since it has no ability to pull a corner down but rather only the ability to move the opposite corner up.  I think a good setup on a properly powered quad would possibly be something like 80% to 90% throttle at full stick so there is some reserve.

Also, there were moments when zipping it around quickly that a motor will stop for a few seconds.  Looks weird, but what it needed to stay in orientation.  You have to fly it down like an airplane too, no autorotation type approaches as you can imagine.  Not as big a deal as I thought it might be though.

Overall, pretty cute but not a wind machine.  About as much capability as a nicely setup Piper Cub in the air.

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Ron

Scope Rings

I also recently added some pics of some home built CNC scope rings I made for use on my Air Rifle.

Click the pic to check them out.

Ron

CZ 200S

I recently purchased a CZ 200S pre-charged pneumatic air rifle in .177 caliber.  I must say, I am very happy with this little rifle.  It is extremely accurate, gets a good shot count, and just plain looks cool in the red laminate stock.  This is of course a matter of opinion, but in my opinion it’s sharp.

It came with a nice little 4 power AO scope, rings, fill adapters and instruction CD.

Take a look:

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New Video of the 4 Stroke Engine

I posted a new video of my 4-Stroke Model Gasoline Powered Engine.  I now have it mounted on a stand and have added a set of mechanical points to the back of the engine.  I also added a glass fuel tank.  BTW, I did some math and it turns out to be a 7.5cc displacement class engine.  Check it out.

Ron

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4 Stroke Vertical Single Model Engine

I’ve been working for awhile on a new engine project.  After much machining and tweaking, I set it up on a test stand with an external ignition coil, fuel tank etc.  It took me a few hours of work on Sunday, but I was able to get it to successfully run.  I am very excited about it finally coming to life, so I took a short video clip on the workbench.  It’s not very much in focus, but the sound is pretty cool.  Now, I have to get back to work and fabricate a proper stand and a box to enclose the coil, and a fuel tank etc., but this is an inspiring start.

Check it out…

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Ron

Winter Flying

Today it was beautiful…25 degrees and sunny.  When you have a 20 acre back yard like I do that is wide open and you only have to go 50 feet from the back door to fly, winter flying is not bad at all.   I used to do the majority of my flying in the winter many years ago, and I really had the need to put some stick time in this afternoon on the 500.  It flew great.  If you’ve never flown in the winter the machines always have awesome power.  There’s tons of lift in the cold air so autos are fun too.

I snapped a couple if quick pics, you can see I had an old, previously crashed canopy on.

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Ron

Update on Sherline Oiler

I have been making some parts on the Sherline Mill, and I thought I had better get some pictures of the oiler attached.  You can see the rest of the story here.

The oil tank is made from some aluminum plate and a section of glass tube for a tank, so the oil level can be seen.

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You can also see a gear being contoured from 1/8″ aluminum barstock with a 1/16 endmill.

Flame Licker Engine

I also shot a short youtube video of my Flame Licker Engine.  This engine is the only I engine I know of that makes its power on the up stroke of the piston!

Many people refer to this type of engine as a Vacuum Engine or Atmospheric Engine or Fire Eater.  This is for good reason once you understand how the engine works.   On the down stroke of the piston, the valve opens and the engine draws in a charge of very hot air (flame).  As the piston reaches bottom-dead-center, the valve closes and the cylinder at this moment contains a sealed charge of hot air.  The hot air is then rapidly cooled from the cooler temperature of the aluminum cylinder.  We all know that hot air is “expanded” and cool air is “contracted”, so this cooled air now creates a vacuum in the cylinder, and the piston then moves to top-dead-center repeating the cycle.  More accurately, the atmospheric pressure is lower in the cylinder and the greater atmospheric pressure outside the engine pushes the piston up.  This type of engine produces very little power, which is why you do not see it use day to day.

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Ron

Maverick Engine

I finally got around to taking a couple of videos of a couple of my engines for posting on youtube.

Here is my Maverick:

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Ron

Indoor Flying @ SVSU

The Frankenmuth Aeromodelers put on a nice event last Sunday evening at the SVSU Ryder Center in Saginaw, MI.  I posted a very short youtube video of it here:

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Ron