Ace R/C Guppy

I remember when we had a club field the instructors would tell the new guy’s “If you’re going to fly in West Texas you’re going to learn to fly in the wind” …. And that was with .40 size trainers….

Yea the 40 size trainers were what i was learning on and just a little to fast for my mine to take in learning My next attempt will be a .049 or .020 sized power glider , i will see if i can get a pic of it if i can find .

andrew wrote:I've spent some time traveling in the west and, after returning home, one of the things that always stood out from the trips was the constant wind.  I marvel at anyone who is able to fly in those conditions.  Flying models like Robert's Guppy or your Ranger takes someone much braver than me.

Andrew, not a matter of brave, just impossible. I was flying my Q-Tee with unthrottled Norvel .061 Big Mig for better wind penetration, but last flight, for some odd reason, it started to sputter on me, flying at speeds only suitable for windless days, It got behind me, and I dived it into some tall weeds in the adjacent field.

It was my foolishness to fly on such a bad day, got a little overconfident, and things turned for the worst.

My Q-Tee after the crash.


My Q-Tee before flight.

One thing I learned about the higher elevation, is that because the air is thinner (like 12.5 PSIA here at 4,300 ft (1,311 m) versus sea level at 14.7 PSIA), one can fly when the winds are slightly faster than at sea level. We'd fly our .15 and .35 CL planes until the winds got up to say, 25 MPH, same with the larger RC aircraft.

George -
I hurts my heart to see such a beautiful model in the dirt.

Here in western Kentucky, summer evenings (sans storms) are almost always calm and my flying buddy and I would fly from 6:00 to 8:30 pm.  It was cooler and calm and the flying was relaxed -- which suited us both. We're at 575' elevation -- so dense and humid.

It appears that the damage is not too bad, assuming the wing is intact, and a little time and care will get it back in the air.

andrew

Andrew, stuff happens, and you are right, it is repairable. This will be the 3rd time that I repaired such damage. At least I am glad it wasn't a $15,000 turbine powered jet that recently did a crash and burn.

I have a plane or two that resembles that Had a fuel leak i didnt know and the wing folded , as it was screaming to the ground a fellow flier reached over and cut the throttle as least you want get dirt in the carb..

Sorry to read you have damaged your plane.
That is always not nice but that jobby is easily repaired.
What you need for windy days is a different ship!
You need something heavier so as to penetrate the wind, less wing span and shoulder wing.
Something a bit like the Veron Robot.
Its best if possible to have a throttle for windy days.
I flew my Lazy Bee with a throttled 1.5 cc PAW diesel up front on quite windy days .
Our field was next to the sea so always windy.
The trick is to throttle up and when you have gained height to then down elevator into the wind.
I got to the stage whereas I could throttle up and when the wind blew it back to me I could throttle down to just above idle and the thing flew backwards!!
I was amazed and so were the big boys with their aerobatic jobs grounded!!!
Wind is a weird thing because once the model is up there and amongst it, it creates a different ball game than measuring the windspeed against us the pilots on the ground .
I have not explained that very well because I do not know how to.
Lets say, some models can handle windy days better than others.
" Half Tone" is another that can handle wind .
Plan is on Outer Zone.
Ugly thing but its a good un.
Well......uglyness is in the eye of the beholder.


Woody.

Woody, I have a Half Tone plan, was considering building while a member of the Vintage R/C Society, but never did. I have some better windy weather flyers in the .15 to .25 size, some old kits I purchased a while back. One is the 48" Tidewater Pronto low wing 3 channel kit.

Outerzone: 48in Pronto by Dave Robelen, Aug 1972 MAN



Another is Lou Andrews 50" S-Ray shoulder wing kit.

Outerzone: 50in S-Ray by Lou Andrews from AAmco, 1965



Just need to build them. Last year, I put in 500 volunteer hours with the local Salvation Army from Jan.-Sept. Because of Covid, was spending more time helping them. Want to take some time off to relax this year, so I can do some building and flying.

Here's one just posted on Outerzone, a 16" rubber powered Bostonian that I think meets the definition of "ugly", just begging to be enlarged to RC size.

Outerzone: 16in Plain Jamaica Plane by Walt Mooney, Apr 1985 MB





It looks streamlined, but then unstreamlined, making it an ideal candidate. Any takers in CEF?

One more entry on this one and we’ll let it drift away …. Went flying again this morning to get a little more aquatinted with the little bird…. Wind was about 10 mph with little gusts but nice overall….. Several nice flights but once I had it pretty high and lost orientation for a moment…. Thought it was comin but it was goin ….. Got it corrected but by that time it was too far down wind to make it all the way home…. About 200’ short….Landed in a rougher part of the rough field site in the back of a Cedar tree



Has it first battle scars now…



My only visitor to the flying site




I look forward to flying this guy a lot this summer..  Something to enjoy…

Robert

Robert, we have the same visitor to our field, also.

I see that your ground cover is similar to ours here in Eastern NM. We commonly call it "grass".