Moving away from EDFs

[Andre Germain]

Project for this summer - own design RPV/FPV - GPS, EagleTree recorder & OSD Pro, Pan/Tilt camera, vertical/lateral accelerometers, pitot/static, EagleEyes ground station, FatShark goggles & headtracker.

[Burning Head]

Wow, cool dessin nice the cowl glass:cool:

[drgilo1973]

from where you got the kit ?? i have the same system of eagle tree

[Andre Germain]

The plane is not a kit - only the wings are from a kit because I was too lazy to hot wire cut yet another set of wings in my life. I'm thinking of a DIY computerized foam cutting rig...

I bought most of my Eagletree units directly from Eagletree, although now HobbieKing has most of it and when purchased from the China depot, you pay zero taxes and duty, certainly a political loop hole.

I modelled this RPV on one of two previous aircraft I had built, some 20 years ago, but that one had 10 feet of wingspan and weighed 65 lbs and was pushed by a 2 stroke gas monster and a 24x12 Zinger prop. Carbon fiber wings and tail booms, flaperons, all aluminum gear suspension, 10" front dome. We had CAE's machine shop staff make parts. I loved to fly it, so much inertia.

These older RPVs are here: http://www.watchobs.com/movies/RPV2.wmv and were supposed to be the first FPV/RPV that anyone would have had in Canada, to my knowledge, but back then the transmitters and equipment were heavy, expensive and power hungry. CAE bankrolled it to the tune of 5000$. We never got far enough because it was brought down on 72 MHz when another radio was on the same frequency - if only 2.4 GHz freq hoping was around then.

That video is worth watching - WIMAC back 2 decades.

Cheers

[briankizner]

I remember your old CAE plane well and recognized elements of it in your photo. Should be great.

[X.WAY]

Andre, didn't you fly in 1990 a plane similar to the one shown in the picture with a TV monitor in Black and White and the image was upside down?

[Andre Germain]

Indeed Arnold!

That was the first RPV, somewhere around 1990. WIMAC was in Dorion at that time, near a power sub-station, now completely built up. That was the sweetest runway setup, way better than what we have now.

That RPV was made of hardware store 1/4" plywood and flew with two 60 nitro engines, close together on the fuselage, above the nose. It looked like a toaster with wings and a tail, a huge 7 foot Hershey bar wing, barely fit the hatchback rust bucket Mazda 323. Flew slow but well. Bad receiver sent it to its death 10 or so flights later.

Here's an old photo of it, and for fun my scratch built A7 Corsair and the old club shack in Dorion - I look like a teenager, but was actually in my earlier twenties!

You must have joined MAAC soon after me as your # is close to mine. Surely you're no longer a student that your MAAC wings says you are!

Cheers

[Andrew Fernie]

Andre, didn't you fly in 1990 a plane similar to the one shown in the picture with a TV monitor in Black and White and the image was upside down?

Arnold,

Apart from that visit a while ago I didn't realize you were keeping up with us. How are you doing?

Andrew

[Andre Germain]

..and I can't place him, you, Arnold! Photo (eek, sorry for asking)! I'm 110% image based cortex. Andrew obviously has a better mind for these things :o

Oh, and Arnold, perhaps instead you were referring to the second RPV, 5 or so years later, built with CAE funds, below. It flew with black and white video when it was transmitting to a *ground* station, but a colour bullet camera when it was recording onboard (a VCR in the fuselage no less!). The video is in the link provided in my second post above. The bullet camera was moved about on a wing tip, on the elevator, near the engine, etc, giving interesting points of view.

Cheers

[X.WAY]

Hi Andre

I remember you used to fly a Sig Kavalier at the old field at Dorion and you had a friend Stephane who used to come in from Ontario to fly at the club. The first EDF plane that you had was around the time you flying either Panthers or Cougars at the new club at Wimac with Michel Levy. I remember that EDF it was very large at the time and the motor was kind of noisy. You might remember me I was only a member for 2 years at the new Wimac .

Andrew it nice to hear from you, hope all is well, I haven't been to Wimac in 6 years, I progressed past being a student.

[Andre Germain]

Arnold,

that's all correct, save for the noisy large EDF, there I'm stumped! Our scratch built Panthers were fun - I'd inverted flat spin mine out of low clouds one day so as not to lose it! Never saw such meteorological conditions at WIMAC again.

6 years, time to come and fly at the club again! It's so affordable and easy nowadays, what with electrics.

Cheers

[X.WAY]

Andre

Perhaps you might remember me, at the time in 1988 I helped the President at the time Willis Eisner, deal wiith the Landlord's representative to lease the land of the present Wimac. Actually I been flying park flyers with another old member of the club Bob Pines at a park not far from my house.