Ritewing Zephyr II Build - Part 1

Having ordered the Ritewing Zephyr II from Desire RC who are now stocking these in the UK, I've started my build which can be seen from the pictures below.

The build will be based around the Hacker A30 10XL motor on a 4S configuration.

The two wing halves were joined together using 3M 90 and as opposed to using Gorilla glue for fixing the main carbon wing spars, I opted for using 25 minute epoxy which was a lot easier to manage. A bit of light weight filler was then applied and this has been sanded down to leave a nice smooth finish ready for covering. I've just run some clear tape over the spars and along the leading and trailing edges prior to covering.

The motor mount has been sited and again glued in place using 25 minute epoxy.

I've gone with the recommended Hitec 65MG servos and again these have been centered and fixed in place. I'm going to finish these off with some plastic servo covers which can be easily obtained.

The two 4S 3300 batteries will be cut into both sides of the wings leaving the centre bays free for the electronics.

The colour scheme I'm going for is a carbon vinyl finish on the top side of the wing, red underneath with a silver chrome finish for the hatch bays.  The GoPro box will be cut into the nose shortly.

So far so good, look out for more progress very soon. :)

2nd outing with the Pterodacty - Flight Video

Here's the video of the 2nd outing with the Pterodactyl

The Pterodactly takes to the skies again

The Pterodactyl took to the skies again on Sunday 11th March 2012 where the following stunning pictures were captured by LMAC Chairman Andy Prime (see more of his work here).  The beautiful clear blue skies made a perfect backdrop for the Pterodactyl and in some of the shots you can even see the bright red LEDs eyes glowing!  The flight ended prematurely after four minutes when I landed the Ptero successfully. The starboard motor had come loose from its mount and was causing strange noises when the Ptero flew close by. It won't be a big job to resolve and hopefully the Pterodactyl will be back in the skies over Leicestershire England very soon.   The flight was captured on video again, so watch this space for a flight video very soon.  Once again many thanks Andy and check out some of Andy's other work on the link above.

The Pterodactyl Maiden Flight

Well after nearly 12 months since the Pterodactyl arrived on my front door step, the day finally arrived where I thought yes, today is the day to maiden her! Walking the dogs at 7am on Sunday morning without a breath of wind and a crisp sunny sunrise, I decided yeah the time was right.

I loaded her into my car along with a few other models and set out on what I hoped, would be an uneventful mornings flying. On arrival at the field, I decided to warm up with my other models before finally going for it! My flying buddies asked if I'd had a photo with it first (hmmm were they not very confident it would return in one piece??), so I decided to pose with the bird first off.
With the 3S 2200mAh battery installed, I did a receiver range check and checked all the control surfaces once again and then ventured out onto the strip where I hand launched the Pterodactyl into its maiden flight. Wow! Straight up she went and not a word of a lie, but she didn't require any trim on any of the channels. I was stunned in how true and well she flew.

I did numerous circuits before landing just short of five minutes. The landing was pretty fast, but no damage was done. What surprised me however, when I checked the battery, the meter showed there was still 82% of charge left in the pack! 18% for 5 minutes flight! This was one truly happy maiden and the sense of achievement was fantastic given the many hours I'd spent carefully building this beast!

Not content with just one flight, 30 minutes later, I took a fresh 2200 pack and flew the Pterodactyl for just short of 9 minutes. This time, I'd increased the rates and expo slightly, but again she flew like a dream in the 5-8mph wind. Checking the battery this time once landed, and I still had 65% of charge left. She flies around on a quarter throttle easily.

Here’s the video of the maiden flight. Thanks to Ron Marston for designing such a brilliant model which has been a joy to build. Many thanks also to Roy Monk for the help on the build and covering. I look forward to flying her again for many more successful flights. Enjoy!

OpenPilot CopterControl FPV Videos

I've been having a lot of fun with my Tricopter over the past few weeks now it's been fitted with some FPV gear. I'll create a further post very soon and detail the equipment I've got fitted on the Trricopter, but all I can say is it's a great way of flying once you learn to relax!

The Heli Hanger

With the addition of my new Blade MCP-X V2 shortly before Christmas, my heli hanger now looks like this!

First go at FPV!

My first go at FPVing.


OpenPilot CopterControl Tricopter flying FPV - Knighton Park Leicester GoPro Hero 2 HD