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Flying Surfer Dude!

Discussion in 'Strange Aircraft' started by theothers, Jul 8, 2009.

  1. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Hey guys just wanted to show you some of the other flying surfer dudes out there over at the rcgroups forum.

    Leadfeathers rudder version of the flying surfer dude!



    Leadfeathers maiden flight video!
    [​IMG]


    Dave Barrows surfing snoopy dude!



    adreher's cool looking surfer dude with the spike hawk!






    Really great designs guys keep up the good work!
    Mark Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  2. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Hey guyz. Well, once we saw how one of the flying surfer dudes were delivered (bent in half) we have decided to design our own foam box and cut it on the Phlatprinter. We are testing a couple of different designs and have found them all to be sturdier than cardboard!!

    Here is the latest batch of flying surfer dudes flying out the door :) Attached files [​IMG]
     
  3. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Check out the paint job on this awesome flying surfer dude from tdearth!

    Man, I got to get me an airbrush.


    Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

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    :eek: Awesome paint job! :cool:
     
  5. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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  6. FozzyTheBear

    FozzyTheBear Member

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    These are just so cool!!! :ugeek: And they look unbelievably stable in the videos as well. Great piece of design. I love the slow high alpha flying you guys are doing with them. I just have to build one of these.... It might well turn into my test cut, once I get the machine together. :D

    Best Regards,
    Julian (Fozzy The Bear)
     
  7. 7up

    7up Moderator Staff Member

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    Man Mark this Surfer Dude is the ****! :shock: BOMB!, I said bomb. But about the SD, I am seeing videos everywhere of people flying their SD. You made a big hit with this one. Very cool :cool: .

    I even caught Andy at Turtle Beach with his SD.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Hehe! :lol:
     
  8. theothers

    theothers Administrator Staff Member

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    lol, we have to make an Andy surfer dude!!
     
  9. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    :mrgreen: Man that's too cool guys. I am glad to see that he his flying well and people are having a good time with'em
    Surfs up! :D
    Mark
     
  10. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Here's another great video by leadfeather and adam!
    They are doing incredible maneuvers in this video.
    I heard that flash is working on a rudder version! like the ones they using, its going to be awesome

    [vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/5823245[/vimeo]
     
  11. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    Too freakin cool!
     
  12. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    Well, I wasn't quite ready to release these pics yet, but here goes. I have not done a maiden yet, so I am not sure how effective the rudder will be.

    I noticed in the videos that LeadFeather and Adreher posted, that they did not use the same setup for the lower fins as published in the Surfer Dude plans.

    I asked LeadFeather about it, but he has not commented, so I decided to go ahead with my mods to see how they fare.

    Two things I did were to increase the width of the fins by 3/4" in order to gain more room for the battery compartment and hopefully protect the battery from punctures on impact.

    To that effect, I built an enclosure of lite ply around the battery which fits snuggly between two of the fins. A piece of velcro wrap holds everything securely in place.

    Next, I extended the middle fin and made it longer. I cut out a rudder and mounted the rudder servo on the fin as well.

    There seems to be ample room for the rudder to swing both directions without interferance from the fins on either side.

    Taking a cue from Adreher, I air brushed my guy to look similar to his because I loved the look it added to Surfer Dude. Credit goes to Adreher for thinking it up. I'm not too original.

    I'll give a full report on the flying characteristics when I get a chance to fly this weekend. Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  13. theothers

    theothers Administrator Staff Member

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    Cool Flash. Looks great. Please let us know how you make out this weekend and if all goes well, please post the code and we'll be sure to move it to the top of this thread.

    Mark and Trish
     
  14. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    I sent the mods to Mark in a PM. I don't want to steal your thunder. This surfer dude is the coolest of em all!

    By the way, I forgot to mention a couple of other changes from my first surfer dude.

    I added about 5 degrees of down thrust in the motor and mounted the motor under the board instead of on top as in my first one.

    I can't wait to see how this one flys! I am hoping the rudder will give us some more control in the turns.

    Tried to pull out of a down wind turn with the first surfer dude and ended up sliding in like a baseball player sliding in to home plate :lol:

    Oh... almost forgot to mention... I took 1/8" off the tabs to remove the excess bow!
     
  15. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    Okay, since Kram let the cat outta the bag, I had not planned to maiden the rudder mods till the weekend but I moved up the test so those of you who want to do this mod would have the results.

    Basically, all I changed was the keel components. I made them wider and extended the center keel and lengthened it to accomodate a rudder.

    The maiden flight was supurb! Exceeded my expectations. Turns left and right with rudder and no more fighting right turns. In fact right turns are now just a tad better than left turns when using the rudder.

    I am using Spektrum DX7 with the following settings:
    Aileron:
    Low Rate Expo +32%
    High Rate Expo +40%
    Dual Rate Low 68
    Dual Rate High 100

    Rudder:
    Low Rate Expo +30%
    High Rate Expo +40%
    Dual Rate Low 70%
    Dual Rate High 100%

    Elevator (Switch is broken):
    Expo +30%
    Rate 100%

    Landing should be done at high alpha. Bring it in slow nose up, set the tail down first, then kill the motor to keep from breaking props.

    Because the Surfer Dude commands so much attention, I went out this morning and purchased a 4' table to place him on while not being flown.

    Pics below... Attached files Surfer Dude Rudder Mod.skp (1.7 MB)Â [​IMG]
     
  16. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Ok Flash now that's cool! man sounds like you have it dialed in!!!.
    As for stealing the thunder you never have to worry about that as this is what the Phlatforum community is all about. We work together to tweak a design to perfection!
    I love it Flash..
    Are you planing on a video anytime soon. I have to see you sliding into the turns! :)
    Thanks for this awesome post
    Mark
     
  17. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    Video will have to wait for the weekend when I have someone there to run the camera.

    I was going to set up a tripod and take some long shots of the maiden but couldn't wait... I was so thrilled to try it out, I forgot the camera was in the car.

    I edited the post to note how I discovered is the best way to land this without breaking a prop and destroying the rudder.

    But to reiterate, high alpha, nose up, slow it down, tail down first, then kill motor. No damage to rudder, no damage to the prop.

    I edited the SU file to include the control horns I use since there is a cut out in the rudder for it. If you don't use this type control horn, you might want to remove the 1.125" cut in the rudder.
     
  18. 7up

    7up Moderator Staff Member

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    Nice job, thanks for the mods Flash!
     
  19. rayclark

    rayclark Member

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    Mark...are the plans in the first post the newer version?

    Thanks
     
  20. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Not yet I am working on a new plan set. I will post them as soon as I am done. I have made many changes to this new one and I think that it will fly much better. I have learned a lot from all the guys who have been building and flying so far. So I am hoping that this one will turn out much better :)
    I should have it done today. I would like to test fly him first but if you guys want I will post him and we can test fly him together?
    Thanks
    Mark
     
  21. rayclark

    rayclark Member

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    Sounds great. Always willing to test. :) Thanks Mark

    RC
     
  22. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    I had intended to post video today, but for some reason we had a really windy day here today and I wanted to first get a feel for the wind conditions before doing any camera work.

    Well, I am happy to report that the Surfer Dude performed much better than I did!

    Hard left and right turns were no problem whatsoever, wind not withstanding!

    However, the wind did play a major role. The huge board surface really catches the wind!

    I was doing loops and getting up pretty high into the faster air, doing all sorts of silly stuff and let the wind take me downwind so far that it became a problem seeing how it was oriented.

    In order to get it to come down, I needed to back off the throttle to get the nose down. Even with full down in the elevator, the wind was very difficult to overcome. When I back off the throttle, the wind just takes it further downwind.

    If I give it enough throttle to overcome the wind, the nose points up and the wind gets under the board and out to sea we go!

    This went on for what seemed an eternity. At one point I was actually gaining ground back. Eventually the wind won! I ended up getting down below a tree line and lost the wind altogether which sent Surfer Dude straight down as the full down elevator I had been holding, finally took hold.

    It happened so fast I couldn't pull it out and it was so far away by now that it was really difficult to tell what the surfer dude was doing other than diving uncontrollably.

    It hit the dirt road and broke the prop and did some pretty serious nose damage to the board but may be fixable with a bit of hot glue. If not, I will simply cut out a new board as the surfer suffered no damage whatsoever.

    The rudder mod is definitely a MUST have! I was able to turn on a dime both left and right. It as a far different outcome than the first time I tried to fly it without a rudder!
     
  23. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    Well, since it looks like I may be cutting a new board anyway, I would be happy to test with you Mark.

     
  24. Bohh

    Bohh New Member

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    Very innovative! Thanks for making this Mark. I cut me one and tried it out. First flight was great. Turned both ways great. Next flight, and every flight after it will only turn the way of the side the battery is on. I've tried adding wieght, bending the nose. Not having any luck. Anyone have any tips? It flew PERFECT the first flight and I didn't crash so I'm clueless.
     
  25. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    Did you use the rudder mod? It makes a world of difference.

    Other tips include making sure the motor is mounted so that it directs air flow on the underside of the board. Mount the stick so you have about 5 degrees of down thrust.

    Make sure the bow is not excessive in the board. The rudder mod also corrects this by moving the tabs back 1/8".

    The elevons by themselves do not provide adequate turn control. With a rudder, you can turn on a dime left or right.

     

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