Instead of sitting on the sofa watching tv and ready for spring to reach, why not construct or purchase a set of snow skis, bolt them to your aircraft, and get on the market and do some chilly climate flying! Winter flying is nice enjoyable, and it restores the RC soul throughout these lengthy, dreary winter months. You can fly with skis, and even use floats, from virtually any open discipline. Just be sure you get the permission of the property proprietor. You can even fly from a frozen lake (however be sure that the ice is secure and that you’ve got sufficient room to function your aircraft correctly). Remember, when flying from a lake you’ll be sharing the area with snowmobilers, ice fishers, and different wintertime sports activities followers. Simply be respectful of others, and you’ll probably achieve a cheerful viewers.
The Sky Wizard is available in for a snowy touchdown. Note that the information of the skis are set at a optimistic angle.
GETTING IN THE MOOD
Dressing warmly is most essential for having fun with a day’s flying within the winter. It is even higher should you can park your automotive close to your flying spot or discover a flying space close to a shelter to heat up from time to time between flights. A thermos stuffed with sizzling espresso or soup is a must have for between-flights enjoyment! If you’re fortunate, you’ll discover that some winter days may be merely excellent. With little or no wind, brilliant sunshine, and milder temps, you received’t even must put on gloves whereas making ready your plane. For flying, I exploit a tight-fitting pair of cotton gloves, which permits me to really feel my radio’s management sticks. Mechanics’ gloves additionally work nicely.
Though I’ve by no means used them, there are industrial transmitter gloves you should buy. Similar to Hippo Hands utilized by motorcyclists, these chilly climate radio gloves have a transparent panel so you may see your transmitter whereas your fingers are shielded from the weather. From my very own expertise, through the winter months there are various effective days simply excellent for flying. The benefit of flying off a lake or a large open discipline is which you can at all times take off instantly into the wind, it doesn’t matter what the course is. My mates and I’ve a favourite spot to take pleasure in chilly climate RC flying. Located within the village of Gores Landing, Ontario, Rice Lake is famend for its fishing in each summer time and winter. There’s loads of room and the scenic panorama is inspiring.
In the winter, I fly my Aeromaster biplane (with floats), and my scratch-designed and constructed Sky Wizard. The plane seen within the photos is my Sky Wizard, which is an easy-to-fly intermediate to superior sport aircraft powered by a Zenoah G-38 gasoline engine.
The Ace Extreme RC Transmitter Glove is made for very chilly flying days. Check them out at acewingcarrier.com.
Here is my scratch-built plywood skis and the limiter cable setup.
The tailwheel ski additionally makes use of limiter cables.
EQUIPMENT SETUP
You can discover commercially accessible RC skis on-line and in passion retailers. Du-Bro has them in a couple of sizes. I scratch constructed and designed the skis for my plane. I exploit a tried-and-true methodology of establishing skis on plane that isn’t in contrast to that of full-scale plane. Check wires and bungees (elastics bands for fashions) are used to restrict the quantity of journey the skis have up and down. The elastics are used to maintain the information of the skis within the “up” place, whereas the test wire on the again limits the quantity of distance the ski suggestions can journey up. The test wires on the entrance suggestions of the skis additionally restrict the quantity of journey the skis can go down. This is crucial to forestall the ski from touring down thus far that it may break via ruts and divots your plane would possibly encounter throughout its takeoff run or touchdown rollout. It is a quite simple and efficient strategy to arrange your skis with a minimal quantity of funds.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
• Small eyehook screws
• Elastic bands
• Strong wire (I used pull–pull cable bought at my native passion retailer)
• Short lengths of 1/8-inch diameter copper tubes for crimping the wire ends.
• 1/2-inch, 1/8-inch, and 1/16-inch plywood for upright mounts and ski bottoms. I’m going a step additional and use fishing swivel leads for ease of removing. The skis are constructed utilizing
• 1/2-inch plane ply for the upright mounts and 1/8-inch plywood for the ski bottoms. It is essential to have runners on the underside of the skis to assist the plane’s monitoring. For the tail ski, I exploit 1/8-inch plywood for the upright and 1/16-inch plane ply for the ski bottoms. Another system used to restrict the up-down journey of the skis is the torsion rod system or spring system. This is discovered on Du-Bro and different manufacturers of skis. I want my setup described above for its reliability. It has at all times labored for me.
BOTTOM LINE
I feel what I like most about ski flying is the added efficiency of the plane as a result of denser chilly air. I additionally take pleasure in watching the way in which the skis work throughout takeoffs and landings. With all the gorgeous winter surroundings, and the additional time spent with my like-minded mates, there’s actually nothing higher!
10 Easy Steps for Cold Weather Engine Starts
To commit RC aviation, you need to get your engine operating. As the climate turns colder, it’s an excellent time to revisit cold-engine beginning methods. Here are 10 simple steps for flying when the temperature drops.
1. Turn in your transmitter and receiver.
2. Fully open the throttle.
3. Watch for gasoline within the line and canopy the throttle opening along with your finger. Firmly grip the propeller, and rotate it till the gasoline is simply as much as the carb. Don’t flip it! Now flip the prop over—twice, if it’s hotter than 40 levels F; thrice if it’s colder—to prime the engine.
4. With the glow plug disconnected, flip the engine over six to eight occasions.
5. Close the throttle and transfer the trim to completely up. This ought to open the throttle barrel a little bit extra. The throttle ought to be about one quarter open.
6. Grab the prop firmly, and rotate the engine till it passes via the compression a part of the stroke. You ought to really feel the engine kick. If it does, it can now begin on the primary or second flip. Always use a hen stick or electrical starter for beginning. If the engine doesn’t begin, flip the prop a couple of occasions with the glow plug disconnected, and check out once more. If it doesn’t kick now, choke it yet another time with the throttle absolutely open, flip the prop a couple of extra occasions, reposition the throttle, mild the glow plug, and check out once more.
7. If, when your engine begins, it simply revs up and quits, flip the high-speed needle valve a half flip counterclockwise to open it, and check out once more. Repeat this if obligatory.
8. If the engine begins, slows down and quits, and if a whole lot of smoke comes out of the exhaust, flip the high-speed needle valve clockwise to make the combination leaner, 1 / 4 flip at a time. Restart the engine.
9. When the engine has began, maintain the throttle partially open, and let the engine heat up for at the least a minute or two earlier than making the ultimate changes.
10. Most engines are tougher to start out after they’re sizzling. To begin a sizzling engine, draw the gasoline as much as the carb, however don’t choke or prime it. Open the throttle to at least one quarter. Flip the prop laborious. Use an electrical starter, if in case you have one accessible.
Getting your engine began in winter isn’t troublesome so long as you have got contemporary batteries in your glow driver and you retain your airplane and engine heat within the automotive between flights.
Text & pictures by Bill McIvor