Ye Olde Rocket Forum

Go Back   Ye Olde Rocket Forum > The Doctor is In! > Ask the Doctor
User Name
Password
Auctions Register FAQ Members List Calendar Today's Posts Search Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #21  
Old 09-23-2013, 06:08 AM
foamy's Avatar
foamy foamy is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: The Land of Pleasant Living
Posts: 1,115
Default

I flew the Strato Streak yesterday. Ugh. Rockets deliver on that that "old time" happiness/thrill, but the 'Streak does not. At least, not for me, right now. The thing would barely fly. Barely.

Guess I'll see what I can do with it and give it another chance. Sure looks good.
__________________
Retro-grouch
Reply With Quote
  #22  
Old 09-23-2013, 07:44 AM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by foamy
I flew the Strato Streak yesterday. Ugh. Rockets deliver on that that "old time" happiness/thrill, but the 'Streak does not. At least, not for me, right now. The thing would barely fly. Barely.

Guess I'll see what I can do with it and give it another chance. Sure looks good.
Were you flying it ROG (Rise-Off-Ground, if it has landing gear) or by hand-launching? Also, does the propeller have low AoA (angle-of-attack) blades? If they've re-done the prop molds (possibly with a Chinese contractor), it's possible that the blade pitch is lower than in the past, and if so, the prop would produce less thrust. All of the Guillow's and North Pacific rubber-powered planes that I flew years ago had propellers that "bit into" the air strongly and produced plenty of thrust.
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Last edited by blackshire : 09-23-2013 at 07:47 AM. Reason: This ol' hoss done forgot somethin'.
Reply With Quote
  #23  
Old 09-23-2013, 08:00 AM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mojo1986
I used to roll a small paper tube just the size of a bottle rocket, then attach the tube with bottle rocket under a little hand-toss styrofoam glider (with little plastic propeller), being careful to get the CG of the rocket assembly exactly under the CG of the glider. A couple of hand tosses to make any glider adjustments necessary, then light 'er up! These really flew well and were a lot of fun, but just one flight apiece since the bottle rocket always exploded at the end.........
There is a way to make such models reusable. The "Whistling Moon Traveler with Report" bottle rockets and the "Flashing Missile with Voice" firework missiles (the latter has a "Whistling Gemini"-type plastic fin unit rather than a stabilizing stick) are all-plastic, with removable hemispherical nose sections. The nose section containing the report can be removed, emptied of its powder, and put back on, and the rocket can then be inserted into the rolled-paper motor mount tube on the glider (Rapier jet motor mounts are just like this). One wrap of tape around the nose section/rocket motor joint would ensure that the motor pressure wouldn't pop the nose section off. Also:

You could even cluster two or three of the "report-less" rockets for greater thrust. By using staggered ignition (having the exhaust of the first rocket light the fuse of the second one, and so on), you would achieve longer powered flight durations. It's non-NAR Certified fun!
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Last edited by blackshire : 09-23-2013 at 08:16 AM. Reason: This ol' hoss done forgot somethin'.
Reply With Quote
  #24  
Old 09-23-2013, 12:18 PM
foamy's Avatar
foamy foamy is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: The Land of Pleasant Living
Posts: 1,115
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by blackshire
Were you flying it ROG (Rise-Off-Ground, if it has landing gear) or by hand-launching?

Both. Basically a no flying airplane. Great balsa—dense and heavy. Great for rockets, bad for gliders. Not enough juice in that rubber-band. A picnic table may have been more fun and helpful.

Quote:
Originally Posted by blackshire
Also, does the propeller have low AoA (angle-of-attack) blades? If they've re-done the prop molds (possibly with a Chinese contractor), it's possible that the blade pitch is lower than in the past, and if so, the prop would produce less thrust. All of the Guillow's and North Pacific rubber-powered planes that I flew years ago had propellers that "bit into" the air strongly and produced plenty of thrust.

Don't recall. Packaging was made in China; I don't know about the plastic parts. The prop looked like any other I've seen on that type of glider. If I put some idle time into it, I'm sure it'd work better. I'd have to summon up some interest in doing that. It's just not there right now.

I was going for a few minutes of instant gratification/fun. Oh, well.
__________________
Retro-grouch
Reply With Quote
  #25  
Old 09-23-2013, 12:38 PM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by foamy
Both. Basically a no flying airplane. Great balsa—dense and heavy. Great for rockets, bad for gliders. Not enough juice in that rubber-band. A picnic table may have been more fun and helpful.
The old ones I flew (Sleek Streak, Skeeter, etc.) were made of light but sufficiently strong balsa. Yours sounds *almost* like a "retrogression" to the heavier Obechi wood that was substituted for balsa during World War II... Also:
Quote:
Originally Posted by foamy
Don't recall. Packaging was made in China; I don't know about the plastic parts. The prop looked like any other I've seen on that type of glider. If I put some idle time into it, I'm sure it'd work better. I'd have to summon up some interest in doing that. It's just not there right now.

I was going for a few minutes of instant gratification/fun. Oh, well.
In my experience, instant gratification is about as enjoyable as instant coffee; models to which I've devoted some attention, time, and TLC (to bring out the performance of which they are capable, even from bagged gliders) have always been more rewarding. With that said, these planes (see: http://www.robbe.de/rc-modelle/rc-f...e/beginner.html ) are high quality and should give much better results than the Guillow's bagged models.
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Last edited by blackshire : 09-23-2013 at 12:41 PM. Reason: This ol' hoss done forgot somethin'.
Reply With Quote
  #26  
Old 09-23-2013, 01:00 PM
foamy's Avatar
foamy foamy is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: The Land of Pleasant Living
Posts: 1,115
Default

I think about twenty to thirty minutes of attention would make it a passable flyer. A little sanding on the underside of the wings to lighten them up and perhaps induce a little more camber, along with a little sanding (weight reduction) of the fuselage (it's a stout little stick) would help greatly. Of equal importance would be to snip the wire holding the wheels on and just bend them over. They retain the wheels by using a side-ways "U" and the end of the wire scrapes the side of the wheel. I guess they did it so a child wouldn't poke themselves.

Anyway, I just didn't think I'd have to operate on a simple prop glider. It'll wait for a lazy Sunday with nothing better to do. In the mean time... it still looks good. And that's fine.
__________________
Retro-grouch
Reply With Quote
  #27  
Old 09-24-2013, 08:15 PM
5dollarracer 5dollarracer is offline
Junior Rocketeer
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 6
Default Strato streak

Good idea, I thought about eliminating the landing gear and go with very small wheels or skids as you recommended. I did fix the prop so the shaft dosernt hit along the fuse, to slow it down It did work better that time. Thanks!
Reply With Quote
  #28  
Old 09-25-2013, 06:36 AM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by 5dollarracer
Good idea, I thought about eliminating the landing gear and go with very small wheels or skids as you recommended. I did fix the prop so the shaft dosernt hit along the fuse, to slow it down It did work better that time. Thanks!
Yes--I too was surprised, way back then, to discover what a big difference that even a minor change in the propeller's thrust line (its angle with respect to the model's center line) can make. The plans for "built-up" rubber-powered model airplanes often include tips for adding a shim under the forward "propeller plug" that fits into a small hole in the nose of the model, to alter the alignment of the thrust line if necessary.
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Last edited by blackshire : 09-25-2013 at 06:37 AM. Reason: This ol' hoss done forgot somethin'.
Reply With Quote
  #29  
Old 09-25-2013, 06:45 PM
naoto's Avatar
naoto naoto is offline
Intermediate Rocketeer
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Monrovia, CA
Posts: 87
Default

"Human size" rubber powered aeroplane -- maiden flight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87lalFUzMi8
Reply With Quote
  #30  
Old 09-26-2013, 12:56 AM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by naoto
"Human size" rubber powered aeroplane -- maiden flight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87lalFUzMi8
While "maiden flight" is indeed in this video's title, it was an "engine" run-up video; even so, kudos to the plane's builder! There are already Li-Po battery-powered full-scale motorgliders, so using rubber power (what the Germans call a "gummimotor") for this application is not at all far-fetched.
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:54 AM.


Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.0.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe © 1998-2024