Flyfalcons

My planes weigh what they weigh. Who cares what the number is.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

My 42% Aeroworks 260 weighed 37.45 pounds before installing the pilot and graphics. It took a good bit of effort on my part to get it to that weight, and I am still using a tru-turn spinner and CF prop, which is a good 6-8 ounces heavier than a CF spinner/wood prop. I am running Greves pipes, not stock mufflers...

http://teamflyingcircus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28
picture of the weight reading from a digital postal scale is at the bottom of page 3.

sensei

No, they wouldn't do that... You see that would be considered flaming, degrading or embarrasing someone in your post on RCU. You can however imply.

Be careful to whom you take advice from in these threads because if you pay close attention you can see for yourself those that have achieved set goals through the years and in turn shared with fellow modelers in an attempt to help others in understanding things they may want to learn about, this has been done through build threads, videos, and follow up flight reports on the builders part (It's called promoting the hobby, maybe some of you have heard this term before) While others have spent years from the constraints of their armchairs posting a load of theoretical horse sh%$t about things they have never attempted themselves and in many cases know little or even nothing about.

Bob

Phrase of the day... Pitch those scales in the trash because weight just doesn't matter. LOL

eraser

34% Chip Hyde Extra 28.5lb. DA-100, stock mufflers, Ni-Mh batteries. Flys awesome.
QQ yak 102" DA-100 27 lbs. stock everything, also flys awesome
QQ Yak 102" DA-85 24.5 lbs. considerable effort to make it light, power is about the same as the 100, but I dont like it as much as the 27 pounder. It almost seems too light except on the calmest days.

I dont worry about weight anymore!

Flyjets

My Feedback: (51)

Bingo

Eraser just said what many on here don't get.

On a calm day lighter is better but lets face it there are seldom calm days where I Fly.

The light weight models bounce and jump all around.

The heavy ones have greater penetrating power.

For pure 3D lighter is better but any kind of IMAC or sport Flying like I said 30 to 36oz per square foot are what flys great.

Ian

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

Very true. I wanted my 42% plane lighter, strictly for a better thrust-to-weight for IMAC. I have found that, while a heavier plane may not get buffeted around as much in the wind, it's advantages go unnoticed if it is too heavy for the engine to pull it through a big loop or upline snaps in that same wind - so there has to be some compromise. Lighter planes also tend to recover from a stall quicker and are overall more agile and crisp on the controls, so that's food for thought.
I would also rather have a nice light plane to fly on a calm day and, if the wind got real bad, I could always just add ballast(heaven forbid). And I could put the ballast right on the CG where it wouldn't affect the crispness/responsiveness of the controls, unlike, say, a plane that was heavy due to heavier wings, or what not.
Like I said, there is going to be a compromise. If the DA 170 was already available, I might have been just peachy-happy with my 42%er at 40 pounds. But for now, with the 150, I prefer the 37.5 pounds and the possibility of getting bumped around a bit more over a lack of thrust-to-weight for IMAC.

sensei

Just about a week ago some of the guys and I were talking about this very thing and Bodyworks is right on the money, if you build a lighter airframe and compete with it in IMAC you have the option of adjusting your wing loading according to the wind conditions of the day. It is the best way to deal with it because all your ballast is in the center mass on your C/G and does not effect the roll, pitch, and yaw components of the aircraft in the same way as having a heavier airframe, what does that mean? when you call it, it comes, and when you tell it to stop it stops, and all with better dampening throughout the entire envelope. A lighter airframe overall reacts to wind conditions rapidly however it also dampens out much more rapidly then a heavier airframe.

Bob