Giant Scale P40

Caught this photo just before the plane was destroyed.

Video: http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=WpvoINuqAh4

gb

Looks like he was on the verge of losing it through the entire flight. Too bad.

ouch, is it me or does the tail and horizontal stabilizer look like they were out of alignment? Either that or the right wing...something just didn't seem right
That's a shame, sounded like he took it in stride though
I would be much less cool headed if that much money bought the farm

TheBigDog, think you have it figured out. Alignment appears to have been off causing the plane to try to corkscrew. Yes, Bob took the crash well. Less than an hour later, he was flying another plane. I believe his next build is a large Black Widow.

gb

Sorry to see that much work & money go down the drain so early in the planes life but to me it looked to be either too heavy for the wing area or the center of gravity was off or both. It was squirrely from the get go. He didn't seem to be able to trim it out & it appeared to stall as the speed dropped for the intended landing. At least he got to salvage most of his equipment. A friend of mine had his new plane fly away Sat after some form of radio failure. He was competing in an aerobatics competition doing his last pass when it happened. It flew off into a heavily wooded area & hasn't been found & after the storm we had yesterday it's likely won't.

cicopo wrote in post #14764866
It flew off into a heavily wooded area & hasn't been found & after the storm we had yesterday it's likely won't.

I had that happen once. My name & address was in it & two weeks later someone was standing on my doorstep with the pieces in his hand!

Frank I'm pretty sure he'd be happy if that happened. It was less than a week old & more than likely worth over $2000 because most of it was new. Unfortunately he says the forest that it likely landed in was so thick you couldn't see 20 feet in any direction & they had to guess just how far into it the plane might have flown before crashing. He searched both Sat & Sunday & really thought it a waste of time to spend even more time at it, but after yesterdays storm I'd guess he's done. We had a storm that really hit hard & toppled a lot of trees, including a few in my yard. We had a very violent storm hit yesterday & it hit the area where that plane went down was in it's path.

cicopo wrote in post #14765213
...likely worth over $2000

And from what I've read, the price goes up from there. Even converting 1965 dollars, I'm amazed at how much money they put into them, like the guy with a 1:2 scale that was posted here. Seems as if it would make more sense & build 1:1 so you could drive it?

My it-is-starting-to-cost-too-much point for an aircraft is about $500. A wanted sailplane is right at that price.

gb

Re the one that flew away the owner works at a major hobby shop so he gets better prices than most of us; however he's also a very serious 3D pilot & has DESTROYED 3 other similar sized planes in tha last 2 summer flying seasons. Some were pilot error, 1 was a mechanical failure on a new engine but no matter how you look at it he's had a couple of expensive years. When I first entered the R/C side of the hobby back in 74 you had to build what you flew, but now you can buy planes that only require some minor assemble & have them in the air on the same day you bought it. Electric power is quickly becoming popular and was the primary reason I re entered the hobby last summer. $500 can easily get someone in the air in a pretty nice electric these days, whether with a trainer or a sailplane. Better yet they sell Flight Simulator hardware & software to help you learn without destroying your first plane. When you crash using the Sim you hit the reset button and magically have a new plane on screen. An excellent way to learn, but since it isn't 3D it has limitations.

Geez! Maybe he should try Radio Controlled Boats?

That's a great idea. Can they factor in gusting cross-wind landings?

The better Sims (not expensive really because they sell for about 75% or more used if you tire of them) allow flying many styles of aircraft & helicopters at many styles of field & you have several options re adding wind & which direction you want it from etc. There are also options to add your own club field & you can buy expansion packs with even more planes or heli's. Some include a real transmitter while others supply a controller that just works with the software. The controller is just like a transmitter and is made by a popular transmitter company so it's still going to be used just like the real thing.

http://www.realflight.​com/

http://www.phoenix-sim.com/

And because the sims are sold by the major players in the industry the planes you learn on are the same ones they sell. You'll have the choice of a few trainers, gliders, powered gliders, all the way up to competition style aerobatic performers. The same thing goes for heli's. They offer easy to learn co axials through super high performance 3D styles. My copy of Real Flight has the Osprey and it's a challenge (so far) just getting airborne as a heli & then getting the wing / blades into the flying position. I've already wrote off several billion dollars worth of the real thing.

Skills learned on a flight simulator can quickly pay for a sim. One or two expensive crashes you did not have in real life are all you need. Some sims let you model any plane you wish.

gb

Another sim/real.

gb

cicopo wrote in post #14771785
The better Sims...

Nemo7676 wrote in post #14772247
Skills learned on a flight simulator

Thanks for the info, links, & letting us take over your thread. The only Sims I'd seen before were the Combat ones. The screenshots were fun, too. I called this one "Bad day at the office!"