XXL Polaris scratch build

[CHELLIE]

Thought you Guys might enjoy this, Enjoy, Chellie

Boomerang Jet on Water

[Larry3215]

That was pretty cool Chellie!

[benovisoff]

very nice

[larryross]

That thing had a lot of power. I was surprised it didn't WOW sooner. Wish I could play with those expensive toys (not really) I'll feel bad enough if my cheap things ditch. Good show Chellie.

[CHELLIE]

here is another one, turn down the volume, unless you like chinese music

Seaplane Pelican (canard) 2

[CHELLIE]

This is neet

polaris seaplane

[benovisoff]

cool. how's the bipe coming along?

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by benovisoff

cool. how's the bipe coming along?

LOL Its coming along great, I need to get my behind out into the hobby room and do some more work on it rather than peck away on this key board Take Care, Chellie

[benovisoff]

alright, DO THAT!

[Larry3215]

First the good things - I've started to add some color to the Polaris and thats working out fairly well so far. Lots more to do. The colored packing tape sticks well. A pass over by a med hot covering iron helps a lot. I still need to paint a lot of the blue foam with white which Im not looking forward to.

My cowling ended up looking pretty cool I think. Its tilted down a bit more than I wanted but it will do for now.

Now the not so good.

Ive been playing with various options for an air scoop in the front. I haven't come up with anything I like so Im just going to do something and live with it for a while - until Im inspired

I did some checking and decided where the two packs would need to go to balance properly and cut a new hatch in.

Thats when I got a good look at my speed controller Holly cow! The heat shrink is melted badly and the foam it was sitting on is also melted

Good golly molly I must be pulling waaaaay more amps than I expected. That got me to wondering how that could be so I went back and re ran the numbers through MotoCalc.

I must have pushed the wrong buttons the first time I ran the numbers or entered something way off because now Im seeing predicted amp values up near 80 amps! With no cooling air flow no wonder things got hot!

On looking closer I noticed that the efficiency numbers are down close to 50%! Thats why the motor is running so hot.

Obviously I need to prop down a lot until I can get a motor with a lower kV. I am running this setup waaaay over proped.

I should be able to get better performance on fewer watts by running the motor in a more efficient range. I definately need the ugly air scoop

[CHELLIE]

That Cowl looks Awesome Larry, good job, I like it

[benovisoff]

awesome. I just realized that this isn't the bipe thread. whoops

[Larry3215]

Ive made some good progress on the changes. I came up with a new idea for the air intake - its part of the new hatch. Looks a lot better than my other idea.

Im also getting some more color on it. I have some Coast Guard markings I'll be adding as well when its a little further along.

Its about ready to test fly with the 2P battery setup and a much smaller prop. The motor I want isnt in stock at medusa yet so I'll have to wait on the new power plant for a while. Im still waiting and a new spinner which will help the looks too.

[CHELLIE]

Thats looking Super Larry, keep up the great work, Chellie

[Larry3215]

The fuse is about done as far as dolling it up goes. I still have one wing to finish and it will be as pretty as I am willing (or able) to make it

If the weather warms up a little later this week Im going to try to get out to the pond to do some water testing. Its toooo coooold to chance getting wet now though!

[larryross]

That water bird looks great Larry. I love the scoop, but you're going to have make sure you keep it right side up on the water. Colored tape is cheating, but it sure looks good. Do you Corrosion-X your electronics? I haven't made much progress on mine, but I got the shop cleaned up (the center at least) and my build table is flat empty so the Polaris wing will be on the table tomorrow. I have spent far too much time finishing the small parts. If I keep at it I'll have it ready for final assembly and paint.

Later
Larry

[CHELLIE]

Sweet Nice job Larry

[CHELLIE]

BTW where did you get the color tape at Larry ?

[Larry3215]

Thanks for the compliments! It turned out better than most of my attempts at dolling up a foamy

Im liking the colored tape. I got it from these guys.

http://www.fast-pack.com/colored_tape.html

Towards the bottom of the page is a package deal where you get 6 rolls for $9.45 plus $6.50 shipping. Comes to $16 for 6 rolls which isnt bad. You get to choose any colors you want too which is great. I got 1 roll of white, 2 red and 3 black.

The white doesnt cover very well at all unless its going over a white base so keep that in mind. The red covers fairly well but not 100%. You can see the lap lines. The black covers almost anything. So its important to plan your application so the darkest colors go on last.

I run a covering iron set to medium heat over the tape after its applied and that seems to make it stick better and smooths out some of the wrinkles.

Larry - I use CorrosionX on everything except the servos. I dunk the motor, rx, BEC, esc, servo leads, power conectors, etc.

Dont do the servos. The CorrosionX will kill about 1 out of 3 from my experience.

I dont worry about being upside down in the water and things getting wet.

I have deliberately run a rx, esc, servos and motors while they were completely under water with no issues after they were treated with CorrosionX.

When I fly my Capricorns on the water, the controller is under the wing and gets splashed all the time. I have had the Capricorn up-side down in the water for 20 minutes waiting for a breeze to blow it right side up again. The motor, controller and rx are under water the whole time. As soon as it gets right side up - Im flying again. I dont even wait to dry anything out. Its not necessary.

The stuff is truely amazing. The TV commercial they used to run showed them watching a TV treated with CorrosionX while it was on the bottom of a swimming pool!!

A few people have reported loosing esc's when they went into the water even after being treated with CorrosionX. I have never had any issues after many dozens of dunkings with several different controllers.

I can only assume they didnt get the stuff into every nook and cranny under the heat shrink.

The other possibility is they didnt shut off the throttle soon enough after the plane went into the water. The amp draw of a prop in the water is at least 20 times more than in the air. Its just like stopping the prop from turning and going to full throttle.

So if you dont shut down soon enough after hitting the water, your going to burn something up for sure.

I have occasionally had an untreated servo go nuts when it filled up with water but they have always been ok after drying out. More often than not its no problem.

Im hoping I wont get much if any splashing into the cooling inlet but I'll have to wait and see once I get it on the water.

The only problem that would cause would be a weight and balance issue if enough water did get inside.

I dont really have any choice anyway. With a 1000+ watt power system you have to cool it some way or you'll get melt down like I did on the maiden flights!

[Larry3215]

By the way - the air scoop is also my battery hatch.

[CHELLIE]

Thank you Larry, My Bi Plane needs some trim color Take care, Chellie

[Larry3215]

Hurray! The new Medusa motor Im after is now in stock! Should be here by the weekend if Im lucky

With the new motor and 2P packs I should be getting well over 1/1 thrust and a good bit more speed and runtime! Thats a combination I can always live with

[Larry3215]

Ok, its about all done and ready for the re-maiden with the new power system. Just need to get the new motor installed.

I cant decide if the fairings for the wing servos need some color or not....

[CHELLIE]

Yes they do, Make them PINK

[Larry3215]

LOL