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Out for a little spin

Phew. I’m getting used to it. The darn thing scares me it’s so fast! I took the Projeti and both batteries (I didn’t forget them this time) out to the Allamuchy park. I’m surprised to say that, even though it’s only got a 32 inch wingspan to the Zagi’s 36″, that field is only barely large enough. I would zip from one end of the 3 little league fields to the other in no time flat. It was also kind of funny… I’m used to launching while standing at my car and then walking over to a good spot while gaining elevation. There was no need for that any more since she gains altitude so quickly! In just a few seconds, she will fly nearly out of site. I had to try banking left, right, up and down just to tell her attitude!

But I like that I was able to pop it in the car, drive over, pop the battery in and fly. Electric is nice.

I’m a bit concerned that I’m burning out NiMH1. When I took it out of the plane on 7-11-04, it was like 300 degrees hot. The EPS had slightly wilted underneath where it had touched inside the fuselage. On 7-23, I only got about 5 minutes out of it while I got about 20 minutes (Yes, 20 minutes!) out of LiPoly1

Zagi Surprises

I took the brushless off the Projeti and put it on the Zagi. It’s too fast! I can cause dreaded Zagi Flap in level flight! Of course, this also means that I can run it at 1/2 throttle with lots of speed for a very long time. I frown a little at the Zagi for not handling high speeds well, but hey, it’s good at other things like crashing. Which leads me to my next topic…

I was showing off a little for some kids that moved in to a house on Alphano Road, the middle house. Actually, when I crashed, I wasn’t hot dogging or anything, I was just making a sweeping turn near a tall kite-catching tree. And who could blame the tree for not knowing the difference between a kite and a flying wing? I’m just glad it didn’t get tangled up in the branches but fell to earth. I think it might be time to put those coroplast elevons on. The balsa elevons are more CA than wood!

The second surprise was with the batteries. I attached the 8 cell Zagi battery and flew the Zagi. I was surprised to find no difference at all in performance. But shouldn’t an 8 cell pack turn the motor slower than a 10 cell pack?? I didn’t listen too closely but I didn’t notice any difference in prop noise either. Hm! The Zagi battery doesn’t physically fit inside the Projeti so that test isn’t going to happen.

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Battery use estimates:

• NiMH1 is a 10 cell amalgam of the two old 1100 mah 8 cell packs. Those old packs had lost 1 battery apiece.
• LiPoly1 is a 2100 Thunderpower 6C battery
• NiCad1 is my original Zagi battery

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