Mugi Weblogs - Clogz' Weblogs

Clogz turns Tea boy! - Fri, 02/09/05
Dear All, As you've noticed I'm currently working on a few different projects including some massive DIY jobs around the house. So, I thought I'd take on a few more! ;) I'm currently building 3 new Tea-racers, Moogs new design, to test the repeatability. So far, so good! One Tea-racer is completely finished and ready to fly. One needs the elevator servo to be glued into place and the third Tea-racer is awaiting a finalised wing. Once all 3 are flight ready I'll be giving them a bit of colour and then let the fun begin! Needless to say I'll be avoiding the use of my M5 dual conversion RX that caused me to write off a model. :( Ok...that's it for now. I'll be back! ;) P.	Magnify
Fanning experiment... - Thu, 01/09/05
Dear all, As promised an update on the twinwall F86 ducted fan. The model is currently unfinished but I have testflown it quite a few times now. I like it a lot! What started out as an experiment to make a twinwall ducted fan parkflyer has turned into quite a nifty flyer. When looking at the original layout of an F86 you'd expect the model to be quite 'sensitive'. (or should that be unstable?) Strange thing is: It's actually very stable! I'm pretty sure it's the dihedral in the stab that does it. When I started with this model I knew very little about ducted fans and I was just trying to satisfy my own curiosity. After a bit of experimenting I managed to get the right combination of electrics together and build the plane to a target weight of 450-500 grams. The setup currently is: Wemotec microfan, Himaxx 2025 - 5300KV, 30AMP ESC and a brand new Polyquest 3S 1500XP (16-22C) lipo. This setup produces around 235Watts! Pretty good! The lipo pack is fantastic as the voltage under load is noticably higher than any of my other packs.(pretty much all main brands). Current AUW is around 530grams but about 500grams is possible. So..how does it fly? Well...nicely... A normal handlaunch with the fan at full throttle will see the plane fly off at a good climbout. It always takes a little while to get fans going (hence most people use bungee launching systems). This plane flies well right from the gun. Rolls are VERY axial and it has plenty of power to loop from level flight. Quarter throttle will keep the F86 going at level flight with enough speed to do some a decent roll. So...how does it compare to a Poppy? Not at all! Poppy is a totaly different kind of animal. Poppy is all about speed. The F86 is about parkflying. Over the next week or two I expect the F86 to be completed including a decent colour-job. When I do I'll post some more pics. At the moment I'm doing some repeatabillity testing on making Teas! ;) Regards, P.	Magnify
Another M5 RX bites the dust! - Thu, 25/08/05
Dear All, Apologies for the lack of blog-updates.It's been a hectic few weeks to say the least and my broadband connection has (still is) been playing up. :( Last weekend we had another Mugi 'roadshow'. This time at Wallsall. Great multi-day event so we keep coming back for more every year, Just keeping people awake until the early hours of the morning flying LED-laden Mugi EVO's is worth it! :) We had a great time! Wallsall consisted of lots of sun, flying, nice food (thank you for keeping us going Yvette!) and Twinwall. Apart from my M5 receiver playing up and destroying a clients model it was a great weekend. I really don't know what happened there. I programmed the model into my TX and verified all settings. Double checked everything and launched the model. The model flew off totally straight - It was a good one - perfectly balanced. Unfortunately from the moment I launched the model none of my TX input ever had any effect. The model crashed and I wrote off 1 3S 2000ma lipo, a Warp 3-turn motor and the client's model. Not good! :(. Needless to say both myself and Moogz have now become the victim of the dreaded M5 receiver and suffered plenty of costs as a result. I won't be using mine again! Does anyone want a M5 Rx? ;) OK...I'll post some photos soon of the 'other project' that's still work in progress. I did fly it last weekend and it was just soooo nice to fly. It's an (almost finished) F86 Sabre running on a fan unit. Tricky to make something fly well on a fan but I think this has potential! Take care fellow twinwallers! P.	Magnify
Fresh Poppies... - Wed, 27/07/05
Dear All, A quick update. Last weekend I've had to go and touch home-soil, so no building or flying for me. The night before I set off I did manage to maiden the new yellow Poppy as finally the strong winds had died down. She flew like a bat out of hell! I decided to fly this Poppy on a Mega 16x15x4 and take it easy. I loaded the plane up with a 2200ma 3S pack. Gave it 33-50% throttle and launched it. It flew out straight and climbed out very nicely. One or 2 clicks of elevator trim and all was sorted. I tried a few rolls and they were dead axial! Perfect! Couple of long high-speed loops....no problem! This new version is quicker. The small aero tweaks I've made have definately made her quicker. It seems retain it's energy better than the first few versions. For the eagle-eyed among you - Poppy now has a low T-tail instead of the original X-tail. The advantage is there's less weight in the tail and makes the plane more responsive to elevator input. I've already planned to make some more aero improvements. I'll take some more closeup shots of this Poppy and post them soon. In the meantime I've started a new little project. :). Something totally different to Poppies. I'll update on this over the next few days.... Happy flying! P.
Poppy goes bananas! - Fri, 15/07/05
Hello all, Since the last entry I've been working on finishing off those 2 fuselages. Well, more precisely, I've finished off one of them completely and the other one is about 50% ready. I felt like having a brand new Poppy ready with a new tape-job. You can see the results of that adjacent. I have yet to maiden the new one but all the signs are there it's going to be a good one! It balances naturally and the battery just goes on top of the CG. The reason why I designed Poppy like this is that it allows for me to play with different batteries and setups. Last night I decided to strip the test-tape job of the one I've been flying for the last few weeks every day. For those of you who have seen us at the shows will know that my Mugis always come in my signature 'Mad Cow' design. It was only going to be a matter of time before at least 1 Poppy would get the 'Mad Cow' treatment. Or should that be 'Bad Cow'? ;) OK, that's it for now....more updates soon! P.	Magnify
Fusing Poppies.... - Tue, 12/07/05
Hi again, Well..it's been a little while since the last entry and I thought I'd briefly touch base and let you all know what's been going on. This weekend I did zero flying and building as I had some serious gardening to do. Mmmhh....I wonder if I could build a new lawn out of twinwall??? Anyway....I have been flying the latest evolution of Poppy quite a lot now - I lost count of the number of flights. I've been changing my setup a little as I found a lovely APC prop. A 5.25x6.25 which gives Poppy enough thrust for safe handlanching at about half throttle and plenty of topspeed. I've currently got 2 more Poppy chassis lying on my bench that are close to completion. Some more aero tweaks on the new chassis and I'm going to use a different setup. One will be running a 3-turn Warp (KV2560) and the other will be using a 3-turn Mega 16x15. I can't wait to try out some of the hotter setups. It'll be good! :) Due to the gardening I've not been able to finish off a decent tape-job on my current Poppy so bear with me for those latest pics. I can tell you that Moogz shot some amazing video footage - he deserves an oscar for that! It's the first time we've managed to capture some footage of Poppy. I'm hoping to put together an action video when I've got a moment so you can all have a look. OK...that's it for now.... here's a pic of 2 new Poppy fuses on the bench. There's been more progress since but I've yet to take some new pics. P.	Magnify
'Licking Poppies' - Thu, 07/07/05
Dear readers, A bit more Poppy info! For those of you who have looked closely at the pics of Poppy its a bit of a pylon racer. And as such I've used a setup to match it. Currently I've been testing my Poppy(s) using my trusted Mega 16x15x4 on a variety of props ranging from anything between 5x5 and 6x6. More pitch, less diameter....different prop brands...you name it. I fly this setup using PolyQuest 3S 2200ma (12-16C) narrow batteries. The version you see in the current pics work very well....but I've got some other (read more powerful) motors winking at me on my bench. ;) The very latest evolution Poppy flies better and faster than the one pictured. I'll post some pics in the next few days. It has some new techniques to make the chassis more efficient and it's worked! So far I've had quite a few flights on the latest Poppy and it's 'licking' on nicely! ;) Static performance tests are showing about 275 watts....not sure what AUW is on the latest version. I'll weigh it tonight or so. Mmmhh......lunch is creeping up and guess what I've got in the car? ;) I'll popping out for a 'swift one'! Later! :D P.
Growing Poppies.... - Tue, 05/07/05
Dear All, On the picture of the first blog entry you can see a few models I've been working on for a little while. For the last year or so I've been experimenting with some high speed models to investigate how fast you can make twinwall models. The answer so far is: VERY FAST! I've yet to reach the limit. Everytime I think I've reached the limit I think of a new construction method and build a plane that goes that little bit faster again. Why do I want to do this? Well, above all I enjoy the challenge of building them....and then fly them! I'm not trying to tell you that I'm building planes that will outperform some of those really nice carbon/fibre planes. These fly VERY fast but are also VERY expensive. How about a twinwall plane that flies almost as fast but costs only a fraction of the carbon/fibre versions? In fact....I'm experimenting with twinwall planes and can almost buy a full setup for the price of the carbon/fibre chassis alone! So, I've decided to start my blog with my mainly reporting about my Poppy design. As I'm still working on finalising the design there are currently no plans available....yet! However, I will be reporting the progress I'm making....good or bad! P.	Magnify
Clogz' first weblog - Wed, 29/06/05
Welcome to the very first Mugi Blog entry. Please allow me to introduce myself: my name is Peter (nickname Clogz) and like Moogs I’m always dreaming up new aeroplane designs and building them. This Blog will allow me to share my almost daily flying/building experiences with those of you that are interested and share the same passion of twinwall aeroplanes. At Mugi we’re forever trying out new things so I hope you’re ready for a wacky flight!	Magnify