Rc Mirage 3 EZ

[Guest]

[ATTACH]280981[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]280982[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]280983[/ATTACH] Most of the priming done, hoping to get some colour on by next week. I still need to find a shop that can print the SAAF decals for me.

Theuns

[Guest]

I cut ian installed the top engine access hatch, final primer is on and hoping to get colour on over the weekend

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[colin m]

This looks amazing. It will be nice to see it in the air. Will it sound like a 'normal' RC model ?

[Guest]

Hi Colin, the Ducted fan runs at about 17 k rpm so it has more of a scweel than the normal prop engines. The sound of the air being sucked into the intakes is also quite interesting. If I did not re-enforce the intake duckts, the force of the negative pressure will collaps them in on themselves. This setup can make about 12-14 lbs pf static thrust.

I am busy making the molds for the ventral strake and hope to get colout on by tomorrow.

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[Guest]

Here is the base Tan for the camo, the dark green will go on tomorrow. The bottom is already duck egg blue

Theuns[ATTACH]281290[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Here is the basic camo on....3 hours masking and 10 min of painting LOL

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[Snowman]

That "vlam gat" is looking good!!

Just how fast does this kite fly?o_O
It can't be easy to control it at speed?

[Guest]

The delta wing is a very interesting platform.
It goes fast but can slow right down. At hight angle of atack the wortex that is usually present at the wingtip, is different in high sweep angle wings.
The vortex starts at the root and the high AoA makes the vortex from the bottom of the root leading edge actually cirl over the top of the whole leading edge of the wong creating a much better lift.
Go and google "delta vortex shedding lift", it is quite interesting.
Ever see a vid of the concorde landing where the whole front part of the wing is unde a vapour cloud?
This is what happens.

Theuns

[colin m]

Will flying a RC delta be much different to flying a conventional RC aircraft - that maybe a daft question, but I've never flown any RC.

[Guest]

No they fly allot allike, some fast deltas just like to "skid out" a little in tight banks but nothing serious.

Theuns

[Guest]

I decised to make my own controllhorns from carbon/epoxy rather than bolting something on.

tThe holes on the bottom of the horn ar there so that the epoxy will bond it better into the slot I milled into the controll surface's hardpoint.

Theuns[ATTACH]281493[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Well here is is, all glossed up and ready for owner to install the engine, RC and gear to be test flown hopefully within the next month.

The weight is a little more than I had hoped, but I recon it is the loads of filler and primer that went on to smooth out the fuselage molding aswell as the fill if the weave on the wing's glass.
I now prime inside the molds and I think I have eliminated about 80% of the filling and sanding, on the wing I will fill the weave with eopxy and micro ballons on # 2 to see if I can save on some primer.

The colours coats were not as heavy as I expected, I think about 70% weight of the paint is primer.

The weight as is now sits at 3700gr. Sounds heavy but the engine/fan weighs 1300 gr and gear/RC no more than about 800 gr with 500 gr of fuel, so I estimate a MAUW of about 6,2 kg.
The fan can make up to 6 kg of thrust so I think it will fly OK.
I balanced it and sofar as is it balances very close to the CG so maybe no dead ballast will be needed.We will play with installing the gear doors after testflights, for now keep it simple.

I will see where I can save weight on # 2 that I am busy with now. I will not do the 2 layup of carbon on the top centre sefction, 1 will be more than enough.

Plane represents # 842 of 3 Sqn SAAF 1970/80's
Still waiting for the canopy to be made.

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[colin m]

Great update. I'm really looking forward to seeing this fly.

[peterairfix]

Been watching from the sidelines liking the work and looking forward to seeing it fly.
Me I am more of rc chopper person.

[Guest]

I do also fly helos. I just get very little time to do so these days. I need to mold myself a Bell 222 soon for my RKX 50 extreme as I find it hard to get the helo's orientation far out.

Theuns