here is an interesting article about drones and future uses - …

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So I thought I would get some close up shots and higher res video to show some of the finer details of the launcher. Like most things in this hobby it didn't go to plan as when i went to take off the Esc and Motor smoked themselves, so no launch, and after borrowing a friends motor found that he uses…

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Today I christened my new plane launcher with success. I have built this as I have found the properties where I want to fly from have little or no adequate takeoff areas since the fields are full of waist high grass or lots of rough ground. Landing is OK by slowing down and dropping into the long grass but takeoff has been hazardous, to say the…

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OK, to explain, i finally got the autopilot sorted and installed in a test plane and all went according to plan, until the wing support failed on my manual flying back to land. what takes away the pain is that it wasn't in my full size plane, that I maidened last weekend successfully with 2 x 8…

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Armed with a remote-controlled helicopter nicknamed the "scientific predator", CSIRO scientists are circumnavigating Australia, documenting the tonnes of litter left or washed up on the nation's beaches and calculating the impact on marine life.



Read more: …

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HI, I was busy at Christmas and didn't do anything on the Uav, so yesterday got into it and…

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This is taking longer than i thought but happy with progress in the last two weeks or so. I got the wing cores cut (by Glenn at OfftheEdge)and proceeded to wing bag the centre section. This was a disaster as i tried to get too fancy and mylar the top which resulted in a very heavy section, I have since decided to mount the wing either side of the fuse and reduce the wing span by 350mm.



So i have now mounted the wings either side of the fuse snd will proceed with the design from… Continue

ok, so home from dinner and ready to unwrap to see how it goes.

the good news is the cling wrap released from the wooden mold, and is actually very smooth on the inside, there are a few crinkles in the outer carbon, but these will not be noticeable once the excess is trimmed to size and glued to the 2nd half. 

the fuse is very rigid already…

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Here is the start of my fuse building, vacuum bagging the fuse in two halves and will add joiners and bulkheads to finish the fuse.

 

http://youtube.com/NNCjIadZWQo

 

The fuse is a composite layup with fiberglass 90 gram crossweave internal layer then a filler layer material (I…

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started work on the fuse mold the other day and have been progressing through stages of filling and sanding to get the surfaces smooth before trying to layup the first vacuum bagged session.…

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First flight today in full manual mode with a brief session on stabilization mode. Plane: Slowstick - short wings, spinning 8x8 carbon prop, rudder elevator only.

Autopilot: Ardupilot mounted on stick in box from Bask Aerospace.

Ground Station: APM uploaded lastest firmware and using xbee link for comms to laptop.

Flight Report: Like all good flights it went well until the plane flipped onto its back and then I throttled back and waited for the hard…

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