Aloha EF-1 design and build

[Red]

After my impatience causing the issues with the cowl mold, I just decided to recut it, so it’s complete now. I have some 2 part primer I’ll try to put on it this weekend if it’s warm enough. Supposed to snow here in the desert on Thanksgiving lol.

Red

[Red]

I finally was able to get some fiberglass parts made. Maybe I’ll get some paint on them soon.

Red

[Red]

Part aren’t trimmed so I have some work to get the canopy to fit still. This is the first time I’ve seen the real thing all together, I think I like it!

Red

[Red]

It’s done, maiden as soon as the weather allows. It’s light so I’m off looking for wheel weights.

Red

[twitte]

That looks great, Red!!

Trey

[Red]

My son was able to get some video. I’m calling this one
done!

Red

https://youtu.be/LxTqSywViFs

[mcdracing]

Looks good Red!

[Red]

I’ve got to have a backup, so I’m working on Alley Cat too. Aloha was turned into Alley Cat by Ray Cote when he bought it. It uses the same fuselage with a different wing and tail.

The cold temps and snow are making painting the glass parts a challenge I was hoping to debut it complete, but this will have to do lol. I’ve been having a little fun with my Timber in the backyard in the meantime. It’s not supposed to snow in the desert!

Red

[Red]

I put 4 more flights on Aloha today. This is the first time I’ve used AS3X (other than BNF planes) and I’ve gotten it dialed in now. It was a bit messed up before, but I got some help (Thanks Tony!) getting it dialed in. I was just being lazy and didn’t fully understand it, but after playing with it and watching all 16 videos from Spektrum I understand it. I have the Bluetooth adapter on my iPhone which makes changing things easy. The biggest hurdle for me was that there is zero transmitter set up, it’s all done on the Rx through the app. Once you understand that and accept it, things fall into place. It’s also a much easier way to set up flight modes, which can be a challenge. It shouldn’t have been that hard to wrap my head around, it’s the way all my UAV’s at work are set up. I was just stuck in the mental rut of 40 years flying R/C being anal about set up. It’s too easy now, like cheating.

I set up 3 flight modes off, mid and high gain. In the end I only used high gain. So I turned all the flight modes completely off, then just kept it on high gain all the time. I use spoilerons for landing, and it’s a cake walk. This is the easiest landing EF-1 I’ve built yet, it really just gets in the groove and makes it so easy. Takeoffs are arrow straight, just a touch of right rudder and rotation is very flat.

I’m going to add 1/4oz to the right wing and another 2oz on th me CG to make it legal weight, then it’s ready to race. This plane runs laps very easy and I’m anxious to see how it stacks up again the competition.

If you haven’t tried AS3X yet in a racer, I would highly recommend it. Although Aloha flies nice without it, with it is just that much better. Since this is a “beginner” class, anything that makes these planes easier to fly is awesome in my book.

Red

[Red]

My first Winterfest EF-1 race is in the books and I had an awesome time! Jim Allen and the amazing crew of volunteers ran an extremely professional race. I am very grateful for their effort. We flew some 130+ rounds with ONLY 1 re-fly.

I would also like to thank my impromptu caller Tony Macdonald. Racing is a team sport and he graciously let me tag along with him. He worked his butt off racing two classes with his son Jacob and also did his best to keep me from doing dumb things despite my best efforts. I couldn’t have done it without him.

I arrived with the intention of racing Aloha, it is the hardest turning EF-1 I have ever flown. Test flights on Friday were perfect. I also flew Alley Cat and it too was performing well. In the end I decided to race Alley Cat. It seemed better suited to the longer course we were sharing with the 426 guys.

Saturday I was a horrible pilot! Out of 6 rounds I collected 3 zero’s including flying in the wrong heat which left me in a tough spot going into Sunday. Not the welcome back to racing I had hoped for after a 8 year hiatus lol. Sunday went much better and after the final three heats I was able to salvage a 6th place in the end. I’m overall extremely happy in spite of a mid pack finish. Alley Cat flew perfect all weekend. The only dumb things it did were the ones I told it to. The last couple heats I was able to stay within 1/4 lap of the fast guys and my time was about 3 seconds off FT of the meet. I simply need more practice and I’ll get back in the groove. The quality of pilots that were racing meant you needed 10 perfect laps and some luck to win. Any mistake and someone was ready to pounce. Really great racing!!

I’m convinced that there is more left in both Alley Cat and Aloha. I flew Alley Cat one more time after the races and turned up the elevator rate and it just kept turning harder.

Racing is addictive, hope to see some of you guys at the next one.

Red
https://youtu.be/cBSag2eNOFE

[mcdracing]

It was great to have you at a race again Red! Alley Cat is fast and definitely can hang with the elliptical wings. I was impressed so much I bought your Alley Cat. Great flying airplane. Can’t wait to see Aloha race with a couple of young guns racing them at the Woodland Davis race!

[Red]

I took my 11 year old son Ryan with me to the race. He flies, but nothing really high performance. He was so pumped about racing when we left thats all he talked about on the way home. Yesterday he dug out the sim and practiced for a solid couple hours. We're building him an EF-1 now. The goal is for him to race in May.

Red

[Red]

This is how you inspire kids!!

I took my son Ryan to the Winterfest race last weekend. He loves R/C but hasn’t flown much high performance stuff yet, but wants to race. Dan Kane spotted his enthusiasm and sent him a brand new Eflite Shoestring and RimFire motor.

Ryan is over the moon, we’re starting the build right now. We’re prepping for the Woodland race in May. The goal is for him to race there.

Huge thank you to Dan Kane and Horizon Hobbies!!

[fizzwater2]

going flying this weekend?

[Red]

Back to making progress again. These are the canopy molds cut from Ren460 tooling board, which took a while to arrive. You can see from the pics that it came off the machine a little rough (there is a story there lol), but they cleaned up nicely with some 220g sandpaper wet. From there I sanded in steps to 2000g. I will machine polish them with compound then they will be ready to mold. In the last pic, I put a hand coat of wax on it and can tell the shine is already coming up with minimal effort, s I'm encouraged. Cowl molds next! I expect them to need less finish work than the canopy, but this stuff sands and polishes real nice if necessary. I have about 30 minutes so far in the sanding and clean up with I'm happy with.

Kits soon!

Red