ROG Squirrel Video

I was at the park trying to get a video of the Squirrel ROG. The ROG was successful, but the flight ended in a tree and the video lost sight of the plane almost immediately. See the attached clip.

I decided to change to wheels like those shown on your picture. I got this wheelset from a Chinese stick model that Pat Murphy discarded after the RBPFM book project was complete.

The plane took off going right, not left as usual.  Instead of circling over the basketball courts, it headed around behind some trees.  I lost sight of it, but it probably hit the tree at about 0:33 in the video.  I went around the trees and was afraid it may have gone over the fence into the schoolyard.  When I turned back, I spotted it in a tree.

It could actually be seen from the takeoff point, the orange speck right in the center.

I got it down with my 31′ Jackite pole.  The motor still had knots.  I looked down the length and saw that the tailplane was tilted to turn right.  I released it to watch it land, which it did nicely.  As I let the motor unwind, the tailplane straightened.  The extra torque of the thicker motor to lift the wheels twisted the stick.  More left thrust will help that.  A lady came over to talk about the Squirrel.  After going back to the car I noticed that the wingtips had become twisted from being out in the sun.  The trailing edge spar is thinner than the leading edge spar, so it bent more.  Crumpling the paper will help that.

This activity attracted quite a bit of attention from the people in the park.  They especially enjoyed watching me get it down from the tree with the pole.  😉
 
That guy on YouTube did a good job, made his own propeller unit, got a good flight.  Now he needs a bigger place to fly and more turns.
 
Joanne is having trouble with her Squirrels because the wing is flopping around at high torque.  A couple dental rubber bands, maybe doubled, will keep it tight to the stick.
 
I have the wing blocked down flat.  If I can get it to stay flat, I will try again to get a complete flight, from ROG to LOG.
 
Gary

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *