Tomcat

Thanks FTB, would it be fair to say there is much less turbulence over water?

Klipkopwildlife wrote: Thanks FTB, would it be fair to say there is much less turbulence over water?

My experience,
As Waterplane flying takes place from the shoreline it is only wind direction fairly directly to the shore which possibly has less turbulence. This may also be affected by the land and and Trees onshore.
Very often, the land and trees can make it seem that the oncoming waves and the wind are from from different directions in the landing/take off area. A lot depends on where you fly as some land area is pretty flat, while in hilly/ mountain areas turbulence can be expected at any time. At times if the wind is mainly from behind the shoreline/trees there is often a low turbulence area which is great for landing.

The floats are nearly finished. A bit of sanding, a coat of paint & they are done. It takes a couple of minuets to swap between floats & wheels, five screws, one servo plug & it's done.

That just looks "right" crash, well done mate!

paul
Very nice.
I don't know how water proof that servo in the float might be, probably not very.
The problem is any water that gets on it cools it down so it literally sucks the moisture in and even condensation will kill the electronics.

Is crashes real name Paul as well?

Crash
Ooops! :blush:
Sorry.

Quorneng wrote: Crash
Ooops! :blush:
Sorry.

And you are, who exactly ? :lol: Don't worry about it, there are days I bearly remember my own name !
On the subject of the float servo, I see your point. "IF" it all works & flys as it should, I will invest in a waterproof one.

I know who I am - I've got a label on that says 'George'. [badass]

Having caught up with all my work & coupled with the rather inclement weather we have had the past few days, I thought I would finish the Tomcat. It has had several successful flights on wheels, so in anticipation of the better weather we have been promised, I have fitted the floats. All I really need now is a couple of those plastic budgerigar ladders fixed to the floats.

That looks a treat! nice job crash.

crash
That looks very neat.
Now if you had a 3D printer budgerigar ladders would be no problem.
The only question would be whether the rungs need to be circular or flat topped. :woohoo:

Quorneng wrote: crash
That looks very neat.
Now if you had a 3D printer budgerigar ladders would be no problem.
The only question would be whether the rungs need to be circular or flat topped. :woohoo:

Oh very clever ! :lol: I have been toying with the idea of a 3D printer, the only thing putting me off is the programing. I am not sure I can get my head round it ! Old dog, new tricks syndrome. Still might be worth considering as a project to help get me through the winter.

crash
This old Dog never used CAD in my life although I did run a small computer section providing specialist software for a big office.
Of course as a manager I had to understand how to use the software but relied entirely on serious computer geeks to actually create/modify it to give the desired results. As a result actually creating something myself starting from a blank sheet that would work on a 3D printer was not in my skill set.

I found initially just identifying, let alone using, the basic commands to create a simple 3D object very frustrating but it was soon forgotten when I actually achieved my own print.
From a small beginning it is then just a matter of logical trial end error to move forward generating ever more complex shapes but for me at least it was, and still is, a slow process. Even after 3 years there a several processes that I know my CAD package can do but I have yet to find out how to actually do it. :huh:

And just to show off a 5 rung 'budgie' ladder.

Its 'beams' are a streamline section to a side airflow (as it would be mounted on a float plane) and the 'rungs' are flat topped at a 15 degree ladder inclination.

Crash, I've have my 3D printer about 6months less than Simon but I've done nothing with it! In the 80's I used to write Machine code programs but I think my brain's turned to Swiss cheese!
I would recommend any modeller to buy one, I bought at the lowest end of the market, mistake, I would recommend Prusa to anyone but buy with an aluminium frame. They all come with additional software, Cura is probably the best at converting a CAD image to what the printer understands.
I've recently been told of a new CAD package called FreeCad, it's Open Source = free, about 6mths in it's getting rave reviews and there are any number of online tutorials about using it.