If you are applying monokote to a structure with a complicated surface, chances are you will have an uneven application sooner or later. When this happens and one area is not as taught as the others, or even has a bit of “puffyness” in extreme cases, you can tighten it up with an application of heated air. Word to the wise though, if your heat is concentrated in a small area, you are at risk of a spot burning though very quickly. I had a test wing segment that had a bit of sag around the leading edge, so I applied some heat from a butane lighter with excellent results – right up to the point where it melted a dime-sized hole!
Monokote + butane lighter you ask? Surely I should have known better? But ofcourse! That is what experimentation and improvisation is all about.
Kyle Humor, Remote Control Airplanes Balsa Construction, Medicine Man Glider, Monokote
My second design decision was to use a foam wing from a Piper Cub trainer kit. The idea was that foam would absorb more impact force generated from the guaranteed-to-ensue carnage. This wing, however, was designed for powered flight, not gliding.
Aerospace Law 1:
Short Wings = High Speed
That’s why fighters have short wings and Cessna’s have long safe ones
Combine this with previously mentioned factors – more weight and more speed = bigger crashes! Let the fun begin.
Kyle Aerospace, Humor, Remote Control Airplanes, Uncategorized Balsa Construction, Medicine Man Glider, Sailplane
We went to go fly the Medicine Man glider in the vast empty student parking lot at McNeil highschool. It was a pretty windy day, so I was excited to see how the glider’s stability would fair in a breeze, and I was not dissapointed! 
However, I was concentrating so intently on watching the stability that I did not notice a rather tall light pole. Turns out a 1lb or so balsa and foam glider does not do so well against a (relatively) unmovable object, and carnage ensued.
On a more positive note, sting launching went fairly well! We just used a length of kitestring, tied a small loop in the end for the belly hook, and then ran like fools across the parking lot!
I also made a modification for testing purposes involving the removal of the bottom lobe of the tail so that it was flush with the bottom of the fuselage. This modification lets the fuselage absorb impacts, as I had experienced a few rough landings where a considerable ammount of energy went directly into the rudder, sheaing it from the tail.
This particular frame will surely have a few more modifications and “battlefield repairs” that will keep it far from bueaty contests – but that is kind of the joy of experimentation – you are not so afriad of scratches that you don’t push the envelope a little!
Kyle Aerospace, Austin TX, Humor, Remote Control Airplanes, Uncategorized Balsa Construction, Make Magazine, Medicine Man Glider, Monokote, Sailplane
I saw this over at Sailing Anarchy and thought it was pretty funny. I will never think of the Beastie Boy’s song in the same way again!
Stack of cannon balls ready to be fired
The Story of the Brass Monkey
It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The best storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem — how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.
The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass – hence, Brass Monkeys.
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey. Thus,it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, you thought that was just a vulgar expression, didn’t you?
But then Drew had to point out that it had been busted on snopes.com!
Kyle Humor, Sailing Humor, Sailing
