Christchurch and District Model Flying Club
 

The stryker

By brian wiseman

For my birthday, my son, who is not a flyer, bought me a second hand Stryker which he found in a Shop. It is an electric foam copy of an American Fighter and is supposed to go 80 M.P H. If either I or the plane survive to tell the tale I will relate it in the next issue.

Hold on to your Hats, and your Teeth.

At the end of my last article I said that I had been given for my Birthday as a surprise a Striker. You will see from the photo what it looks like. This is the sort of aircraft that you see the experts at shows taking up to several hundred feet and bringing down along the runway below waist height at about 200 m.p.h.

They are a bit better than the Striker but it is supposed to do about 80 miles an hour.

I fly I/C planes at Beaulieu, and have seen a few electric planes there. Each year they increase in size and duration. For some years I have qualified for a free T. V. Licence and so expect that each year will be my last year of flying  So I decided not to go into electrics with all the tales of burning aircraft and exploding batteries.

However a present is a present. It came second hand and had done some flying before I got it. It had the engine installed and the controls in place and a receiver as well.

All I had to do was to put in one of my Crystals and a Battery. I had to buy a Battery , and also a Battery Charger. So the present became a bit expensive but not to worry I managed to fit it all together and the prop went round like a mad thing. I have read a bit about electric flight, pretty well all of it written by electric people. I usually get lost in the third para when we have to know that Watts Amps and Volts can be divided by each other to get some good sums. I do not need to know that.

I ask Sussex Model Supplies about electric and they said it is a mine-field. Each manufacturer has his own numbering system and none are compatible with others. I get all my gear from them.. They are excellent both in advice and equipment, I may say.  No, I am not getting a special discount. But it is nice to know when someone gives a good service.

It strikes me that I need to get the motor, the speed controller and the battery in some sort of a line. A 2 pack is 7.4 volts and a three pack is 13.1 volts. The speed controller can easily be blown if it is not strong enough. So go for a 40 Amp, this should leave a bit to spare. Motors I have not yet sussed out. I like it when the advert shows the I./C equivalent. This gives me some idea of the power which is all I want to know. I guess as I get along I shall learn more.

Anyway did the Striker fly. I have seen several young men show off with these machines but never seen an old man fly one. My friend Ian Hammond used his strong right arm to launch it full throttle was engaged and away she went. I expected a really quick hard ride. But once I gained height, I cut the throttle to half and it became a  pussy cat. It fact I shut the throttle down completely and it glided. It was much more stable than I thought it would be. When I did go fast it was inclined to twitch like any plane which is flying beyond its design speed. So it was an interesting and much  easier flight than I thought it would be.

And so to landing which thought would be a nightmare. The wind was blowing across Beaulieu. I had to bring it over the concrete and drop it on the grass at the edge. This is exactly what I did. Easy peasy. With the electric control I could shut the motor right down and blip it on and off to keep the flying speed right and drop it nearly at my feet. It can go fast and it is fun to fly fast but it will doddle around flying like an old man should and will glide and land easily. So far I have had about 10 flights and it is a lot of fun. When I go out to the flight line ready to fly it I shout “hold on to your hats and your teeth” because the slipstream will mean you could lose both. So far no one has.

Back to Contents

[Home] [Chairman's Chatter] [Editorial] [Diary of a Flier] [The Stryker] [DIY Markings] [Clevis tool] [Dragonfly wings] [Air Traffic] [Air Combat] [An afternoon out]