Night flying Sapphire

[FiremanBill]

So to prevent hijacking another thread I thought I'd start with updates on mine and with the lighting and covering progress. The Peter Goldsmith Sapphire EDF sailplane. Main structure is now complete short of some sheeting once I figure out the power plant installation. Going with a similar covering scheme to my Foxbat and have quickly realized I did not order nearly enough of the red. I am making mine a night flyer and so far am very pleased with the light setup.

I mounted the rows of LED strips vertically inside the wing. One row in front of the spar faces forward and 2 rows behind facing back. The light seems evenly distributed and quite visible. At least in the garage anyway. Only downside is it really washes out the transparent red. I like it though and look forward to getting the other side covered tonight hopefully.

[Steve P]

Great stuff! I pumped up your photos for you!

BTW, for anyone wanting to do this, here's the procedure... Make your post to the forum as normal. Then click edit. At the bottom you will see photo insert prompts. For each photo, place your cursor where you'd like to have the photo appear in the message and then click the size you want (medium or large is fine). You will get an error message, but the photo will appear. You can then do subsequent photos the same way. If you screw up, better to cancel the edit and start again. Trust me, you can make a mess otherwise.

So, I've now hijacked the thread that prevented a hijack. Silly me!

[FiremanBill]

Great thanks!

[ARUP]

Cool! I really like the VW KG, too!

[ARUP]

VW Karmann Ghia! I'm guessing it is a '68. I'd like to have a '58 low light KG. It would sit great next to my '57 and '59 TypeI Käfers!

[FiremanBill]

It is a 71 ARUP. I hated those big gawdy turn signals so I got rid of them, filled the holes and put the early bullets on it.

[ARUP]

Did you do a similar treatment for the rear ones, then? Your Falcon is cool, too! '64?

[FiremanBill]

So I got the rest of the wing complete and started on the lights in the tail over the weekend between weddings and kids visiting from Virginia. lol Will post pics of the tail when I get them finished.

[Swiss1]

Love the reflecting light effect! Nice work.

Jeremy
SCCAAA TT TN

[FiremanBill]

So I got some more done last night. Coming along nicely.

[FiremanBill]

So I am just about ready to maiden. Will get my radio gear in and a few minor things left after that. I am very pleased with how it has turned out.

[Stew2]

Really neat!! How much weight do you think the lights added? Enjoy the maiden!

[FiremanBill]

Not much at all. Near as I can figure they add just under 4 ounces. I used a very thin lightweight lower powered LED than i typically use on night flyers. The lights will share power off the motor battery so no added weight there either

[JimD]

Looks amazing...can't wait to see in flight night pictures!

[FiremanBill]

SHE FLIES! Got out Friday afternoon but due to some minor issues and weather moving in we postponed until Sunday. Went out after church and took her up. What a sweet flying airplane! I shall enjoy this one for a long long time.

First night flights wont be for a while as I have some tweaking to do on the lights. Stay tuned!

[SteveNeill]

Congrats! There's nothing like that first flight after all your hard work.Enjoy!

[FiremanBill]

that is for sure! thanks.

[JimD]

Good for you!!! Just love seeing another Sapphire in the sky...Peter and I got to fly ours at the Fall Soar fo Fun and there were some nice pictures of them side-by-side.

[FiremanBill]

Thanks Jim, maybe someday we can all go to a meet together and get three, or more, of them at once!

[JimD]

Peter is planning to come to my Spring Soar for Fun March 27-31. One of our local guys is also building a Sapphire and I think there are others being built in the region... we could have a Sapphire convention!

[FiremanBill]

Where is this one?