Sunday, September 17, 2017

NutBall Aerobatics

GoldGuy, the inventor of the NutBall, reveals some NutBall tricks and his propensity for poetry:

1.  Next time your out, experience the distinctive sound made by a NutBall. Here's how............

Take it to altitude with the nose up, instantly give it full down and full left. It will flip over and go into a violent but controllable spin. Hear that sound it makes? It's the only model I know that does it. To slow down it's decent, just cut the throttle. To get out of it, just relax the controls, then feed in a bit of up. Cool eh?

2.  The snap roll is similar. Flying straight and level fed in some up and then do the same, down and left. If you time it right, you'll get one complete violent snap in an instant. Practice at altitude and when you get it right, do it at eye level for best effect and you'll come out looking like a pro.

Also, in that inverted flat spin mode you can use the throttle and elevator to go up and down. Hold in the rudder the whole time..................throttle back, it will come down, add throttle and a bit more down and it will go up. You can go up and down in that inverted spinning mode as long as you wish.

You will have to move the battery back for a 30 to 35% CG for best flopabatics.

3.  Rolling the NutBall is an easy to do and a basic maneuver. Once you've mastered it, the roll becomes the basis for the snap roll, spins, inverted flat spin (complete with sound effects), the inverted 'elevator', both up and down, plus other silly weird stuff.

Rolling is more than just slapping over the rudder stick with the NB, although with models like the Simple Delta, flat and with elevons, that's all it takes to look good. What you want is to practice nice smooth rolls where the speed of rotation is the same throughout the 360 degrees of travel, it can be done almost axel, it's all in the timing and rolling to the left is easier to start off with. Make sure you set the CG at 25 percent to start, you can modify that as you progress, fly the maneuver at a MEDIUM speed at first and pay attention to the amount of movement on the rudder and elevator, not too much (???) is lots. The big problem in rolling the NutBall is that with too much rudder throw it wants to flip over very quickly once past inverted. How much movement is all apart of fine tuning. Having a low wing loading is a big aid in flying aerobatics as everything is much easier to do. If there's too much of a breeze, mount a bigger battery or some lead ballast, keeping the CG unchanged.

So, here's what to do to start off with.....................

Fly along straight and level at a brisk speed, but not full tilt (yet), and just before you enter the roll, add a tiny bit of up elevator to rise the nose, then feed in the rudder nice and smooth and when it goes inverted give it a tiny blip of down elevator and let off on the rudder just after is goes past inverted. What you need to do in the beginning is to form a pattern or tune in your brain. Practice in your shop with the model in front of you, try and picture in your mind what's happening. I learned four point rolls by repeating this to myself as I moved the sticks in the proper sequence and at the proper speed................ta da, ta da, ta da, ta da. It's like a tune in your head and you keep to the timing. Not sure what key I'm in, but it works. Got that from the best 3D pilot I know.

When you go out to practice, by yourself seems best and concertrate on the one thing and do just that.

#4 Here's another easy fun one anyone can do, the 'upright elevator', although it's all down elevator, no up. You'll need a rearward CG for this one, but start off with what you've got to see the difference it makes. Gain lots of altitude and point the nose straight into the wind. Now, hit full up and hold, and kill the thottle at the same time (again, it's in the timing) and use just the rudder to keep it facing into the wind. It should float down like a leaf, and with a low wing loading and a nice breeze you can plop it right down on the wheels. You can do this one inverted too.

Have fun with it.............all it takes is a bit of practice and a little more after that............your starting to look like a pro now...............keep it up



Most aerobatics it will do
And referring to how it flew,
If someone shouts, "a NutBall, WOW"
I wouldn't bother takin' a bow,
Cause they're probably talkin' about YOU

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