I decided to go with a very simple but visible paint scheme using a Missile Red LustreKote spray paint. I masked off the areas I wanted to paint with blue painters masking tape and then shot a nice and even coat on the Elapore. I followed up the next coat a few minutes later and removed the masking tape.

       Once the paint was dry (overnight to be sure) I reassembled the Easy Glider. After looking at the plane a bit I thought it needed a little more color. I decided to paint the canopy a silver color and the nose a satin black (to help reduce glare for the camera. I used some enamel spray paint I had laying around which worked just fine.
       I added my call sign (N6YIY) to the wing and tail boom of the glider and attached an identification tag inside the plane with my AMA number on it.

       The moment of truth was at hand and I was ready to go to the field. I packed up my equipment and drove to my local flying field for a test run. Once there, I calibrated the FS8 Co Pilot as the manufacturer suggested and completed my preflight checklist including a range test with my Futaba 8U radio. I was ready to go !!!

       I turned on my radio and deactivated the FS8 Co Pilot stabilization system for take off. The motor was throttled up to full while I held the 2 pound 10 ounce plane in my right hand. I gave the Easy Glider a good swift toss slightly upward and she was off. The plane wanted to dive immediately so I pulled up keeping a bit of up elevator to get her to fly level.
       I gained some altitude and trimmed her out. I was using Multiplexes suggested control throws and they seemed to work fine. I tried some basic maneuvers and found that the ailerons were a bit sluggish but apparently a lot of sailplanes have this characteristic. I bumped up the aileron ATV a little more and was happy with the response.
       The next test I performed was checking the thrust angle of the motor. I flew the Easy Glider flat and level at full throttle and cut the throttle to see what happened. The nose pitched up and she wanted to stall so I figured that the motor needed more down thrust. I needed to land the Sail-Cam to adjust the motor incidence so I lined her up with the runway.

       I was having difficulty getting her down (mostly because of the motor’s thrust angle) and I needed to glide her in without power. Without power the plane climbed quite a bit so I decided to trim the plane again on my final approach. The glider settled in on the mainwheel as planned and rolled to a stop. I adjusted the motor to about a 10 degree down thrust angle and threw her up for another go.
       She handled quite a bit better this time only needing a little throttle to elevator mixing (about 5% up elevator @ full throttle). I did not want to angle the motor down much more than 10 deg. as the thrust will start to counter the lift of the wing. This setup seemed to work the best and she was flying quite well. I wanted to try out the FS8 Co Pilot system next so I turned the dial to activate the stabilization gain.
       I was surprised how well the plane kept flat and level despite the wind that was blowing that day. I turned the gain down to just above the “off” setting and flew her a bit. If at any time I let go of the sticks the glider gradually assumed a flat and level flight attitude. I tried the fail-safe function of the FS8 by turning off my radio and was pleased to see the plane go into stabilization mode while making a gradual rudder turn above me.
       I set up the fail-safe mode to give the rudder a 10 degree left turn and programmed the motor to run at 50% power. I also set up the fail safe to activate the stabilization mode at 25% gain which will keep the plane level during the rudder turn. This is a really neat system with all kinds of potential for UAV type aircraft. After I was satisfied with the FS8 setup I landed again to connect the ATV transmitter system.
       I plugged in the transmitter battery and tuned into channel “one” on the ATV receiver. I had plugged the receiver into my camcorder inputs and checked out the video signal. I performed another radio range test to see if the T4 transmitter was affecting the FS8 at all and noticed only a small drop in range. I tossed the Sail-cam up for a video test and gained some altitude. I switched to the video view using my 15” LCD field monitor and I was flying!!!   

       The video signal was clean and crisp making the experience all so real. I was very pleased on how much range the 900 MHz system was able to attain without any dropouts (momentary loss of picture). I felt very confident with the glider and was able to fly above a few Red-tailed Hawks hovering (keeping my distance of course). I cut the throttle and sailed a bit on a thermal I found and listened to the audio of the whistling wind. Everything was going so well until I tried to land.
       The wind had picked up a bit since I had started flying and I was getting worried about landing. Gusting winds are not your friend with a light wing loading plane so I hurried to attempt a landing before it got much worse. I lined up with the runway and kept the nose down a bit to get her closer. I got to about in front of me and the wind died abruptly and so did my lift. The sailplane fell about 4 feet to the ground and landed on the nose. Arggggggg!!!!
       The Easy Glider suffered minimal damage but the camera was dinged up a little as it was in the nose. I did not spend a lot of time thinking about crashing so I had not made any provisions for this type of “abuse”. I packed up the equipment and headed home with a bruised camera and a scuffed up fuselage.

       I wanted to make a plastic nose to put the camera in so it wouldn’t come in contact with the ground again. This would require a bit of modification to my original design. I found a 1” male PVC pipe plug that could be made into a camera protector. I cut a hole in the nose of the plane to fit the PVC plug at a 6 degree downward angle.

       I drilled a hole in the center of the plug just slightly smaller than it’s inner diameter. I then used my lathe to cut a 50 degree outward angle (100 deg. total) in the PVC to clear the camera’s field of view. I wrapped a bit of tape around the camera till it fit snugly inside the holder.

   I removed the camera from the holder and glued it into the glider using thick CA. Using my bar sander I blended in the nose once more.

       For added strength and durability I installed a skid plate under the nose of the glider. Normally packing tape will protect the bottom very well but in this case I wanted something more substantial. I sanded a flat spot on the bottom of the glider for a plywood skid plate.

   I cut out a 1/16” plywood plate the shape of the flat spot and used thick CA to glue it t the glider. Once in place I sanded it to contour and painted it flat white (white spray primer). I then painted the nose it’s original satin black color.

       The camera was reinstalled and I used the CG machine to rebalance the Sail-Cam. I removed the 3/4 oz I had installed in the nose to CG originally and she balanced out perfectly. The Sail-Cam was ready for action!!!

       I went back out to the flying field to capture a little airborne video and was greeted by some of my flying buddies who by chance had their motor gliders as well :0) Needless to say we had a blast out there flying around the field.

       My friends Andreas Blaser and his two sons, Sven and Erik as well as Robert Boehm and Dennis Steir were all out at the Greenspot Field for some flying. We are all members of the M.A.R.K.S. model airplane club and enjoy flying at either one of our two flying fields. I was able to capture some video of their flight with the Sail-Cam. See The Sail-Cam Project Video !!!

       Here is a group picture of the motor glider pilots at the M.A.R.K.S. field. Starting from the left: Robert Boehm, Sven Blaser, Erik Blaser, myself and Dennis Steir with his Easy Glider. His plane (bottom right) was the one that inspired this project. Andreas Blaser’s glider is the second one from the left, he volunteered to take the picture :0)

       I put together some specifications for this project for those interested in building one themselves:

Plane: Multiplex Easy Glider - Non-powered model ($70)
Material: EPP foam or “Elapore” TM.
Spar: Carbon fiber dowel (hollow)
Wingspan: 71”
Wing area: 645 sqin
CG: 2-3/4” behind the leading edge at the root.
Total weight including batteries: 42 ounces
Total weight wing loading: 9.375 oz per sqft
Servos: 2-Hitec HS-81 servos ($17 each)
and 2-Hitec HS-55 servos ($14 Each)
Batteries: 1-Thunder Power 3C/2100 for the drive motor ($85)
and 1-Thunder Power 3C/1320 for the camera system ($55)
Motor: Ultrafly B/06/12 1200 KV outrunner motor ($44)
Speed Control: Ultrafly Apollo 12 programmable ESC ($28)
Prop: 7 x 4 APC Slow Flyer
Radio receiver: FMA Direct FS8 Co Pilot on 72 MHz ($120)
Video transmitter: Supercircuits AVX900T4 900 MHz ATV transmitter.
Transmits @ 500 mW PEP and draws 250 mA @ 12 volts on 910.10 MHz.
Transmitter has a 1 mile line-of-sight range and weighs 0.75 oz ($75)
(Requires Ham license)
Video receiver: Supercircuits AVX900R1 audio/video ATV receiver ($95)
Video camera: Supercircuits PC75WR Sony Ex-View 1/3” CCD chipset
380 TV lines of resolution with 0.05 Lux light rating. 55 degree field of
view. Draws 100 mA @ 12 volts and weighs 1.6 oz ($120)
Microphone: Supercircuits PA3 amplified microphone ($8)
Paint: Top Flite LustreKote polyurethane ($7)

Motor position: 5” behind the trailing edge at 10 degrees of down thrust.
Camera angle: 6 degrees down angle.
Propeller drill size: 5/16”
Motor current @ 13 volts: 8.3 amps
Camera/transmitter current: 350 mA
Flight time: 16 minutes @ full throttle.
Average flight time: 25 minutes
Camera/transmitter duration: 3 plus hours with a 1320 mAh pack.

       I purchased most of my aircraft supplies from Tower Hobbies which I believe to be one of the best sources of hobby products.

I really enjoyed this project and I look forward to using the Sail-Cam for some unique airborne videos. With any luck I should be able to get some interesting shots before long. I hope you enjoyed the article and feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks, Don Giandomenico

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