Meet the Paprika

Another long absence ends as I’m done with the crappy business of moving house.  Luckily have something new to talk about 😀

This is my new plaything that has recently eaten up all of my time and money.  It’s called a Paprika (AKA Gem) and is the RC glider I’ll be spending a lot of time with over the coming months.

Some stats:

Wingspan: 2m

Weight: 1.515kg

Wing Loading: 4.23 kg/m^2 (13.86 oz/ft^2)

Length: 1.2m

Airfoil: MH32

I’ve gone well overboard with the power train starting with a 100A Speed Controller and ending with a 12×6 folding prop.  In the middle is an 850W Hyperion Brushless motor which will easily be capable of vertical climbs.  The rational of course is efficiency.  I expect the most efficient state for this aircraft will be when the motor is off and the prop has folded back, so the quicker the climb the sooner I can get back to gliding.  This glider won’t actually be the most efficient aircraft it can be, but it will give me plenty of flexibility to try things.

I’ve upgraded my old 36MHz radio to a very snazzy Spektrum DX8.  This thing is incredibly complicated compared to the old 4 channel with mechanical trims.  It does include a telemetry module to keep me updated on the numbers onboard the aircraft which is nice, but it’s gonna be weeks before I wrap my head around how all the other features will benefit me.

I also have some other toys, including a camera and some solar panels.  I’m not expecting fantastic results from either of them, but they will hopefully be enough to inform some avenues of research and of course more money spending.  I’ve also picked up a cheep EeePC to act a ground station.  For now it will just be downloading ESC logs and video recordings, but eventually I’ll have some kind of interface to the auto-pilot I’m in the middle of building.
Maiden flight will hopefully be early next week – weather permitting.