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-   -   Bomb bay for flour bombs (https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=80528)

Ironflight 12-30-2011 05:21 PM

Somewhere, in a dark corner of a basement in a windowless building, a DHS Web-bot is beginning to stir..... :)

LynolA 12-31-2011 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpallist (Post 611333)
An interesting discussion. Seven years ago I constructed a camera port in the baggage floor behind the copilot's seat in my RV-6... it is a standard 4" Van's type inspection port hole in the skin with backing plate and aligned with an identical 4" hole in the baggage floor skin... both with cover plates which attach with screws and nutplates. (When in use, I made a clear lexan coverplate for the outer hole to shoot through). The camera port worked great: I built a mount to fit my digital SLR to the port, used a long cable shutter release and routed the video output to a PDA mounted near the panel so I could see what I was shooting.... but, that's a different story.
A few years later, the opportunity for four bombing presented itself... and I already had a port!! Some PVC pipe and plumbing adapters from the hardware store and I had a ready-made flour-bombing set up. ... I use a circular piece of cardboard at the bottom of the load, immediately above the pins.
If someone could tell me how to post some photos, I will do so.

Cheers, John P.

I can help you post the photos, I'll PM you.
Both these ideas are great. I can see dropping one or several flour bombs at at time. I take it the cardboard divider leaves the airplane with the flour bomb. Nice multi-load concept, pretty simple and removable. That fits my criteria. The plus is multiple use for camera platform too. Will you share your camera adapter plate details too? I think several of us are interested in you video set up too. What video output to what PDA?

AlexPeterson 12-31-2011 08:21 AM

Let's just say I was contemplating this a year or two ago, you know, an external store for extra toilet paper in case one gets caught in the boonies in need...



I was going to attach it to several of the screws on the bell crank access cover. Hadn't gotten as far as how to deploy said rolls, but I was thinking a single bowden cable going under all three. Pull 4", deploy one, pull another 4", second one, etc. Put a spring of some sort on top of each roll. Hmmm.

pkill 12-31-2011 04:38 PM

Good discussion, we were wondering about the intricacies of a hatch in the RV.

TP out the door would not always completely unroll?. Ended up prepping each roll with masking tape on the first 5 feet or so, then rolling them back up. Grasping the tape as the roll goes out the door insures a completely unrolled streamer hanging in the sky for all kinds of fun.

Spreading Ashes was also problematic at first, some of the ash always ended up back in the cabin? joke was The Dearly Departed didn?t want to get out. A PVC pipe out into the slip stream did the trick after that, although some ash has bone fragments which can hang up.

pk

AlexPeterson 12-31-2011 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironflight (Post 611359)
Somewhere, in a dark corner of a basement in a windowless building, a DHS Web-bot is beginning to stir..... :)

Ah, yes, DHS probably has most of us on this forum on their lists for numerous reasons...

LynolA 01-01-2012 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpallist (Post 611333)
An interesting discussion. Seven years ago I constructed a camera port in the baggage floor behind the copilot's seat in my RV-6... it is a standard 4" Van's type inspection port hole in the skin with backing plate and aligned with an identical 4" hole in the baggage floor skin... both with cover plates which attach with screws and nutplates. (When in use, I made a clear lexan coverplate for the outer hole to shoot through). The camera port worked great: I built a mount to fit my digital SLR to the port, used a long cable shutter release and routed the video output to a PDA mounted near the panel so I could see what I was shooting.... but, that's a different story.

A few years later, the opportunity for four bombing presented itself... and I already had a port!! Some PVC pipe and plumbing adapters from the hardware store and I had a ready-made flour-bombing set up. Turns out that this location and my plumbing puts the port under slight vacuum so no problem with exhaust fumes (although a rubber sewer pipe cap was rigged to the top of the PVC pipe just to be safe and to cut down on the noise). I found a black plastic reducer fitting that nicely fits the hole in the skin and attaches with screws into the recessed nutplates. It sticks out slightly into the slipstream, which may help account for the vacuum (venturi effect). And with a bit of sanding, it mates nicely with a 3.25" OD X 28" long piece of PVC pipe that can be inserted from inside the airplane.. I found that I could load the bomb tube up with a dozen separately bagged flour bags and rigged a release consisting of a U-shaped wire with the ends extending through parallel holes near the base of the tube and with a piece of cord attached to the U-end as a release cord. To keep the flour (+ some sand for extra weight and accuracy) from working their way out, I use a circular piece of cardboard at the bottom of the load, immediately above the pins.

If someone could tell me how to post some photos, I will do so.

Cheers, John P.

Here's the Pics of John's Installation:

















NickAir 01-01-2012 04:32 AM

How about using the hard points under the wings where the tie downs are. Plenty strong enough. W/elec. solenoid release systems you could have both sides available for drops. Also, storage pods for bear spray, in Alaska.

LynolA 01-03-2012 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpallist (Post 611333)
An interesting discussion. Seven years ago I constructed a camera port in the baggage floor behind the copilot's seat in my RV-6... it is a standard 4" Van's type inspection port hole in the skin with backing plate and aligned with an identical 4" hole in the baggage floor skin... both with cover plates which attach with screws and nutplates. (When in use, I made a clear lexan coverplate for the outer hole to shoot through). The camera port worked great: I built a mount to fit my digital SLR to the port, used a long cable shutter release and routed the video output to a PDA mounted near the panel so I could see what I was shooting.... but, that's a different story.

A few years later, the opportunity for four bombing presented itself... and I already had a port!! Some PVC pipe and plumbing adapters from the hardware store and I had a ready-made flour-bombing set up. Turns out that this location and my plumbing puts the port under slight vacuum so no problem with exhaust fumes (although a rubber sewer pipe cap was rigged to the top of the PVC pipe just to be safe and to cut down on the noise). I found a black plastic reducer fitting that nicely fits the hole in the skin and attaches with screws into the recessed nutplates. It sticks out slightly into the slipstream, which may help account for the vacuum (venturi effect). And with a bit of sanding, it mates nicely with a 3.25" OD X 28" long piece of PVC pipe that can be inserted from inside the airplane.. I found that I could load the bomb tube up with a dozen separately bagged flour bags and rigged a release consisting of a U-shaped wire with the ends extending through parallel holes near the base of the tube and with a piece of cord attached to the U-end as a release cord. To keep the flour (+ some sand for extra weight and accuracy) from working their way out, I use a circular piece of cardboard at the bottom of the load, immediately above the pins.

If someone could tell me how to post some photos, I will do so.

Cheers, John P.

... here is John's video hardware pic and comment:
Attached is a low res. photo of the FlyJacket that mates with the old IPAQ's and turns it into a video monitor. Also in the same photo is a DigiSnap, which is an electronic remote control for various digital cameras. Figured these might be of interest if you are wanting to do low-cost aerial photography with an RV.

VCMaine 01-03-2012 12:04 PM

Specs on a flour bomb
 
What is the best bag and weight for a flour bomb? Is there a spec with a max or min, does each contest set its own rule, or is it all an ad hoc exercise - the bigger the better? If you are mixing flour and sand (sand for deadweight), what volume ratio? Sand may be somewhat cheaper, maybe, but why not just a bigger bag and more flour? What's the story, you bomber pilots?

Capflyer 01-03-2012 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VCMaine (Post 612782)
What is the best bag and weight for a flour bomb? Is there a spec with a max or min, does each contest set its own rule, or is it all an ad hoc exercise - the bigger the better? If you are mixing flour and sand (sand for deadweight), what volume ratio? Sand may be somewhat cheaper, maybe, but why not just a bigger bag and more flour? What's the story, you bomber pilots?

I would think flour is better because it blows away in the wind where sand will require a more intensive cleanup.

I've been contemplating this for the last couple of years and my best thought would be to fashion a fiberglass pod that would attach to the underside of the wing screwed into the platenuts that hold one of the inspection plates. The door would be spring loaded and use an RC servo which can be remotely triggered from the cockpit or even a hidden buddy on the ground. Figure one per wing gives you two drops per flight or even a single unit with two doors so you only need one servo. Each unit is self contained with the servo so you just remove them when after you've won the contest.


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