Leaderboard

My new design Kestrel now finished and flown

The menu is displayed off the screen on the right-hand side swipe right to left to display. This is a known issue from before the recent switch over and is caused by the advert banners not scaling to match the device. Steve

First of 3 new gliders this month. This is an Albatross 2.4m from TopmodelCZ. A great kit, all it needs is gear installing and it flies really smoothly. The crow brakes work really well too.

Whilst out flying today, mother nature treated us to a little show.

My new Swizzle Stick is fast becoming my new favourite model!

Get in there ......... 😁 Got my eye on you Chris...well done.

Thank you EB, logged in with my phone now🙂

That fine , if it ain't broke don't fix it. I was just saying as I have seen many fliers over the yea4s do everything electronically rather than a simple mechanical fix . Good luck and hope all goes well.

Adrian Smith 1 As pointed out batteries in series pass the same current so for one to end up with a lower voltage means it had less capacity to start with. This raises the question did both batteries receive the same charge input and where they both at the same cell voltage to start with? As you surmise with a series set up you will always be limited to the performance of the weakest cell or cells. It does certainly look like one battery is 'weaker' than the other.

Hi Frank Slightly smaller but how about https://www.angelwingdesigns.co.uk/products/dammit I've built an Angel wing Pug kit and can vouch for an excellent kit and great flyer.

Well had a chance to carry out the test flights today, nice bright sky if a little bumpy but the Kestrel performed beautifully. It was one of those models that just felt right straight away and needed absolutely no trim at all. The ASP 52 provides plenty of power, the controls felt balanced and comfortable and the flight characteristics are smooth and predictable. Just a couple of circuits and we were in to low passes and touch and goes, loops, rolls, inverted flight needs a little forward pressure on the elevator and spin recovery was simply on centering the sticks. Slow speed flight is good and the stall is very predictable and needs to be almost forced. In other words a great success. First take off, smooth, predictable and ground handling and rudder authority really nice, just a slight nudge of elevator to get airbourne Plenty of excess power climbing away A couple of circuits to get a feel, not that I felt I needed it as it felt so good straight away A bit of a Farnborough pass for the camera Time for some low passes and touch and goes A bit more fun dodging the farmer water cannon (further away than it looks on the photo) Touchdown after first flight, they really don't get any better! Ok time to crack on with final details on the plan, finish off the words and then get everything away to the Ed. If you chose to build his one it is a cracker. Lindsay

This subject of castor is so worn it could probably do with some castor itself, to gum it up before being thrown away!

From an original by Roger Bale, circa 1998, to this:- # I wonder what happened?? To this 121 " span, zenoah 80 power and 38lbs! Strictly non aerobatic, it 'preambulates with purpose' The flag can be raised in flight and the Nav raises his hand to the onlooker In terms of storage and transport, its a bit of a monster!

The latest build from my workshop, a take on the Mini Skyman from a Bowman’s model kits plan. We’ve made a few changes to the original for starts the Cox049 has been replaced with a home brew brushless motor hidden under a resins printed dummy 049. The other change is I’ve added ailerons to the main wing and reduced the dihedral. So apart from the battery hatch the rest of the model is built to the plan. Being a model from the 80’s it needed an 80’s scheme, which hopefully works. All that’s needed now is for the wind to play ball, and we will see if the 60W from my old motor will cut the mustard.

Meanwhile... at the pure FF diesel end of things, I recently finished my 23.5" Gordon Whitehead Nieuport Baby, built from an original 1972 Aeromodeller plan. It was supposed to be powered by a 1959 E.D. Baby 0.46cc which I acquired completely gummed up, but stripping and cleaning it then putting it back together revealed an engine that had actually had very little prior use: I've now run it in properly (the exhaust residue has gone from dark-grey to light-straw probably for the first time in over 60 years!) and it is very sweet upright. However, for reasons I've not been able to fathom, it has proved almost impossible to start inverted. So I've now retrofitted an equally old but invertible Allbon Dart 0.5cc into the Nieuport. First flights were impressively high and sometimes manic, as the old Dart is still a bit too powerful. So this video of the last trim flight of the day, with the 7x3 prop mounted on backwards to help kill the excess thrust (even at lower, burbling revs) shows the model closer to an acceptable state of trim: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VaV26H5e5pqUfFiC9 The glide is steep because (1) it is obviously a very draggy WW1 biplane, (2) it is a bit heavy for its small size, and (3) I had to bend in down-elevator trim to overcome the previous ballooning climb. I've now fitted an 8x3 prop, as the 'flywheel effect' of this larger prop better helps keep the engine running at lower compression settings, and I'll also increase the down-thrust from 7° to 8° and the right-thrust from 4.5° to 5.5° to tame the excessive bank and climb at anything above minimal revs (sounds mad but in my experience this type of very short-nosed FF model really needs that much of both!). Then I'll be able to restore the tad of down-elevator trim to neutral to improve the glide-phase angle, bend in more left rudder and re-tweak the already bent-in differential washout... the aim being to achieve a consistent left-hand circuit on both power and glide phases (it currently turns right once the power cuts) without the model rolling in one way or the other, etc. Complicated stuff this FF malarkey...

A few shots of my Flair Magnatilla on her maiden flight a couple of weeks ago. I'd fitted the jokey German pilot with a high backed wickerwork seat, sitting high up in the slipstream, but I really don't like how that looks. He'll be treated to some body reduction surgery very soon and have a much more comfortable position. Photo credits Derek Robertson. Thanks Derek!.

A friends new 6m Ventus.

My Gyroo which is still to be test hoped and trimmed. The head is an old HKC30 I bought to build a Crane Fly which never happened - so it's taken a good few years to get into Autogyro's ?