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Maiden flight day

My latest build, a Brian Taylor Corsair, precut parts from Sarik. The plan shows fixed undercarriage, twist and turn retracts don't fare very well on our strip so no undercarriage and a dolly launch. Video from a mobile phone. 61" span 580kv 5556 motor 5s 5000 8lb weight ready to fly. VID-20240216-WA0001.mp4

The final Chapter 30

Good luck with her Chris, she should look excellent when finished. Of course you will need to get used to people asking if it’s a Mustang ! Re the issue of pushers props, I use the Ramoser varioProps from Germany for all my contra motors. They do a good range of tractor & pusher props that are ground set for pitch. This makes them very flexible to suit your motor. Now the important question; how many watt’s, cells, span and whats the AUW going to be? Good luck, and keep posting the pictures 👍

On my trip to the field the sun was shining, but it didn't last long. By the time I got there it was distinctly DULL. The silver lining was that the wind was 4-5mph mostly down the strip. Just the type of day to give a run out to my SkyWing 74" Edge. When I referred to my previous notes I was surprised find it was over 4 months since she last had an outing. Just 2 hours of flying on the clock. I had forgotten how precisely she flies and holds the track very well. Anyway gave her a good work out and came away satisfied with the tidiness of the aeros. Note to self - must fly her more often ! 😀

With all the basic work completed, the cowl was covered in 1/64 ply sheet. I would have like to have been able to do it with one piece but the sheet was only 12” wide and it would have required a piece 14.5” to go round. Attempting to curl the sheet across the grain wasn’t going to work so it had to be two pieces with the join along the centre line. The inside was given a coat of epoxy resin to prevent the inevitable fuel mist from soaking into the wood, then after filling a few low spots the outside was covered in 50 gm cloth. The newly resin coated cowl has been put aside for a couple of days to cure, then it will be cut back with wet & dry paper. The cowl here has been chocked off the board to prevent the bottom overlap from sticking to the building board or pulling away.

The video is currently being uploaded to YouTube. TBH it's not the best video due to the fact that I had the GoPro angled too high and that it was a really horrible sky for photos. The video is actually the second flight as I hadn't go the camera switched on for the maiden! From the launch I didn't need to input any trim changes at all, it just flew straight and level out of the launcher's hand but I felt that it was a bit nose heavy. So for the second flight which the video shows I had removed 1/3rd of the nose weight which made it slightly more sensitive but the 45º inverted climb showed it to still be nose heavy, however the onlookers all agreed that it didn't look as good as it did in the maiden flight. So I will be putting a bit more lead back in the ballast box. The stall is non existent and it was 'planted' throughout its flights showing a good (non scale) turn of speed with WOT, flight times were circa 8 minutes which left just over 30% in the 3700mAh 4s packs. It does take a bit of time to slow down on landing so lower approaches are the order of the day but it comes in nice and flat. Hand launching was easy and there was no torque roll or nose dipping. It's a winner!

Later Eric, it’s the final chapter in the VLOG, Chapter 30.

Well ...... flying was achieved today ..... albeit a bit of a ixed bag of experiences. First up .... The Domino ..... up she went ... reasonable flight and down she came ..... about 7 / 8 minutes. Had a coffee break had a chat with another prospective new member who showed up as planned. Time to put another battery in the Domino ..... dead as a dodo. Tried another battery .....exact same. Unplugged the battery and plugged a NICD battery into the receiver ....... everything works Looks like yet enother duff Overlander ESC. That will be Number 4 .... or is it 5. Can't remember. So ... I will do a bit more experimenting later on just to confirm what I think. Anyway....... all was not lost as I had the FMS Super Cub with me and it was gagging to have its maiden. Spent some time checking all the settings that had been done by myself in the two transmitters ( buddy system) all is well. I let my mentor take off and check the trims .... then I get on the sticks myself. What a great flying odel considering we had 10mph crosswinds. I felt it was much easier to fly than the Domino although it maybe better until I get another couple of flights under my belt before confirming that. The newbie prospective member was all at short notice so there was not anything ready to give him a first flight experience so the Cub stepped in and he left pleased as punch having had a little taster of what may come should he decide to commit. ..... I get the impression that he will. So .... I maybe in the shed tonight changing out yet another crappy Overlander ESC or possibly assembling my Xfly Twin Otter. We'll see. More later. Toto

Modellers should go with what they feel is is best for them - I'm just pointing out an issue that does exist with nimh packs - I've seen it with my own batteries and confirmed with test equipment after investigation........... albeit found rarely. Anyway, if a little extra care saves just one model from being wrecked, it's worthwhile.

Ah a stow away 🙂 wel they had been in the scrap box for a few months . Check the ports for any hidden inflatable boats .🙂

2008-2011 for my model shop service. I always tried to give good advice, much to the annoyance of my boss on occasion. A customer wanted to buy an ASM Hercules (100 inch, 4x 30 4 strokes) and i got in trouble for recommending standard 3kg servos for it as it 'needed' much more powerful digital servos as its a big model. My argument was the size of the model is irrelevant. The model might be big but the control surfaces are small, its pretty slow and generally needs to just wander round the sky looking fat. As time went on i ended up with one myself and it flew fine with standard gear in it. I would also get in trouble for spending time with customers buying nitro cars. If i sold one i would tell them to charge up all the gear and come back the next day. I would show them how to start it and not break the pullstart. I was told this was a waste of time (costing money) and we would make money on selling pullstarts when they broke them. I considered this short sighted as it wont take long to turn a customer off a product if they keep breaking a part and dont know why. Especially when the repair cost was nearly 20 quid a go and an hours work. I worked on the basis that the time spent showing the kid (usually father and son bought the cars) how to do it was not only the right thing to do, but also good for the business as said kid would have friends, and those friends would want a new toy as well. Sure enough, many times friends/brothers/cousins also wanted a car so they could race and it turned out my 'waste of time' was actually time well spent. Didnt stop me getting in trouble though. At laser i have turned many a customer away or onto a cheaper engine as they one they selected was unsuitable. One in particular i recall was a chap wanting to fit our 70 into a flair se5a as his club mates told him the 40 4 stroke on the plan would never be enough. They were wrong, as i have flown the same model using a 52 and it had massive amounts of reserve power. I recommended a saito 45, but they were discontinued as were the 50's and the OS56 was crazy money. He bought a saito 56 in the end and called me back after the models first flight to report that it flew like a pitts special at full power and he was extremely glad he never bought the 70. He then told me about his next project and asked which engine i would recommend. I cant recall the details of that project, but he bought an engine and keeps coming back as, in his own words, he 'values honest advice'. Again though, to give shops some leeway margins on big ticket items like engines, radio and models are pants and that sort of forces them to flog other stuff just to break even. I know shops would be much happier if we all went back to building kits as a tube of glue and 3 sheets of balsa probably has more margin on it than a mid range radio. Anyway, we digress.

Promising morning here on NE coast ..... gentle bteeze, relatively mild, mist clearing. Hopefully the field will see some activity. I have to wait in but hope to be able to pop out at some time. Happy flying everyone - especially you toto. You are due some better fortune.

I have also had many people over the years including people behind counters in model shops tell me with 2.4ghz radios i shud using nothing less than 6v ( 5 cell ) rx packs as 4.8v rx packs are not sufficient enough for current/modern 2.4ghz rx's and will most deffo fail ie: voltage drop ( brownout ) ........ I say what a total load of BS unless you are using high power/torque or digital servos .... Only reason they say that in model shops is they want you to spend money you don't need to spend on items and batteries you dont want let alone need

I personally use Nimh as they are quick, cheap, and simple. I am also not a fan of burying lithium based batteries in foam and then whacking them on charge. A lipo with a regulator also has more points of failure within the system so is technically less reliable. I use 4.8v 1200-2200mah for my smaller stuff (up to about 70 inch sport/scale) and 6v 3000-3300mah for my big scale stuff. In your mascot i would expect a 1200mah battery to be good for at at least 20, and more likely 30 flights of the duration you mention. As Frank points out, we used to use 6 and 700mah nicads and not think anything of it. Modern 2.4ghz radio use less power than the old 35 meg stuff as well and i noticed this on a model i swapped from 35 to 2.4. As with many things, there is a perception that 'bigger number better'. Where a 40 2 stroke used to do fine we now use a 55. Where a 3kg torque servo used to do we now use a 9kg digital for some reason. 5% nitro was fine but we now use 10 or 15. Batteries are the same. If 700mah is good 3000mah is better, 6v is better than 4.8, so a lipo or life at 7.4v or whatever is better? I dont really subscribe to that sort of thinking myself and select the minimum spec equipment that will do the job and have a required margin so it is not pushed to its limits. Buying bigger number equipment often comes with a bigger number price, and this is not ideal. Clearly you can buy a bigger number piece of equipment at a low bangood price, but i have seen more than a few models bite the dust as their cheap and nasty gear let them down. In the case of the DB Mascot, i would use bog standard 3kg servos, a 4.8v1200 nimh battery and a 35 or 40 2 stroke. Even an old 35fp plain bearing engine would be more than enough. It would be most civilised and have more than enough performance for a little fun.

Just asking if anyone on here has made a Hemmingway model aero 5cc diesel engine from scratch?

Yes, more mh = more duration, more cells = more oomph. Generally and simplisticaly.

Bear in mind that if you use 4s and don't change the prop, you'll draw more current, so need to be sure the esc will handle it....

The front wings are now covered with brown paper, stuck on with slightly diluted Titebond wood adhesive. After a light sanding they were given a sealing coat of Titebond and, once dry, another light sanding. This glue sands really well, much better than PVA. There is a nice surface ready for painting and each wing now weighs in at 50g, which means the brown paper and glue added 12g. I have to say it's been a revelation. I took a wetter approach to applying the brown paper than many advocate. In the end it was like applying thick tissue. I could stretch it over the foam surface and easily tear a rough edge by rubbing my thumb along the balsa leading and trailing edges to remove the excess. I have now assembled the rear wings, sanded them to a nominal aerofoil and cut out some larger elevons. The rear wings have 2 x 10mm sq balsa at the elevon interface, undercut on the elevon to allow downward movement when eventually hinged along its top edge. Brown paper is stuck to the ends of the elevons and the reveals in the wings. When dry I will sand the edges to remove excess paper, then cover the upper and lower surfaces. The wings are ostensibly the same as the Mk1 model as regards their plan outline, but are stiffer and nearly half the weight of the Mk1 wings. They are a tiny bit larger in area due to the chord being increased by the addition of the balsa spars, etc. Front wing chord +12mm, rear wing +28mm. All this work is improvised, so I need to draw the wings full size and record all measurements before I cover them and forget where the hell I put everything. By concentrating on the wings I am effectively procrastinating over a new fuselage design. But that's fine. The cogs are still turning in my head. In the end, if this Mk2 model performs the way I hope it will, then I want to be able to create a plan / build article quickly without building yet another.

It lands very well GG 11 flights up to now, unfortunately some of the sheep wander on to the strip and they provide the poop. The bend in the wings keep the fuselage clean so minimum mess

Simon you likely know the full size must have been one of the most marginal aircraft ever, however thought others may be interested in its history. A take off speed of 260mph was needed to get off the ground. Expected to be mach 2 capable it was only able to go supersonic in a steep dive, just not enough jet power from engines of the day. [ some thought was given to use rocket power but this did not happen] Test pilots Bridgeman, Yeagar and Everest found controls to be very sensitive at high speed and sluggish at low speed prompting Everest to say "one of the most difficult aircraft I have ever flown". Pilot used a lift to enter cockpit from below, sort of Thunderbirds style.

Excellent Toto. Well done on a successful maiden flight of the Super Cub. That's a possitive step in the right direction and will help aid your confidence to future flights. Always a good feeling Toto when a plane makes it into the air for the first time and flys well and lands well. Good on you and keep up the good fight and just think of the weather improving as the year goes on and all the many more trips you will make to the flying field for many more successful and enjoyable flying experiences.

Hi Leccy, As you say ..... at least some flying achieved. I've been needing that. Grumpy, I'll spend some time on this and post up a blow by blow investigation giving folks the chance for comment. I could also include any step forward with the change from my Spektrum AR 620 receiver to one of my newly delivered Orange units. I have reached the end of my supply of Overland ESC's and shall be moving onto to Hobby King units. But ..... one step at a time .... I will repost up my set up as It is and take it f4om there before changing anything out. I may make a start on this tonight or failing that ....... tomorrow. My policy of having a second model at the ready paid off otherwise it would have been another short day. Onwards and upwards.... Toto

Not sure but the finished slot should be for the 1/4 x 1/2" mast to slide into tightly. I double checked mine before committing to afixing the 2nd 3mm light ply outer.

Bit of a curate's egg of a day, but the most important thing is that you got some flying in - very much against the odds as it's been raining steadily here pretty much all day. So that was good -as was a successful maiden of another model. If I were you Toto I'd definitely swap ESC brands in the future - 4 failures out of your first half a dozen ESCs is simply not acceptable - think I'd also send the errant unit back to the retailer for investigation.

Good news toto!

If I understand " Brownout " correctly it can happen with any battery type not just Nimh regardless whether it be 4.8 or 6v or the condition of the battery pack is in.. It can even happen with Lipos if the current f=draw is that high that the battery can't cope with an excess load draw on the battery pack being used

Hi, I don't know if any Revolver builders can advise, but I seem to have gone wrong somewhere at an early stage! I'm building from the Sarik short kit. I've constructed the formers F5, F6 and M1 but when I put them together in the "H" structure I'm left with a rectangular slot for the mast which is a lovely interference fit for 6 X 9mm spruce but not 6 X 13 as required! I'm at a loss to see where I've gone wrong. The components are laser-cut so presumably the dimensions there are all OK. The rear edge of the M2 balsa "filling" in the M1/M2 "sandwich" is aligned with the rear edges of the M1 sides. See photo taken from the top of the "H". Any ideas?

4 cell Eneloop AA or 2 cell LiFe or 2 cell LiPo and UBEC. In all cases I would advise having a cheap voltage indicator on the battery.

Thank you good Sir ..... hopefully .... we're on the up ( excuse the pun ). Have a great day. Toto

Thanks Zflyer. I hope you manage a flight or two yourself. Surely we will be seeing more updates on folks coming out of winter hibernation to some decent weather and getting some aeronautical miles under their flying jackets. Toto

Hope the weather is kind. I havent flown since last year, hopefully a day this week or it will another fortnight. E.njoy your day happy landings

You will love flying with flaps Toto. The Avistar Elite is a heavy plane but with flaps deployed when landing it really does help slow it down . The wingspan on this plane is 62.5 inches.

And after a couple of weeks inactivity ...... its coming back ...... flying tomorrow ...... covered all the bases ....... Domino plus one. .....adrenaline pumping ....... what could possibly go wrong. . 4 battery packs primed and ready plus the same for the Super Cub .... but in all reality it might get one maiden flight ..... however .... if the Domino pegs out for any reason ..... the Super Cub stands ready to fill its place. All the bases covered. Toto

Continuity is the best way of learning anything.

I used to coach kids at target shooting, Duke of Edinburgh medals, et al. Standard opperating proceedure for all non strength based skill sport. Tell then how to do it. The girls listen. The boys are off with the fairies. Girls start to win. Patience, no shouting. Girls listen, boys think this is too difficult. Pep talk. Language moderated. To the boys, Are you going to let those young ladies trample all over you gentlemen? To the ladies. You are ahead ladies, mind you stay there. Then they all get learning. Some friends spent a holiday with us in France some years ago. They had 2 kids, 8 and 10 years old, girl and boy respectively. As I had two prisoners for two weeks, I taught them to fly on a HK Tundra. Prize, land my Flair Fokker DVII. They were fascinated by it. The young lady, bit of a natural mind, took eleven days.

Lovely morning here in Perthshire and managed to get out for a brief session and a handful of flights with my PZ Messerschmitt Bf109G and wee Spittie dogfighter. Field very wet underfoot, but only a light wind and feeling quite warm at 10 degrees. Great fun flying the Gustav in formation with my pal Bob's Buchon 109, all depron, based on the Cambrian 109 funfighter.

I read a report on a test someone did with adding up to 10% water to glow fuel which made little difference to how the engines ran compared to uncontaminated fuel.

Not only dirt, Ron. My fuel is never left open to in order to reduce the potential for absorption of water from the atmosphere. In the days when most of us flew IC, I used to feel uneasy seeing so many people leaving an unsealed bottle of fuel all afternoon with the fuel pipes and pump dangling from it and often wondered how badly it might affect their engines’ reliability.

Not only is it radio controlled, but the pilot uses a single stick configuration - just like the early RC proportional systems 🤣 -- Pete

Note all modern receivers are fine on 4/5 cell nimhs or 2s lipo/life batteries, but unless the servos are HV you can't use a 2s lipo to power the servos without an BEC to drop the voltage. Some older servos, e.g JR 517s are only suitable for 4 cell nimhs. I typically use 4/5 cell nimhs or 2s life batteries in my IC models. Note we used to go flying all day on a 4 channel sports model with a 600 mah 4 cell NiCd.

Right, she's ready* 1/6 scale spitfire Mk1; P9374. This is a replica (let's not be too eager and call it 'scale'!) of the aircraft that crashed on it's second operation onto the beach at Calais and remained there until the 1980s before being removed and eventually renovated to flying condition. This is detailed in a wonderful book kindly given to me by Peter Miller. As happens with me, reading the book (and particularly John Romaine's pilot notes of the maiden flight) inspired me, and I was 'locked on'. This is the latest evolution of my learnings of how to make use of Depron. Particularly laminate flooring under floor insulation. This is sold by B&Q under the Diall brand in white in 3 and 6mm and their own brand in black at 6mm. The construction uses some ply and balsa to put strength where it's needed (a hard structure between wing root and motor mount), and B&Q 6mm square strip wood for the wing spars. It has flaps, retracts and Oleos and is set up with a 5065 320kv motor on 6S and currently spinning a 17x8 prop. I'm yet to do the full power checks, so not sure what the output is, but expect around 900-1000W. The battery (3300maH) sits vertically behind the motor, and it looks to balance without ballast. AUW is 8lb. As this model is 74", this is very light. It's the same size as Mick Reeves' Mk9, which apparently fly very well, and usually come in at around 12lb plus. Jon from Laser reckons this is the correct weight, so I may have to stake it down to stop it floating off! In any case, I should get a nice scale speed. It's covered in 25gsm glass cloth applied with B&Q water based varnish. Paint is good old valspar (again, B&Q) matchpot emulsion matched to the book. It's a tiny bit light, but the effect is good. This is sprayed with my little HVLP gun, and then sprayed over with a light coat of gloss varnish to give a slight sheen for the vinyl to adhere to. Vinyl, canopy, decals and the wonderful dash are all from Mick Reeves. The exhausts are 3D printed. *Some detailing to do, electrical checks, a lot of worrying, and purchase of bike clips notwithstanding... Graham

Rebuilt this 'rescue puppy. 52 inch span, powered by an OS 55 Ax. Lots of work but the result makes it worth it. l t this 52 inch 'rescue

My new Antares is waiting for some decent weather to make its debut. It's a replacement for the brown tissue attic-find thar I'd been flying for quite a while until the ancient balsa cement gave way in flight. Anyway, here's the new one, all resplendent white, grey and pink film. Span is 54" and weighs near 5lb, so it'll need to hustle to stay in the air. There's a 700 watt, 4S power train, turning a 10x6 prop - all pinched from original Antares, so that should be ample for some big aeros. An added detail is the milled ali motor/noseleg mount. Fingers crossed.......

I have the RCME plans and magazine, and I really like the way this model flies. I have flown an own design autogyro years ago. It flew well, but lacked in self stability. Prop sound wise I would prefer a tractor set up, do you have any tracktor designs as well? Many thanks ahead!

Well it's almost there, I have test fitted the head and all is working okay, hang angle comes out at 17 degrees with lipo but without blades, I assume the mast angle is set so that 90 degrees to the head should be correct. I fitted the motor as low as possible so the prop clears the tail boom, and offset about 6mm to the right. Not sure if the wheels might need to be a bit bigger. Anyway just the canopy, wheel spats and blades to finish. I can't see a maiden for some time due to weather in the UK so no rush.