Mark B

Hi again all, re starting a thread... I am not going to be popular.... How are the Hairy gnomes flying (to the few who have them) Mine has once again been shipped to a new location but has yet to fly due to a lack of a suitable charger... Never got around to the 2200mah swap over either... Anyone else still flying or any new ones in the mix???

Thanks guys much appreciated!

Is there any way to get around the large ish futaba receivers for indoor flying? cant afford a new Tx...

Cheers, may be a week or so as im new in the club and dont have any contacts so will need to wait till the weekend for a picture...

Hi guys, Thanks for the reply's, He mentioned it in passing as i've just bought a pattern model of similar size, and was thinking of restoring it. From this I would suspect photo's may not help much unless its in reasonably good condition. I will try to get a photo to put up but just wanted to get the word out to see if anyone knew what it was or could identify the kit manufacturer etc. A big ask I know as the description probably matches that of most pattern models at the time....

Hi, looking for any information on a kit from around the 1970's. It is called a hornet i think and is a 60ish size pattern aerobatic model with a fiberglass fuselage and foam core wings. My mate has one but would like any info he can get for it as it needs a good restoration! Anything would help as an internet search doesn't seem to bring up anything. Cheers

Mine ways just over 2 pounds, not sure what that is in kg's. Do you have any problems just after liftoff? Mine is a bit unstable just after liftoff untill some speed builds up. I was wondering if this was due to taking off on grass and not quite getting up to speed fast enough. What kind of take off area do you use? I am now changing to 2200 mah batteries as duration with the 1800 mah lipo's was only around 4 minutes of "spirited" flying. My CoG is the same. I calculated using full size theorems the CoG and the leading edge was correct if ever so slightly nose heavy.

Back in the air again for another two flights - I ran out of suitable sized, charged batteries. Duration around 5-7 minutes of aerobatic flight. A bit short, but the model will carry 2200mah lipo's when i get around to ordering some. (currently running 1800's). Latest flights conducted in a very light wind on a reasonably smooth grass field. I will add photo's and possibly a video if i can get my head around the technical aspects of it.

Unfortunate, but its all part of the fun. Its all fixed and ready to go so heres hoping for a better flight next time......

For anyone still following this....... Test flight went ok, still setting up a new transmitter so a bit more work than previous flights but all were ok. However, I flew it again today and noticed a disturbing trend....... The model barely reaches flying speed and is literally hairy just after liftoff. Much yawing for a second or so after liftoff untill it gets flying speed. This was noticed on most flights, but seemed alright, untill it flicked in at a meter altitude. I think the increased windspeeds I have been test flying it in had saved it during takeoff due to flying speed being attained even though ground speed was low. Today was only a medium gentle breeze and it didnt quite make it to the great blue yonder on the third takeoff....... Minor damage after a rather impressive mix of airbourne flicks and ground cartwheels. The detachable motor mount indeed detached, as did the bottom wing, but the rest appears almost undamaged. Possibly some minor fuselage cracking just aft of the wing trailing edge and a bent motor shaft. All in all, not too bad. There is still plenty of de bugging to do, but i shall continue to fly it untill its sorted. Ill keep you posted.........

Just thought i would update my old posts with some fresh information / an update...... I moved to Auckland New Zealand a while ago and have since been flying in more noise sensitive and higher populated areas. Unfortunately during the trip my Hairy Gnome got squished by a tent in my car. The resulting damage was admittedly rather minimal, (broken tailplane part way out) but it was enough to prevent me repairing it due to my currently rather busy schedule. (the joy of working class) That combined with being unable to fly IC models anywhere near where I live led to it hanging broken on my wall for the best part of a year....... However, my father in his spare time graciously fixed the tailplane, made a moulded canopy, a partial cowl, and also fitted a decent size electric motor for our noise sensitive site!!!!! Due to a lack of space for the flight battery and concern about the CoG, the nose has been lengthened, but otherwise the model is unchanged. As of yet it has not flown, but has been taxied around our lawn. Total weight came up as 1077grams or 2pound 6oz. about 10oz lighter than the IC even though the electric motor is by far more powerfull. So its cleaner, lighter, and has more grunt, so it should be a bit nicer to fly. Ill let you all know how the test flights go........

There should be some pics of my model in the gallery. its built from the original plan (much modified see pics) and powered by a GWS 2205/15T motor with a GWS 15A ESC (it came as a combo) the battery was a 2S 1000mah zippy lipo from hobby king. run time is about 15 min on an 8x4 GWS prop. Hope this helps. its so wierd knowing that there are lots of MT's out there now. a year ago and mine was the only one in NZ.

The poll could include multiple other choices to make it more accurate. For example I fly lots of park flyers with 2s or 3s batteries, mainly 2s around 30-40 inch/ up to a meter span, but had to put 2s in the poll as it didnt give the 2s/3s option. I also fly ic with older multi cell packs for the larger club and full size airfield models.

I have the original apollo article somewhere. A 2002 issue it came out as a free plan. It was a good read including info about soaring i believe. It might be worth getting your hands on if you can.

The term stall seems to have been confused. A wing stall and tail stall are very different including symptoms and effect.   A wing stall is where the wing exceeds an angle to the airflow, generally 12-14 degrees, speed has no effect on this stall.   A tail stall is similar in terms of the angles but is usually because the control surface is stalled - on models anyway. Easy fix, reduce movement or increase control surface area.   With mid and low tails the fin and rudder can be partially blanketed during a deep stall. Mid and T tails also blanket the fin and rudder but only in an inverted stall situation. V tails do not have any blanketing effects as both controls are combined on the same surfaces, the only problem during stalls and spins is the reduced movement when combining rudder and elevator as mentioned above.   A few things to think about are the pro's and con's of inverted V tails and Y tails, neither are very common on full size aircraft, and even rarer on models.