trevor wood 2

Remember April 1980? The Iranian Embassy siege was reaching a conclusion, thanks to the intervention of the SAS, and I was starting to cut the first wing ribs of a 104" Slingsby T31. More than forty years later (don't ask), I have finally manage to complete a successful maiden at the Cat & Fiddle site next to the Buxton to Macclesfield road. This is a great site that works well with winds from SW to NW and has a massive, flat landing area with soft grass and no rocks. The model flew very much like the full size; stable but responsive to elevator and very sluggish to aileron even with coupled rudder. Spoilers weren't needed for landing, but I checked them out during the flight and they seem produce a gentle nose down pitch and height loss without the speed increasing. Very pleased with the end result, and I can't understand why I didn't fly it sooner!

I was lucky to win the online auction for BEB's part built Typhoon last year and have been working on it (albeit very slowly!) over the last few months. As received, the landing gear installation was as per the TN original without the inner gear doors. Apologies for the top photo being out of sequence. I've managed to retro fit inner gear doors made from ply laminations and small nylon hinges. A short length of piano wire (about 28swg) is attached to an operating arm on the door and its other end is anchored to the wing structure at the base of the wheel well. As the gear approaches the fully retracted position it hits the wire and pulls the inner door closed. The length of the wire is critical in ensuring the door travels from fully open to fully closed, and (in my case) was achieved by trial an error. Hope this helps. You may notice that I've also managed to make provisions for flaps. TN said that these weren't necessary as the model flew like a pussy cat, but I fly from a short with obstructions on the approach so I felt it was a wise precaution to take while I had the opportunity.

As nobody else has said it, welcome to the site, and welcome back to the hobby. Looking forward to Epsode 2 of the saga!

Other than soldering up a new fuel tank, repairing some splits and cracked ribs using copious amounts of PVA, and trying (but failing) to apply some nylon covering, there wasn't much actual filmed restoration. Makes you think that someone else off camera did the serious work.

What about Peter Rake's 42 " span Nieuport 11 that's available from Sarik. It first appeared as a free plan in Q & EFI about 10 years ago. As with all of Peter's designs, it's a really nice flyer.

I too will stake a claim to the prize draw.

I've got a couple of 2 metre gliders where the Rx and servos are powered by a 2s lipo fed through the BEC of an old brushed ESC. They've flown for 2 or 3 years without problem I can't see weight being an issue on your installation as you will have to instal some church roof to sort out your CG when the motor is removed.

I had a large electric glider fitted with a folding prop which shed a blade as power was increased to pull into a loop. The noise it made was most impressive, but not as impressive as the sight of the rudder falling off as the out-of-balance forces caused the caused the three 30 year old nylon hinges to snap. Ordinarily this wouldn't have caused too many problems, but the 9ft span, 5lb model didn't have ailerons. Whilst the model remained controllable vertically I didn't have much influence over where it would land, only when. Fortunately shrubs and a shallow pond prevented any significant damage when the inevitable contact with terra firma occurred.

I have a number of slopers with open structure wings (albeit with sheeted leading edges) that are covered with HK solid coloured heat shrink. I can't think of any occasion where "normal" landing on long grass/scrub/heather has caused tears or punctures to the covering. The translucent heat shrink seems to be just as puncture resistant as the solid colours.

The Hobbyking translucent film (when you can get it) is easy to apply and remains wrinkle free when exposed to sunlight. This afternoon I've just finished a lock-down Vic Smeed Popsie finished in yellow with black Solarfim trim. as you can see, the structure is clearly visible under the covering. Recommended.

If you want to produce something that approximates to an Avro XIX you will also have to change the wing and tailplane shapes. These later marks of Anson had metal skinned wings with more taper on the outer panels and narrower tips.

Piers, there's just a touch of up thrust (between 1 and 2 degrees), and the ailerons are rigged with 3mm T/E up to provide a little reflex. It flew so well on its first flight that I'm reluctant to change the aerodynamic config too much, so for the time being the central fin stays.

With the arrival of the first spell of fine weather for what seems like months, ii went down to the field this morning with a couple of models that had patiently been waiting for their maiden flights. Surprisingly, I was the only person there, so no in-flight shots. The first was a Wot 4 foamie "clone" that was created from a cracked wing and motor cowl "jigsaw puzzle" donated by a fellow modeller. The fuselage and fin/tailplane were my first attempt at building with Depron, and went easier than anticipated. As you have probably guessed already, it flies just like a Wot4. The second maiden was my "Messerschmitt Me901 Ente". This is an own design canard that uses Nigel Hawes' Candoo as inspiration. The "Ente" is about 50% larger than the Candoo and weighs just over 4lbs. And is therefore fitted with tricycle landing gear. It ihas nose wheel steering, a centrally mounted aileron servo, and a pair of elevator servos, so flying requires the 'bank and yank' approach. For the first flight there was no mixing used, but I will probably change the forward surfaces to elevons in due course. Power ones from a cheap HK donkey out runner, a 4S 2200 lipo and 3 bladed 9x6 prop ( to ensure sufficient ground clearance). A series of fast taxy tests just before Christmas showed that directional stability was marginal, and uncommanded pitch up suggested the CG was too far aft. Before the first actual flight, I fitted a third, centre line fin and moved the battery much further forward. The CG is now 4.5 " in front of the main plane LE ( just in line with the number 8). The actual first flight was a lot less exciting than I anticipated, but it didn't prevent the knees from knocking for the first few minutes. Pitch and roll trim were perfect and the only change I made during the flight was to increase the aileron rates from the conservative setting used at take-off. The first approach was rock steady but a little high. I could probably managed to land, but chose the sensible option and powered up for a second circuit . The second approach was much like the first but I reduced power to zero as the plane came over the fence. This produced a nice flat descent that was arrested with touch of up elevator and smidgen of power resulting in a short roll out on the soggy field.