Chris Freeman 3

We had 5 flights with Archie this weekend, 3 on Saterday morning and 2 yesterday afternoon. 4 of the flights were in cool, for us, air and one in quite bumby air due to thermals. This one very impressive and easy aircraft to fly in calm conditions. Take offs require full up to be held for most of the take off run to prevent nose overs. Once in the air it is gentle yet quite responsive. Byron did roll it but did not get a loop right as it did not want to go over the top of the loop due to a lack of elevator response. Landings are quite easy but reqire a flat approach and and elevator and throttle managment. The aircraft is very stable in the air and is responsive to ailerons but the elevator is soft so planning is needed. In windy or turbulent air it is less plesant to fly as it is pushed around quite a lot. The painting can now be done as no changes are needed. Ernie, please finish your Archie as you will enjoy it and it is quite funny to see the response of other club members. Notice how much up is required on the elevons.

Photos from the first flight, not many as the camera battery was flat. As you can see photos are not my strongpoint.

Early Saturday morning we went to the flying field to test the Archie, we soon had the aircraft ready for flight. We did the checks to ensure directions and cg were correct and then lined up on the runway for takeoff. On opening the throttle the archie gathered speed and at about 1/3 throttle nosed over damaging the motor mount! Sunday Morning early was time to try again, the weather was perfect with no wind and it was cool so the air was thicker. This time byron held full up and open the throttle slowly and by the time he got to 70% power Archie was in the and climbing away. Byron asked me to help with up trim as he was holding a fair amount of up and soon it was trimmed out and flying well. A add a little excitement to the test flight a whell fell off so Byron new the landing would be interesting. He then gave the transmitter to feel how it flew and I must be honest and say it flies very well! after 6 minutes Byron prepared for the landing and came in on a curved approach but on toughdown archie flipped over but luckily without any damage. We managed to find the wheel so we put it back and had another flight and this time it was without incident. Byron did explore the stall and found that it was very gentle. The landing approach was very flat and the landing was fine. The archie has now earned its colours and can be painted as no modifications are needed. We charged the batteries when we got home and only added 1300 MAH in the 3000 Lipo so we have plenty duration and power from the Turnigy 42-60 600kv motor with a Top Flite 15x6 prop. I will post pictures tomorrow. Regards Chris

Byron has completed the skid and given the Solartex 4 coats of thinned dope so it is all systems go for Saterday morning. We found that when we flew the Pancake you needed trottle to lift the nose when landing as the elevator was not responsive enough on its own. I am sure that Archie will be the same so that is one of the reasons we went electric. I have included a picture of the Pancake so you can see its unusual shape. The Mosquito Is the Brian Taylor plan and has the same motor set up as the Archie. We will try a 15x6 prop for the test flight but can go bigger in diameter or pitch if more power is needed.

Hi Ernie Thanks for the help. Not the best pictures.

Hi Ernie Thanks for the reply, Byron has made good progress as he is recovering from a shoulder operation and for 6 weeks could not move it so for the last week he is catching up on lost time! We did check movements and cg last night and all is looking great. We have lots of movement on the Ailivators and have set some negative into them so we hope it will be enough but at the same time not too much. We did find 2 ribs missing from the plan when construction was started but my friend who laser cut the parts was able to create the new ribs! I have no idea how to post pictures so if you can advise me how I will post some. Some of our recent projects are Flying Pancake from Chris Golds plans, Brian Taylor Mosquito, YT LA-7, YT Spitfire mk14, YT P51 B and we are busy as a group project with a Mick Reeves 1/3 scale Bleriot. Regards Chris

My son, Byron is about to test fly his Archie and I was hoping that someone would have some more information on flying this unusual aircraft. Byron has elected to go electric as I am sure that throttle will be used almost as much as elevator to control pitch. We will also now be able to test fly before the final finishing is done just in case we have a problem. We have lots of experience with building and flying but this sort of aircraft is always a step into the unknown. Plans and detail on control set up were a little scarce so additional info will be appreciated. We are also from Johannesburg In South Africa so it is 5500 feet above sea leval and this does influence performance and stability of the aircraft! The all up weight at this stage will be quite a bit lighter as no paint on the Solartex and no additional lead to balance was needed. I will take some photo's and post when I get the chance. Byron is 18 years old so it is quite a project and he has done a great job with all the detail on the aircraft.