Willowlea

Andys winding tension thingiemibob (I need to make one of these) Sadly didn't get to fly the sopwith tripe much. Andy had a go and the glide test was satisfactory but he decided it needed lots of noseweight so he put a few turns on the rubber and that worked ok in a powered glide. He then put a few more turns on it and launched it but it yawed right, flicked and hit the ground right wing frist breaking off all the top wings haha Andy fixed it over lunch and decided it needed more noseweight which would make the aircraft heavy and not suitable for first flights over hard floors. We decided to continue testing it in May at the NATS over long grass. However I did get to fly the others so am a happy bunny

Well had a great day at the Velodrome and would like to say a big thank you to Mr Andy Sephton for trimming and flying my models- the frog, cricket and Soppy Tripe. Unfortunately the latter needs more trimming so only managed a power glide, so that will be put on hold till May at the outdoor NATS Free flight event. Am afraid the photos aren't brilliant, was a tad hard to get right with so much busy stuff in the background- and need to practice more indoor shots. But here are a few selections along with some videos Andy flying My Cricket has it's maiden, and flies!!!! As Andy trimmed it he said it flew pretty much off the board. It needed a bit of noseweight and the first flights were a bit overpowered with the supplied rubber, but it was flying quite nicely on 0.090" rubber in the end (supplied rubber was o.125" My frog flew too on it's maiden Again Andy's assessment was that it needed a bit more of a look at, it's first flights consisted various dives into the ground and despite moving the C of G back behind the wing, it still dove earthwards. After a good look at it over coffee it showed that there wasn't enough decalage (longitudinal dihedral, or the angle between the wing incidence and the tail incidence). It eventually needed about 1/4" packing under the LE of the wing to make it fly and after that it flew brilliantly. Andys wi