Steve McLaren

Here are a few photos of some of the formation flying from the weekend The Jet Provosts of Harry Twist and Steve Kemp. And the Alpha-jets of Phil Stone, Harry Twist and Phil Cooke

Yes a great weekend indeed. Shame it's all over for another 6 months.? I didn't take many photos but here are a few whilst we wait for Phil's.

Just an update to record the first flight, which happened at the Great Orme PSSA event last weekend. Thanks to Phil Cooke for the photo. All went well and the model got down safely and remains in one piece ready for the official mass build event on Sept 18/19. Whilst the model flew well enough to do a few passes along the slope, I found the elevator response to be really sluggish, and I was worried that I just didn't have enough up elevator movement - to the extent that I didn't feel comfortable to really explore it's capabilities. Having discussed this with Martin after the flight, and gone back to the balancing jig, it looks like this could be all due to a poor CG position. I had missed Martin's note on the 'Gotcha' thread about the CG position [which says that the position shown on the plan (165mm from F4) is a bit conservative (nose heavy) and that most of the models already flying are set at about 172mm]. I had worked from the plan (mine seems to show 164mm!) but then I had a been a bit conservative just in case this setting was the 'rearward limit' setting as I often find on plans. So I had allowed it to come forward another 3mm to 161mm. So, I have now removed a bit of lead from the front of the battery box and moved the CG back to 170mm. This has the added benefit of reducing the all-up flying weight to 3lb 10oz. I'm now looking forward to flying the model again in a few weeks time at the official Sabre mass build event.

Hi Pete. the picture above is a bit misleading - probably because of the wide angle lenses in phones. I have tried to keep the servo arms as close as possible to 90 degrees to the push-rods, so that the defections are equal in both directions. But I do have the uprights on the torque rods tilted back a little away from the servo to try to get some of the differential effect you were talking about - more up than down. But to be honest, so long as you've got enough movement in both directions, it's all programmable on the Tx anyway, so I'm not sure I needed to bother.

This one is an F86A of the Alaskan Air National Guard. I kept the model as simple as possible - no rudder, no flaps, no drop tanks. But even so, this build has taken me a whole year! The model is finished in 25gsm glass cloth and epoxy, and sprayed with various different types of acrylic paints. It weighs in at 1.70kg or 3ib 12oz, ready to fly. But it looks like it will be hanging in the workshop for another 6 months before it gets it's maiden flight.

Pictures of my servo installations.

Thanks guys. Al: Ah yes, that's a good tip about the paint masks. Why didn't I think of that? Steve: I'm a habitual user of cheap servos! I have a pair of Turnigy 9MGs in the wing, spaced as wide as the fuselage will allow to try to keep the pushrods as perpendicular to the torque rods as possible. I will take a photo tomorrow. I also have a single Turnigy 9MG for the all moving tailplane currently, but I'm wondering whether it's really man enough for the job. I may upgrade that to a Hitec HS85MG.

Today I reached the balancing stage. It needed an extra 50 grams of lead at the front of the battery box. Which makes the all-up flying weight 1.70kg or 3lb 12oz. I've finished all the markings now. I tried the Al Gorham recommended method of doing almost everything with paint masks and an airbrush. After several mishaps with over-thinned paint creeping under the masks, which had o be tidied up with a scalpel and and a small paint brush, this is the result. Now I need to think about panel lines.