Ben H

Thanks Bryan, I'm sure yours will fly just fine on that ZDZ. If I were you I'd look at filling the fairings with something before you fly it. I'll let you know the response from Pilot RC, might go through Macgreggor as they supplied it and have been very helpful so far. Thanks John, it was perfect weather for a change. The field is a cracking site, and is also a full size strip, hence the lack of trees!

Same down in sunny Dorset, not a drop of wind! Managed to maiden the Extra 330 without incident and plant the edge 540 on her nose! Lucky that the frost had thawed by then and the then soggy patch saved her from damage! **LINK**

What a fantastic flying day! The wind sock has been horizontal for most of the last two months, but today it hang straight down, not a drop of wind! So, the maiden flight!..... No dramas, just two clicks of right and two clicks of up saw it flying straight and true. The cg at 1/8" behind the tube is pretty good, requiring just a hair of forward stick when inverted. The low rates were still a bit high for my liking, so reduced them all by 10%. This is better but still needs less rudder throw on low as it'll knife edge on half stick. Knife edge is effortless, very little coupling to roll, 5% opposite aileron sorted that out, and no coupling to pitch. On high rates it'll knife edge loop with ease. Vertical performance is... wow!...not only unlimited but is seems to accelerate! It's a rocket ship on the DLE 55ra. Didn't push this too much on the new engine though. The stall is a non event, settling into a harrier with the tiniest wing rock until the nose comes up into a full stall. Very easy to control. Hover is steady at about 40% throttle. The high alpha stuff was done way up at a safe height which makes it harder but until I have confidence in engine reliability at all attitudes, I'd prefer to play it safe. Most of the time was spent doing some basic pattern stuff which it is very smooth and precise at, but again the rudder throw needs reducing, that huge surface is very powerful! Spin can be flattened out nicely with some opposite aileron and a little power and it does the best pop tops I've seen on any model. Landings are as easy as it gets, floating down very gently at low speed. I didn't experience the sudden dropping that Adrian noticed, maybe cg or all up weight? Adrian, I'd be interested to know how moving your cg back helps with this. Down sides, just the landing gear to fuse fairings, like Adrian, mine cracked from taxiing in grass! Mine were free to move on the fuse but still both cracked! In my opinion they are not fit for purpose, being so thin and cheap plastic, very brittle. I'll write to pilot RC and request some more. Next time I'll fill them with either silicone or expanding foam, to give them some core strength. 6 flights under my belt with her today and I think this one is a keeper! There's a bit of video in the following link, with harrier and hovering from 6:55min **LINK** And if you want a laugh, here's some footage of my edge 540 doing some low torque rolls and taking an unplanned visit to terra firma! **LINK**

Thanks John, having seen the attention to detail you have been putting into your Ballerina build, that's a fine complement! I'm a firm believer that attention to the small things makes for a nice flying and reliable model. Well, the weather is looking cold but good for a maiden tomorrow. I had the afternoon off so managed to complete the radio setup. I've gone with the book settings of 12 degrees elevator and ailerons on low rates, 40 degrees elevator and 30 degrees aileron on high rates. Rudder is 40 and 45 degrees. I don't like much expo on low or high rates, but because of the radius that the control arm follows, the movement is not linear. So I found 10% expo on low made for linear movement (to counteract the mechanical expo due to the control horn radius), and about 30% expo on high (because the control horn is moving further and further away from a linear movement as it gets towards the end of its travel). Does that make sense? I'm not sure I've explained it very clearly!?! I did some wire management with cable ties, and checked all the fastners. Prop bolts re-checked and all three batteries had a discharge test and re charge. I decided to run a tank of fuel through, so hopefully no supprises tomorrow. By the end of the tank, which was split into four shorter heat cycles, the DLE was giving me a peak rpm of 1840 and reliable idle at 1620 ish. Here is a short video of it running.. **LINK** Fingers crossed for tomorrow....

Sounds like your in the right place for winter Adrian! No shortage of flying days there I bet! I'm thinking of a maiden on Saturday, the forecast is for light winds and sun so all being well.... The fuel tank and switches arrived today. Stuck the tank down with some wide adhesive Velcro, putting an additional small strip on the wing tube to protect it from vibration where it makes contact. With the JR switches, I soldered my own 22awg input leads on with a deans connector to go to the packs. I prefer this method rather than cutting and splicing, or using too many joiners. Then added more of my favourite braided sleeving! I also sleeved the satellite receiver extensions and put one vertically in the decking, the other across the width down on the "floor" in the tail. Finally for today, a blob of hot glue in the horizontal stabs to keep the servo wire away from the control horn.

Having fitted the batteries, I wanted to check the cg again. But first I fitted the wheel pants. These were straight forward enough, I chocked the plane level and stuck some blue masking tape on the back of the pants to make it easy to mark the holes, and prevent scratches. Holes were drilled with a 4mm bit which makes a hole that will accept the captive nut perfectly. I use a small off cut of silicone fuel hose over the bolt, between the landing gear leg and the pant to provide a little compliance that helps with the longevity of the fiberglass pant (I fly from a grass strip!) I used an adhesive pad to attach a small bubble level to the side of my cg tool, being careful to make sure it was perpendicular to the horizontal line. It turns out I wasn't so careful drilling the holes in my cg tool! The zero position that should be in line with the back of the wing tube (standard cg point), was actually drilled 1/8" further forward, making the next hole back 1/8" behind the tube, then 3/8", 5/8", 7/8" behind. This actually turned out to be good news as without any additional weight, the cg balances perfectly at 1/8" behind the tube. A good starting point for the maiden flight. My satellite receiver extensions arrived so my next job will be fitting these back in the decking. Still waiting for switches and a fuel tank to arrive.. I have got a smaller 350cc tank in there temporarily, which would do for a maiden, but the flights would be short I think.. I'm waiting on a 500cc tank. Then just the radio setup and I can maiden this beauty!