Terry Walters Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 Posted by Danny Fenton on 13/01/2012 08:57:45: Hi Terry, One of my friends in the Northwest Warbirds group told me that he likes to "love" a model for a while before flying them. It may sound daft but I think he is right. Even more so if you have put a lot of effort into the model. So don't be in any rush, take your time and make sure you stick to your check list no matter what goes on around you. CheersDanny Hi Danny - as you know by now Uncle Pete B will be looking after me. We already share a history of a maiden that went wrong so we will be cautious! I have a list of excuses for not flying ready for use on the day! Thick mist here today anyway and looks like it will be staying all day. Normally about 11.00am (local) the mist rises and reveals a blue sky and sun. Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Maidens are nice when you have somebody that knows your foibles with you You will be fine I am envious of the blue skies, mind you saying that, lovely blues skies here in Staffs this morning..... Mind you loads of work to do so its wasted on me Have fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Still waiting - this week is busy and the weather's going to deteriorate by the w/end here so it looks like next week. The good side is that today I gave it a longitudinal balance test and put 1/2 oz on the starboard wing so I have done something! At the moment it resides on the lounge floor fully rigged and looks great! SWMBO is being really good as she has not complained about it being there at all. How good is that? Terry Edited By Terry Walters on 16/01/2012 21:38:19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 A fairly grey cold misty day here in the Lot was the scene for a major aviation event today. G-AHLT - a near scale DB sport and Scale Tiger Moth has finally taken to the skies over SW France for the very first time. Ably assisted by fellow forumite Pete B and after a good pre-flight check and range test I flew her and it was brilliant! Beats any feeling from an ARTF (still got loads of them and enjoy flying them!) A slight cross wind did not affect the take-off and after about 20/30 metres the Tiggie lifted off and was obviously going to be a delight to fly. Climb out was scale like and an absolute pleasure. Power available was more than adequate and full throttle rarely used. Initial turns were gentle and well balanced but as expected rudder co-ordination was needed. The heart beat began to subside a little and pure enjoyment took over! Pete was connected on the buddy box in case 'something awful' happened so he had a go too. His smile was bigger than mine and stall test (nothing!) , a loop and a spin followed against a backdrop of "Ooooos!" and "Aaahs!" from the appreciative audience. Passes close to overhead drew complaints from the co-pilot about the effect on his neck. More.................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 ................ This is a lovely aeroplane. Low passes were nice and steady with a growing confidence in the a/c - lovely! After 9 minutes prudence dictated a landing although the lipo pack was good for considerably more. A true Tiger Moth landing followed and was terminated by the usual bow to the audience - pilot must do better! Overall score -!!!!!!! and still smiling Knock-on effect of this wonderful experience - no building on the Courier tonight and a bottle of celebratory Lidl's Spanish wine opened and 5/6ths consumed!! Thanks to Pete B for the safety net, Elly for the Pics, John MH (aka Popeye) for being there and getting cold and of course SWMBO who has agonised with me and encouraged me throughout the build and who gave up both her day, to support me and, her gym session this evening to help me with the after flight drink! Thanks to all of you who were watching - you can now relax - a second flight also took place and no damage was suffered other than a grazed chin ! I also re -maidened my PZ Me109G after its bad crash on its maiden last Spring - all went well there too.............. Pics follow! Terry - a very happy man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 Here a couple of pics for my PZ Me109G - I have christened it appropriately "Der Phönix" (The Phoenix!) and the this name is on the home made decals on the nose - the red arrow. I only flew it once because the camouflage scheme against the gloomy sky was a bit challenging at distance. Plenty of power - never got to more than 1/2 throttle on the newly installed E-MAX 2826/06 950kv with the PZ 3 bladed prop. Gonna enjoy flying this one too! Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Bennett Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 well done that man.she sure looks a beauty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Billings Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Well done Terry, wonderful flying pics, the tiggie looks a great plane, I wish my flying skills were up to flying one of those. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly boy3 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Very very nice Terry, I think we all have a soft spot for biplanes, especially the Tiger Moth. Good luck with the maiden,I'm sure it will ok. Please wait for the best weather for the maiden, as this model is made for late summer evenings. Trouble is, you will enjoy it so much it will be flying in all weathers. LoL Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Posted by fly boy3 on 25/01/2012 20:47:20:Very very nice Terry, I think we all have a soft spot for biplanes, especially the Tiger Moth. Good luck with the maiden,I'm sure it will ok. Please wait for the best weather for the maiden, as this model is made for late summer evenings. Trouble is, you will enjoy it so much it will be flying in all weathers. LoL Cheers Now come on, fb3 - do concentrate at the back there!! Terry's just posted 8 pics of today's maiden - and I can assure you it didn't feel like a late summer evening - brrrr.......Congratulations, Terry - I felt for you before take-off. I was much more relaxed as I hadn't put all that work into it................and I wouldn't have to re-build it! It's surprisingly easy to stall, loop and spin someone else's hard work, too - no mental block, you see...............Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Excellent stuff Terry - so glad it all went so well for ya mateI can sleep easy tonight also then - as the powertrain seemed to do it's job - phew . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bott - Moderator Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Isn't this exactly what aeromodelling is about? Challenges, adrenaline, achievements? Very well done Terry. Hope you have many more enjoyable flights with her. Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo565 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 How smart is that,well done There is something about a tiggy , what can we say ?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly boy3 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Sorry Pete B, was a bit lax LoL. A wonderful maiden, of a model. Big smiles must be the order of the day. Its a wonderfull feeling as we all have done it at least once. Terry was right when he said about the feeling for this model. You should be proud that all this work ended in a great moment... Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Well done Terry, fantastic news CheersDanny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Thanks guys - just having a stress free day today and keep smiling when I think about how she flew yesterday. Tiggie is sitting in her place of honour in the lounge at the moment feeling smug! Once again thanks to all who helped or encouraged me along the way. Phew! Terry Edited By Terry Walters on 26/01/2012 15:02:25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 We had hoped to have a proper video camera on the day to record the event but fate worked against us so we had to make do with the video facility of a small Nikon pocket camera. SWMBO did the filming while a friend took still pics with Pete B's camera. Both did a very good job. I have now put the video and stills together and although the video is low res at least you can share the event with us! The landing was unfortunately missed as SWMBO thought her life was in danger because the Tiger Moth appeared to be coming straight at her and so she hid behind Pete B and me while the Tiggie landed and then at the end of her run stood on her nose off camera I haven't worked out how to get the music to play to the end - sorry. More to learn! Happy viewing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly boy3 Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Nice one Terry, nice scale speed flying. Great runway you have, no doubt orientated for the prevailing winds ?. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 Posted by fly boy3 on 27/01/2012 14:58:09:Nice one Terry, nice scale speed flying. Great runway you have, no doubt orientated for the prevailing winds ?. Cheers. Thanks FB3! Would you believe that the runway is NW/SE and the prevailing winds are SW or if not then usually NE! And don't forget over here they drive on the wrong side of the road too! Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Well there I was upside down in cloud and nothing on the clock but the maker's name! No not really but it was a downwind low pass for photos and as Tiggie needed to power on and gain height to avoid the trees the prop/engine started to make a strange squeally noise and no thrust................................too low to turn too far down the runway to land down wind and then too slow not to stall into the scrub.......................... worse place for it to happen so it's down to me for putting her in that position when the engine problem happened! Cowl, prop, front fuse, cabane structure, u/c and centre of bottom wing. Repairable - yes but need to strip down and have a look. Before the 'incident' she was flying great and I was enjoying myself. Rebuild will happen but not just yet. Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bott - Moderator Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Oh no Terry what a shame! As you say it does look repairable. After something like this I too tend to put the model aside for some time before repairing. Also, it almost always turns out easier than it first looks. I'm sure it will be back in the air for this summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 oh dear Terry that will never do! The Turnigy in my Chipmunk will squeel and fail to spin properly if i am agressive on the throttle. is this possibly what you experienced? With Chippy i just back off and re-introduce throttle more progressively. never got to the bottom of the cause Cheers Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bott - Moderator Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Danny do you think the squeeling and not running up is explained in David Burton's prop articles in the mag? Sudden increase in speed causes prop to stall along with massive drag associated with that stall? Sorry Terry, a bit off topic and doesn't really help now. Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I witnessed this sad event - which is possibly even worse than being on the sticks! It couldn't have happened in a worse position - 20' altitude, downwind end of the runway in breezy conditions, heading away, trees/bushes dead ahead, nowhere to go but turn left towards open ground. Terry said, "It's not responding" and I could hear the motor screeching but there was no acceleration from the model. He turned left, the port wings dropped and a relatively low-speed nose-on impact with the ground followed We discussed whether the prop was slipping on the shaft but it was nicely tight and my suspicions were, based on previous experience, that the motor may possibly have a loose magnet or three. The sound wasn't unlike that from my Beaver's Turnigy before I replaced it. Having seen what Danny has suggested, that may well be a distinct possibility - now it has been mentioned, I think I may have encountered this in the past, without any ill-effect. After we'd removed the prop, a brief check showed the motor to be running apparently normally, with normal throttle range. I've suggested to Terry that he bench-mount the motor, load it with a prop, and see how it performs - once he's through with kicking all the village cats and cut some logs for next winter with his teeth!............ Darn bad luck, Terry - but it'll buff out, that's for sure........... I've been trying to get to grips with this new post box this evening and I'll get a couple of pics of the TM up soon. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bott - Moderator Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Pete if the pics are in your album on this site, use the camera button. Works a treat. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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