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Bambina 31" sport electric building log


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The motor and ESC need some ventilation so I have cut two holes on the sides of the fuselage (as it has no undercarriage I didn't want one underneath at the front where it would pick up dirt). There is a hole at the back equal in size to these two for the air to exit.

 

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Onto the covering. I dithered about this for a while - whether to just paint the fuselage or cover it? In the end I went for a bit of both to meet  the colour scheme I have planned. Red HK covering film with some paint sprayed on the top part of the fuselage. I put some Balsaloc on the plywood bits and fiddly areas first and the covering went on with  bit of fiddling under the tailplane were the control snakes emerge. My replacement folding prop just arrived in the post so I will set that up next.

 

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1 minute ago, patrick diviney said:

Robk, how do you gain access to the motor. Do you have a hatch on the bottom?

No. Before I glued the bottom down I made sure I could install it by pushing it through from my long top hatch. By the way, my motor was bigger than the one used in the plan as well, I just made the fuselage a bit wider.

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So here it is finished. Solartrim was used for the black bits on the wings and the dayglo piece on the underneath. The prop is a refurb of the one that was on the original Mk 1 Kinetic that was the donor for the motor etc. I ordered three different prop sets from HK and none of them fitted - in some cases the the diameter of the spinner was just plan wrong. However, I managed to remove the propellor blades from one and fit them to the old Kinetic spinner so job done. Ive set the throws up as per the suggestion in magazine article and the CoG came out bang on with no lead added - that's a first!

 

When the shops reopen I will buy some Humbrol pots to colour in the control arms so they are less obvious. Weather is looking good this week and our field opened today so fingers crossed it will get a first flight over the next day or two. I'm nervous already.

 

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Edited by robk
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I went to the field two days in a row (what a relief!) and maidened the Bambina. My pal did a hand launch underarm as there isn't much to get your hands on holding it from the bottom. Both days were relatively calm with winds c.5-6kn. First flight was a bit hairy trying to adjust the trim on a brand new transmitter (first time I have used my Radiomaster TX16S). Also, the controls were having too much effect and I reckoned it could do with a little more weight in the nose. Second flight after reducing aileron input and putting 5gm in the battery compartment went worse and flying away from me it got too slow in a turn and spun in from about 20 feet up. Very little to fix though as its just a light plane and I obviously put an ample sufficiency of glue in there!

 

Next day try again, now with 10gm of weight near the front and more expo on the ailerons and elevator. Also with a note to self - keep the speed up. RESULT! Two good long flights and I was now able to tweak the trim as it was much closer to a balanced airframe. It flies very well indeed for such a small plane. Its fast, but not scarily fast. Its not for a beginner though. I did a few loops and rolls as confidence grew. It needs to stay quite close as its only tiny. Landing is easy - power off and glide in. My fettling advice is: I think the CoG should be a little in front of the location on the plan (at least to start); you need to fly it fast and don't dawdle in the turns; throws as recommended are about right (I have taken a couple of mm off the ailerons but mine are bigger than the plan) but you need plenty of expo in there if you want smooth manoeuvres.

 

Here are few phone pictures and a short video from the first flight after I made the changes. It was smoother still in the last flight of the day. My only modification will be to get some better carbon fibre Graupner CAM prop blades to up the thrust a bit as I was flying on 3/4 throttle most of the time and launching on full.

 

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Edited by robk
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