Percival Mew Gull

[John Silvester]

Hallo Frederico,  I see that you are going to use petrol. Does that need a special plastic for the  fueltank ? And different kind of  pipes for the plumbing, instead of silicone? I really like the idea of cheap fuel, but I don't have a dry garage to keep planes in, so I'm stuck with glo-juice! There is a write-up in RC MW this month which may help you, but there seemed to be some interesting discussion about where the C of G should go. The plane certainly looks good --  so all the best with your assembly job.    John S........

 BTW. if you loose your C of G, Stackerjack keeps spare ones!

[John Silvester]

Still trying to keep up, but  many congrats on the first flights! What servos did you use on the ailerons?  What  is the all up weight,  with your petrol engine ? Any chance of some pix of the Gull in flight?  All the best.............  John S........

[Barry W]

I don't know if this is of interest but there is an Air Race at Sherburn Airfield near Selby  Yorkshire on the  8th and 9th May. The Percival Mew Gull which belonged to Alex Henshaw (London to Capetown fame) is sheduled to be there taking part in the race. It might be anopportunity to have a look at the real thing. There will be other interesting aircraft taking part. 

 

 

[FEDERICO GILLI]

 

Hi John,

 I used the supplied tank with a Sullivan petrol bung. If you go back in the first few postings you'll find loads of pictures and a detailed description. Plumming as well need to be tygon plastic resistent to petrol. Petrol is better than glow is you have a damp shed as is less igroscopic than glow.

The servo I used are ceap enough SPRING RC high torque (9kg) analog unit for all control surfaces, Futaba 3001 have been used for throttle and chocke. Next time I'll go to the patch with the mew gull I'll bring the camera with me.

Regards,

 Happy Easter.

 Federico

[FEDERICO GILLI]

Hi all,

 

sunday was a fantastic day so I got the mew gull out and the camera ready. I want to give segull a chance so I decided to fit the spats as reccomanded with increase clearance from the wheel to the spat. The cowl was also fitted after a dremel job that could have provide some airflow through the engine.

The following picture resume the pre during and after flight!

 

 looking pretty in the morning sun.

 

the cooling vent have been cut out with the dremel but result to be not very effective.

 

that's me ready to unleash the power!!

 

fast low passage...

 

nice and easy...

 

 

Afer then minutes fly just coming up from a low passage the engine quit in the worst spot... typical. I got the plane just about back on the short grass and recover a tip stall a couple of meter from ground. It came quite hard on the wheels and stop on the nose. In fearness was a pretty good recovery and the landing even if rough could not be classified as crash by any means. Unfortunately the faith I put in Seagull design as aleady suggested by different third parties was completely trashed when I recovered the model.

does not look to bad from here look again...

 

the spat mounting got ripped out with bits of wing attached on both wings. The spats are both severly damaged and probabily a write off. As I'm a bit disgusted I still haven't dismantled the bits to see how to fix the wings. I accept that this was not a grazer and I would have accepted damages to the spats but the spats induced wing damages are really too much. Seagull cannot tell me that this in their eyes is a sound design.

I love this plane and if I have to I'll keep flying it without spats bur this really defeath the pourpose of a scale model right?!

I'll pass this pics to SMC/JP but unfortunately I do not expect any major solution from the manufacturer as they already state that there is notthing wrong with the design.

 

For the record I'm pretty sure that the dead stick was due to poor cooling of the engine. I did try to minimise the butchering of the cowl but look like I cannot avoid to cut a big gush in the bottom of it.

 

Regards,

 

Federico

[Leon Taylor]

Hi Frederico. You have my sympathy. There are many problems with this model which I reported in detail in my post of 12th December. My complaints to Seagull have been ignored. Best thing is to hang the model up somewhere so that you can admire its looks and then buy something else to fly. Regards, Leon

[IAN WHITE]

Can you show a photo of your cowl ?? maybe not enough exit area for the air to get out

 

Bad luck

 

Ian

[FEDERICO GILLI]

Hi Ian,

 

the cowl has six holes on the bottom plus exhausts plus the scale vent on the side. The problem is that a good portion of the side vent is overlapping the front fuselage. Lokks like the only option is cut out a good part of the cowl bottom... not very scale!

Here a picture of the side anyway. Some of the real mewgull sport a side vent on the left side of the cowl so I might do them too.

Leon suggestion is probabily wise but I prefer fly the yoke without spats than not flying it at all. It is a nice mode not easy but fun and is surprisingly aerobatic (not in a 3d way!!!).

 

Regards,

 

Federico

[IAN WHITE]

Regardless of wether its "scale" or not , the air inside the cowl needs nearly double the area of the inlet to get out because it expands as it gets hot from cooling the engine

 

You will wreck your engine if it isnt cooled enough...and you nearly wrecked the plane as well....if you dont like that idea........go electric ...........like I did

 

Ian

[Graham Dwyer]

Hi there,

 

just about to start building a Mew Gull, electric conversion, and ordering bits and pieces.

I have a few questions before I complete the order and would be grateful if anyone can help.

 

What size is the aluminium spinner needed?

Best Prop? would like wooden, but electric so might no be able.

Any special glues I need other than 5 minute epoxy?

Would Futaba S3010 servos be ok?

 

What is the best electrical setup, I would like a separate battery for the servos if possible. 

[IAN WHITE]

Read my build thread here

 

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1139624

 

Ian

[Graham Dwyer]

Thanks,

 

I happen to have a bunch of 6s 5200 mah lipos from my helis, and was hoping to use them here.  Will they work with the electric configuration you used?

 

Regards

 

Graham 

[IAN WHITE]

why not ??should be around the same weight......

[Graham Dwyer]

Cool.

 

Looking forward to the build, but not to the undercarraige, looks like all of you guys had similar problems..  would love to see a video of any of them flying, especially to hear the electric, not sure about fitting a fake sound system with a gipsy 6 on it yet..

 

 

[Justin Cooper]

Federico, that's a real shame about the wing damage.  I am definitely not screwing the spats into the blocks on the next flight.  I'm just wondering how your undercarriage mod held up?  It looks to have survived very well considering what happened to the spats.  My list of things to fix is growing longer and longer.  I have had 3 flights of mine lasting a total of around 15 minutes.  There will be much more time than that getting it into an airworthy condition!!

 

I hope you are able to fix your wing and get her flying again.  You got some nice pics before she was damaged.

 

[Les Holloway]

Hi folks! At last my Mew Gull has had its first flights – and there are no dramas or nasty surprises to report. That is largely due to all the advice and experience gathered on this blog, and to the helpful review in the April RCMW.

 I had set the ailerons 3mm up to provide washout, and had opted for a lot of differential – 20mm up and 15 down. The elevator also had much more throw than Seagull suggest, at 25mm up and 20 down, and the rudder 50mm both ways. My CofG was located 100mm from the LE at fuselage juncture, needing 125g of lead on the firewall. As mentioned in previous postings, I had mounted my Laser 150 fully inverted, 3mm higher than the ‘official’ position and with 1.5 degrees reduction in downthrust.

 Not entirely trusting my 75-year-old fingers on the sticks for the first flight, I asked one of our Wellingboro Ogees stars, Brian Cooper (yes, him what writes reviews for the mags), to take over the tranny. Holding full down elevator for most of the take off run, he made it look easy, and the Mew Gull rose steadily and smoothly into the sky. One click of right aileron and it was flying straight and level, hands off. At this point Brian handed over to me, and I flew a number of circuits and mild manoeuvres. Actually it felt dead easy, because the Gull just went where it was pointed with no fuss at all. There was no hint of the dreaded tip stall, and no diving under power – so at least my engine position cannot be too far out.

 The Laser had previously only had one tank through it on the bench, so was still running very rich and nowhere near full power. We decided to tune it up a little, so Brian took over again for the landing – which was fast but uneventful. Our strip has not had the heavy roller on it yet this year, so is still fairly bumpy, and I could see the oleo legs bouncing up and down, and hear some clatter from the spats. On examination, there was no damage to the spats, the legs, or their mountings. Bear in mind mine is one of the very early kits, and the oleo legs go into a socket in a substantial alloy casting, which in turn is screwed to the hard ply block in the wing.

(Incidentally, Alex Henshaw in his book The Flight of the Mew Gull – still in print, and a super read – recounts that the modified spats fitted by Essex Aviation for his epic Cape Town flight were so close fitting that he smelled burning rubber on every take off and landing!)

For the second flight I leaned out the Laser half a turn, which improved the top end, but left the low revs still very rich. With the cowl in place I couldn’t get at the slow running needle so had to leave that. Brian also felt the elevator was a little sensitive and suggested reducing the throw to 85%. On the second take off, as he eased back the elevator the nose dropped. Brian caught it in time and got away safely, but I’m not sure my own reactions would have been quick enough.

This flight was just as enjoyable and presented no difficulties. On the second landing, as the Gull slowed to a stop and elevator authority was lost, she stood on her nose. Again there was no damage.

Some conclusions: there is nothing wrong with this Seagull model once it is in the air. There are still problems with ground handling, mainly because the wheels are so close to the CofG position. (Worth noting that the full-size original suffered from the same problem.) I shall see if I can find a way of slanting the wheels forward a little, and I will probably restore the elevator movement but with 50% differential.

Anyways up, the main message is that the Seagull Mew Gull is a perfectly good flying machine providing you deal with the various problems that we have all been blogging on about. I hope that is encouraging to anyone still reading who has not yet flown their model.

Cheers - Les

Edited By Les Holloway on 19/04/2010 13:30:25

[Justin Cooper]

Well done Les, nice to hear some good news.

[Stephen Grigg]

Well done Les,You appear to be very knowledgeable and your, mods have worked very wellglad youve been successfull and had an enjoyable maiden flight

[FEDERICO GILLI]

Hi Les,

 

I'm delighted for your success. I hope you'll get loads of flying with the mewgull as it is very a very nice plane indeed. Keep us posted and try to get few picture of it.

I've still not undertake the reapair work but since I've no props for it I'm not in a great hurry.

 

Regards,

 

Federico

[Graham Ashby (Editor)]

Well, I got there in the end folks. Photos from the first flight. Can't tell you too much at the moment for fear of killing the review although I can say she flew well. Still assessing whether I need to make any alterations to control throws although I've had four flights now and may do little more than add a bit of expo to aileron and elevator. C of G was okay in the recommended position. Rudder needed in the turns. Very benign stall. No nosing over on take-off or landing although you definitely have to concentrate when bringing her in! Very pleased so far although I need to fly the model a good deal more before writing a confident report, particularly given the comments on this thread. In short, very pleased so far.

>>

[Tim Mackey]

I do like the looks of this thing...Nice one Graham

[Graham Ashby (Editor)]

Thanks Tim, yes it certainly is a cracking looking aeroplane. When the engine's properly run in and it's all proven I'll whip the canopy off, change the pilot and add some cockpit detail. That'll really set it off a treat.

[FEDERICO GILLI]

Hi Graham,

 

happy the maiden went well, looking forward to the full review.

Got more flights on mine but my spats are gone for good.

 

Regards,

Federico

[Graham Ashby (Editor)]

Thank you Federico. I need to stick a few more flights on the clock before putting pen to paper but it is nice to get some air time in the bag. I think my decision to cant the wheels forward before the first flight (as a result of the feedback from this thread) probably saved the day as far as the spats were concerned.

[Les Holloway]

Graham - delighted to see your Mew Gull has taken to the air and I look forward to reading  your review. I am still pondering the best way of angling my wheels forward a little. Did your review model have cast alloy mounting blocks for the oleos (like mine) or the clamped torsion bar arrangement which everyone else seems to have?  - Les