Mustang Fever

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I had a Goldberg Electra a long time ago. It was kind of on the heavy side, with a Master Airscrew geared can motor and a whopping big NiCad pack. It flew OK, but I lost it during the winter before I ever found anything resembling a thermal.

A friend of mine gave me this old Lady. She looked pretty scruffy when I got her, but tightening up the covering made her look brand new. I whacked the nose off and installed a Rimfire 400 size outrunner, 1800 3S pack, and a 10x6 APC folder. Total weight came to 34oz, a bit heavier than the standard Lady, but almost a pound lighter than the old Electra.

The motor turns that prop at 8150 rpm, which should be good for near 2 lbs of thrust, and more speed than the lady will ever need.

Can't wait for this cold weather to depart.

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

Looks good Bob. I'm building one right now. Thanks for the input on motor combo. I hope the maiden goes great.

Mustang Fever

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I took her out to the frozen lake today, and she flies great. Can't wait to ride the slope at this cottage we rent in August. There's about a 75 bluff overlooking the beach, facing west, and the west wind howls at that place.

vicman

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I know the area.
The GL will be my second glider. The first, a Skimmer, was a little underwhelming. I'm really looking forward to a good flying glider this time around.

Mainly just something relaxing to fly which is a big contrast to what I normally do.

Mustang Fever

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You're right about that, Vic. One of the best things about RC flight is that we can have one of everything, if we choose to do so.

My stable goes from small to big, slow to wicked fast, relaxing to heart pounding, sport to scale, single to multi engine, and land to sea.
The only thing I don't fly anymore is choppers, cause the learning curve is just too expensive for me. I'd post some pics of the stable, but the RCU server is drunk again.

Flew her again today, after doing the heat gun-washin-washout trick on the outer wing panels to remove a strong right turn tendency. She flew lovely straight with no rudder trim.

Also got the brake to work on the motor, so the prop don't windmill. That made a monster difference in the gliding performance. She really has a nice glide ratio under no lift conditions, so I'm expecting her to be great in thermals or slope winds.

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

I like 1/2a to .40 size stuff with the prime focus being pylon racers and all out speed ships the last 5 or 6 years. I throw a little lekky stuff in there too. Recently I flew my first .90 size bipe, it was pretty cool. This spring if all my racers stay togeather I plan to work on some vintage 1/2a stuff and maybe a CL or two.

foodstick

even though you have a electric motor on it..you won't want any howling wind on the slope !!!!

I have sloped a gentle lady before, off of a large dam, 6-8 mph hour wind is all it takes on that plane...

Mustang Fever

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Right after the last post, I was flying in winds I probably shouldn't have been flying in, and when turning onto final she went into a spin and I couldn't get her out. The resulting crash was into soft snow, so the damage was not super bad. Took a couple of days to repair. The inner left wing panel was pretty well busted up, I think because she hit on the left wing tip first. Then, a couple of old "wounds" on the fuse cracked, so that basically the fuse was in three pieces, held together by covering.

I'm still not sure what caused the crash, but she seemed a little touchy in pitch, so after getting her all fixed up, I went from the 1800 batter pack to a 2200, which moved the CG forward about 1/4". That puts it bang on 3.5", the forward recommended limit.

After the repairs, there was no way I could fly around here for a couple months, due to very high winds, snow, and cold every day.

It's been nice the last couple days and I've flown her a lot. The handling is not near as spooky as it was before. Flight times with the 2200 and the folding prop are long. I've been up for several 30 second power climbs, then shut down and glide back from 250-300 feet for at least a minute and a half. (There's a little lift over the road by where I fly, mostly from a south wind, I think.) Three or four of these climb/glide backs uses 600 milliamps or less from the 2200 pack.

I can't wait for some warm weather so I can hunt out some thermals. We get a lot of hawks circling around here in the summer, and they are definitely going to have some company.

Final weight is 35.7 oz, representing a wing loading of 7.7 oz per square foot.

planebuilder66

My Feedback: (8)

Vintage you say VIC? I started collecting vintage kits off the fleabay and now have 4 vintage bipe kits to add to the other ones, I'm finding that I'm collecting the stuff I remember as new and cool when I first started. Everything from davey systems to champion kits and flyline too. Now I'm in the mood for a merlyn 4M kit. too little time and too many planes, crap....I need a trailer when I'm done.