RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

well, I took her out to the field today for the maiden. I thought I had checked everything and as usual there is always one lil bug named Murphy that shows up. Apparently my throttle setup is wrong, not working or whatever so i did nt get a flight in. If it wasnt such a difficult process to get into the fuse , I would have fixxed her there on site....welll there is always tomorrow.

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

Damn that Murphy guy!

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

and his mother to................

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

And his uncle Audey

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

Does anyone have a good CG point yet. Hoping to maiden Sunday. Be nice to start with a proven CG.

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

I am headed out to try mine in a bit here. I wil report back.....if all goes well.....or not

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

Two new flight yesterday. The damn Saito 182 won´t work as the pilot could wish, tried severals times to tune the engine... But it seems to require som overhauling...

Short flight due to engine problems...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9iDikJTvrI[/youtube]

Longer flight, engine is still not as it should be but good enough to fly...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3SRGiqUZ8Y[/youtube]

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

I sent Blubberse a pm a week or so ago and he said his is now balanced per manual and it flies well at that point.

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

You mean there is something in the manual thats worth reading?...:D

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

HI everyone.
Attempted to fly the Swordfish yesterday. The new Laser 180 ran very well, however the attempt to fly was a disaster! A prime example of rearward CG! Full stall as soon as she broke ground and crashed nose first.  Assessed damage today and she is repairable. Also looked at the CG position as shown in the manual. ( I now know I should have done this before-but hind site is always 20-20)
The top wing just about covers the bottom wing-so from a cg calculation view, the top wing is all that needs to be considered. With a MAC (Mean Aerodynamic Chord) of 15".  25% will be 3.75".  The number in the manual is 130mm, which equals 5.118" ( 0r 34.12% of MAC)

In my opinion this explains the horrible first flight!  I will rebuild and balance at the 3.75" position. Will do some more calculations, taking into account the sweepback and the tail area and moment arm-but I do not think it will make a lot of difference.

Does anyone know where I can locate a wing tube? ( Mine is now bent)

Best of luck to you all

Bob Bishop

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

Robert,
Was your balanced as per manual? at the 130mm? I was courious about the CG and pm'ed blubberse and he said his was balanced at the 130mm. He had flown his the first time back further than the 130mm. Did yours just try to go straight up at take off?


Thanks Ty

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

Hi Ty,
Yes I was balanced at the 130mm point-do not understand how blubberse got away with it. Yes she did try to climb straight up at take off.

Bob

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

I was trying to look at his vid's it looked like he had some down dialed in to the elevator at takeoff??

Ty

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

Hi Ti,
You could be right-but do not fly with a CG at 34% of MAC!(That is at 130mm) The worst that can happen with a forward cg is that the plane will not take off!

Bob

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

I am not knocking anything you are saying . I am just trying to figure why he is having such good luck flying his. I am at the point i can easily addd more nose weight. The Eflight 160 is going to be more than enough power.

Ty

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

Ty,
the Laser 180 was swinging an APC 18x8 prop at 8,700 rpm. This may give you an idea of power requirements.

Bob<br type="_moz"/>

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

The eflite 160 is turnning a 20x10 at a7000rpm. The one in the video did not seem to put out full power..

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

You should have more than enough power.

Bob
RC-airplanes-simplified.com

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

Sorry to here the mis fourtune. ? are we balancing from the top wing or the bottom wing, could this be the diffrence between the 2 diffrent planes that have flown?

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

I was measuring from the leading edge of the top wing..
We need blubberse to chime in here and help us out...

TY

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

OK Ty found something intresting. I blocked the plane up level and guess what. Have about a 0.250 of up thrust!!!. This is a DL55 mounted with stand offs to fire wall. If I were to fly this way it would go sraight up no mater what the CG was. Did you happen to take note of your thrust angle?
I will have to shim mine down back to 0 and go from there. Im gald I paid such high dollar for a plane with a none level tail (same as you) and a firewall not glued in straight and level. Wonder what else i will find when i try and fly it.

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

TY,to acheive a 3.75 cg I will need to add 7lbs to the fire wall. To get the 5.1cg I would need to add 3lbs. It is what it is I guess. Iwill go with 3.75 CG to start. Makes more sense, most scale bibes use a cg of the leding edge of bottom wing. That translate very close to your math of 3.75cg

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

..and from top wing/leading edge,meassured today,we have 5½ inch/ 140 mm on my Swordfish,the one on the video Blubberse posted..
It flies great with C.G there but is propably slightly noseheavy but I´m gonna keep it there....

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

Well now I dont know where to CG it. Thanks for the info.

RE: ESM Fairey Swordfish
 

What I did was recycling old Sub-c:s I had in a scrapbox,glued 7 of them inside the cowling with silicone and voilá: I got myself a very nice plan to fly!
I am a little bit of a trial and error man,i dont always follow the manual with things like C.G,I´m aiming for something that flies in a manor that I feel is good for me..
Right or wrong,it works for me!
And the engine runs OK now as well,a different prop and no pressure from the exhaust did the trick.:D
//Bokis