blvdbuzzard

Well after building it over a month ago I finally flew it tonite. I was having trouble with the Ap 0.061. It would not idle for anything. I switched fuel to YS 20/20 and it came alive and now has about 40% more power and a low idle as compared to the 15% I was running.

I have only one flight onr it so it was a learning experiance to say the least. If I pull lots of elevator when it is going slow it wants to snap out to the left and if I am going fast and do it it will go about 3/4 of a loop and want to snap to the left. I may be getting some flex in the elevator joiner, wash in/wash out in the wing, reflex in the alierons or it may be some thing else.

I was suprised at how slow it does fly. I had a little breeze of about 3-4 mph and I was at a high idle and it just cruised by like it knew what to do. I was doing some snap and fast turns and the elevator started to feel strange. It was way out of trim and it was not as responcive as it was. I knew I was getting low on fuel so I landed and found that the pull/pull strings has slipped out of the eye and were so loose they would only move the surface at full servo throw.

I did learn that the covering on the bottom of the fuse edge does not like the dirt runway. To save weight I built it without gear so I have to belly land it. I have added several layers of clear packing tape to see if that will hold up better then covering.

At 14.8 oz full of fuel, it is one the edge of being able to hover. I think if I wait until I am almost out of fuel it may have just enough power to hover. I know it does not have enough to pull out of a hover, but maybe just enough to do it. I also found it does not do a real snap roll. It looks like it s trying to do a flat spin. I may try and bring the Cof G back a little and see what happens.

Dru.

P.S. Thanks for the free plans MATCHLESS.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

HI BLVDBUZZARD! Sounds like the CG needs to go way, way,way back.The lighter you can make this plane the further back you can go. I think mine is at 35%. Make another one, and leave out the arrow shaft, and the ply nose block. You can also leave out a pair of spars, and switch to 3/16 by 3/16. A lighter nose is a pair of 1/4 by 1/4" maple beams[2" long] sandwiched in 1/4 thick balsa, with a tiny 1/32" ply doubler on one side. The fuselage can be made from 1/4 hard balsa stick. The pull/pull on the elevator can warp my wimpier version of the fuselage, so i ran a thread "guy wire" from the tip of the stab to an anchor point on the fuselage[:'(] to pull out the warp, and to tighten up the elevator lines. Having a gram scale sure makes the outcome of these light weights that much more of a sure thing.

blvdbuzzard

I can move the Cof G back and loose a full once by pulling the Dubro 20z tank and putting on the film can fuel tank. The CofG is where it is listed on the plans but I am going to try it farther back.

If/when I build another I will use balsa spars and put the truss's I have in to stiffen up the wing. I did find I had a little wash out in one wing and not the other so I used a heat gun and both wings are the same now.

I was thinking of using 1/32 cross grain sheeted 1/16 balsa for the fuse. You know make it out of balsa ply with a core of 1/16 and the sheet it with 1/32 balsa. That way I could use a core of 1/16 ply and sheet the nose with 1/32 ply and it would be nice and smooth.

Dru.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

MAN! If you can make that work, that would be very light! I haven't done much work with 1/16 or 1/32 balsa, I think a fuselage would need to be built fairly wide,[1/2"?] and kind of cellular to make the thin wood idea fly.