Well gentlemen, things may have turned the corner, but let's not be too optimistic eh?
I drove home, got the Baron onto the workshop bench fully intending to epoxy the tailplane-half into place using cocktail sticks to secure the joints, but I couldn't find the cocktail sticks! Then I tried metal, those bits of 2mm bicycle spoke you cut off when installing pushrods, but that wasn't very successful either, besides how could I support the tailplane while the glue dried. In the end, I'm ashamed to say, I smeared the whole lot in cyano and pushed everything back into place. It held. I had a light lunch and tried to find the manhole cover which is underneath my front garden. That is another story but all the time my mind was on maidening the Baron.
I grabbed the starboard tailplane. This part had not broken off. With the model on its wheels I bounced the tailplane up and down twenty times. It held. I did the same to the port tailplane which I had repaired with cyano. That held too. I tied the model up in the van and drove to the field. There was nobody else there. To the French a model flying club is a social institution not somewhere where you can fly whenever the weather is suitable!
I assembled the model. I had built it with the rudder and elevators actuated by closed loop cables to simulate the real First World War aeroplanes. I noticed that one elevator was marginally lower than the other but that there was no way of adjusting it out with the system I was using. My head told me to go home again but my heart and my pride said, "We did not win two world wars by giving up!" besides I am a qualified instructor in both England and France and I have qualifications enabling me to fly at public events in the two countries. I'm hardly a novice! The model is a basic trainer with reduced dihedral and ailerons, so what was I worried about? Jonahs in the club said that my model was heavy and that four-strokes never run well inverted. I would soon find out.
After some faffing about I started the engine, an OS40 Surpass, and took it to the runway. What wind there was was across the runway but I pushed the throttle forward and took off. With the cowling rattling against the engine, the model immediately went to the left and just missed the windsock! I put this down to the enormous fin and rudder weather-cocking the model into wind. Having gained altitude I decided to restrict manoeuvres to circuits and horizontal eights as I didn't want to over-stress the tailplane but the model flew beautifully! A big grin spread across my face! After a few more eights and circuits I decided to try to fly it a little faster and was surprised to find out that I had been flying at almost full power for the entire flight. It's an excellent trainer!
I brought her into land, not on the tarmac runway I'll admit, but down on the grass alongside, with the engine, ticking over nicely. I was impressed at how slowly it flew and she settled down like a piece of gossamer. Perhaps there are a few more minor adjustments to make to the engine settings and I'll fit a remote glow connector to make things a lot safer. For the competition I need to make another, non-aileron wing and to add a machine gun and dummy wing warping cables so that's another story but generally speaking it's been a good day and I'm celebarating with a couple of pints of beer from my native county!
French Baron trainer from the 1970s modified to incorporate ailerons and finished in Russian WW1 colours.
French Baron trainer from the 1970s modified to incorporate ailerons and finished in Russian WW1 colours.