With the model ready for the initial engine runs we took it the BMFA at Buckminster. Phil and Graham from FighterAces came down to help as it needs three people to safely handle the model. Phil has been with us from the start of this project so I was pleased he got to see it run for the first time, I know its not as interesting as seeing it on the water but it was a big deal for me.
The team at Buckminster were excellent, very friendly and accommodating, I’m looking forward to testing some of our other projects at the site once we’re allowed out again. It was great to finally get to this stage and have everything working, although there is still much to do before it gets wet but at least we are getting closer. The engines ran well after some tweaking with the initial start voltages. I wanted to make sure that the expense of hiring a lake isn’t wasted because we can’t get the engines started so a dry test seemed sensible when running them for the first time in the fuselage.
The beaching gear is shown here in its scale configuration with Phil giving it some scale. The model with the pitot probe attached is nearing 5 meters long so its not the smallest of things.
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