Hi grounded, everyone,
Today I made the maiden flight with my F-27 Stryker. After putting her together last night, (which was a snap), I taped the entire perimeter of the wing with 2" packing tape, borders of the vertical fins including the bottom parts that hook into the plane and most of the bottom of the plane. I also taped the nose of the plane to the fuselage. I just wanted to be prepared for the inevitable "lawn darts".
I peaked up the battery this morning and taped the battery cover to the fuselage as well.
And now on to the maiden -- Wind was 5mph with 13mph gusts, Overcast.
Checked that the Tx was on low rate and the elevons were working properly.
First toss at full throttle she dove like a gopher, didn't have enough time to pull down on the stick so I cut power and tried again (no damage).
I adjusted the elevons for more lift and tossed her again (at full throttle) right into the wind, and off she went. First thing I noticed was the great climb rate - Wow this baby really moves! I trimmed elevons to correct her from veering left and reduced to half throttle when I was at a comfortable height.
Now all I wanted to do during this maiden, was to make wide and then tight turns to feel the plane out. She was up about 100 feet and getting pretty far away to the point that I didn't know which direction I was flying in. I thought I was turning her back but she was heading in the opposite direction.
Time to put her down and down she went, banking left with her nose down right into the field. I watched in sheer panic as she hit the ground and saw parts flying all over the place -- the battery cover, canopy cover and nose. Unfortunately, the nose took some of the fuselage with it since I taped it so tight.
Well that was my maiden. Now its time for the epoxy
and some bright colored paint for the bottom of the plane.
Take care all,
Ray Ray