Guillows Zero Conversion - The final chapter.

After waiting all winter and most of the spring for the "perfect" day I finally got one this morning, and decided to take the Zero out for its maiden flight. My Brother brought along his new Herr AT-6 so we got two maidens for the price of one! We both did some warm-ups on our "easy" planes - Jeff on his Q-Tee and me on my .049 powered HOB 2x4 glider - and after a couple of flights we were both ready, although our legs were shaking even before our "easy" planes had landed.

Jeff went first and his T6 went off like an arrow. It flew straight and true, and was very stable. After trimming it out he did a few loops and even tossed in a roll or two. The landing was a thing of beauty and he dropped it a dozen feet from the pit. The T6 is solidly constructed, which Jeff proved a few landings later by flying into the outer limbs of a small Maple tree. The plane spun off the branches and dropped softly onto the ground with no damage. All in all a great plane and a great maiden flight!

The Zero was next and bolstered by Jeff's great performance I fueled it up, checked the throws and had Jeff give it the ole heave ho! After a reading a lot of posts in this forum about the Guillows conversions being dogs, bricks, et al, let me just say one thing - Wow! The Zero took off in a straight line and gained altitude and speed quickly. The .061 Norvel was screaming and the Zero quickly followed suit, and I cranked her down to 1/2 throttle so I wouldn't have to turn her around every 4 seconds! I barely needed any trim - just a little down and a little left aileron - and she was flying hands-off within a few seconds. She flew like she was on rails and was stable and responsive at the controls. The camo paint made following her a bit of a chore but when I buzzed the field a few times it was spot on realistic. (Maybe I'll add some flashing LEDs where the guns should be to make it even more realistic!)

After a few circuits around the field I decided to try a loop, but in the excitement of the whole event I started making mistakes. I forgot to add more throttle and also forgot to get some additional altitude (major DUHs on both points), and she tip stalled, dropped a wing and spun out about 1/3 of the way into the loop. After some frantic work with the controls the Zero finally gave it up and dropped into the tall grass next to the field. Luckily there was only minor damage to the silkspan and to the wing connectors, and I've already finished the bulk of the repairs. It promises to be a fun summer flying this thing around, and Jeff and I will likely have a lot of fun dog-fighting with our WWII birds.

So for those of you who enjoy taking a kit where it wasn't really intended to go, I give my thumbs up on the Guillows conversions. The conversion really isn't that hard if you know your way around the building table, and the Zero flies very well and looks spectacular flying around the field.

EG