First flight still scheduled for tomorrow (Sat) - I should get there around 2.00, then will have to spend some time running the engine in, etc.

Feeling the jitters already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yejSbByzRJ8

So now I can call this thread officially finished?

I am very pleased with the plane. Very sensitive, even at low rates it was twitchy. So we go in on the servo holes. Needs LOTS of aileron differential, climbing split S to the left make the plane veer off heading to the left. big time. Two tankfuls at 7-8k on the ground for break-in, then leaned out to 9.5k very safe for the first flight. Also took a second flight today. Idle is pretty good for a factory setting, didn't stall.

First impressions - very groovy plane, stays put when you keep your fingers off the sticks. Needed down and left trim, about the trim tabs width each. Inverted flight needed surprisingly little stick pressure. Stall turns are OK, spins need about 90 degrees to stop. Knife edge flight predictably pulls to the canopy, just look at the rudder hinge sweep. Rolls also suffer that lack of differential wallow.

So now I start to get to know the lady, tweak her little by little, until her and I dance together flawlessly. Well, as good as I can fly, anyway.

Success with a big smile here.

Congrats Nic on a very sucessful maiden! You must be grinning from ear to ear! Can't wait to see her in person!

FB

Wonderful news! Do you have a link to the landing video?

Congratulations!! Well Done.. [8D]

No landing video.

I just got out of the shop, putting the control rods closer to the middle of the servos, measuring the throws, etc. Should be all ready for next w/e.

BTW, Walt showed up at the field, with a (gasp) GAS powered 3-D plane.

We must quickly make him realize the errors of his ways and repent!

FB

Congratulations on the first flight. Many happy flights to come, I'm sure.
I guess this video showing the smooth, low speed liftoff, easy leveling of the wings at low speed during initial climb and the tight, smooth low speed 180 degree turn after TO make the Pass Time guy's idea of it's "tricky handling" pure fantasy!
Looking good! Thanks so much for the build thread, I really enjoyed it and found it inspired me to build and fly models not so mainstream.
Chris...

WEDJ,

Congradulations on your successfull maiden flight!!. I sincerely hope you have many, many happy years flying your beautiful airplane. I would also like to share my deepest gratitude for you taking your valuable time in sharing the building experience with us. I know I'm learning more and more things from reading build excellent threads like yours and others here on RCU.

I know you are probably going to take a break from building for a while, but I will leave you with this question. What's next, A PP maybe?

Actually, I do have some Scott Anderson PP cores sitting in my office as I type, but no, that is not next. There is one other I want to build before the PP. I have a photo at home I will post it tonight. The build thread will probably go into the Vintage section (that's a hint).

Then the PP. I've already scoped out the Spring-Airs, and am leaning towards an HP Gold cup engine. In the past I always used Webra speeds.

WEDJ,

Congrads with your succesful first flight and beautyful plane.
I hope you will have fun with it for a long time.
Did see the nice picture in my thread and read the posts in this thread a lot of times.
Success


Cees

Thanks for all the good comments, guys. Here's my next project. When I was MUCH younger, I always thought one of these would be cool.

2 x PeeWee .020, no throttle, R-E-A control


When I start the build thread, I will put a link here. Probably in a week or so.

There will be several Skylark's (single and twin) at Octoberfest. I've seen the Jr. Skylark twin powered with electric penetrate a good breeze like there was nothing to it.

OK, so after building and flying, what comes next?

REPAIRING!


Oh, God, I hate this part.............

So, for some background, I had a small mis-hap at the Octoberfest VR/CS meet this past w/e. Some my fault, some the other guy. Net result, a bad gash into the wing LE. At the field, some good samaritan gave me some clear plastic tape to prevent wind erosion while I flew the events.

So after taking the tape off, and examining the area, it doesn't look too bad.............

So now we cut into the damaged area. lucky, no ribs were damaged, it is all contained between them. This makes the repair easy. I will cut out the damaged area smoothly, then insert a block, sand down and re-paint. piece of cake.

I watched in horror as it happened. Hey, it could have been worse! I heard someone say, "That's gonna leave a mark." How true.

I got a close look at Nic's Perigee and it is a beauty. For all he went through in the build, Nic did a fantastic job and the airplane flew just as nice. Well done Nic!

OMG!!![X(][X(] What happened? Did you have a mid-air? I'm sure glad that it looks like the damage was minimal.

FB

I was taking off, he was landing, opposite directions.

Hello gents,

Do not you have windmills to show you the direction to start and land the planes!

I always want a nose spar in my wings but not one from an other plane!.

It does not look too bad WEDJ succes!

Cees

Thank you, Cees, it was a small mis-hap. He landed, had trouble taxi-ing, and I was just starting my take-off run. Opposite directions, it was early in the day, the flight line was not yet contest monitored.

A sad accident, I was at fault for not looking down the runway enough while trying to take off, he landed against the traffic without calling out a landing. Lucky, we both suffered minor damages. My prop hit his right elevator, and spun my plane wing into his prop.

End result, we both had succesful flights for the day.

OK, so here we start the repair in earnest. First shot - clean out the damage and square it up so a block will fit nicely.

Next step is to get a big light balsa block and trim it to fit the opening

rough trim the block, and then epoxy it into the opening. That's all for tonight, next step is to shave/sand it to the airfoil shape tomorrow.

Beautiful photo, thanks to Beppe. Yes, that is the "original" Taurus