Our monthly indoor meeting was last night and I got the chance to maiden the LiddleRod and the S-Pou.

The LiddleRod is really fast! After 5 mins or so I needed a sit down 🙂 Sadly one of the wheels was a little gunged up with Cyano during the build, meaning it doesnt turn freely, which has the knock on effect of causing the model to spin round on the spot when you try to increase the throttle for a ROG, hand launching was fine though. I had a couple of successful flights, the third ending prematurely when the motor broke from its mounting on the last flight. She turned sharp left and spiralled into the ground right after launch. I’m not sure why this happened, bit more experimentation required I think! Possibly I leant on the stick while trying to balance the TX and launching her. But on the whole, a pretty good first few flights. I was far happier with the rates turned down really low and a bit of expo.

As for the S-Pou, well that is a different bird altogether. Slow flying and sedate, flew beautifully right from the board, it didn’t need a single click of trim. I think it is perhaps a little tail heavy, with the firewall preventing me from getting the battery any further forward. Next time I’ll take some Blue-tac or similar to add a bit of weight in front of the firewall. A club mate shot the video shown below of the S-Pou in flight.

All good, and looking forward to next month!

OK, well it isn’t that big, but it is pretty close to double the size of the biggest engine I’ve ever owned, so its a beast to me! And I’ve never owned a four stroke before. It is in as close to new condition as you are likely to see, the seller clearly had just run it on a test stand.  I’ve a 13x8 APC on order, and also a new prop washer and lock nut, which the seller needed to keep for another project. As soon as they arrive I won’t be able to wait to start it up and hear that lush four stroke sound!

I’ve created a page for it here, where I’ll collate useful info.

After having the Weasel for a year or so I’ve not had much airtime with it. Trying to find the time to go flying when it isnt raining, when I’m near a slope AND when the wind is blowing in the right direction just doesnt seem to happen very often. However this weekend we had a planned trip to the Isle of Wight, checking the weather forecast showed that the wind was predicted to be in the 15-30mph range and coming from WSW/SW direction, despite that not being ideal for the local (to where we stay) slope, I figured it was worth a shot, so in the car the weasel went.

The first trip out was on Thursday evening. I didn’t have my anemometer with me, but I’d guess it was 15, maybe 20mph, and dead on SW.  I lobbed her upstairs and watched as she went up like a kite! After multiple attempts at getting her out over the lip of the ridge and into the lift, I gave up and came home a bit disheartened. 15-20 launches and nothing seemed to get any forward momentum. I was thinking maybe more weight was needed, but then not being experienced at slope soaring I didn’t really know.

Fast forward to Saturday evening, I got the chance for a second visit in very similar conditions. This time a friendly local chap was up there flying a 60"  flying wing, he seemed to be finding a good bit of lift with a little effort, so things looked promising. First flight time then! I gave her a lob, same as the previous trip, up like a kite, hovering above my head, no penetration. After landing the local guy offered to lend me some of his lead to tape onto the top of the fuse.  Now, neither of us know how heavy his weights were, he had moulded them in a tea spoon(!), but after having taped three of them to the Weasel I gave it another go. Oh wow! What a difference the extra weight made. Getting out over the ridge was easy, and as soon as I did, up she went. Wowee! A few mins work got enough height to do simple aerobatics: some decent rolls and loops, even a few lowish passes over the slope and back out into the lift again. Amazing fun, definitely the best flight I’ve ever had with her. The longest flight of the evening was just over 20 minutes, only ending because my hands started to freeze. Now I must go and start melting some lead weights of my own!

I was 50/50 thinking I ought to flog the airframe, but now there is no chance 🙂

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I spotted this bargain while browsing some of the traders at Wings and Wheels on Saturday, it looks a bit similar to the Sukhoi, which admitedly I didnt get on very well with. However, it was only £40! My thinking was, if I didn’t like flying it as it is then given the enjoyment I recently had building the S-Pou and LiddleRod I could always butcher it for the electronics. I’d be lucky if I can even buy a AR6400 for £40, so I’m onto a winner either way!

It has its own page here, but not a lot of content as yet!

I’ve noticed a bug in the 2.04 software of my DX8,easiest to show it with a video than to try and explain it in words!

• Added a little page about the S-Pou with a gallery of some shots taken during the build.
• The P51 has flown, not without incident but promising!
• I picked up a bargain at Wings and Wheels - A ParkZone Pole Cat for 40 quid!
• Also picked up an AcroWot! Very chuffed with this, looking forward to the build and getting it airborne.
• I’ve added a page about my xmas present, the Cambrian P-51.
• I had a few moments spare, and enough stuff lying around that I knocked up a Sharkface.
• The Sukhoi is no more, but…
• A LiddleRod was built to house its electronics.

[]({{ “/uploads/2012/06/acro-wot-mk2-artf7751.jpg” | prepend: site.baseurl }})I’ve long fancied one of these, after Ripmax announced the ARTF version back in January it was pretty inevitable that eventually I would cave in and grab one. Well they started to arrive in shops last week and I picked one up on Saturday at Wings and Wheels. Oh well, I didnt last very long then did I?

I’ve created a page for it here, with a few more details.

I got a bit of time today and managed to maiden the P51. It was not a completely uneventful flight, but she is back in one bit, only missing a prop blade.

After a good launch from a club mate I had to add quite a bit of left and a smidgen of down trim, but from there she flew well. Until…. I was bringing her round for a lowish pass when a wing dropped, I lost all control authority and in she went. I heard a loud crack as she went in, so off I trotted fearing the worse!

I have to say, two of the things I’ve read about these models now stick in my mind as known facts:

1. They are built like the proverbial!
2. They like a bit of airspeed.

Suffice to say when I got over to where she had ’landed’ I found no damage at all apart from a missing prop blade. A thorough look over and check of all equipment suggests that, yes, the only damage was the prop. Am currently thinking I got away pretty lightly!

So, next time remember: keep the airspeed up!