A new item for your pre-flight checklist...

[glydr]

Not that any of us carry out a pre-flight check, how else would this forum get populated? Surely not dumb-thumb!

:)

I had pieced together an electric glider comprising of various Protech parts so that it resembled a V tail Virage. The wings were from Virage - totalled by a friend and saved from the rubbish bin and repaired by me. Spare fuse and tail were added with a 540 brushed motor.

While flying this morning (on it's first flight) I noticed a terrible tip-stalling habit which would occur if I banked beyond around 25 to 30 degrees which would flip the plane into a dive - it especially happened on left turns - whereas on right the glider needed some extra encouragement.

It was one of these tip-stalls on landing circuit that put the glider into the ground. Very easy to repair - only a wing tip spar broken and a new nose cone from the spares box.

Post moretom inspection revealed a slightly banana'd fuselage - which I strongly doubt was from the impact - but am certain was a cause (combined with those sharp wing tips) of poor turning.

So check that fuse and make sure it's straight!


Photo is pre crash (very similar to post crash as it wasn't that bad).

[Hogster]

Warped fuz, eh? Yep, I can't admit to ever checking for that! :o

The photo hasn't worked by the way ;) ... and I'm keen to see this creation! :)

[Lucam]

Oh...

I'm not the best builder, so some of my balsa birds had banana fuse :o ...
But I never crash for this, just correct the bad habits with some RUDDER (not elev) trim...

Maybe I'm a lucky flyer? :p

[Bill Glover]

I've got an original (and un-crashed) Virage which developed a really evil tip stall after half a dozen flights or so. The wing seat wasn't quite parallel on each side, so with a little play in the wing joiners/sockets the wing panels were able to take up slightly different angles of incidence when you bolted them down! I discovered this with an incidence meter.

The fix was simple ... it's only a 1.6 metre wing so I permanently joined the two panels together with 24 hour epoxy, jigging it up carefully so they were level.

The plane will still drop a wing if you provoke it (with 8x2400 and a big chunk of lead on the tail mine is no floater), but it's 200% better. Previously it would snap out of even a wide & gentle loop.

[glydr]

Hi all, sorry for the delay as I have been away - in fact I am still away and using my in-law's computer.

Sorry for the photo not working Hogster - I'll try and get it up next week when I am back home.

As I had no rudder installed it was aileron trim which I used to correct for the fuse (almost the full travel on the slider) - which led to the unequal incidence that Bill has experienced (thanks for your post Bill). The wings were firm in place and well attached to one another - but one of the ailerons had a default location way down, making the angle of attack too much when turning.

If I had put a rudder in it might still be flying (though not as good as Bill's).

Thanks for your replies!

glydr

[glydr]

Hi All,

Ahh - PC & broadband - it's good to be back!

Lets see if the photo will post this time.