In the second blog post back I recorded the maiden flight of the Scout Bee in park flyer mode. I have had a lot of fun recently sloping it, but have only been out on pretty grotty days. Recently scored a pearler and managed to shoot a bit of headcam vid.

Scout Bee Slope Soaring (2 min 16 sec)

In the second blog post back I recorded the Vulcan in park flying mode. I have also been having fun with it as a sloper and shot a short head cam vid recently on a very fine day.

Avro Vulcan sloping (2 min 37 sec)

I have always been intrigued by the variety of flying wing and canard experimental aircraft ventures that were prevalent during and after WW2 in Britain. Some details of these are recorded in these two postings:

http://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/tai...ft-of-the-raf/

http://www.century-of-flight.net/Avi...gs/britain.htm

I am rather fond of "wing things": https://www.modelflying.co.uk/albums...um.asp?a=46915 and thought it would be fun to knock up a flying wing in the form of the experimental ventures.

I chose the Scout Bee as a base, so at least I knew the aerodynamics should work. The winglets were made from 2mm corflute sandwiched between two bits of balsa with the flutes and the grain at 90 degrees to each other. A Windrider pod was used with a P-39 cockpit grafted on. Power is supplied by a 2200 3S battery. Covering is Solartex. The lower surface scheme was used on prototypes and experimental a/c to identify them to other pilots and to (hopefully) stop wartime gunners from taking pot shots at the strange shape in the sky.

The model has just been finished and I did the maiden today. Really pleased with how she flew - here's a vid.

Windrider Scout Bee (2 min 19 sec)

I picked up a plan for a slope scale Vulcan a couple of years ago and the project arrived at the top of the build queue six months back and after around four months of toil off and on the build was completed.

The model is semi scale with a 50% thinned wing, slope arifoil and thinned vetical stab to make it slippery for slopin'. I flew it nekkid for a couple of months and got a fair bit of stick time on her as I had set it up for parkflying (ie not too rowdy) with the motor positioned outside the fuse to move the prop away from the flight surfaces a bit. Experimenting with this on other models, I have found that it results in around a 60% reduction in noise levels from the pusher prop set up. The model is powered by a 3S system which gives it a good flight envelope allowing for more than scale flight. Wings are covered in Solartex, the fuse is balsa covered in brown paper with a plastic nose cone.

She has just emerged from the paint shop and completed a couple of successful remaiden flights.

Rather pleased with how the model came out. No-one makes an ARF balsa or foam scale kit (there are some builders kits about) and it would be a bit of a risky venture, but Dynam might take it on as they are already pretty close with their recently released EDF Gloster Meteor and could probably get away with a similar power train in the Vulcan (or maybe some 80's) as it has a very lifty wing. I am thinking of starting a petition

Had some fun in the sun today and shot some vid. Last job is to take her slopin'.

Avro Vulcan (2 min 50 sec)

In my last blog entry we had a thermal glider slopin', this time we have a sloper park flying.

I have been flying the Habicht as a sloper for three years and really have had a lot of fun with it. Had to repair the eggshell fuse when it snapped behind the wing, right at the end of the reinforcing I had done, but otherwise a great model.

Noted several people on here had powered theirs up so thought I would do the same as I have several powered slopers and , with folding props, the slope performance seems unaffected.

Set up is a HobbyKing 950kv GliderDrive, 40 amp ESC, 4000mAh 3S battery and an 11x7 prop. The oval shape of the fuse provides a nice air intake on the lower area and there are enough gaps at the rear of the fuse to let the air out without surgery. Flies very well - she ain't no thermal ship, but was never intended to be and it's great to get some extra stick time on her.

Here's a parkflying vid I made recently.

DFS Habicht glider (2 min 22 sec)

Well, summer is here again for me so lots of flying gettin' done. In truth there is not a huge diff between summer and winter where I live, so flying conditions are good all year around. Just tends to be more windy in spring and summer, so that means it's time for some SLOPIN'
The Sorcerer makes a great light wind sloper (as long as you fit ailerons) although the design is very light so she doesn't have much penetration or retained energy so you have to fly accordingly.
Great fun and certainly an unusual shape on the slope.

Sorcerer slope soaring (2 min 8 sec)

Recently shot a bit of vid of the Sparrow sloping. Funny thing I have noticed before - the local gull population often go mental over the Sparrow and attack it every time I fly it. I flew four other models the day of the vid and the gulls ignored all of them except the Sparrow. It must be the size and shape that they mistake for an intruding hawk or something. It's quite hard case, but the Sparrow has built up wings and a good smack from a gull could bring it down.

Motor Sparrow glider ridge soaring (2 min 40 sec)

This model was originally sold by R2Hobbies which has now morphed into TheBuildRC and is loosely based on the Bird of Time glider. Now four years old and still going strong. Makes a neat park and club flyer, thermaler and sloper so is pretty versatile. The wings have been strengthened from stock.

Here's a parkflying vid from a few days ago.

Bird of Time parkflying (2 min 39 sec)

I built this monster four years ago from some cores cut by a local hobby shop.It has given great service as a club flyer, park flyer and sloper and it's constuction method means it will probably last forever short of being run over by an 18 wheeler.

Gave it a wizz around at my local park the other day when no-one much was around and it's great fun to fly, though really shines as a sloper.
Here's a short vid:

Jazilla Flying Wing (2 min 7 sec)

Recently finished my SIG Wonder which has been set up with a medium power set up to keep it relatively quiet for park flying.

Had a great maiden flight just the other day.

Sig Wonder (2 min 30 sec)

Back in the day the RNZAF had a very rowdy air combat wing comprised of a bunch of A-4K Skyhawks. They were a pretty old airframe, but had been upgraded with state of the art electronics designed for the F-16. They were great air show performers, but never fired a shot in anger and our government of the day in 2002 decided to can them. Very painful for aviation enthusiasts, but in hindsight saved the country billions of $$$ over the ensuing years and helped us cope a bit better when the hairy legged WWFC turned up a few years later.

Anyways, in remembrance of the air combat wing, I built an EDF Skyhawk about 8 years ago and have my own little airshow from time to time. The model is done up as NZ2654, one of the TA-4K trainers. She's on her second motor and third fan unit. The modern 10 or 12 blade fans work really well and another resulting development is that they are much quieter than the earlier fan units meaning they are more user friendly for park flying and sound more like jets than an overamped vacuum cleaner.

Here's a recent vid of some park flying down at my local park. You can hear the difference in the fan units as the ground shots are with the older fan unit.

TA-4K EDF Skyhawk (2 min 26 sec)

Know then that it is the year OneThousandNineHundredandFourtySix. The Third Reich is still in control of much of Europe. The Allied invasion has bogged down following the German break out during the Battle of the Bulge and the Russians have been fought to a standstill following their defeat at the massive tank battle at Kursk. The skies over Germany are crisscrossed with vapour trails from the latest Luftwaffe jet fighters. The USAF B-29s have been taking a mauling from the Swallows and Hucks and have had to retreat to night bombing. This has caused the Germans some concern as the fast high flying B-29s are hard to intercept at night and the existing jet and piston engined fighters struggle to reach their altitude with enough fuel to loiter for very long.

Blohm und Voss have been engaged by the RLM to complete the prototype of their type 219 high altitude flying wing night fighter which can carry a huge fuel load and is built around the massive new turbo super charged BMW double in line piston engine. B&V, still smarting from their 212 losing out to the Ta 183, have thrown themselves into the 219 project and the prototype has been completed and is undergoing test flights. Some grainy footage has emerged showing it to be a very agile fighter.

B&V 219.01 (2 min 30 sec)

Here's a balsa bashing project I have been working on for a couple of years off and on – The Sorcerer thermal glider built from Charlie Parker plans (produced in the early eighties).

Well, after doing a bit every now and then, we finally got the beggar finished. The model is designed to fly on the dual rudders only, but performance was pretty sluggish, so I added ailerons. These work really well and make it agile enough for general park flying, particularly when you let loose with the twirly bit on the front. Also should make a good light wind sloper - I hope.

Here's a vid of the maiden flight following the addition of ailerons.

Sorcerer (2 min 35 sec)

This model has been around for a few years now, but I just picked one up from Banggood. Changed out the ESC for my old favourite HK Plush 60. She's got a 3000 4S Graphene lipo in the tank which hits the cg sweat spot nicely and gives her plenty of poop.

Here's a short hat cam vid of the maiden a few days ago - just cruisin' around getting a feel for her. Landings are a work in progress.

Waco YMF 5D (2 min 6 sec)

Well, in a moment of weakness, I shelled out fifty hard earned bucks for this model in HK's Xmas sale and, I must say, it was money well spent

My local park is a bit noise sensitive and, apart from being an abomination, I always intended to replace the EDF unit with a nose mounted motor and folding prop. I did this by back mounting an outrunner to a ply firewall and gluing the whole shebang into the fuse.

Set up is:
Motor: HK 28-30S Propdrive 800kv
ESC: HK 40amp Plush
Prop: aero-naut 10x8 folder
Battery: HK Nanotech 1300mAh

I will drop the supplied EDF unit and ESC into something else.

The weight of the motor and prop on the snoz necessitated the battery being placed back under the trailing edge of the wing. I opened up the lower fuse and was pleased to find a perfect channel in the fuse to take a 1300 battery.

The model is mildly aerobatic and thermals like a champ. With the folding prop on I expect it will be a nice sloper too. Here's a short vid, just cruising around down at the park.

Hall Cherokee (2 min 17 sec)

I have been flying my Luft '46 Horten Amerika bomber for ten years and she was getting a bit tatty, so I stripped her nekid, strengthened the framework a bit and gave her some new glad rags.

Here's a vid of the maiden flight following the makeover.

Horten Amerika Bomber (1 min 50 sec)

So I thought I would dip my toe in the canardly pursuit and see what all the fuss was about

I chose a rather old design called a Canardex, built from a plan, as it has a relatively simple balsa construction and looked pretty tough, so would make a good trainer.

The model has been built with a 3S set up running on a 1100mAh battery, 25 amp ESC and 1100kv Turnigy motor with a Multiplex Xeno 9x6 folding pusher prop. These props are really neat (particularly if you are planning on doing a bit of slopin') for 3S pusher applications and, being specialized pusher/folder props, they don't over-rotate forwards or backwards.

Here's a vid of the maiden flights with a bit of AP. Crank up the HD to 720.

Canardex (2 min 38 sec)

This model caught my eye when I was looking around for a scale 2.5m motor glider. It's a MotorSpatz (MotorSparrow) from VQ models in Vietnam. The fullsize was designed in Germany as a powered version of the existing Spatz glider and was first flown in 1960. Around 50 were made and a few are still air worthy in Europe with a couple flying in the USA.

Really nice flying model and a pretty straight forward build. I sourced the model from here: http://www.modellhobby.de/Airplanes/...ge&rdebox=box1

Here's a vid of the maiden and second flights - on the second flight I tacked a Mobius camera on the l/e of the wing and have spliced some AP footage into the vid.

MotorSpatz powered glider (2 min 43 sec)

The previous blog entry recorded the maiden flight of my NPS thermal glider from TheBuildRC. I took it out to the beach recently for it's maiden slope flight - just left the pod on and it flew really well.

Here's a vid - the whole flight was unpowered.

NPS thermal glider ridge soaring (2 min 12 sec)

Maiden flight of my NPS glider with motor pod attached including AP footage spliced in from the second flight - watch it in HD.

NPS thermal glider (3 min 33 sec)