I posted many years ago - eight years on checking - a picture of my flying pal Peter Wilson's then latest OD aerobat. This was back in the days where Peter was getting superb performance with this model from 16xRC2400s and a Mega R7.



Anyhoo she was one of the first of a long line of similar aerobats designed by Peter which have graced our flying field down the years and which are now tearing up the sky on AXI 4130/18 and 4120/18s and either 20x4200Nimhs or 6s1p5000mah lipos.

I'm made up to say that Peter has brought that original airframe down to the field yesterday and passed it on to me, for me to put back into the air. I'm looking at probably one of my Twister 60s and either 5S or 6S lipos and greatly looking forward to flying one of these superb machines.

The model is on the bench now, tied to a brick so that she doesn' blow away in the gentle breeze from the PC fan. She weighed in at about 5.75lb carrying a bunch of NiCds so will be practically weightless (by my standards) in her new incarnation.

Nice bird......expensive prop

Flew the Aerowatt for the first time on Sunday and joined a very exclusive club flying Peter Wilson aeroplanes

Used the Twister 60 and Peter extended the nose 10mm to accomodate the motor mount and fitted a new, removeable cooling scoop underneath- piccies later -for me whilst I was at work. I reworked the battery plate and retainrs and installed the gear on Saturday and then ran out of excuses on Sunday evening after the fun fly was finished.

Twister 60, 80ampHobbywing Guard ESC, 6s1p 4300 Loongmax Lipos, 12x6 APC-E, JR RS70 receiver, HS-81s on elevator and rudder, the Protech servoes that were already in the wings and a 700mah NiCd rx pack.

48ampsWOT makes something close to a kilowatt. Staight across the strip and straight up Bit of a panic on the first turn, as those ailerons are really effective, after that she was as good as gold. Didn't get above 1/2 throttle. I'm going to enjoy this one, for sure .

Classy looking model. Much easier on the eyes than some of the stuff going around these days.

Was this one ever published 'over there' ?

Regards

Dereck

No Dereck I don't believe she was published in the end.

Peter has developed the design further and now flys her descendants, with a little broader nose section on 6S1P 5000mah Lipos, 12x8 APC-E and AXI 4130/18 giving blistering performance.

IMO there's a bit of a look of the Cloud Dancer about these beauties, which is another classic looking model.

If you mated a 4* with a CD?

You must have nicer grass than I have - my usual UC position is just ahead of the LE. Needs a little attention on power up/TO, especially crosswind, but on landing, touch down, power off, full up and it'll stay put better despite the bumps mine get to live with.

D

I've got some learning to do - Peter's models are so light that she'll glide on forever and I do have a tendency to land fast anyway. I'll take some piccies of the internals tomorrow, the long hatch, removeable cooling scoop and battery retention are good design features that might help someone else to make a nicely workeable system. No wings off for battery changing with this baby.

Here's a few pictures of the internals, showing battery istallation and retention, the details pf the hatch, the removeable air scoop etc. Hope that they might give a few ideas that help other modellers in these areas.

That is a serious degree of access!

Even by my standards, and I hate models where I have to grub around to get at stuff...

Fascinating point though - how one guy working at home for fun can easily out-do a CAD/CAM 'product' made using cheap labour. Is there a point there, or what?

With my Four Star, etc, the gliding on forever problem was covered by just cracking the throttle off the bottom - a slowly turning big prop makes a great airbrake. That was easier with my ancient MaxCim sensored motors though - when 'progress' gave us sensorless, idle speeds went up significantly and it's harder to get prop RPM to just under where it starts producing thrust.

Or you could put all the servos on the outside, to increase the parasitic drag of the airframe. But you really have to buy expensive servos first, or you defeat the other main purpose of doing so

Shame she wasn't published - wouldn't take much to build a smaller 'kid cousin' for three or four jugs. Sure is a lovely model, whatever.

Regards

Dereck

Originally Posted by Dereck

That is a serious degree of access!

Even by my standards, and I hate models where I have to grub around to get at stuff...

Fascinating point though - how one guy working at home for fun can easily out-do a CAD/CAM 'product' made using cheap labour. Is there a point there, or what?

Sixty years of modelling experience helps

Peter's been building and flying models since 1947. We're blessed in our club with quite a few superb old school modellers and doubly blessed that they are so forthcoming with sharing their skills and passing them on.

So we have several homebuilt gas turbines, lots of scratch built sports and scale models and a good mix. Even some of the newer hands have gone in for plan builds and own designs right from their first model. Mostly the older entrants to the hobby though.

With my Four Star, etc, the gliding on forever problem was covered by just cracking the throttle off the bottom - a slowly turning big prop makes a great airbrake. That was easier with my ancient MaxCim sensored motors though - when 'progress' gave us sensorless, idle speeds went up significantly and it's harder to get prop RPM to just under where it starts producing thrust.

I found that with the big geared prop on my PT-19, the drag from the windmilling really slowed her down.

Or you could put all the servos on the outside, to increase the parasitic drag of the airframe. But you really have to buy expensive servos first, or you defeat the other main purpose of doing so

Think it's really down to me to improve my landing technique, take advantage of the lighter wing loadings and grease 'em in with more regularity.

Shame she wasn't published - wouldn't take much to build a smaller 'kid cousin' for three or four jugs. Sure is a lovely model, whatever.

Regards

Dereck

Thanks Dereck, I'll pass on your comments to Peter.

wrong thread

Originally Posted by leccyflyer

......

IMO there's a bit of a look of the Cloud Dancer about these beauties, which is another classic looking model.

Hi there Brian, good looking bird you have! I thought the same thing myself when I saw the 1st pic. The tail really gives it the Cloud Dancer look.

So how have you been lately? Hows young Leccy doing? I'll bet that he's all about flying now.

Hi Greg

I'm fine, thanks for asking and enjoying a rejuvenated hobby thanks to some better flying weather. Hope that you're getting plenty of flying in too.

Youngleccy doesn't really have the time to fly as often as he used to, he's at a critical time school wise and takes that all very seriously, since there is a mass of course work to get through, plus his music making takes up just about every minute of his spare time. He also has a Saturday job, in a music school/studio, to give him a bit of independence.

We do occaisionally share a day at the field, but I'm going on my own at least as often, which is a bit sad TBH. It's a common phenomenon when we get to that mid-teen age, so I'm counting on him coming back more into it when he's completed his studies (in about eight years or so ).

Looks set fair for flying today, so I'll try to get some pictures of the other variants of the Aerowatt and post them later.

Mornin' Bri!

I'd no idea that you'd jumped the queue (ie,. me) and got hold of this model! Damn your eyes, boy!

Peter's always been a bit of an anachronism to me. This frail, flat-capped and elderly gent, with the cruelly arthritic fingers, will gently wander to the pilots box and then perform 10 minutes of absolute hooligan aerobatics, before ambling back to a suitable seat.

One of the hobby's true gentlemen.

tim

That's what we call Peter these days - the hooligan.

Sort of a cross between Wallace (or Cleggy from Last of the Summer Wine) on the ground and Ghenghis Khan in the air