Well, I got the X-8 finished last night and today dawned bright and sunny, so it was maiden day – yikes.




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I have been working on this model and some others on and off for six months and having it finally ready to go was something of a relief. Still have to paint it, but that is going to be quite a mission with a 2.55m wing span and a Luft ’46 scheme, so I wanted to make sure it flew OK before investing the time and money in paint and decals. Mine is designed just for park flying and ridge soaring. I used part of the load carrying capacity to strengthen the wings with cf rods, glass and brown paper to finish – tough as. Fuse is glassed and elevons are glassed balsa.

Flying weight at the mo is around 3.3kg which is a reasonable weight to hand launch and having a carbon prop sitting on the sharp end of 700watts is a bit of a worry, as some of you have mentioned. I followed Daemon’s advice with the 2x2x1 fingered grip with sand paper attached to the finger holes and the maiden launch went great. I have done several thousand pusher, EDF and slope launches so kinda getting the hang of it.



Really thrilled with how it flies. I had two flights of about ten minutes each just exploring the handling and getting a feel for her. The landings were all they are cracked up to be. Like trying to land a run away train with a 20:1 glide ratio - on my first attempt I gained 10 feet. Haven't bothered with any spoilers etc as my planned landing grounds are huge.

Here's a short vid of the maiden.

Blohm und Voss 219.01 fighter. (2 min 33 sec)

Looking forward to getting some paint and squadron markings on her.