should be more than enough for 3D and hover pull out.

Dennis

That's what i'm hoping for. I weighed it yesterday just on some body scales just the old dial style and it comes up as about 4kg/8.8lb . I've got main flight packs 1.14kg/2.5lb, wheels, ESC, radio batteries and receiver with power board. But I weighed it with the alloy wing tubes as I haven't cut down my carbon tubes yet. So i'm hoping for under 12.5 lb, I really wanted to come in under 12lb but I don't think that will happen.

Are you guys using normal metal bolts to hold the interplane struts in place or just nylon bolts. I'm thinking Nylon bolts might be a bit easier and quicker. I just cut down my CF wing tubes and they weigh 125g/4.4oz, whereas the Alloy tubes weighed in at 245g/8.6oz so half the weight basically.

I am useing 4 40 hex head bolts with permantly installed T nuts in the strut. I suspect someting in the 3mm range would work.

I use a long driver with a magnet on the end to hold the bolt to start.

I have a plastic servo box with velcro that lives on the battery tray when in storage, holds all the bits and pieces. + I glued the washers to the bolts. fieldset up is less than 10 minutes

Dennis

Neat Dennis. That's what I do with all my bi and tri planes.

Thanks Dennis.

I ended up using 6/32 for all the strut and wing attachment bolts and I've got the matching long shank Dubro ball driver which should cover all the bolts required for setup.

Next question have you locktited any other control linkages etc.. apart from the motor mount hardware. Obviously if it was a gasser i'd be going over everything with locktite but not sure if it's required with this size electric plane, I don't normally worry on the smaller planes.

Feather merchant

You need to finish the one you have, Both AJ and Kyle have flown it and both seemed honestly impressed with the way it flew.

Dennis

Lock tite on motor mount, motor box and landing gear. Can not hurt.

Not on the bolts that are taken of all the time

Dennis

So despite the lack of updates, progress hasn't stopped. I started my new job on Monday last week and it's 5 day weeks for the next 7 weeks till we go on shift whereas I just came from a shift so I generally had a day or two off during the week which used to free up some time for working on the model. Also had a Wedding and few dinners to go to, so that has eaten into my modelling time.

But at this stage I have all the radio gear working (rates & expo not set yet), i've fitted the ESC and soldered on all the connections. Now I just need to set up a set of batteries for the motor, fit the wheels, and then once i've done that and checked the CG i'll locate my radio battery packs in the appropriate location for CG. Then that should be it, ready for flight. Once I've done the maiden or if I have the time beforehand i'll add my final trimming parts, cowl, and tip checker patterens. I have to make sure I go back over all my nuts and bolts before maiden day.

Well I was hoping for a maiden tomorrow but it's not going to make it in time unfortunately.

It's 10:20pm here now and i've still got to sort out the CG, figure out the power pack battery mounting, then the flight packs, and the one I need to spend some time getting right is gluing the canopy into position.

So i've decided to call it a night and take my time sorting those items (pretty important ones) out when I have the time to do it properly. Of course the extra week gives me time to finish of the trimming.

would have liked to hear about the maiden but discretion is better

next week

dennis

Ended up being a terrible day for flying anyway very windy! I took the Bandit out and only had two flights, flying around was ok but landing was very nervy, so I would not have maidened a plane in that wind.

Well the maiden has been done. She flies great! Only needed one click of right aileron and some down elevator. Lovely smooth lines and tracks pretty well. Doesn't actually slow down as quickly as I thought it would with all the biplane drag. I ended up upping the elevator low rate but the ailerons have plenty of control even on low rates. My power setup also has heaps of power and pull out is strong. Takeoff roll is very short and it's lifting off at bairly half throttle. I only had three flights and didn't push it real hard just some basic rolls, loops, stall turns etc. I did end up a bit on the heavier side, not sure how as I was looking to come in under 13lbs and it sort of balloned right at the end out to a bit over 14lbs, but it didn't feel heavy in the air.

I'm very happy and look forward to getting some more flights on it.

great to hear the maiden went well, Not sure how the weight got that high, mine is at 12lb, and I think that is where Kerry came in at.

It does have plenty of wing to fly at that weight. You will probably need some mixing for rudder coupling, and I have a little rudder mixed to the throttle to give straight up lines.

Video and flight shots are now in order and need to see some shots of the finale trime

Dennis

Yeah I can't really figure out the weight thing, but maybe my scales just aren't real accurate at the bottom end of there range. In either case it doesn't fly like a heavy model, it definitely has plenty of wing to get it around. I was expecting a little heavier then 12lbs simply due to my motor and battery combo being a bit heavier but there is not 2lbs of extra weight there.

It does seem to pull ever so slightly to the left on up lines but not very much, more noticeable on vertical uplines was it's desire to tilt back on itself, I think this is simply a result of the drag caused by the upper wing since it's mounted further from the centre/thrust line than the lower wing is and hence the upper wing drag has a greater leverage along with the batteries being mounted above the same line. Edit: I wonder if once I fit the wheel spats if that will add some drag to counter the upper wing.

I haven't actually finished all the trim yet so don't have any final finished pics but here is some from the weekend. I think the wife wants to come out to see it fly this weekend so she will probably bring out the DSLR and can hopefully get some flight shots.

That little black car is actually my run around and the M12 just fits, another inch or two longer and I don't think it would fit. The field was very quiet that weekend as we'd had large storms go through the night before and we were having showers on and off.