That boomerang looks like it has a nasty spin although recovery seems straight forward...

Good flying at Kambah this morning in low wind. Parked the RV4 somewhat poorly and have done a fair bit of internal damage - a somewhat nothing accident but quite a bit of damage - I guess that's the downside to bitumen.

Hope everyone gets some good flying in this weekend.

Nice video Trumps. Good to see your's lands like mine used to .

I'd read that you need to bend the landing gear a fair way forwards to stop the roll-over on landing, though I never had an success .

On grass with a WWII warbird you are always on a hiding to nothing to prevent nose overs. Even if you have the plane at the minimum airspeed and perfect nose up Angle of Attack you still need a little bit of luck.

I used to measure success based on how far the plane rolled out before it tipped - when you first touch down it seems you still have some elevator authority, so with that at full up deflection the plane is somewhat held on the ground. Half a foot later you have lost that authority, but there is still enough momentum to nose over - frustrating.

Originally Posted by evo62

V8,

That's some purdy planes you got there. I know you have been belting the living daylights out of the trainer, which other ones have you flown? What's the one with the red tail and wing LE's and green stripe on the wing?

Clovus

The one with the red LE and green patch on the wing is a Harmon Rocket III.
The full scale is designed by John Harmon and is a kit based on an RV4, to be more aerobatic.

Flies well, but have to keep the speed up. It floats like a brick!
Has a fairly thick airfoil and slows down VERY quickly if you drop the power.

I have flown all the planes in that pic except the Sea Fury in the background. Working on that and my Super Chipmunk at the moment.

Just waiting on an engine mount from GeoffViper to finish the Chippy.

The Miss America Mustang flies exceptionally well. Especially since its a warbird I am told. No wing stall at low speed. It just mushes forward. No washout in the wing tips which surprised everyone who has seen it fly.
Just got the DX6i programmed up properly so it will knife edge with rudder-elevator mixing. Just have to setup a tiny amount of rudder to aileron mixing and it should knife edge really well with just rudder input.

The trainer and the Rocket I have grounded for now. Want to get some of the other planes I have built and flown. Will keep those two as backup as they are fairly beaten up now.



I have been doing a hell of a lot of flying. Loving it.

Edit: RE: Nosing over warbirds. My Mustang would do exactly as you said Oz. Until I fitted larger wheels and raked the undercarriage forward so the wheel centre line was just ahead of the LE. Doesnt do it anymore at all.
Also a guy who flies scale warbirds at our club showed me a cool way to do approaches and landings with them. As your coming in for final add a couple of clicks of down elevator. This way you can come in hot without fear of a tip stall by flying the elevator. And when the wheels touch down you can release elevator and the plane glues itself to the ground. As speed slows down enough to prevent any lift you pull some up elevator in and it will stop it nosing. Hard to explain and it may be more difficult to achieve with the smaller birds. But it helped my landings immensely. Not so jerky on and off the elevator on landing cause you are already on the elevator the whole time.

That make sense to anybody ? lol

Sorry mate been flat aout at work

am mailing it all off to you monday morning

hope it helps
l found a couple of mounts that l dont need and the spinner so it should arrive about wednesday your neck of the woods

Thanks Geoff. No rush mate.
The Mustang is keeping me busy with teething troubles at the moment and thats the only plane I have airworthy. The Chippy still has a fair bit to do.
Doing the elevator control rods at the moment and its the first time I have done that sort of setup so taking my time.

Did you end up getting the second Chipmunk in the air?

Finally got my Nasty out for a maiden this morning.

Not a breath of wind.

COG perfect.

Everything checked and re-checked.

Throttled her up and away she flew, wings perfectly level, everything looking great.

Went into a gentle turn and as I started applying elevator I starting thinking something wasn't quite right...

Then it dawned on me. The elevator was reversed! Brain went into full overdrive trying to make the thumbs do the right thing do bring her down safely, but about eight seconds later POW, straight in at speed, nose first!

Broke the nose clean off - even managed to snap the CF fuse rod.

I was speechless! It's got to be the third time or fourth time I've maiden a plane with at least one servo reversed, and I though I'd finally learnt my lesson. What really sh@t me over this one was that I checked and re-checked all the control surfaces several times over, and every time I pulled down on the elevator stick and the control surface went down I was like 'yep that's right'.

Now it's out with the scalpel, glue, clamps and tape. Hopefully I can re-build the front end without adding too much weight. What I'm most bummed about is it'll be another week before I can re-maiden it...

Naaa l sent for the new HK spitty as l really missed this plane

lve had over 100 planes and in all honesty this plane has to be the best lve had


value for money and performance

though Marks hyperion stuff makes it go

Yak is still being nice though, l think the elevator servo is creaping

Bad luck Ben - if you can it is always good to get another pair of eyes to check your servo throws...

Ben,

Can you just tape it up? Maybe a bit of triangular balsa stock as bracing.

Still trying to iron out the wrinkles in the DR1, the thing built in 2 hours but the electrics are giving me the willies. Definately no maiden this weekend

Everything esle is ready to go if the weather co-operates.

clovus

Crikey Ben,bad luck mate..bit o' glue,bit o' tape,be as good as new.Remember,treat as a disposable item.
Speaking of,I thought I would repost this photo of the maiden launch of my BAF Yak...makes me chuckle everytime I see it.
(Launching is Bert 1,uninterested is Bert Jnr,slightly concerned is Bleary...)
Bit of glue and tape and she is flyin' again!
Bleary.

currently on RCG from my Nokia. Now i can get online no matter where i am... Flew the Mig 29 again yesterday. Loving it

Either that motor has a very long shaft, or you have a small problem there Bleary

Yep,gravity won on that occasion.
Looking at that makes me get all Essendon for some strange reason!
Sheedy's fault probably

Sorry to hear about the nasty Ben.
One thing that helped me originally when I started assembling/building planes was I wrote a pre-flight checklist.
Made sure I put in capitals and underlined:

Elevator: Pull BACK on stick elevator goes UP. Push Forward on stick elevator goes DOWN.
Ailerons: (Left Wing) Push stick LEFT Aileron goes UP. Push stick RIGHT Aileron goes DOWN

I still pack that piece of paper on top of my toolbox for maidens and I double check before I fly. If someone is out at the club/field I get them to check it too. But that piece of paper rammed the directions home.

Hope you get her back in the air soon mate.

VeeAte