While waiting for the weather to clear..

I had built this old timer looking model about 7 or 8 years ago. It was powered by a GWS LPS motor on a 2 cell 250 battery. It was controlled by a GWS Pico rx and a couple of Pico receivers. It has a 30" wingspan. It flew like crap. It was way too heavy and needed a ton of nose weight to get the cg anywhere near useable.

I pulled the dusty model down off a shelf and cleaned it off. Put an AR6400 rx in and hooked up the controls. The 7.2V motor was replaced with a 4.8V version from the spares box. Stuck a 6x5 prop on and a 300 single cell battery in there and it's ready to go..

The ready to fly weight (with the 300 1S) is a mere 82 grams, not too bad for a 30" span model!

Was going to maiden the upgraded model this evening too, but,,,

Glenn

I like it. Do you recall what the name / brand of it is?

It's been so long ago I don't remember. I think it's based on the Buzzard Bombshell. I printed the plans out to 30" and started chopping wood.
Covered it in solite silver with transparent green trim.

Correction, the model is based on the Miss America.
I test flew it last evening and it flies great! It sure isn't overpowered with a single 300 cell, but it has enough to loop from level flight. It cruises around on about 3/5 throttle and glides forever.

Also test flew the Camel with the incidence change. I removed the 1/4oz nose weight and used the heavier 300 battery.
No go! it was still seriously tail heavy.... Managed to get it down in one piece! I left the weight at home, so called it a day.

This morning the wind was light, so I stuck the lead weight back in and gave it another go. Flies ok, but now it seems nose heavy. It needed a lot of up trim.

Landed and put a 160 battery in.
Perfect! No elevator trim is needed at all and the model now flies pretty good. The wind was getting a little choppy, so I'll reserve final judgement until I can fly it at the club field.

Spent the day at Top Gun event in Lakeland. First time I've been. There were some impressive models there!

Glenn

Sounds to me that you might have this bird ironed out finally. Congrats on a good flight. Hope your next test goes even better...

Thanks.
Yeah, it's getting close! Need to take it to the club field where the wind doesn't roll over trees.Then I will know for sure if the trim is close.
Weird how the wind rolls off the trees at my little test field. The model will be flying fine, then it's like a hand is pushing it to the ground. The model is level, but just drops like a rock! This has happened on more than just this model....

Glenn

After searching through my plans, the old timer is a 1/2A size Sal Taibi Powerhouse. I reduced it to 28" span. Flew the model last weekend using a 160mah battery. The model floats like a feather and glides forever!
It is going to be a perfect trainer for my grandson.

The Camel trim flights continue. Added another 5 grams of weight to the nose. The model is more stable now, but it still wants to tuck if the nose gets too low. I'm thinking this has to be from the unintentional washout in the bottom wing panels. The warps showed up after paint and while excessive (~5mm) for a model this small, it was even on both sides so I left it.

The plan now is to debond the cabane struts at the fuselage junction and raise the leading edge of the top wing center section. Hopefully this will twist out some of the washout. I may have to replace the rear interplane strut with ones about 3mm longer.

Another bummer is even after 3 heavy coats of Krylon clear, the ink started to bleed on the decals. The model got soaked in the wet grass when the battery quit short of the runway. oops.... I'm just going to have to invest in the Epson printer Pete has that uses the durabrite water resistant ink.

It's getting better!

Glenn

Nice one Glenn – those older styles are so iconic, my father used to build similar models back in the 50's – pleased that you are now having successful flights with your Camel.
Charles

First, the camel is beautiful and so is the Miss America. I wish my scallops on leading edges looked half as good.

Question: I have a problem with printer ink running from decals. Is there a particular model Epson that works best for decals and tissue printing? I assume a printer with a relatively straight feed works best.

Thanks!

Thanks for the compliment! I took some glamour shots of the model and will post them later.

Seems any of the Epson printers that use the Durabrite ink should work.
Check out Peter Rake's Eastbourne thread. He goes into detail about the printer he used on page 2.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...ight=eastbourn

I found an Epson that looks the part at Walmart for $59. Not a bad deal really, considering a new (non water resistant) ink cartridge for my HP printer is 40 bucks!
The Epson uses three individual color cartridges, so only the empty one needs changed. Handy!

Glenn

Thanks for the link to Peter Rake's Eastbourne thread with the printer info. I've got it bookmarked now.

I'll have to see if our local Walmart has inexpensive Epson printers. If the $59 printer comes with ink, then the printer itself is almost free!

Again, thanks for the help.

Kim

Wish I had known about the Durabrite ink way back in the beginning of this thread when I was doing the printed tissue experiments. Oh well, maybe next time...

Worked on the wing twist some last night and it seems the problem is worse than I thought. Tried raising the LE of the top wing at the center. This took most of the twist out of the bottom wing, but it also added a twist to the top wing. Looks like the interplane struts need to come off, the twist steamed out of the bottom wing and new struts cut so everything fits properly.
It also appears the horizontal stab needs some positive incidence too. I'll leave that alone for now and expect it will need down trim to fly level. If it's too bad then more surgery will be needed.. Dang...
Like dad used to say, 'anything worth doing, is worth doing right'
Glenn

Here's a few pics of the finished model. Hope to get some video this weekend.
Work continues on the wing incidence. Removing the interplane struts now.
Glenn

She looks great! – hope that you manage to resolve the incidence problem and have some fun flying the beauty.
Best
Charles

Thanks Charles.
Got the interplane struts loose from the top wing. Steamed out the warps. After the wings had time to cool, the warps were still gone.Glued the struts back in place and everything now looks to be in better alignment. I'll let it sit for a while before tightening the rigging back up to be sure the warps don't return. Then the rigging will be set just tight enough to keep stuff from moving.
Glenn