Monday 15 June 2015

Magic on Dodd Hill?

A day off work and the forecast was for light and variable winds. Perfect for some F3F practice. NOT!

Time to try out the Magic electric launched thermal glider I have had since Christmas. Christmas 2014! 

A quick charge of the 1300 mAh LiPo and I headed up to Dodd Hill. Very little wind and what there was came from the south east. No real slope lift then. 


The first launch (unpowered) saw the Magic dive straight into the ground about 3 metres away! Impressive glide performance then! A second more spirited launch wasn’t much better. A lot of up trim dialed in helped a bit on the third go and I put on the motor once it was away. STEEP Climb!! Not underpowered then. Motor off the nose went down and I had to hold in back stick even with full up trim on. 

Back on the ground I checked the cg and it was still where recommended. The bolt on wing doesn’t easily allow packing the leading edge up so packing was added to the trailing edge of the top mounted tailplane to increase the incidence. Fourth flight much better but still a lot of up trim required. More packing and it was better again but it will need the incidence checking. I may have been so keen to ensure the nose pod and tailboom were straight when joining I neglected to pay enough attention to the wing incidence. 



The Kevlar closed loop elevator linkage I designed is rubbish too (very springy) and will need changing to something more rigid. I will go for the steel wire pushrod and plastic tube "snake" like the rudder linkage. The design uses sprung control surfaces which the servo fights against and I did not like that at all. (Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!! poor wee servos!!) I went for snake on rudder and closed loop on elevator.

Although I got the model flying quite well and I am sure a few wee modifications will sort it out I am not convinced by the electric motor up front. I got an hour or so of flying from the battery but I think I prefer my Longshot DLG.

Monday 1 June 2015

Looking Sheepish in Glen Isla Saturday 30th May

Steady westerly wind forecast and only a few hours for me to get out to play saw me parked in the sunshine at Knock of Formel and heading up the hill with my Cyril just before 10. 

Initially the path goes through a field which was full of sheep and lambs. The wee lambs were bouncing around as they are inclined to do except for one which was was lying motionless on its side. I could see its eyes were open so it wasn’t dead and I debated whether to seek the farmer and alert him to his wee lamb in distress or not. A closer look was required. After all I had insulation tape in my rucksack (various colours including white) and some superglue. I can fix most things with that although livestock would be a first!

As I got nearer the poor wee critter its glazed eyes suddenly focused on me and it sprang to its feet and with a loud baaa for its mum headed away across the field. It stopped for a moment, farted, unloaded some ballast, and headed off once more. That was easy! I am considering a new career as an animal fixer!  Glad I didn’t drag the farmer away from his warm kitchen though!

Cyril having a rest. Looking north to Glen Isla. 
On top of the hill the wind wasn’t the forecast 15mph westerly, it was about 30mph and west-north-westerly so a bit crossed from the right. My Cyril liked it though despite it being very bumpy and a wee bit uncomfortable at times low down. Big thermals kept blowing through which were rough but Cyril bounced along really well with over a kilo of ballast onboard. 

I spent a bit of time tweaking the aileron differential but also spent a bit of time sitting drinking iffy tea from my flask and enjoying the summer weather. A few degrees warmer would be good!

Looking west over south end of Glen Isla.The long distance Cateran Trail follows the track right to left past that thin line of trees halfway up the slope opposite.
South towards Hill of Alyth and Strathmore beyond.
Loch of Lintrathen to the east
I headed home for a late lunch well happy. Turned out I could have stayed for another hour but I’m not one to moan!