Flying The Cloud, Bosley

We had a great impromptu PSSA meet on The Cloud on Wednesday, with a lovely 37-40mph NE cracking in on the big slope.  The Flanker went very well (donked on landing unfortunately) and the U2, too.

Here are some pics, which I should mention are all courtesy of Phil Cooke.  Please, do not re-use these without his express permission :

Back from holidays... (Fouga, Fox, U2)

..so it's back to building!

Just before we left for Cuba I bought a Reichard "Long" Fox, which was an experimental variation on the MDM-1, at quarter scale.  I then ordered up a load of servos and batteries to be delivered when I was gone, and now it's time to get building!

Undercarriage plates and semi-formers going in dry here.

3rd servo spot for the aerotow release.

The Fouga needed a little attention, as I wasn't happy with the final fit of the wings against the roots on the fuselage, but I ran out of time before the Orme even to rectify it.  I peeled off the covering on the faces of the root ribs, and after protecting the fuselage with masking tape, blobbed on some p38 filler and squeezed it all together.

This was then sanded back smooth, sometimes taking some of the original paintwork with it unfortunately, but the wings need a respray at the roots after this anyway.

The other problem was wobbly wings.  I initially thought the spar was flexing, but it seems the glass rod is not a very good fit in the wing box tubes.  I have temporarily fixed this by lining the spar with 3 lengths of thin masking tape.  The wobble is gone for now.

The U2 has another (that's 3 out of 4 possible) flap horns come loose on the Orme, so I have potted that in epoxy now too, as well as removed the tailwheel from the underside of the aircraft.  Should make her a bit cleaner and less likely to snag on landing.

Here's a couple of flying shots from Phil Cooke to prove that aviation was committed :

PSS fleet preparation, April 2017

Well, here is a post with a bit of everything on it, with random pictures from my phone from this week so far.

Fouga nose-light testing - I had to drop the 6.6v from the LiFe to 6v max with a regulator as apparently the LED unit has a max voltage at that value.  All programmed up now!

The mini A4 has been re-servo'ed, and also set up on the Horus.

A bit of surgery for the A4 - tail incidence change.  This has now been blocked out with balsa and re-covered.

Fouga out in the sun after her satin lacquer top coat.

The little fatty!  She took about 5 ounces of lead in the nose to balance.

All pile on the scales.

Fouga detail shot.

U2 on the c-of-g rig.  Balanced between 5 and 8% stability.

Belly shot.  I've taped up the retract doors for now, as the maiden will be without it.

 

Looking forward to some flying this weekend.

Lockheed U2-S PSS - mods and readying

I have given the U2 a good walk-around and checked the fit and finish of all the moving parts, and came up with a few sticking points to sort out, most of which are done now, but here are a few of the more interesting bits.

Here is a view forward from the sing spar / engine access hatch.  The main spar is currently two separate stubs that are bolted to a machined aluminium ring with four Jesus bolts.  This is pretty strong - I've really tried to bend them upwards and nothing as moved, but I am still going to replace them with a single pass-through unit.  Obviously the previous owner was going to keep a fan in here so he needed the maximum airflow through.  I'm not as worried at this stage!

Further up the fuselage is the dual redundancy power switch (with two 2500mAh LiFe cells attached) and the main gear retract, in the down and locked position..

Which brings me to the nose install.  Here I am just getting a feel for the placement of the air tank and air valve before final mounting.  I had better run the airframe over the C of G scales first before mounting this lot solid, but I've just been getting a feel for things so far.

Lockheed U2-S PSS - new airframe

I was directed to this PSS U2 after a fellow PSSA member (who is now responsible for 3 recent model purchases!) sent me a message with a link to the advert.  I posted it up into the RCM&E / Modelflying Forum's PSS models wanted / for sale page and then thought nothing more of it.

After pay day I thought I'd drop the seller a quick email to see if it was still for sale, thinking that something this rare HAD to have been sold by now.  It wasn't!  A plan was formed and off we went to get it, wild camping in the lovely South Downs forests over night on the Saturday.

Here she is, anyway - 108", 10lbs AUW, 6 servo wing, steerable tail wheel, retractable main U/C with sprung oleo and gear doors etc etc.  In my opinion for the price - a complete steal.

She was originally set up for EDF, and I think I will drop one in for those light wind days still, but initially she'll just be pure PSS.