The final official PSSA meet of the year

Well, just over a week since I got back, so here's some pictures.  Most of these are already out there on the 'net somewhere, but I have included them here for completeness.

I manage to stuff the big Antonov into the trailer and drag the big white heap up to the Orme.  No drama in the launch phase, but I was on full pucker-alert on landing - at the top flatter section of the SW / S bowl was where I donked an A10 landing in the distant past.  Anyway, all went OK and she was a bit of a crowd pleaser even though it's a hateful thing to fly.

A full trailer

I tried to sell the Antonov when I was there for £50, but had no takers - shame!

The Stuka was much more interesting and went well, although the C of G was too far back so was a bit pitchy.  A little damage on landing but all repaired now.

The Spit, Hurri and little Mustang all flew without issues too.  All in all a good end to the season.

Antonov, C17 and some sport models

Some odds and sods being take care of now that the major builds for this year are done with.  First off, the Antonov engine parts.  The paper cups have been chopped to length, primed, then sprayed silver :

I printed 6 off spiders to hold these in the ABS engines :

And here is one mounted in the engine.  A bit of glue, then they're all done :

I bought a small sport model from Silencemodel in France, called the CeePee.  A smart little thing, and a complete CNCkit with hardware too:

All built:

Covering started:

Finished and ready for servos.  Removable wings and tailplane (all-flying tail), should weigh about 220g AUW :

Some mods to the C17.  I've decided to delete the top surface spoilers, due to the complexity and doubts about their stiffness at this scale.  I filled the pockets with soft half-inch sheet, carved them flat, and wiped over with some lightweight filler.  Just a little bit of glass over that, and the it's time to continue with the flap canoes:

A bit of a mix, but the C17 is now firmly back on the bench.

The Antonov flies!

The big beastie took to the air without problems last week, the re-maiden happening on the Long Mynd.  Nothing to report really, other than I need to stick some covering back down, and two of the engines need a rework where the release tabs have cracked off the top.

Success!

PSS Antonov An-225 - complete!

It's been a while since I've posted, but I've been on-and-off on the building front due to other life stuff.  The 225 is now complete, balanced, and ready to fly.  Not quite true I guess, as I haven't added the thrust tubes onto the back of the engines as yet, but I'm happy for her to fly without those for now.

What a lump! I'm never moaning about moving the A10 around again..

PSS C17, Antonov, and Typhoon progress

Work is progressing well on all sorts of parts.  I've been on a bit of a glassing binge recently, getting a few parts done every night if I can.  Here the Typhoon ailerons, C17 elevators and wingtips are all getting their first sides glassed :

Then the second side :

Rub down and clean-up.  Really liking the finish on these ailerons :

The Antonov has had its middle-fuselage-piece faced with 3mm birch ply, and the clamp plates secured :

The rear fuselage piece has had the facing started, hopefully everything will be ready for covering by Sunday.

C17 Globemaster III for PSS - garden shot

Just an update to show the C17 alongside the Antonov.  I have done a few bits on the C17 this weekend, including changing how the tail section is secured to the nose, which will make it quicker and more secure to put together.

Antonov An-225 Mriya - the rebuild progresses

Lots of work on the 225 these past few days, including the biggest change - sawing the main fusealge in half.  This thing was 14 feet long, and made moving / transporting / handling / everything just too hard.  OK this isn't an everyday slope model, but it actually needs to not make me want to kill it every time I work on it.

Here is a snippet of the fus cut - join will be via 4 latches and 2 aluminium tubes :

I actually read some instructions and figured out what I was doing wrong when binding the second RX to give me 16 channels on the Horus.  Wing programming is now finished.  Here the 4x 4200mAh LiFe batteries that will run everything, as well as the two receivers on their respective distribution / battery back boards :

The nose is ready for some HK film now :

Flaps 3 and 4 (in-board centre section) have had new servos, servo arms and pushrods :

I'm now waiting on the wing tube delivery from SLEC so I can get the fus parts sorted.

Antonov An-225 Mriya - lots more work

This beast is not only taking up a lot of room, but a lot of my time too.

Nose section, sanded "smooth".  Yes this is the smooth version, with wood glue seeping into the cracks before the P38 filler comes out today :

Loom soldering.  Lots of wiring going into this, and it stole the Emcotec connectors I was saving for the Typhoon.  This beast has 8 servos in the wing in total.

Starboard wing recovered, and new LE chrome trim added.

Many more updates to come, the push for April continues.

Antonov An-225 Mriya - a PSS legend

In 1995 Simon Cocker made a rather large PSS glider - the Antonov An-225 Mriya ("Dream").  At 6m span, she made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Alas, in about 2006 the model suffered a crash on finals when the forward hatch blew open which resulted in a large un-commanded yaw manoeuvre.  The aircraft would not respond quick enough to corrective action, and she went in at just below cruise speed. 

The aircraft punched clean through a bush that slowed her a little, then parts starting hitting the ground.  The nose hit hard, and pulled the mounting hardware clean out of the main fuselage section, pivoting backwards and leaving a large gash in the port LE. 
Next, the main fus section hit more or less straight in - this was the big hit.  The main bulkhead ploughed  through the soil then fractured halfway up, blowing out a large section of the bottom of the fuselage.  This shock load flexed the wing tip panels so hard, the scarf joints cracked in the spars and the veneer creased on top.  The entire fus flexed, creased the veneer in 4 distinct lines, then righted itself. The tailplane also suffered here with a flexing stress crack of the veneer.
Most of the weight of the plane is the centre wing section - this carried on going forward, pulling the bolt plate clean out, fracturing a large 1/4" birch ply tongue, and shed all the engines.  5 out of the 6 engines were damaged, one badly.  The fins - nearly 2 foot high each - were completely unscathed from the crash.

When I picked the aircraft up she was in a sorry state, having sat dormant in a garage for the best part of 12 years since the impact.  Simon and some of the PSSA guys had managed to clear the crash site rather well, and just about every part was recovered though - making the rebuild a fair bit easier.

I have taken pics of most of the repair process, and probably wont blog them all, but here are a few.

The nose rejoins the aircraft on its latches for the first time in a long time

Port LE repair

Front of main fus repairs

Repairs continued

Centre wing flap reattachment

This has put a big dent in all the other aircraft builds and repairs, but they'll all get done, eventually.