17/07: First attempt: no dice
Category: Flying machines
Posted by: ajmilne
Just updating re the Surfin’ Bird/Butterfly/motor glider thing: it has yet to become airborne.
This isn’t for lack of trying. I made my first attempt this eve in iffy conditions—30 kph gusts, lulls almost still, figured I could probably handle it. The odd bout of 30 kph, I can certainly now do with other planes, anyway…
Sadly, however, it looks like the engine/prop combo I had mounted for said attempt apparently lacks the oomph to taxi through grass fast enough to lift off. In fact, alarmingly, the .30 FS and the 10x4 it’s currently swinging can’t even pull the thing out of the grass if it gets stuck a certain way. And I hadn’t even brought a prop with higher pitch because I’d seriously been thinking that, if anything, I was gonna wind up with airspeed to burn with the .30. The thing sometimes flies on a .10 two stroke, after all.
Still, this isn’t, for the record, wildly alarming or anything. The thing isn’t really designed for ground takeoffs in the first place, and it’s understood the tiny engine is just supposed to have the wherewithal pull it airborne. And the 10x4 was the lowest pitch recommended for the .30…
Sooo: I’ll be trying again in a bit with a 10x6. And hopefully in gentler conditions (crosses fingers). And hopefully with someone available to assist, fire it off on a hand launch. And then we’ll see.
Oh, and also, there were good parts. Such as: (i) my custom/somewhat idiosyncratic tailwheel approach worked wonderfully—the thing was actually pretty maneuverable on the taxi—at least when I could get it to taxi. And (ii) the wing is certainly tough enough to take the odd turtling right onto its tips, the fuselage suspended upside down above it. As I had a few of those.
This isn’t for lack of trying. I made my first attempt this eve in iffy conditions—30 kph gusts, lulls almost still, figured I could probably handle it. The odd bout of 30 kph, I can certainly now do with other planes, anyway…
Sadly, however, it looks like the engine/prop combo I had mounted for said attempt apparently lacks the oomph to taxi through grass fast enough to lift off. In fact, alarmingly, the .30 FS and the 10x4 it’s currently swinging can’t even pull the thing out of the grass if it gets stuck a certain way. And I hadn’t even brought a prop with higher pitch because I’d seriously been thinking that, if anything, I was gonna wind up with airspeed to burn with the .30. The thing sometimes flies on a .10 two stroke, after all.
Still, this isn’t, for the record, wildly alarming or anything. The thing isn’t really designed for ground takeoffs in the first place, and it’s understood the tiny engine is just supposed to have the wherewithal pull it airborne. And the 10x4 was the lowest pitch recommended for the .30…
Sooo: I’ll be trying again in a bit with a 10x6. And hopefully in gentler conditions (crosses fingers). And hopefully with someone available to assist, fire it off on a hand launch. And then we’ll see.
Oh, and also, there were good parts. Such as: (i) my custom/somewhat idiosyncratic tailwheel approach worked wonderfully—the thing was actually pretty maneuverable on the taxi—at least when I could get it to taxi. And (ii) the wing is certainly tough enough to take the odd turtling right onto its tips, the fuselage suspended upside down above it. As I had a few of those.
