shep1
07-19-2007, 07:11 PM
Well the first flight is over with. The F-15 has flown and it was a wild start.
I had the plane in the car in case the wind was down after I had finished with the dentist. As luck would have it the conditions were great and there was still someone at the field. To help with visibility I had painted some of the tail orange and it did come in handy. I had Norm toss the plane for me after we decided which method would be the best to use. We used an underhand throw with Norm holding the turtle deck and feeling for the right moment the plane had enough thrust to sustain flight. Well the plane left his hand and did an immediate inversion. What a start. I got lucky in that the plane stayed level for more than fifty feet inverted and it was a quick control action to flip it over and then I was off. This plane was not one of those first flight no trimming required. It took a lot of control to keep level flight and it flew nicely once I figured it out. The landing was bothering me because I have no prop saver on the pusher configuration. I just brought it in nose up low to the ground and killed the motor and watched it slowly drop to the ground. What a relief. :D :D :D :D
I can't wait for the next flight. I made some adjustments and added more paint to the model. It is now basically gray on top, white on the bottom and some orange markings on the tail fins and fuse sides. Unfortunately I also added a little more weight. The model now weighs 610 g or 1lb 5.5 oz. I hope to get a few more flights in before our scale rally comes up in August so I can at least participate instead of always helping. Next up will be the F-14(hopefully before the end of the year)
Keep on flying.
Art
I had the plane in the car in case the wind was down after I had finished with the dentist. As luck would have it the conditions were great and there was still someone at the field. To help with visibility I had painted some of the tail orange and it did come in handy. I had Norm toss the plane for me after we decided which method would be the best to use. We used an underhand throw with Norm holding the turtle deck and feeling for the right moment the plane had enough thrust to sustain flight. Well the plane left his hand and did an immediate inversion. What a start. I got lucky in that the plane stayed level for more than fifty feet inverted and it was a quick control action to flip it over and then I was off. This plane was not one of those first flight no trimming required. It took a lot of control to keep level flight and it flew nicely once I figured it out. The landing was bothering me because I have no prop saver on the pusher configuration. I just brought it in nose up low to the ground and killed the motor and watched it slowly drop to the ground. What a relief. :D :D :D :D
I can't wait for the next flight. I made some adjustments and added more paint to the model. It is now basically gray on top, white on the bottom and some orange markings on the tail fins and fuse sides. Unfortunately I also added a little more weight. The model now weighs 610 g or 1lb 5.5 oz. I hope to get a few more flights in before our scale rally comes up in August so I can at least participate instead of always helping. Next up will be the F-14(hopefully before the end of the year)
Keep on flying.
Art