Page 12 - MFW March 2024

turned off the wind it was away again and any throttle sent
it climbing away. After about fifteen minutes of battling it
finally disappeared at altitude heading towards Clive and
Havelock North. I was still able to control the turn until it
disappeared but I had no idea what the throttle setting
was. All a bit sad, but really as the result of a couple of
poor decisions. I live in hope that some kind person might
find it and get in touch with the club, NO I hadn’t put my
name and phone number in it ! ( Third black mark ). I’ll give
it a while and then not to be deterred it will be back to the
building board, the challenge is still alive albeit a bit dented
!! Ed.

Post Script. A walking History Book club member came
Test Flight Day Tuesday 14th October. up with the answer, alas a bit late ! He went delving into
I think I need to rename this article. “BACK TO THE his archives, notably some early annual bound copies of
BUILDING BOARD” !! through no fault of the gear, it all (MANS) Model Airplane News, December 1964. There
worked perfectly, but I made two mistakes. First, flying that in a column by the late Bill Winter writing about his Single
day in a moderate northerly cross wind at the field, and Channel “Swamp Box” model offered the following sage
Second, not spending a bit more time test gliding the trim. advice
For a steed I built a Vic Smeed 48 inch Senior Tomboy, a .
well tested and stable flyer. The model came out at 17.8
ounces dry weight and I test flew and trimmed it with my
Spektrum 9X radio. I flew it first on a 3S 1300 Lipo and the
performance was ballistic so changed to a 2S 850 battery
and the model was now nicely balanced and a joy to fly.

For the Single Channel experience I reset the rudder and
elevator settings as close as I thought to the original flying
settings. Hand launched and the model flew away well
though had quite a bias to the left and climbed markedly
under both half and full power and the glide was right on
the stall. I had full control, but spent the next quarter of an
hour going backwards and climbing and trying to work the
model forward into the wind. I got it back overhead a Well, as they say, better late than never, we won’t make
couple of times and spiral dived it down, but as soon as it those same mistakes again next time , I hope ! And there

Kapiti Aeromodellers’ Rally

Sat 16th & Sun 17th March 2024

Queen Elizabeth Park
Mackay’s Crossing
Paekakariki

No landing fees
MFNZ Wings Badge
required

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