Bounce crest tested!

 After watching Greg putting the saker through its paces last weekend I couldn't wait to tweak the Saker and get it going my self. An easterly makes the Crest an obvious and ballistic slope option. It also means that as the wind picks up the rotor and landing conditions can get a handful. 

  As a setting test the Crest is a tough one, the Maker's in built benign qualities and abilities means that she went fast and when a thermal picked up- very very fast!  Although very different to the Falcon the Saker was so easy to pump bigger and bigger reversals- the wings and joiner were definitely stress tested.   Some less than perfect landings also tested the wing tips!

  I'm loving this Saker and cant wait for the first production models to arrive. Just my thumbs slowing it down!

English Open part 1 and Saker thrashing

   After a fun time at day1 of the English Open my Falcon was sitting in 9th place. Dad taxi duty clashing with day 2 means I have to thank the organisers for a really fun time in some variable and challenging conditions.  I'll post some reflections after a night's sleep.

  But the end of the day had the biggest buz for me as I handed the controls of my the hot off the bench Saker to Greg Dakin to have a thrash with- turns out it is my thumbs slowing the models down!  great to see it put through it's paces.  Even with a very green set up the pace and Handling had Greg happy.

Golden maiden!

   One of the best parts of being involved with developing models is getting be the first to fly them. Once you having them flying I love solving the problem of setting up a fresh model. But to get to that stage- the first flight!

  Today was the first day I've had all the Saker component parts together and flying. CG calculations were about right, although I'd overdone the elevator throws. Still she flew better than expected as a 3m f3f model. 

  After numerous flights through the afternoon, tweaking balance and throws each flight got better and better. 

  The new fuselage design has the Saker tracking and turning really well- feels like the best I've had but this is completely subjective. 

  So adding ballast and lots of thrashing around the slopes for the next few weeks and months to get the saker sorted- so much fun!

All set for testing

 It's only been a few days since the new saker fuselage and tail arrived. Saturday saw me on the Crest and loving the Harrier for a day's fun. 

  A few late evenings and the new Saker is about ready to test. The shape of the new fuselage design gives the model a different look to most, even if it's hard to capture on camera. The compound curves in the design have helped to make the fuselage very stiff and strong to handling. 

  3 days driving round from Cornwall to Henley with the kids this week may mean that the maiden could be right before the English open- could be fun!