My addiction to flying this week had slope dog and I sat in the car waiting for that 1 hour slot of flyable weather to pass over the slope. I decided not to tell the missus about all the waiting as she txt to see how it was going!
When the slot did come I had the saker ballasted up to 3.75kg and soon ripping around. Pumping was limited by the cloud base rather than my thumbs this time. It's just easy with the Saker.
After a rather unspectacular trip to whitesheet I returned to find the house full of teenage girls- time to hide in the garage and fit some ailerons.
Some pictures later but the horns I used were Thomas lui carbon horns. The single horn, fitting on to an aluminum arm is a neat and slop free solution.
I was able to achieve a neat horn fitting, flush to the top skin without any huge dramas.
It's not been possible for that time away from the turkey sandwiches to be spent on the slope so far this Christmas. But I have been taking the chance to fit out a set of Wyvern wings.
I've been really pleased with the performance of the Chaservos I've been using for the ailerons so I've decided to use the 9.5mm big brother of those ailerons servos. Fitting and testing they have a really solid and strong feel with low noise. First impressions and testing has shown fast response and apparently perfect centering.
Finishing, balancing and testing to come in January!
It was a shame that the Whitesheet winter league was cancelled today. I ended up taking my Saker and Wyvern up. Both took some serious amounts of ballast.
Not surprisingly when in 25ms air, when. When It squared up they really took off. I had taken the new lite weight saker fuz up but I was not going to learn very much today, or I bottled the maiden!
It was a shame that there wasn't a clock on any of my flights. The 2 models feel rather different in the air. whilst the Saker just carries its speed and momentum through just about anything, the Wyvern turned faster and could take off but that pace could be lost. Good air and EM turns, the Wyvern feels so fast. But against the clock it's not about feel.
I've mentioned before that around 3 years ago I decided to commit to flying in whatever conditions I was daft enough to go out in and the slope that was available, since then I have been receiving looks of bewilderment on slopes from Beer to the Wrecker.
Flying in the kind of strong winds that we have had lately with the moldies I have means that you know that you're going to be going fast. I've come to the realisation that what you need and develop is a confidence in your model. I know that it is more than strong enough but it's the model's handling and behavior that you really need to trust.
This weekend I flew the Saker and then Wyvern models. Both screaming around the sky whilst my face was blown around like a spaniel leaning out of a car window. Not sure Slope dog enjoyed it too much!
You know that you really do have an aviation problem when you're driving to the slope around fallen trees and water logged roads. Slope dog decided to hide behind the car to shelter from the 60mph winds.
The smaller span of the wyvern and falcons make ground handling and launching much easier than the 3 Saker. Screaming around the sky was made more of a buzz as I struggled to stand up against the conditions.
That forgiving platform that the Falcon and Wyverns have are really put to the test in these conditions. Carrying your speed and energy through the flight at these speeds is different to the usual challenges of flying, but so much fun. Knowing and trusting your toy is essential and so much fun!
It’s been a few weeks since I started flying the new lighter Wyvern. It’s taken me this long to get a few winter sessions in with the new model giving me the time to understand what effect the changes have had. Flying on inland slopes and the variability of conditions that this gives, it’s easy for any changes to be over whelmed by variability in the conditions.
I’ve flown the new
Wyvern back to back with my ‘stock’ version that I have just about settled on a
set-up. It’s taken a good while for me
to understand the model and get closer to best performance from it- this is
more to do with my failings than the model. The Wyvern is the first model I have
flown that I have set up to have the snapflap coming in and maxing out so early
in the elevator stick. Effectively
flying the Wyvern with 2 sections for the turn and the straights.
The lighter layup has been a nice step forward
I lighter air- not surprisingly. The new
tail has delivered a much crisper elevator response that makes me feel like I
have better feedback. Whilst some of
this is because of the overall weight, I have test the new version, ballasted
up the old weight and there is a noticeable development in performance.
This is very much as
you’d expect from loosing weight at the tips.
Quite nice to see that it works in practise though. Both models have responded really well to the
new snapflap set up- again nice to have proof that the aerodynamic theory seems
to be working in practise.
