Control Line Model Airplanes: March 2005

More Good News-Acro Trimmed!

The weather here in MD was 63 degrees and sunny with fairly light winds again. So the Acro has four more flights on it. The BY&O 8x5 prop definitely improved the apparent available thrust. And the extra tail weight (2 oz. total tail weight) seemed to help also. In any case I do not want to change anything on the Acro now. And I really like the engine run and generally the way it flies. Did many more loops and eights today. Also did some wingovers. Also dealt with some ocassional, weird, multidirectional, fairly stromg wind gusts. It must be Spring.

Good News!

Good News! The Acro Flies!

Today the weather was great here in Maryland. No leaves on the trees yet. The grass is still dormant. But today we had sunshine and 59 degrees. So I made a trip out to the local middle school athletic field. The Acro made its maiden voyage today. Last Saturday I started the engine for four short heat cycling three minute runs to begin the break in. Today I just flew the Acro three times. It stays up at least ten minutes with the tank I have on it. So now I can say it is fully broken in. I kept climbing and diving the plane so that the load on the engine was constantly changing. And I managed to do inside and outside loops, inverted flight, and lazy eights. The Acro flies really well. The glide after the engine quits is good. And it stays upright on the landing gear when it lands. And the stock OS muffler is very effective. The plane is nice and quiet. I think we have a winner here.
But I do want to try a B.Y.&O. 8x5 prop on it. And I do want to try adding a little more tail weight.

Clowniac Update

First-a correction. I noticed that on my last post I described the engine as a Tiger GP 15. It is actually a Thunder Tiger GP 15. I actually thought I had typed Thunder Tiger and even proof read the copy and still missed the error. Of course 5 minutes after I published it, I noticed the error. Oh well...
By the way the engine is basically a clone of the O.S. Max 15 FP-S. Except that it has a sprinkler type venturi similar to the old Super Tigre setups. So far i love this engine. It runs great. $28.00 well spent on eBay.
Now for the update. I must confess that the Clowniac did not turn as tight as I would like it to last Sunday. So today I added two ounces of tail weight to improve the balance. Hopefully it will turn tighter now.

Thunder Tiger GP 15-Clowniac

Clowniac Again

The Clowniac is no longer just a display model! Today the local weather was pretty good for flying. So three of us showed up at the field. And the Clowniac flies! The Tiger GP 15 I picked up used on eBay runs absolutely great. Plenty of power. There were some pretty wicked winds out at our field today. But the Clowniac penetrates well. And I managed to get in five nice long flights with the Clowniac today. She has now experienced inside loops, outside loops, inverted flight, lazy eights, and a wingover. And when she lands, she stays upright on the landing gear. Even if the landing is a little fast and sloppy. Imagine that! The wind conditions were pretty brutal today, or I would have tried a few more maneuvers. But I am confident now that the Clowniac will do whatever I want her to do.