T Bird Downunder.

[Sandgroper]

 Hi all,
I have finished my 150% T Bird at last,dreams of it being a hardtank/softtank model with a lightened K&B 20 Sportster for SLOP and Open Power disappeared when it came out very nose heavy when assembled before covering.I took out the tank and rebuilt the front as std,the fuselage has 4 of 1.5mm dia carbon rods full lenght,zero wing incidence and 1 1/2 deg neg on the tail, extra top spars wing and tail,the mainspar dihedral brace is full depth and has been extended.
Even after replacing the K&B with a 1/2 ounce lighter FP20 it needed .8oz in the rear to balance it at 1.5" from the TE as per plan,total weight 26 oz.
The paint is VHT engine enamel and the covering is med weight polyspan on the wings and tail.grey tissue on the tip plates
The 20FP has a 21VF-R piston/liner,reworked boost passage and a turbo plug head so should pull as well as my 25LA.
I will get a couple of better shots on grass when the wind stops.


Phil

[craig h]

Nice..will be interesting to know how it flys..a very popular plane in the U.S.....keep us posted of results
 Enjoy

[Scottl0413]

Phil, very pretty airplane!! T-Birds are great flyers, you'll have a great time with this one.

Scott

[Sandgroper]

Thanks for the kind words guys,I hope it flies well,here are a few shots with a nicer background.
After reading an article on the Texas Eagle that had 1/2" washout on the right tip and 1/4" washout on the right main panel the 3/16" washin on the left main should be ok.
All contest flights are 10 second runs so I will be aiming for one and a half to two turns on the climb which should settle it into the glide ok and avoid any stalls off the top.
Test flights will be 2-3 seconds full power with D/T just after cutoff

Phil

[Sandgroper]

A little off thread I know but how did I come up with the pink grey and white colour scheme?this is my friend Jack who lives out the back .
Galahs are almost vermin here and because my wife feeds the wild birds,bandicoots,lizards and anything else that lives around here we get lots visiting to keep Jack company.
Jack is 18 years old and can live to be 40+.He likes a scratch and will sit on my shoulder.
Galahs are very short coupled and maneuverable birds,we see them flying straight and level for ages at our flying field then they will do a tumble in midair and carry on straight again-maybe they get bored?

Phil

[gossie]

A little off thread I know but how did I come up with the pink grey and white colour scheme?this is my friend Jack who lives out the back .
Galahs are almost vermin here and because my wife feeds the wild birds,bandicoots,lizards and anything else that lives around here we get lots visiting to keep Jack company.
Jack is 18 years old and can live to be 40+.He likes a scratch and will sit on my shoulder.
Galahs are very short coupled and maneuverable birds,we see them flying straight and level for ages at our flying field then they will do a tumble in midair and carry on straight again-maybe they get bored?

Phil

Good things Gala's.........plenty here flying and walking around..........even some human ones. LOL

We had one as kids that used just stay with us and go in and out of his big cage when he wanted to......we think it was a "he".  He just keeled over one day after a few years.   I must say I HATE birds in cages, but if they are free as yours that's fine by me.

[Sandgroper]

I sometimes feel it may be nicer for him to go and fly around with his mates but he has a good size cage and gets lots of wild birds visiting,the mesh is small to keep out Hawks.
We see lots of wild ones dead by the road and I just missed one in my car this morning so I use things like that to justify to myself he may be better off in a cage at times.

[Sandgroper]

Hi All,
First trimming flights yesterday,perfect conditions with good weedy ground cover to keep the sand out of the engine.Final engine choice was the 25LA on 15%, prop MA 9x4 and a pacifier for fuel delivery.
First flight was a little exciting with three tight loops developing at approx 100ft before the engine cut at 4 sec pulling out into a glide for a few seconds before the DT went off.
Non destructive structural testing completed I trimmed 1/16 off the stab rear mount and after resetting the timer for a shorter DT tried again.
Flight two started to go on its back at the end of the 4 sec run so I cut off another 1/16 of the TE rear mount for flight three- much better but drifted off to the right at end of climb,added 1/16 left rudder for flight four- better,added another 1/16 left rudder for flight five, better again nice steep spiral good pull out and glide,a few more flights with longer engine runs and trying different launch styles finished off a nice day.
DT landing is a little dramatic with lots of bounce and noise but no structural faults noticed after ten D/T flights.
Fun model to fly and stays very clean with most of the exhaust gunk missing the airframe,easy to trim with docile handling,non critical to launch angles and looks very nice in the air.

[glidermaster]

That's great, Phil, it sounds like you had a very enoyable flying session.

Are you, Scott Lapraik and I the only ones flying power this year? Seems like it!

John

[Sandgroper]

Almost summer up there they should be out of hibernation by now?
It is autumn here and with it the best weather for flying,to take advantage of this all our contests are bundled into the next few months so I will try to take a few shots and make a few posts.
F1C was scheduled for this weekend but lack of entries has caused it`s cancellation,F1B is on Sunday and when not timing I will fly the T Bird in the combined event .

Cheers
 
Phil