Introducing the Giles 202

While we're waiting for the weather to improve I thought I'd provide a few pictures of my Giles 202 for your general amusement.

Up front is an OS GT33 which, so far, I'm very pleased with. As it has only had a tank of fuel through it there is a tendency to back fire and it will also run backwards occasionally, but other than that it runs well. The OS 22 did the same when new but these traits have disappeared now the engine is run in.

Servos are Savox 1268's with a 1270 for the rudder. At 25 and 35kg these are overkill for this plane but will transfer to the next model – hopefully.

They're powered by twin 1700 Turnigy Nanotech Life batteries. Both batteries provide power for RX and ignition and are connected via Y leads, one via the rudder servo and one via the ignition. This allows an element of redundancy in case of battery or switch failure and also takes some load of the RX power bus.

I discarded the supplied control horns and after some thought went for these Dubro items. They're a bit agricultural and quite expensive but should do the job. I did think about cutting some G10 horns with a ball link sandwiched between which would have been neater and lighter but didn't fancy trying to cut accurate slots to fit them.

The wing retaining system is seemingly a good idea in that it allows you to slide the wing about to get the C of G in the right place. In practice they're fiddly to fit and a real pain to secure. The ally wing tube slides into tubes made from a single wrap of fibreglass. I have a low degree of confidence in the strength of this arrangement – time will tell.
Initially the wing roots did not line up with the fuselage, there being a 3 mm gap at the le of one wing when everything was squared up. I ended up having to remake the roots of both wings to get a reasonable fit.

The supplied wheels and pants probably wont get fitted, instead I've brought a pair of wheels from a long demised T180 back into service.

C of G and control throws are by guess work as I have no confidence in the manual and although a maiden is possible tomorrow I'm in no rush.

Is that the X Tech one Alan? should fly well, are you going to need that much elevator deflection??

Also I think you will need some velcro straps to secure everything, unless you have some, just can't see them

Hi Jon, yes it is the X-tech one. I think a couple of club members have had one in the past. I will doubtless demonstrate that in fact it doesn't fly well at all

The camera seems to have exaggerated the elevator throw- it's about 45 degrees. Trawling through the net there's some info on the Ultra RC Giles, which I believe is similar to the X-Tech , and they're recommending 15 degrees up and 15 down for elevator. I may move the elevator servo ball link inwards a tad.

The velcro straps were very cheap.

Mitch has 2 of them he really likes them. Used one for IMAC last year.

You definately won't want 45 degrees of elev throw, I would change the linkage if I were you.

Good luck with the maiden if you do it tomorrow

I'll take your advice on that. The ailerons need taming too. I can always go back to 3d throws at a later date :lol:
The maiden may not happen tomorrow.

Maiden successfully completed.
I took your advice Jon and re-positioned the control linkages and I'm glad I did.
With a little encouragement from WMAC club mates - thanks guys :pinch: - I stopped prevaricating and committed aviation.
The initial roller coaster ride while I fed in enough up-trim to stop it death diving indicated that I'd been a little too conservative with my initial safe C of G . Later inverted and knife edge passes confirmed this. I should be able to get rid of most of the lead from the nose
Aileron trim was not required which showed that re jigging the wing seating was the right thing to do.
Plenty of power from the engine with more to come after run in is completed. Bizarrely, all the engine power comes at the last 1/4 of throttle which is the exact reverse of what you would expect. So a few minor changes required but overall I'm a happy bunny.