Minus Thermic

Taking advantage of a Northerly wind, Mike suggested today would be a good day to maiden my Minus, so off to Win Green we went, only the strength of the wind was less than would hoped for.



However it was still good enough, and although there was not enough lift for aerobatics, I was quite content to stooge around and get used to sloping. It's a very enjoyable little plane to fly, and looking forward to get a lot more time in the air with it.

Nice Chris

flyingpete wrote: Nice Chris

Well, despite the fiddly build, and that I've only flown it today, it's already won me over, it's just fun. :woohoo:

With a bit more of a breeze today (measured at 22mph), I met up with Mike and got a few more flights in with the Minus, it does fly very well and by the second flight I was happy to try some basic stall turns, loops and rolls, discovering what you can get away with and what quickly looses you height and speed. I still find it odd to push the stick forwards to gain speed, and to do such a fast sweep round to bring the glider back into the wind but behind you for landing, where it just sinks lightly like a feather to the ground :whistle:

My flying sessions were curtailed when a bad launch resulting, only moments later, in a bad landing revealed some hither to unnoticed damage to the V-tail. I'm only speculating here, but I believe a curious sheep probably accidentally knocked the tail while we were having coffee. And it was due to this that the launch was bad, and the damage was not done by the subsequent bad landing. That's my story and any other account is simply, phony news.



It looks like a simple repair, and I bet if I'd put a strip of sellotape along the join to the fuselage in the first place it would have been a little more durable.

I think you're right...it was the sheep.

Nearly a year since the last post in this thread!

At last I've finished the Minus Acro, the smaller version. This one has a symmetrical section without the turned up tips. It's 700mm span instead of 900mm. Fuselage is the same length

The wood in this kit was much lighter then the first and I'm really pleased with the weight. Last image is for size comparison only.

I like the colour scheme Mike. It might be a little better than the transparent film
My Thermic came out a little lighter than yours. How much does the speed controller weigh?

Chris001 wrote: I like the colour scheme Mike.

Me too, underside looks familiar somehow

I pondered whether to go out on new years eve to test fly the Minus Acro...it was dull and damp all morning in Verwood. At midday I decided that it would be worth a go and headed off to White Sheet. When I got back home 4 hours later I learned that you lot had had torrential rain, thunder and lightning. as you can see from the attached images, the weather was a lot better in Wiltshire.
Maiden flight, and several others after, went well and the aerobatic performance was good. It will be interesting to see how it performs in lighter wind, because 105g in 30mph is probably getting towards its limit