Once again Summer arrived, and as usual, due to other commitments, the flying I planned to do just didn't happen. The Big Fun was finally maidened and by sheer luck flew straight off the board. It was flown with 30g of ballast for the first flights, this precautionary extra weight was taken out, giving a much better "feel" to the model and it has proved to be a solid performer, and although I did poorly in the initial "Concours" ( Skeletons don't score many points in a beauty contest), and I missed the first active round of the Phoenix Club Model Comp, but with one more competition day to go, the Big Fun is placed in the middle of the pack. Not too bad considering the poor start.
As I've been unable to go out to fly, some of the time I've spent "tidying" my sheds. In reality, all that happened was that the mess was redistributed to give myself some working room. It more or less worked, and apart from scrapping a load of puffed LiPos, I re-arranged the space taken up by my ready to fly models. One thing that came out of doing this was the rediscovery of my old Super Air. This model was one of a group of six which we used to more or less fly in formation at the Phoenix Club field. That was 2016 and the last time the model flew. A couple of weeks a go I hauled it out into the daylight and after a good dusting off and a wipe over with a damp cloth, I undid all the electrical connections and treated them all to a touch of contact cleaner (Deoxit D100L). I flushed out the tank and fuel line with new fuel, what a waste? Not when you consider the result of a dead engine when the model is in an awkward place, like over trees and down wind. I fitted a new LiFe Po4 flight battery, filled the tank, and with the engine still at the settings used all those years ago, it started and ran without missing a beat. I've managed five or six flights so far and apart from the mopping up oil after each flight it has been really good to be flying with an engine again.
The Super Air is a very plain model, but its looks belie the performance and it does most aerobatics in a competent manner, as well as enabling me to gain some much needed confidence again. The Moonglow hasn't been forgotten, just temporarily abandoned! There really isn't much in the way of major building to do, but small details do take longer than one allows for. One sort of model has been popular with some of the Phoenix flyers, a concoction of foam board powered by an EDF.
These models of the F-22 Raptor originated from an American outfit called "Flite Test", there's a free download on the Internet. I've started to make one, its taking me a long time, mine is a scaled down version powered by a 40mm EDF. I've added an augmenter tube hoping that it will give a bit more than the claimed 400g thrust of the bare EDF. The total weight of all the parts
is just under 300g so it might fly if I'm careful with the extra bits required for finishing..