Post by Bruce on Jan 24, 2009 17:06:29 GMT 12
The last two weekends my mate Dean Clarke has invited me out to watch the maiden flights of two of his large scale control line flying models. last weekend he test flew a 54 Inch span Northrop P61 Black Widow, and this week he flew a Junkers Something - a design study of late WW2 that was never built, but nevertheless looks really mean! Following are some photos I took on both days - apologies for the slight fuzziness of some as they have been cropped somewhat (it is Really hard to track fast moving models!)
Preparing the P61 - Dean's son Josh assists (and cops the slipstream of some grunty Enya 29s)
Unfortunately on both flights the inside engine cut out shortly after takeoff, which will require some further minor tweaks. - when both are running the noise is really impressive!
Today's maiden flight of the Junkers was moved to another park due to a cricket game getting under way... (you get that sometimes) I crewed the start for this one, which required a careful crew briefing - the rear prop is pretty close to ones fingers when holding it! Once again this suffered an engine cut out after takeoff. we beleive that this is due to the rear cowl design creating a vacuum or lower pressure area around the engine as it gets moving. A couple of air scoops on the side will probably solve this issue. The machine wasnt as stable as the P61, but the addition of a little more weight in the nose should sort that out. It is nevertheless very impressive as well. the span of this one is about 65inches - so its even bigger than the Black widow.
this aircraft is the 54th Dean has built (hence the nose number) and he is setting up a business to sell laser cut kits for both CL and RC flight. The P61 will be an early release.
Dean's 6 year old daughter Rachel is also a proficient CL flyer:
Dean has several other large multi -engined CL models under way - he has just completed a lovely Catalina, and was just painting this Grumman TigerCat:
Preparing the P61 - Dean's son Josh assists (and cops the slipstream of some grunty Enya 29s)
Unfortunately on both flights the inside engine cut out shortly after takeoff, which will require some further minor tweaks. - when both are running the noise is really impressive!
Today's maiden flight of the Junkers was moved to another park due to a cricket game getting under way... (you get that sometimes) I crewed the start for this one, which required a careful crew briefing - the rear prop is pretty close to ones fingers when holding it! Once again this suffered an engine cut out after takeoff. we beleive that this is due to the rear cowl design creating a vacuum or lower pressure area around the engine as it gets moving. A couple of air scoops on the side will probably solve this issue. The machine wasnt as stable as the P61, but the addition of a little more weight in the nose should sort that out. It is nevertheless very impressive as well. the span of this one is about 65inches - so its even bigger than the Black widow.
this aircraft is the 54th Dean has built (hence the nose number) and he is setting up a business to sell laser cut kits for both CL and RC flight. The P61 will be an early release.
Dean's 6 year old daughter Rachel is also a proficient CL flyer:
Dean has several other large multi -engined CL models under way - he has just completed a lovely Catalina, and was just painting this Grumman TigerCat:
