1/6.78 Scale Hawker Typhoon

[sihinch]

Sorry it wasn't exactly how you wanted but congratulations!

Sounds like you have a plan to get her sorted.

Nice one Colin.

[Papa]

Sounds like you have a great model. Once you have those adjustments (minor repairs!) done it should be wonderful sight at the field. Look forward to seeing it, and you, more often.

That was a lot of hard work and it sounds like it will be a great flyer.

Congratulations.

Jack.

PS Any photos?

J.

[piker]

Congratulations Colin, for a fantastic test flight!  Sure, the take-off could have been straighter, and the landing a bit smother, but the mission was accomplished.  The plane flew really well, trimmed out easily, and looked GREAT in the air.  It even sounded powerful and impressive.

Once you get that minor repair done, you can start enjoying the plane, and have many impressive flights with it. 

Here are some ground shots:

[piker]

O.K.  The video sucks!  Too shaky, the battery died, and I have to figure out how to get rid of that auto focus....

But you'll get the idea:

Colins Test Flight

[wollins]

Hey that take off looks MUCH better than it actually was!  Hard to see how she had veered to the left looking at the plane side on as opposed to me being behind the plane and thinking "oh no, she;s going into the beans!"

On one hand it's good that we didn't get the "crash landing" on video (since it really sucked) but on the other hand it would have been good to analyse what went wrong. Anyway, thanks for posting!

Colin

[piker]

Oh, we KNOW what went wrong.   

[Michael]

Actually, the video looks great!

The veering to the left on takeoff is common on WW2 tail-dragger models.

The torque from the prop does this and is normally controlled with right rudder immediately upon pushing the throttle.

[electroflyer]

     Hey Colin,

That looked Great! Reminds me of how my P-47 Flew. You'll have the bugs worked out in no time. Also cool that some video was taken!

[wollins]

Remember this plane guys?    Well, since the "rough" landing I haven't really picked it backup.  However I figured I'd get it repaired so that I can finally try to get my "balsa" builds attended to!  Anyways ... the damage was mainly superficial and amounts to the following:

- Tear in the wing skin (its a fiberglass model) on the underside of the wing. 
- Wing dowel broken
- Left retract was busted (Oooooh THAT one hurt!)
- Few other cosmetic scrapes and cracks

That's it!  I think Rob would agree after we saw the bits fly off the model upon final impact that it would have been much much worse!  (Actually the bits that were flying off turned out to be my detachable cannons.  )

Anyways, here are a couple of pics of the main damage.

Colin.

[wollins]

Typical fiber glass repair.  Ca the cracks/tears and then fill with your filler of choice.  I also had to refabricate a new piece for the rear of the wing center ... made it out of lite ply.

Colin

[sihinch]

Wow, that's fast progress, Colin.

I was so disappointed not to see this plane last year, I cant wait to see the new & improved version in 2014! 

[wollins]

Yeah, I've GOT to get this flying properly this year ... its been too long in the making.  Actually flying it was a breeze ... it's the landing that's a challenge.  Landing a heavy warbird compared to your typical sport plane landing is like NIGHT AND DAY. The whole technique is completely different so I've got to get through this learning curve fast.

Even though this is not a big plane at 72 inches, its heavy like heck and as such has the wing loading of a giant scale warbird ... and its the wing loading that makes these kinds of planes such a challenge.  There is absolutely no glide ratio ... if you stop or even slow down too much you just drop like a brick.   Take a look at this video, the plane at 3.05 in illustrated exactly what happened to me with my landing (he good ole' "bounce and stall") only I didn't even use flaps like these guys (as I should have) so now I don't feel so bad!

Colin
http://youtu.be/xaNY49aja5c

[gordonbw]

On the bright side... 95% of the landings in this video are right side up.  Which is more than I can say for my own landings last season!

[wollins]

On the bright side... 95% of the landings in this video are right side up.  Which is more than I can say for my own landings last season!

True!

Ok ... so I've got the repair all buttoned up ... just have to rub down the high fill primer and repaint and she's as good as new!

Oh, almost forgot ... I'd also ripped my tail wheel off as well so I had to replace the spring, reassemble and reinstall it but that was a relatively easy job.

Colin

[Andy Hoffer]

Yeah, I've GOT to get this flying properly this year ... its been too long in the making.  Actually flying it was a breeze ... it's the landing that's a challenge.  Landing a heavy warbird compared to your typical sport plane landing is like NIGHT AND DAY. The whole technique is completely different so I've got to get over this learning curve fast.

Even though this is not a big plane at 72 inches, its heavy like heck and as such has the wing loading of a giant scale warbird ... and its the wing loading that makes these kinds of planes such a challenge.  There is absolutely no glide ratio ... if you stop or even slow down too much you just drop like a brick.   Take a look at this video, the plane at 3.05 in illustrated exactly what happened to me with my landing (he good ole' "bounce and stall") only I didn't even use flaps like these guys (as I should have) so now I don't feel so bad!

Colin
http://youtu.be/xaNY49aja5c

Thanks for posting this video Colin.  It is very instructive re handling large aircraft with high wing loadings.  I can't believe the amount of bounce, even on landings that appear to be going really well.  You really have to be ahead of the plane on these guys.
Way to go on the repairs to the Typhoon.  Very much looking forward to seeing it fly this season.   

Cheers!

Andy