1/6.78 Scale Hawker Typhoon

[Ededge2002]

I was looking at this thread so I could stop looking at the ones I'm building !  So much for that.
I would recommend that you cover with low temp film. The ailerons are sheeted foam and warp easily.

[wollins]

I was looking at this thread so I could stop looking at the ones I'm building !

No worries ... I'm not doing a build thread on the Nooner. I'll be back to this one in a week or so.
Colin

[wollins]

Batteries have arrived (now 12S instead of 10S) so hopefully taxi tests can commence!

Colin

[wollins]

Ok, back to the Tiffie! So .. where were we?  Oh yes ... taxi testing. Well, that didn't happen. With a three year old and a newborn, the priorities got a bit shifted.    Anyways, yesterday I figured let me give it a go once more, after all this has been about two years in the making? 

So yesterday I decided to hook up my tailwheel (pull pull to rudder) and replace that dud retract unit that I discovered a week or so ago had just stopped working ... all by itself.   

I had bought a pair of these retract units so I decided to pop in the other one ... did that and no sooner than I fired her up, after about three cycles this one died too!    Well, after much head scratching and cussing, I figured something must be wrong with my system, I mean yes they're cheap but they should be good for quite a few cycles ... especially since they had not even touched the ground yet! 

As this was happening the familiar smell of burnt electronics hit me ... then is when the "aha" moment dawned upon me.  Checked the specs on this retract and yup ... voltage limit was 6V and I'm pretty sure my BEC is set at 7.2V.

Anyways, I decided that I couldn't be bothered to confirm the Bec's voltage setting since that would entail taking off the cowl etc, (a bi#$h to adjust and get just so) so I decided that I'd just hook up the tailwheel and run the plane without the retracting feature for now.  Or at least after the maiden, THEN I'll get a proper retract unit for it.

Ok, so moving on.  Took her out to the back yard to do some mini taxi tests and was quite pleased.  Reason being is that TEMAC is like a golf green compared to the lawn in my backyard (ok so I exaggerate. ) and it didn't show a ready tendency to tip over ... handled some pretty rough going pretty well.  So ... I just have to take her out to TEMAC now to do some real testing and then who knows ... maybe this thing will actually fly in 2013?

Pics of here sitting on grass for the first time in the backyard to come!

Colin

[sihinch]

Colin,

Glad you're back at it. I really can't wait to see this plane in the flesh.

Simon

[piker]

Cool!  Maybe we should maiden together (with my SE5a).  Let's pick a calm evening when no one's around.   

[wollins]

That sounds perfect.     

[Papa]

I hope that "Nobody" whom ever they are has a camera and takes lots of pictures.

Jack.

[piker]

The only reason to take pictures would be if one (or both) of the planes is written off.  Otherwise, there will be plenty of opportunities for pictures at the TEMAC Fun Fly   

[battlestu]

charging the camera now... when should i be there

[wollins]

Well she's gonna feel TEMAC's grass under her wheels for the very first time tomorrow! YES! Gonna do some proper taxi testing.   Got some pics of her in the backyard as promised and also did a run up of the motor ... lets just say that she's not lacking under the hood! 

Colin

P.S Last pic is of the big 12S pack sitting snugly in their nest.







http://youtu.be/qhcyEA1TvgY

[Papa]

Looks wonderful, Colin.

Hey "Nobody" get your camera ready you may see an OOPS Maiden tomorrow.

You know when fast taxing becomes low flying and the end of the runway is too near!

LOL

Jack.

[wollins]

Stupid weather today!  Sorta threatened to rain all afternoon so I never even got to taxi the TIFFIE cause it takes a bit to set these big planes up and I wouldn't want to be caught trying to hustle to break it all down to beat the rain. (that's how you I break things  )

On second thoughts it was for the best cause in that atmosphere where there were many pilots at the field it wouldn't have been appropriate using the airfield while planes were in the air anyways.  I'll just have to find a nice quiet time to "do ma bissness" 

Colin

[piker]

And you KNOW they would have talked you into a test flight 

[wollins]

Well, the Tiffie has flown! Let me summarise this maiden flight report like this:
The take off was hairy scary ... the flight was beautiful ... the landing was terrible ...
which resulted in ... A CRASH!! 

BUT ... no major damage done ... based on the initial cursory inspection.

So ... details.

Got to the field around 6.35pm to meet up with Rob ... (he was there for moral support) and it was a perfect day for a maiden. No one else there and the winds were calm. (so I can't blame the conditions! lol!)  Anyway after a couple of warmup flights with the Nooner and then my big Decathlon, I figured now was a good a time as ever for giving her a go.

Did a few taxi circuits around the field to check that the gear was holding up ok and did a few control surface adjustments. (Reduced some aileron throws and adjusted some expo settings etc.)   Pointed her into the wind, took a deep breath and let her go ...

Well she started to track nice and straight then suddenly started to veer to the left and try as I might I couldn't get her to straighten ... so I made the same error that I always do when this happens, I just commited and basically hauled her off the ground just before she ran into the beans to the left of the runway. (facing north) The correct thing to do was to have aborted the takeoff run and started over.  By all rights she should have stalled out and crashed right there but there was sooooo much power on tap that I basically was able to horse her out of a stall and away we went.

Didn't need but two clicks of right aileron trim and she was flying like she was on rails.  She actually flew "lighter" then my Decathlon which at the same AUW (20lbs) has almost TWICE the wing area! (1158 sq inches as opposed to 857 for the Tiffie)   

Flew a few circuits testing things like dropping and raising the gear etc, did a couple of stall tests and she seemed to get really nice and slow before she would drop a wing.  Anyway, after a few nice flybys and circuits decided to try to start the process of bringing her down. 

Now this is the my first warbird of this kinda weight and as we all know flying a warbird is the most unforgiving plane to fly (IMHO) ... there is no room for error.  Even though we could see that she slowed up quite nicely I had it in my head that I must bring her in under quite a bit of power in case she snapped on me down low.

The problem was since I had decided not to use the flaps the first flight I just could NOT get the speed right.  I made three attempts before the final one. To make matters worse I had too much throw on the elevators and too much expo. This resulted in that mushy feeling that expo initially gives you and then if you have too much throw WHAM ... it suddenly kicks in!

Long story short ... touched down hard ... bounced back into the air about six feet ... tried to flair as she was coming back down hard and she tipstalled on me. Wham! Into the ground ... from our vantage point all Rob and I saw was bits flying unto the air.  At that velocity and with that weight I was pretty sure that it was gonna be a bag of bits. 

To our amazement the plane was basically intact (they don't call it "the beast" for nothing!) ... it was just the cannons that we saw flying into the air. The wing had popped off (nylon hold down bolts did their job) and the tailwheel was hanging and there was a rip in the FG skin on the wing, and the retracts appear to be twisted ... but other than that it seemed all in one piece! 

So ... once I get her repaired ... I will reduce that elevator throw by at least half and she should take off and land just like how she flew ... like a dream! 

Colin