1/4 scale Grunau baby

[Spanner]

Hi All,
A new baby has arrived, a little premature but should be developed enough for March fly in. I have copied the finish of the previous one I owned but did not sheet the wing with ply and chose  to just stain the balsa. Fuss is covered with 1/64 and 1/32 ply which is also stained.
Thanks to Fred in Island Models for donating the partially built kit, following me having written off my previous one on my first attempt to fly it.
There was very light lift and with a rearward c/g and the model was struggling to stay up ( that's what I tell myself ) unfortunately it came back to earth out of sight into the side of the slope and was badly damaged.
Looking forward to getting back to flying and to see all the new toys that we have produced over the winter months.

Joe

[Fred]

  OOOooohhh that's very very nice Joe! Me like very much!!

What's the covering? Diacov or Oratex?

Also, make sure to check the incidence (stab=0, wings=+1.5). The HQ is working real nice on it

[Spanner]

Hi Fred,
Thanks for that info Fred, I took the photo during a short break in the weather when I assembled to check all was lining up correctly. Will have to do some tiding up in the work shop / shed to assemble and check incidence angles  or wait for better weather and rig outside once more
I have covered the wing since photo was taken and used Diacov doing it the same way you did and only covering the open areas, also used your tip and stained the capping strips on the ribs and trailing edges prior to covering it does show up the structure quite well.
Still some more work to complete on the fuss and have to make the struts as yet but coming together nicely.

[mario]

Wahou 

[Spanner]

Some more progress has been made, Now almost ready for flight. Radio installed and controls setup, Just to make up the struts and check incidence and of course a final check on the CG I am not going to make the same mistake this time round.
All up weight should be 4.3 Kg if all balances as expected.
Hopefully we will get the weather at the March event to have the maiden flight.

[Fred]

 

That is a beauty Joe!! Really looking forward to see it in real life!

[Jonzjob]

Any updates on your lovely Baby Joe ??

[Spanner]

Hi John,
I just completed the first proper flight with the Baby on Mt Leinster last weekend, it flew really nicely with just a tad of up trim required.
I had attempted to fly it back in April but only succeeded in an short flight out and back to land as the model failed to climb. The lift on that particular slope may have been a bit marginal or it may have been me not letting the model pick up enough speed. I decided that it would be best to wait for more favourable conditions before attempting a second flight. I also rechecked the decalage and increased the angle by about 1/2 degree.
There are some pics on the 2018 events page thanks to Fred.
Looking forward to many more enjoyable flights with her.

Joe

[billscottni]

Some pics of the first launch

[Adam TC]

Hi,

What incidence did you end up with please for the stab? Im not entirely sure of the 0 degrees?

[Spanner]

Hi Adam
I can't recall what the final setting was, but if you go with Fred's advise and set the wings at +1.5 deg and the tail plane at 0 you won't be far off. This is what I did and I then added 1/32 ply packing under rear of tail-plane after first flight. Moving the c/g back may also have been an option, I have not had the opertunity to fly the model since then but it is easy to fly and it does fly very well.
Hope this helps, all the best and may happy hours flying with yours.

[Adam TC]

Excellent thanks.