Storch finished at last.

[BoustropheDon]

It has taken me far too long to build this. Along the way I have made some errors. I seem to have installed the control horns on the wrong sides at the back, so the rudder and elevator have had to have the throws reversed. OK as long as I remember to do it.

It looks better in the picture than in real life, the finish is rough with blobs of hot melt where they didn't ought to be. And the paint is not to clever either. I used acrylic on top of acrylic varnish. With hindsight the varnish maybe should have gone on top. You can also see where the cat has chewed the wing...

I just could not get the wing to build right doing it as the video suggests, so I made a ply lattice beam dihedral brace, buit the wings separately and glued them together after.

Many years ago I built a Uno-Wot from a kit, but never got to fly it, lost it in the great divorce of '06. So this is my first scratch built. Perhaps again with hindsight I should have chosen an easier model. I don't think UK foam-board is quite the same, I just cant get the foam out of the grooves as easy as Bixler does it.

I may make another when I crash this one.

 

[BoustropheDon]

The other thing I found is that some components that Flite Test take for granted are near on impossible to find in the UK. Those tiny linkage stoppers being a case in point. And the motors, I can't afford to import them from the USA and working out the nearest UK available equivalent has cost many hours of searching. Why is it cheaper to import from China than it is from the US?

I really want to build the Viggen and the Spitfire, but first I am going to build a Mini Speedster and see if it will fly in the school gym after the holidays.

 

[Balu]

Do you have a hobby / rc shop around? They should have servos of all sizes and the corresponding linkage stoppers. Motors are usually a lot more expensive - at least in my hobby shop here in Germany though.

 

[BoustropheDon]

Servos no problem, everything else is scarce. Linkage stoppers I have to order via ebay, no one has them at all.

Model shops seem to be of two types, neat, expensive, and if it's not on the shelf, tough. And the I'm only really doing this to finance my hobby type, with piles of stuff all over and the owner having no idea what stock he has.