THREE MAIDENS - TWO FAILS! Why? Lidl Big Bird re-maiden, Mini Lidl Hawker Hunter + my Mini-Jet

Bonzodog

Member
Another attempt to 'successfully' maiden the Lidl Big Bird, plus the first flight of my Mini Lidl Hawker Hunter and another small foamie rc 'jet' test. How did it go? OK, the clue is in the video title. 😔
My analysis of the problems and a couple of tips too.
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Piotrsko

Master member
Flight Number 2 of the LIDL wasnt a tip stall, just a regular accelerated stall and dropped an inside wing. Tip stalls get interesting really fast.

when I convert foamies, I usually assemble it and see how it flies without radio stuff installed, which also lets me figure out where the CG should start at. Most of these are biased too aft with too much up elevator, and prefer to loop or stall so I add pennies on the nose until it flies right. Helps to show how hard it needs to be tossed, too.
 

Bonzodog

Member
Flight Number 2 of the LIDL wasnt a tip stall, just a regular accelerated stall and dropped an inside wing. Tip stalls get interesting really fast.

when I convert foamies, I usually assemble it and see how it flies without radio stuff installed, which also lets me figure out where the CG should start at. Most of these are biased too aft with too much up elevator, and prefer to loop or stall so I add pennies on the nose until it flies right. Helps to show how hard it needs to be tossed, too.
Thanks for you comments. I wasn't sure if it was a tip stall to be honest, it looked similar to video I've seen of them.
I do a glide test with the foamies before doing anything to see where the designed CG is (the Big Lidl and Mini Lidl foamies ship with a small weight in the nose) and I try and keep near to it, but with a swept wing it was more difficult to figure. Got it flying OK in the end anyway.
 

Piotrsko

Master member
Oh mama, yup swept taper wings are the worst for guess finding cg . Came across a CG calculator on one of the scratchbuild sites, can't remember where, but fwiw, most are closer than SWAG. That's what started my oversize horizontal stabilizer passion.

Keep.up what you're doing. Looks successful to me.
 

Bonzodog

Member
Oh mama, yup swept taper wings are the worst for guess finding cg . Came across a CG calculator on one of the scratchbuild sites, can't remember where, but fwiw, most are closer than SWAG. That's what started my oversize horizontal stabilizer passion.

Keep.up what you're doing. Looks successful to me.
I found an online calculator too. But still a bit of a guessing game! He who perseveres wins. ;)