JW with new servo

Yesterday (Monday) went to Mount for a fly in NW with the JW. It has now been repaired with a new metal gear right aileron servo. Wind was fairly light but with nice smooth lift and it wasn't long before I had to land and add some ballast for a bit more speed :-)

It had a been quite a while since my last fly and I really enjoyed the afternoon - even if I was by myself. I flew from the side track overlooking Matakana Island which made it a bit easier than walking all the way to the top. It's also a bit easier to land on the front face. Later the wind turned to the west and although I could still fly, it was getting a bit marginal from being too sideways.

Here's another progress piccy of the Tank, my 2m sloper. It now has leading edge EPP foam on the wings (partially shaped) and this shot also shows how I have finished the area around the water dump outlet - an area that also will take the full brunt of landings. I hope it is going to be strong enough!!

Ah, The Sunday Fly

Took the JW up to the Bowl on the Mount on Sunday in 15kts SE. Was flying okay but had a heavy landing which munted the left aileron servo. Daniel offered me some gears to replace my stripped out ones in the servo, but they didn't quite fit inside the case, so what to do? In the end I managed another 40mins flying using just the right aileron for steerage.

It wasn't an ideal solution and made it impossible to do rolls (it would just fall into a crazy inverted spin)but was an interesting exercise flying a plank with only one aileron.

Later Daniel's Fusion was mysteriously shot down by some interference (suspected) although we never got to the bottom of his problem so we called it a day.

Just to finish, here's an interesting old pic of Power Scale Slopers from the US club the Inland Slope Rebels.

More Progress and Mount Fly

Yesterday (Tuesday) went to the Mount for a light fly with the JART. Was only 8kts NW down at A buoy but worth a look. Got to the top and the jellies were just getting into the air - damn! Went back down to launch of the NW track and whoa! three more jellies launching as I arrived. Had to help the last one open his chute while he was taking off. Then it was "me" time and nice lift meant I could fly for an hour with a little ballast.

The JART is definitely nicer to fly now that I have trimmed off the v-tail and stiffened it up with fibreglass rods. Later, I went for a pee behind some rocks and when I returned all the jellies had gone and the wind was dying away. No matter, I simply removed the ballast and enjoyed another 30min fly - the lift was still there!

Back at the hangar, here's the latest pic of the 2m sloper construction - now with wing skins top and bottom, and carbon tube along the fuse side. Will have to come up with a name for the beast soon.