BORN LOSER C OF G

We had a question a few days ago about the balance point of the Born Loser.
I put the question to Kermit Walker, who made this model, and here's his response. Kermit has a medical procedure coming up next week and we wish him all the best. T

I got my Born Loser out and checked its C of G is (fore and aft balance point, more correctly). It balances roughly 1/2" back from the leading edge of the TOP wing. I seem to remember starting out with the "CG" a bit further back (like at roughly the LE of the bottom wing), but had to add a bit of nose weight. It also has quite a bit of left rudder - like at least 1/8" and maybe more. It also has quite a bit of washin in both left wings - something like 1/8" in the bottom wing and more like maybe 5/32"/3/16" in the upper wing. The right wing panels are roughly flat, as is the horizontal stabilizer. I did make a provision for an adjustable incidence stab (fixed middle spar, with the LE "floating" in a tapered slot in the fuselage and the LE just tack-glued to the front of the slot. I started out with the LE of the stab at roughly half way down the tapered slot (like maybe 1/16" negative) and have never found it necessary to change (figures! if I had made it "fixed" with no adjustment possible, it would've needed some!). I would probably set up the model with different adjustments for outdoors - like maybe 1/2 as much left rudder and washin in the left wings. The amount of left rudder I have in it now is to be able to get it to circle tight enough consistently so as to not hit the walls at St. V's gym Oh, also, I have just a smidge of right thrust built into it. Please feel free to use whatever of the above you might feel to useful on the website. --Kermit Walker

Small Rubber Contest

Some of us participated in the SAM 27 Small Rubber Contest at Lakeville on Saturday, August 7. (The contest was originally scheduled on July 24, but had to be postponed when the fire department set the field on fire early that morning as a training exercise.) Roberto Soncin Gerometta captures the atmosphere and action in this video:

Fahrvergnugen

Vanquishing volks vie for volksplane victory at St Vincents

We finally held our peanut Volksplane contest!
Amid a swirl of media attention and hounded by hordes of paparazzi, five contestants faced off before a small but fanatical group of spectators on Sunday July 25, 2010. When the props stopped and the dust settled one man emerged to bask in the glow of victory.

Mike L, with his exquisite model - decorated to perfectly mimic a real Volkspane - emerged head and shoulders above the rest, and not just because he is a lot taller.

Mike won all 4 categories as follows

BEST THREE TIMES OUT OF FIVE

Mike L 169.5 secs
Ed S 112.6
Tom W 80
George B 72.1

LONGEST SINGLE FLIGHT

MIKE 1 minute 02 secs
Ed 40.4 secs
Tom 28 secs
George 24.1 secs

CONCOURS (a totally subjective scoring method by myself)

Mike 85 points
George 84
Jim 77
Ed 76
Tom 65

MASS LAUNCH (IF YOU CAN CALL FIVE MODELS A MASS)

Mike (still going after the rest of us had gone home)

So first prize of a Gizmo Geezer went to Mike, and Ed as the runner up received a packet of rubber bands - both provided by George.

Jim broke his prop during a final trimming session and was unable to compete in the main section)

Models from top right clockwise - Ed, Mike, George, Tom and Jim.



Thanks to everyone for a great session and lots of laughs. We invite anyone to email us with times and photos of their peanut Volkspanes.

Summer Time

Part of a mural painted by students outside the St. Vincent's gym


One of several models competing in the Volksplane contest on Sunday. I will leave the reporting of that event to others who took better notes and more pictures. Hope to see a report here.


An example of the Easy Built Models variation of the Little Richard design. Distinguishing features include polyhedral breaks near the wing tips and tail feathers extending aft of the fuselage.


Ed shows his finely crafted mini-square.


At his first St. Vincent's session, Haoyang flew a Phantom Flash and then this GM Aero-Bat.


Thanks to those who brought cookies.


Dave K just built this immaculate dime scale D.VII from the Skylake Models kit. This one flies really well both indoors and out, and of course it looks fantastic.

Wassup?

The wind was up yesterday. No problem when you've got a trusty hound to track lost models.

Ding and Ray assess the wind conditions.

Does size really matter?

Brian had some long flights with his Flying Aces Moth, which handles the wind pretty well.

I think this is the first time I've flown my Born Loser embryo outdoors. This model seems to like the calm air inside the gym better. But it was a nice Sunday to be outside, windy or not.

Photos by my cousin Mark, visiting from Berlin

6-27-2010 Indoor flying

Sunday's session saw many versions of the peanut scale Volksplane being readied for the upcoming event.



Jerry concentrates on trimming his VP, in Luftwaffe livery.



George's VP is a real lightweight.

Much attention is paid to keeping the weight to a minimum.
Tom knows the importance of this, and he shows us how its done.

Part of Jim's air force.

Mike's Sparrow & VP.



Dave K's Fokker returned to base with battle damage.

Jim pauses to answer questions, in midst of winding.

George's Bostonian-sized VP suffered major damage after encountering an immovable object.

More of Mike's handiwork, an Aeronca L.

Additionally, heres some pics from the previous indoor session that didn't get posted...( better late than never!).