Tuesday 20 May 2014

Trainstar Launch

...getting the taildragger airborne

Launching the Trainstar is always entertaining; it's such a characterful aircraft that it's always fun to fly. It does, however, does take a little experience to get it right, and I still can't get it to launch perfectly straight.

The battery location is excellent, housed under a clip-off cover under the nose. The battery is held in place, inverted, by the provided velcro as well as a velcro strap. So connecting power is easy, although you do have to flip the old girl for a second!


I fly with the 3S 2200mAh battery; being a big heavy plane I certainly wouldn't recommend anything less, and I think a few people fly with larger power packs than this. Having said that, the 2200mAh will drag the Trainstar out of most awkward spots and gives reasonable flight times.

The Trainstar will launch off grass fields, as long as the growth is not too thick. If you're picturing launching from a wildflower meadow, it's not going to happen. The best advice is to have full elevator during the takeoff run. This keeps the tail planted on the ground until the wings are airborne, preventing ungainly, and potentially disastrous, nose-plants into the ground.

I find, for whatever reason, the Trainstar tends first to the right then, after it builds up some speed, to go veering off to the left. Anyway, I'd recommend getting it off the ground sooner rather than later; you can always hit max power if necessary to drag it up. That way you've got less chance of running into anything, or running off the runway, or disappearing down a rabbit hole...

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