This morning I did my first on-water test of my Trainstar fitted with 0.40 size floats, conducted at the local duck pond and home of the local model boat club.
I had no intentions of getting the Trainstar into the air here, simply because there are too many tree surrounding the pond, combined with the fact that I'm not sure how well the Trainstar will fly with carrying additional 300g of floats.
The floats will provide a little lift, given their curved shape at the front, however there will be a lot of drag, so the slow Trainstar will become very slow. I am going to increase the flap angle, and I'm also thinking of dropping the ailerons by half a turn of the clevis to make the wings higher-lift as an initial precaution.
The other concern regarding the flying capability is the need for a long pond or lake; while the local duck pond was fine for this first test (although I even managed to overshoot once into the bushes), I'd like somewhere to land straight ahead as part of the flight evaluation. It would also give the choice to opt out it things didn't look good, without having to go round when you might not make it.
Anyway, the water test went well with the Trainstar happily buzzing around the pond. The water rudder worked well with just the single cable operating it off the rudder control horn, and on a couple of occasions I got the Trainstar to the point of lift-off, which was encouraging. It is a little tricky to keep it on a straight take-off run, something I've experienced with it on wheels as well.
Anyway, now just to find a larger venue to get the Trainstar into the air...
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