Avios Sea Fury. Unofficial Unboxing.

...my first retracts

The Sea Fury is the first Avios product I've sampled and it seems like a nice-quality kit - very neat EPO moulding, good paintwork and nice decal application.

The Sea Fury also features a neat magnetically-operated drop mechanism for the drop tanks - a rotating magnet attached to a servo which reacts with the magnets embedded in the drop tank mount. This is a very neat arrangement and which seems to work well in static mode at least.

The Sea Fury features dual split flaps, another first for me, and which looks to give a nice lift-boost for landing and perhaps take-off. And I'm thinking the Sea Fury is going to need it, with a take-off weight north of 2kg!

Another thing that concerns me a bit, although nothing specific to Avios, is whether the retracts will stand the test of time. Retracts in foam models seem to be a liability, and my runway is only sports-field grass. so we'll have to see...

Firstar 2000 V2. Launch with Flaps.

...easy does it


The Firstar's high-mounted pusher endows it with characteristics familiar of the breed; it's not nice to launch.

True, the V2 mount is angled to eliminate torque which rotates the nose, however the high-moun configuration cannot escape from a downward thrust component. As well as gobbling up battery capacity in cruise mode, it also makes launches tricky.

Having lived through AXN and Radjet, I'm over launch stress, which is why I like using flaps with the Firstar.

Now I know this is contentious but, in this case at least, it works. Usually I'm fumbling to get my launch hand on the radio before the Firstar hits the turf. And I'm not the only one, I've seen several unsuccessful attempts at getting a Firstar into the air.

Considering that this plane sports high-aspect glider wings, launch really shouldn't be an issue. Which is where the flaps come in; dialing in about 20 degrees of flap transforms the launch from a nail biting affair into a floaty cruise, with the big big hanging in the air patiently while you get your hands into position.

Nice and easy, just like it should be...

Dynam DC-3. Take-Off with Flaps.

...much better

This morning, after carting the DC-3 around in the car for two days, I finally had the opportunity to get the Dak into the air again with an immaculate morning; clear blue skies and absolutely still.

I'd decided that it needed flaps for take-off and perhaps then, once up to speed, retracting flaps and flying clean would be OK. As it turned out, I left the flaps on for the whole flight as it was flying quite happily with them deployed, and the additional lift transformed the Dak into a lovely easy flyer.

The Dynam DC-3 doesn't actually have flaps, but using dualaileron mix and plugging the aileron servos in separately you get flaps automatically configured, although I needed a bit of messing around with reversing to get everything working as it should.

I'm still a little concerned that it needs flaps and elevator trim to keep flying, so I might adjust the centre of gravity for the next flight and see how it goes; I think I'm at the front limit of what's suggested when it seems like I should be at the back.

At the moment the Dak simply plummets when you cut power, which makes it a nerve-wracking proposition if the battery runs low...

Breezy Morning

...but still good to fly

The treetops waving indicated the chances of getting some flying in weren't good, but it turned out that the breeze, although reasonably strong, was actually pretty smooth so the Walrus was unpacked rapidly and sent powering quickly up into the sky.

Conditions were quite pleasant, as it turned out, so did a little more inverted flight practise and tried flying knife edge as well - quarter snap roll then full opposite rudder. The result was just a slowing down of the Walrus heading down, however that's at seventy percent travel. Next time I'll put the rudder onto full travel and have another go!

I also had the flaps down for the latter part of the flight, slowly driving the Walrus around and seeing if I could get it at "standstill", which it managed on occasions when the breeze stiffened. With things getting a little too gusty, I brought the plane round to land, with flaps still deployed, and had a bit of fun trying with VTOL.

Unfortunately I think the Walrus suffered tip stall while I tried to correct a wing drop due to gusting, and it dropped a couple of feet onto the wing. There was a tell-tale crease in the wing decal, but otherwise everything was fine thanks to the robust EPO...

Peaceful Morning Glide

...except for the ninja magpies

I had a very peaceful fly this morning at a local sports field. The weather started off sunny then quickly grew heavily overcast from the East, with dark grey clouds threatening imminent rain.

I launched the Phoenix 2000 with barely any breeze at all, and it glided contentedly into the overcast sky. Due to the major surgery done on the wings, I wasn't wanting to do any high-G manoeuvres in case of catastrophic failure. However I was wanting to assess the performance of the Phoenix with the new 2200mAh battery, the previous flight having been too breezy to really see how it went.

Well I had good opportunity, needing to outrun magpies flying at the glider with intent. I have figured the best method of dealing with these assaults is to maintain or gain altitude. In this endeavour the Phoenix performs well, climbing steeply under full power and rapidly gaining height. While it's long wings mean it's not the most agile, once it's seen off the attentions of the xenophobic avians, it glides with consummate ease and grace.

In calm conditions the flaps are quite useful, slowing the approach down to a comfortable pace. I also did do some flying with the flaps down, allowing slow cruising at very low power - most relaxing experience.

The landing in calm weather can be a little challenging, mainly because it is easy to misjudge the approach because of the good glide characteristics. Additionally, the trees surrounding most of the field necessitate a sharply banked turn onto finals. Nevertheless, I managed bring the Phoenix with two pretty good landings to end an enjoyable morning's flying...

Phoenix Ready

...but the weather's not co-operating

I finally managed to get the Phoenix 2000 in flying state last night, installing the wings and setting the control surfaces, expo and travel. Unfortunately the completion of work also coincides with a shift to stormy weather, so there's no opportunity to fly this morning.

One small piece of work which I still need to do is to change one of the flap control horns, as I had over-drilled the attaching hole, with the result that there is a lot of play in the flap. I'd temporarily taped up the flaps to eliminate this in the event of getting into the air this morning.

However, as this did not eventuate, I'll work on the flaps this evening and have the Phoenix sorted for tomorrow...

Walrus Magpie & Retriever

...not the most peaceful flight ever

I had a quick fly at the local field just down the road this morning, but it turned out to be not as good as I had hoped. Being between two busy roads made it quite noisy, also there are a couple of lamp posts to be careful of as well as some trees and cars parked at the end of the field. Not very relaxing.

Moreover there were a pair of territorial magpies nesting in one of the trees bordering the field who flew into attack me as I walked onto the field. I ended up having to defend myself from their repeated attacks with the Walrus. I'm not sure whether it was me or the fact that the Walrus looked like a large white bird, perhaps the latter as I had an angry magpie following inches behind the glider for the whole flight.

The video actually looks a lot more relaxing than the flight actually was - you don't get to see the magpie trailing about two inches behind the wing with its feet down and beak snapping, although you can hear it calling during the much of the early part of the flight. In fact I was half expecting the magpie to physically attack the plane and cause it to spiral out of the air. However the "attack" remained just a scare tactic - it didn't bother the Walrus but I must say that I found it a bit off-putting!

And finally, after a nice smooth landing, the Walrus nearly got retrieved by a friendly dog out on his morning walk at the field. He couldn't resist coming in to have a sniff at the just-landed aircraft, despite the strident yells of his owner calling him back. He probably thought it was just a high-tech version of a stick being thrown. Fortunately he didn't actually take the plane - whilst it would have made a lovely video I'm happy just to have the Walrus in flying condition.

Lots of People

...not so much flying

Well, the suburban flying has not been too successful after my enjoyable Saturday-morning fly. I ventured for another outing late on Saturday and again late today but was foiled on both accounts by too many people. Particularly it seemed to be end-of-season celebration time at the local sports fields, so I settled for kicking a ball around for a while as evening crept in.

So we'll try again tomorrow at the usual place. I'm wanting to give the Walrus a go again with flaps down to see if I can get some better low-altitude footage sweeping across the fields with the wing cam, and maybe some good shots of the kangaroos and cattle, as long as they're not scared of the plane. However it is very quite under low power, and they don't seem to fussed with anything in the air, not having any concern of unfriendly advances from that vantage.

I also want to have a bit more practise with the aerobatics, although very aware that I don't want to risk damaging the Walrus. Nevertheless, barrel rolls and loops, particularly getting the hang of entry into the loop, is on the agenda. I'd also like to have a go at inverted flight but I think that might wait as the consequence of getting that wrong (hang on, which way is up?) would definitely be substantial damage, which is not on the agenda.

Anyway, we'll have to see what sort of weather Monday morning offers us...

Slow Cruising

...flaps-down flying transforms the Walrus

This morning I took the Walrus for a suburban fly. Having managed to avoid the lamp-posts last week, I managed to find a deserted sports field without any major obstructions. Three fields in length it offered enough room to fly but, being only the width of a small soccer field, wasn't very roomy.

This was the perfect opportunity to try the Walrus in slow-fly mode with the flaps adjusted to about twenty degrees or so (I haven't actually measured the angle). To be on the safe side, I launched the plane with the flaps up so I could have it flying before putting them down so as to avoid any nasty launch surprises.

With the Walrus up a little, I set the flaps down and was pleasantly surprised at the transformation, with the plane becoming a slow flying floater, just like the Floater. In fact I'd say overall it's better because it doesn't have the pitching effect that can make the Floater awkward. Just smooth, slow and very stable.

I was joined by a hot air balloon, which drifted slowly across the field and lined up for a landing in the field across the road. I took the Walrus up for a look but, with the balloon still quite high and having decided to avoid any risk to my now-lone glider, I didn't get too close.



I had hoped to get some interesting video out of this but, unfortunately, I didn't press the record button properly, so when the Walrus landed I found that the camera, having nothing to do, had kindly turned itself off.

However, when later checking to see whether it was still working, I did get a cute video of our giant cat licking the wing camera...

A Bit Too Windy

...so we'll just have to think about flying for now

No flying today unfortunately as it was too windy. I stopped in at the field just to be sure, but one look at the treetops waving in the wind was enough to convince me to turn around!

I have reduced the flap travel from one hundred percent to sixty five. I haven't checked this on the Walrus yet as I reprogrammed it while I was waiting at a traffic light. Anyway, I'm very interested to try as I think this will give the best of both worlds at the flip of a switch! Well that's the theory anyway, hope to be able give it a try soon...

Raven' On

...up with the birds

Had a lovely flight this morning, with just the gentlest of breezes coming through. With my revised control settings with expo now at a more pedestrian forty percent, I managed my first loop in the Walrus and my first ever barrel-roll!

In a repeat of my first flight in the Phoenix 2000 I had a couple of ravens chasing the plane. I was a little too far away to be able to judge the distances well, but I had a little play with the birds which was fun.

On my first approach for landing I deployed the flaps when the Walrus was above the field. The result was the plane rearing nose-high, another repeat of my early Phoenix flights.

Fortunately I managed to recover to put the Walrus down for a landing which was a little rough, but functional. So I think I'll be moderating the flap travel so the effects are a bit muted as we definitely don't want a repeat of that again...

Calm Outlook

...fingers crossed

The very windy gusty and rainy day has subsided and cleared into an immaculately clear and still evening, the stars shining in a dark silky sky. Despite the forecast for moderate winds tomorrow I am now hopeful for a flyable morning, with the Walrus and camera waiting to go.

I think the Walrus will be good to fly - I've noticed that the control surfaces are quite large so I think it should be very manoeuvrable and fun to fly. Also I'm hoping the flaps, at a moderate thirty degree setting, should be good for landing and settling things a little if necessary...

Phoenix Ready to Go

...along with the Dx6i

I have finally completed programming of the my Spektrum Dx6i transmitter and am happy to report that all systems on the Phoenix are working well.

I am going to try running the flaps on the Phoenix "back-to-front", that is having them slightly reflexed for powered flight and then set them neutral for gliding flight and landing. This should help to reduce the tendency to climb sharply under power. I can also alter the degree of flap reflex and change elevator trim if required. This should be interesting to try out...

I've also changed the power setting of the transmitter from EU to US, which apparently gives about twice the range, equating to an absolute range of about 500m, in my experience. That should be sufficient to should resolve any signal-loss issue, although that will remain to be confirmed in practice...

Some Progress

...and sanity maintained

Unfortunately trying the radio the next day and the chatter was back again - unfortunately my quick fix had limited remedial abilities. It was too much of a risk as the random movement could put the Phoenix absolutely anywhere and I didn't feel like that sort of a risk!

After having scratched my head and swapped everything in sight I finally bit the bullet and decided I needed to get another transmitter. Not that I really wanted one, in fact I didn't want to have to get another, but as far as I could see there wasn't any other option. Everything pointed to the aileron gimble on my unit as the culprit.

Thinking back, the ailerons on the Phoenix had actually chattered from the very first time I powered it up. Of course I didn't know then that it was actually the radio and not my crappy assembly effort.

So, after doing a little research I bought a programmable Spektrum DX6i 6-channel unit, the same make as my DX5e so as to be compatible with the receivers I already have. Now what I have found very interesting is that the programming abilities address two of the main issues I've experienced.

Firstly, it has two modes, flying and landing, allowing you to customise settings (flaps, elevator) to suit each regime and switch between them. In my case I want to use it for powered flight (reflex the flaps and a maybe a touch of negative elevator) and for gliding with everything neutral.

Secondly it has programmable travel, exactly what I want to make the Phoenix flaps manageable instead the source of mirth they are at the moment.

Anyway I have bound the radio and, after wondering why I was getting weird mixing between elevator and ailerons, switched from helicopter to aircraft mode.

I still need to do the servo-reversing for rudder, program mode settings and flaps. So the manual is getting studied well and truly as i don't want to fail this exam...

Dirty Chatter

...so I tried to blow it away

So the saga of the Phoenix's servos continues. After having ripped off the original servos, I replaced them with a pair of HXT 900's and did a test, with exactly the same result! I was convinced that it was the servos failing, especially after having read a thread topic where someone's plane had crashed after he had failed to replace chattering servos and had lost control... Swapping the aileron leads with the flaps showed the root cause - the oscillating flaps revealed the issue was the signal, not the hardware.

Gazing at the my DX5e transmitter I wondered where to start; if I dismantled it would that be the end of it anyway? A thought crossed my mind and I moved the elevator stick across its maximum travel while blowing at the at the gimble a few times. Trying the controls again it was as smooth as anything with no trace of jitters!

All I need to do now is reconstruct the Phoenix from its needless state of disarray...

Nicely Trimmed

...when is balance?

One of the reasons, perhaps, for some of the incidents I've suffered is sufficient down trim.

Having the plane set for neutral gliding flight seems a safer bet, however the transition between flying modes, principally from neutrally powered to powered, can be problematic. Having a little negative trim also means the powered flight regime is more responsive because the plane doesn't balloon when speed rises.

Having said that the reassurance that, when power is off, the plane is slow and stable is a compelling argument against amusing flying dynamics. Still, I'm going to try the Phoenix with a little down-elevator tomorrow (two "beeps" of trim as a start) and see how it goes. Of course, I can always use flaps for landing to compensate for a fast descent rate. The mega-flaps on the Phoenix will over-compensate for any trim adjustment...

So here's hoping for calm dry weather tomorrow...

A Little Skysurfing

...a break in the weather

The turbulent run of weather continued last evening with a thunderstorm and rain - the calm settled nature of mid winter seems now to be taking on the blustery characteristics of spring.

Remarkably, the morning dawned absolutely clear although a little gusty, not great for flying the Phoenix which, with its two-metre wingspan, is especially touchy in unstable conditions.

Nearing the field I rolled the car window down for a local weather report and found the conditions virtually still with only the slightest northerly - good to go. Arriving at the field three kangaroos were nibbling at the grass. I must say I feel very bad disturbing them - I try to be as inconspicuous as possible in the hope they'll stay, but being very shy, they disappear into the paddock within minutes.

Unfortunately getting a picture of them is beyond the scope of the phone camera - I hope my wing camera will open up opportunities for some closer views of the paddock inhabitants.

Not having flown for a few days I was a little nervous getting the Phoenix into the air, so launch and climb-out was a little on the wobbly side. However conditions were quite smooth, with the gentle northerly lofting the Phoenix a little as it turned into the wind, slowing it down to an almost standstill; surfing the breeze.

After a few circuits I decided not to push my luck and brought the glider in for a landing. Following on from my incident with the tree it was hard to see how I'd run out of space - that's what happens when you're not in the zone.

Anyway, I brought the Phoenix quite low over the fence at the duck-pond end and, having cleared the water, put down the flaps. Flying almost right past me, I brought it with a last second flare to land with the slightest of bumps...

In the Air Again

...flying with the birds

The winds finally abated to modest single-figure speeds, and the light rain which had fallen overnight ceased long enough to have a quick fly. The clouds were still leaden and, with streaks of rain visible falling here and there, it was clear that rain would reach the field sooner rather than later.

The Phoenix 2000 was all prepped and ready to go, so it didn't take long to get it into the air. Launch was happily uneventful and I powered up into climbs and practiced a few loops and stalls. There were plenty of birds flying over this morning, and one particularly large wings of what I think were ducks. Lovely to see.

I also tried out the flaps on the Phoenix for the first time. They're pretty big and also, with my transmitter being very basic, I can't control the servo travel on my auxiliary switch - it's either on or off. So the flaps have full servo travel and open right down to about forty-five degrees.

The Phoenix was flying back towards the field, a little high, so I thought I'd give the flaps a go. Well, let me say quite categorically, that the effect of them is startling. 

The Phoenix slowed right down and then went nose-up, gaining a few feet in height. I was expecting it to stall, however it just ploughed its way through the air, slow and steady. All I needed was to level the wings a little before it slumped in for a landing.

Not exactly elegant but certainly highly effective...

Future Flyer

...another plane, another project

I haven't powered up the Floater Jet since the crash, so the extent of damage to servos receiver and controls is, as yet, undetermined. One of the tail servos had its control arm sheared off and the push-rod of the other is a bit bent. The wings look OK but the nose is in several pieces, held together only by the tape...

I’m thinking if that it might be salvageable, perhaps kitted it out as a night-flyer. However I'd like an immediate replacement so I at least have a backup if something goes wrong (hopefully not), leaving the reconstruction of the Floater as a longer-term project. I reckon I could piece the nose together with thin ply reinforcements and/or bamboo skewers as dowel pins. And superglue, of course, lots of superglue.

I’m thinking of getting another smaller plane  - possibly a Walrus which I think looks good. Its not unlike the Floater, but with a front-mounted prop. Actually, having just watched video clips I think I definitely want one! It comes with flaps ready-to-go and seems to hang in the air so beautifully with them deployed.

Another thing I want is a video camera. I've been taking some photos, as you may've seen, although not without risk. However I think video footage while flying would be entertaining to watch, and might also let me get some closer footage of the kangaroos who are very shy of people but don’t seem at all bothered by the plane flying past!

So I think I'll be doing some shopping and looking forward to a parcel on my doorstep in a week or two...