Blunderbird 1

[Carl]

I feel very lucky to receive Phil's Blunderbird via Shaun - thank you both. Built by Tobe, and very nicely built it is too.

As the subject title suggests it's a glider, in fact it will be a slope soarer

I've done a few jobs on it. One that's not visible is to glue in 1/16" ply doublers and bottom to the inside or the nose area. There were no doublers, so thought it a good idea. So the 35Mhz receiver and 4 AA cell battery pack are up front - I chose the biggest receiver and used AA cells simply for weight to balance the model - just 3 additional two pence coins gave the correct balance.

The other jobs are shown in the pictures:

I printed onto white tissue Blunderbird1 labels and doped them on

I have done a few test glides and it has a fantastic glide I'll upload a couple of short video clips later.

Carl

[Carl]

I've PM'd this to Phil but it looks as though it doesn't allow jpg attachments. In the previous post I said I will be enlarging the rudder. The picture below shows a red line where I'm proposing to cut the fin to create the larger rudder - it effectively doubles the rudder size.

Does this look like a good place? Bigger still or not so big?

Thanks,
Carl

[Carl]

Forgot to mention earlier the AUW came out at a little under 13oz, and because the wing area works out approx 144 sq.in the wing loading is a little under 13 oz/sq.ft.

I've uploaded a video clip on YouTube that shows a test glide that almost went wrong Prior to this I'd done a test glide and it glided nicely into the thick green bushy stuff in the grass. So I did another glide with a firmer push and it picked up some lift and off it went - but I hadn't yet plugged in the battery as I was intending it to land in the grass again

So just stood and watched it float of towards the coast, but as it glided down into the little valley it picked up the off shore breeze and turned to glide along the bottom. Amazingly it carried on gliding and just as it touched down it nudged a surprised sheep

So the test glide turned into a 30sec FF glide



Carl

[Wayne_H]

........ Amazingly it carried on gliding and just as it touched down it nudged a surprised sheep
Carl

Well I never........ A Kiwi Blunderbird - what ever will they think of next?

[GarydNB]

.....and not to mention the Canning stock root....(or is that route? I can never remember)
Only Aussies will get it....
Gary

[Carl]

So I've enlarged the rudder on the Blunderbird - gone half way between what I previously suggested and the original hinge point. Here's a link to a video clip of the rudder movement showing quite a lot of throw. Being a beginner I'm quite happy to receive an opinion. I could reduce using rates or move the wire loop on the rudder back down to the original position. The servo is a little buzzy but works perfectly well.



Carl

[pulserudder]

At least on your video, the torque rod looks in danger of popping out of the yoke when hard over, or do my eyes deceive me?

[Carl]

At least on your video, the torque rod looks in danger of popping out of the yoke when hard over, or do my eyes deceive me?

It is close, but I'm going to move the yoke back down to the original position anyway for the time being whilst gaining experience.

Carl

[Wayne_H]

Carl,

Is your bird blundering along the slope yet ??

[Carl]

Carl,

Is your bird blundering along the slope yet ??

Not yet Wayne. I've taken it with me each time I go out flying, but barely a breeze so not tried it other than test glide - has a very nice glide

Carl