Big 84" Flybaby Bipe scratch build. Sarik plan.

[Mike.K 60]

I`ve always loved James wonderful white 70" Flybaby Bipe which I understand is now over thirty years old and built from the RCM&E plan. James flies the model to perfection with a .95FS nailed to the front. I must admit to being transfixed by that model and I suppose it was inevitable that I would eventually have to have one myself. That time has arrived and I`m on the case!

As an interim measure, I bought the Seagull Flybaby 70" monoplane kit version just to help me partially scratch the itch. Trevor and I flew that model last week but discovered after the first flight that the port wing had around 15mm of wing tip wash out built into it at the factory. Highly disappointing in view of the SIG/Seagull reputation for producing quality kits. That major fault made the model fly in a most peculiar fashion and the matter is now with the kit distributors, Perkins. The port wing is as warped as a nine bob note and unsuitable for the purpose. So back it has gone and I await a replacement part. All this has been detailed in a separate thread. Size wise, the model is of similar proportions to James`s bi-plane version.

There are several Flybaby Bipe kits around. The best known is the hugely expensive American Balsa USA rendition at a cost of around $475 USD plus American carriage to the UK, plus 20% UK import VAT and Royal Mail delivery. That`s seriously outside my own and probably many others budgets. I finally decided on a 54" Sarik supplied plan for a scratch build project. The plan was penned by one Eraldo Pomare and appears to come from the Nexus Plans Service. One thing this plan is for is not a 54" model, but one of 84"! So be it. I can live with that. Wings span is 84", chord13.5", wing area 7.5 square feet, fuselage length 4`9", prototype weight, 9Lb 8oz, power is .60 two stroke. The construction is very light weight and rigging is fully load bearing. My vision is to run my model on a 1.20 four stroke which would give the right sound quality. The motor is yet to be sourced.

The build is quite straight forward, is of large proportions but is essentially a structure that is full of air. Wheels are 5" Dubro inflatable at a cost of around £30 a pair. The cowl used is from a 1/4 scale SIG J3 Piper Cub at a cost of around £23. Rob tells me the cowl should be easy to source.

I`ve only just begun construction and have started by making some of the bulkheads. F1 measures about 6" in width and about 8" in height. This will proportionally produce quite a chunk of model. Most of the bulkheads are either 3mm/1/8" ply or balsa. Others are from 6mm/1/4" material. Parts have been traced from the plan and the tracing paper stuck with Prit-stick onto the core sheet material. Parts have been cut out using a Dremel fret saw with the remains of the tracing paper being removed once cutting has been completed. I started with quite a sizable piece of 3mm birch ply sheet but that soon became consumed. These big models certainly gobble material. I have 51 wing ribs to produce...I`m looking forward to that....not!

So the build has started. The progress will be documented here is matters progress. I foresee a build time of about two months. Watch this space.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

The big Flybaby build is progressing only interrupted by back surgery at Guys. I`m somewhat incapacitated at present and a second stage of surgery is needed the week after next. Undaunted, I`ve continued with kitting the model with materials supplied by our Rob at Avicraft. Rob is attempting to source a SIG Piper Cub J3 one quarter scale fibre glass cowl which fits this one third scale model. The replacement wing for the smaller Seagull Flybaby mono-plane is expected from Perkins in the near future.

I made an appearance at the field on Sunday taking my cut out kit parts and plan with me. James was present and gave my collection of raw sticks and twigs an eye-ball. Looking at the plan, he recognized the designers name and also the construction details. Subject to confirmation, it would appear that I`m building from the same plan that James used to build his model some thirty years ago. Soon, we will be able to put the models side by side and see if we have two identical air-frames. It will be fantastic to fly both models together.

The build hasn`t been at all complex to date. Its all very straight forward construction and has a considerable amount of similarities to something like a Super Sixty. Elevators, fin, tail=plane and rudder are complete and encompass some weight reduction modification. Fuselage sides are now done with a couple of bulkheads glued and fitted to one side. Great care is being taken to ensure precise alignment and accuracy needed to ensure a good, straight fuselage. The two sides are due to be joined today.

James`s model flies with a .91 four stroke engine. He informs me that the model does not need a larger size power unit so I`ve managed to find a second hand, lightly used OS FS .91 Surpass unit on eBay. I paid the seller £120 for the motor and £6 for the postage. Assuming the motor is all good when it arrives around Wednesday next week, Rob considers my buy is as good as it gets for this type of unit acquired from the second hand market.. Certainly, four stroke motors command higher prices than two stroke units which are obviously cheaper due to lack of four stroke valve gear complication . Bought new from retail sources, the going rate appears to be about £280. The motor was described as having high compression and to turn smoothly. We will see what arrives shortly via Royal Mail.

Anyway, here are some more progress shots of the construction work to date. More updates on this thread as the model takes shape. All comments appreciated.

Mike

Edited September 6, 2019 by Mike.K

[Mike.K 60]

A progress report here.

Three weeks on, the build of this big 84" Flybaby bi-plane continues well. To add to the fun the first few flights of the new kit built Seagull ARTF Flybaby mono-plane took place. Now fitted with a replacement port wing due to the original item being badly warped, I`m pleased to report this model flies very nicely indeed. With the new wing fitted, I didn`t even need to adjust trims on the transmitter to obtain straight and level flight. The model is perhaps just a tad nose heavy but this can easily be corrected by shifting the LiPo back about 25mm. That can be done once the rain stops. The trouble with rain is once it starts, it never stops....the forecast shows its here to stay for at least the next three days. Time to spend more time in the hangar.

So back to the big Flybaby Bipe. The OS 91FS Surpass arrived and is a cracking little motor in fine general condition. The fuel tank, servos, control snakes, wing bolt mounts and a Bowden cable for the throttle has all been installed. Fin, rudder, tail-plane and elevators also now feature. A block and sheet balsa Piper Cub type cowl has been constructed, profiled and light e-glass sheathed with industrial boat building epoxy. Bending of the 4mm OD wire cabane wires, landing gear and inter-plane struts have still to be started. The wing construction is still to begin. So far, so good. Images below tell the story to date.

This model is quite an epic build. I expect completion to take around another two months. I wanted a winter build. It seems I have one!

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Last night at the September 2019 club meet, the big Flybaby bipe build took an interesting turn. James took another look at my fuselage and became certain that my 84" version from the Eraldo Pomare/Nexus/Sarik plan was the same size as his one built some thirty years earlier. He recognized the designers name. He had earlier measured the wing span of his example and found it to be around 64". That is something like a 20" span difference when set against the dimension quoted on the plan. Placing my fuselage in his Volvo estate, he became even more convinced that my model was indeed the same size as his.

Back home, I measured the fuselage length at 55" and then referring to the wing plan (not looked at in any real detail to date), I measured the wing span which came out at 64".....the same as James`s example. Scratching my head, I then realised that whilst two fuselage plans are shown, ie differences for the monoplane and the bi-plane, only a wing rib section was shown for the mono-plane but not a plan form for the extended winged monoplane version. Two and two eventually made four and it became obvious where the quoted plan wing span of 84" came from.....the mono-plane wings are some 20" longer than the bi-plane! A quick text to James leads us to conclude we now have the answer to the conundrum and that we both do have the same model from the same plan. That is indeed good news because my model has also been fitted with an OS .91 FS motor which is the same size as the one fitted to James`s model. As we know, James flies his Flybaby beautifully on a .91FS and my hope is that my rendition will fly in a similar fashion. We are both looking forward to seeing both models flying together.

Progress on my model has been rather slow over the past couple of weeks. My spinal operation developed complications and I`ve been rather off colour. This affected my building speed and also my perceptive abilities. Thankfully, I`ve now sharpened up a bit but tire rather easily. A wire bender arrived from Robotbirds for around £12 and is capable of bending 4mmOD piano wire for the cabane struts and landing gear. Getting the bending radius of any bends takes a bit of practice but my technique is now developing. I must admit to dropping a couple of clangers with the fuselage. The head rest behind the pilot got placed about 2" further aft than it should have been. I`m blaming an anesthetic clouded brain during that part of the build. That stuff does hang around in the body and takes a while to burn out. To cut a long story short, I`ve had to hack into some of my previous work, remove the bulkhead and re-locate it in the right place. Now I can locate the cabane struts in the right place as well!

The cowl has also progressed and fits the model reasonably well with a good clearance around the engine being obtained together with getting the throttle and choke controls working correctly. The main mixture needle valve control exits the cowl nicely on the underside with a long piano wire extension fitted. People have asked me why I didn`t invert the motor. I`ve two answers for that. One is that James installed his motor as a side winder and I just followed his lead. The other thing that influenced me not to invert was the difficulty of inserting the glow plug NiMh unit through the cowl. Yes, I suppose I could have remoted the connection. The fact that I`m more than just a bit incapacitated due to major sciatica in my right leg and back, caused me to shy away from having to operate on my hands and knees for starting and having to struggle to get the glow plug fired up with an almost unseen connection point. So a side winder my model also has become. A straight exhaust of flexi hose is needed in place of the slightly bent pipe supplied with the motor. Use of that pipe would have caused me to hack an unsightly hole in the cowl to allow the bent pipe to rotate as it is tightened up. I can see why Emi suggested I went the flexi route and remoted the exhaust canister to a more convenient location.

Only two images on this occasion but will add more once I have something more tangible to show.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Quite by chance, I tripped over an old Pilot magazine on eBay which detailed the very aircraft that I`m in the process of building. This was in the August 1997 edition of the magazine. I`m pleased with this purchase as it gives a very good detailed insight into some of the finer modelling points and is likely to be helpful particularly in the later stages of construction. Images of the relevant pages have been added below.

One of the things I found useful when the magazine arrived was having confirmation of the core colour scheme. Originally I thought it was white with blue trim. Now I`ve found the aircraft to have been silver and blue. Annoyingly, I`d already covered the fin, rudder, tail plane and elevators in white. It has all had to be stripped off in favour of the silver. I have half a roll of the Hobby King silver film in stock. This is sufficient to cover the fuselage but not the wings. Frustratingly, the current Hobby King listing shows the material as out of stock. I`m just hoping it will make a re-appearance in the not too distant future.

The fuselage has had its cabane struts added and also the top decking. This part of the build was far from easy but at least it is done. Only the rigging wire hard points remain to be added before I can completely cover the fuselage. The going is rather bitty at present but the model progresses slowly. Certainly, it is my most ambitious project yet and will probably take another two months to complete.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Quote

 

A quick progress update on the Flybaby.

Tail feathers and fuselage have been partially covered and the top wing built and trial fitted to the cabane wires. So far so good. Hard points and mountings for that wing still remain to be constructed. Note the somewhat unusual main spar arrangement designed into the model. It is rather similar to that employed on the full size aircraft. Note the similarity in proportions to the Tiger Moth. One can`t but help think that Pete Bowers might of been slightly influenced by the Tiger Moth!

A little off topic but as the Tiger Moth figures here, the little second hand Tiger I bought from Rob has now been stripped of its old faded and embrittled covering to reveal a model that only needs minimal rework to make good. The remains of the old covering are easily removed by light sanding. Once the big Flybaby Bipe is complete, the Tiger can be re-covered. It will probably assume the colour scheme worn by the Shuttleworth example. Sorry about the embedded plane here. Can`t work out how to remove it!

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Back on thread again now with the continued story of my Fly Baby bipe construction.

This build stalled badly around October of last year due to non availability of a further supply of 115 covering film from Hobby King. I was assured that the material would be back in stock again by the end of December. No such luck and remained completely unobtainable apart from a half roll obtained from a seller on eBay. This was insufficient for my needs but I bought it in the hope of turning up a complete roll at a later date. The model has sat neglected in The Hangar whist four other air-frames were built and completed.

Martin Wood broke the deadlock by pointing me towards Rapid RC at Minster on the Isle of Sheppey. I required more Futaba R617FS FASST recievers but they are some £55 each new, or between £32-£36 used on eBay. Martin and Ian both told me that the FrSky FASST Rx units worked with a FASST Futaba Tx, so I`ve taken the plunge by buying a pair of new FrSky units priced at a very acceptable £24.99 each from Rapid RC. The situation improved further because Justin (the boss) at Rapid RC told me he had a couple of rolls of HK 115 covering film in stock. A deal was done and just 24hrs later my consignment arrived with me. Top grade service, prices and a great bloke to deal with. I`m more than pleased especially about finding the ten metres of silver 115 which now enables me to continue building the Fly Baby bipe.

So this afternoon, renewed enthusiasm for the project has been found. I`ve covered the scratch built cowl in dark blue covering, again supplied by Hobby King. Fortunately I have one and a half rolls in stock which is more than sufficient for my current needs. Off we go again then....

With the building of the Seagull Gypsy Moth recently, the Fly Baby donated its engine and servos to the Moth. I`m now on the hunt again for a good solid, low time OS90FS Surpass as a direct replacement for the donated engine. I also need a handful of good, used Futaba standard servos. No doubt Rob will oblige. What a great friend he has become and I can`t thank him enough for helping me so much over the past couple of years.

What`s next on Fly Baby list then? Quite simply, I need to build a bottom wing. All the ribs have previously been cut out and a good supply of appropriately sized spruce has been obtained from Rob. So far so good then. The build is once again on the move. More images soon.

Mike.

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Mike.K
Typo corrections.

[Mike.K 60]

Light can be seen at the end of the tunnel!

Wings have now been constructed and fit well to the fuselage. Wing build for this model is NOT easy especially around the centre sections which are swept back and have dihedral. Scarf joining of the spruce spars is required together with butt joint reinforcement. This part of the build has been slow and somewhat tedious. Great attention to detail has been required to ensure the wings remain flat, accurate to the plan and have some chance of mirroring each other. This is not a beginners build.

The replacement motor will now be a brand new SC120FS. I nicked the OS91FS for the Gypsy Moth! Finished weight will be around 11.25Lbs.

Progress now being made. Another update in due course.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Just acquired from one of the Falcon guys, a brand "new in box", unused and in perfect condition, an SC120FS for a very reasonable price. I`m well pleased.

To make things even better, crank case width, mounting bolt pitch and forward crank case/crank shaft length also appears identical to the OS90FS which I had originally intended to power this Fly Baby bipe. Apart from perhaps some mods to the cowl, this motor should be a one for one swap. This nice thing about the change is it will give a useful additional amount of forward ballast to a model that has a long tail moment and a short nose. If I`m lucky, I can hope that little if any additional lead ballast will have to be added. Tonight, the predicted weight of the finished model looks like being around 11Lb.

More on this model build shortly.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

More progress.

My thanks to Pete Ward at the Falcon Model Flying Group for providing me with the new motor. It is now fitted to the fuselage but some cowl modifications were needed to get it to fit. Whilst the crank case width and engine bolt holes were identical to the previously fitted OS91FS, the cylinder is appreciably larger and the motor length is about 10mm longer. A spinner will cover that mismatch. It has all fitted together nicely as you can see from images. The standard exhaust sits comfortably in the lower part of the cowl and a silicon exhaust deflector tube will be able to protrude from the undersurface of the cowl.

Sat on the work bench, the model is getting bigger by the moment. Another month or so of building should have this model complete. Finished dry weight is estimated at just over 11Lb.

Mike

[Trevor 25]

Looking good Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Thank you, Trevor.

A little more progress. All hard points for inter-plane struts and rigging points installed on the wings. It was a tedious job but all done now. Struts will be a laminate of 2mm x 12mm carbon strip and ply which Rob is sourcing for me. In the meantime, I`ve covered the top wing with blue trim to be applied today. Then I can get on with covering the lower wing. Its all coming together gradually.

Mike

Edited March 9, 2020 by Mike.K
Typo corrections.

[Mike.K 60]

And a bit more. Top wing now complete with C 0f G marks in place and all scale colour trim applied.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Bottom wing now covered with servos installed.

Both wings now trial fitted with inevitable slight height across model issues. Two heads being better than one suggests that a trip over to Rob for a little advice would be benificial. Scratch built bi-planes are not the easiest thing in the world to build accurately. All sent to try us.

Images show the further progress.

Mike.

[Mike.K 60]

A twelve hour covering session produced a fully covered and colour trimmed fuselage. The wings were the subject of additional covering work. The model is now coming on quite quickly.

The modified tail wheel assembly comes from the Seagull Gypsy Moth kit. When I built the Moth, I fitted a more scale like unit, hence this unit being held back for another project. It fits this scratch built model to perfection. A quick and easy solution.

Now I have to build the landing gear, make inter-plane struts, sheath large gauge cabane and landing gear wires and finally rig the flying wires. Still a fair bit to do. Time scale looks like being about another three weeks to completion.

Mike

Edited March 17, 2020 by Mike.K
Additional text.

[Mike.K 60]

More work done.

Tail feathers all have hand made brass hard points fitted for flying wires. In addition, the tail wheel unit is installed.

Custom made registration letters are in the post. Not cheap at £49 but quick and reliable service from The Sign Builder on line or via eBay. Their work is of high quality and I previously used this business when I had the graphics done on my big Extra. No doubt I could have sourced for less cash but that requires a trip to Gerry Booth at Wallington which costs in miles, fuel and time. As we are all on home lock down due to the virus panic, I makes sense just to send off for the graphics and stay off the streets! This model progresses.

Landing gear, inter-plane struts, flying wires etc remain to be constructed. The Fly Baby will then be on the downhill streak towards completion.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

The decals have arrived from "The Sign Builder". Certainly a hassle free way of obtaining graphics. Now installed on the Fly Baby and looking quite nice. There is a little artistic, non scale licence applied to the fin and rudder ie the addition of SMAE and BMFA together with the Fly Baby logo which on the full sized aircraft appears at a cock-eyed angle. That wasn`t very pretty so I`ve used my own ideas. This model is far from being a Nationals award winner...its rather more of a usable sport club flyer. A few changes won`t do any harm.

As an aside, I`ll be using The Sign Builder to provide graphics for my proposed next build. I`ve just ordered a Seagull Jungmeister from Rob. Apparently it will be on his next delivery. I`ll be using the core colour scheme of the Seagull kit as the basis for a rendition of a pre-war aircraft that was flown by aviatrix Liesel Bach in aerobatic competitions of the 1930`s. My colour scheme modification will entail re-covering the tail plane and upper surface of the top wing. You will see an image of a Jungmeister dressed in the colour scheme used by Liesel Bach below. The Sign Builder have been asked if they can supply the special graphics and they have indicated they would be happy to assist. In the meantime, I must finish this Fly Baby before being consumed by yet another build!

I`m currently building the landing gear from 5/32" wire using a simple wire bender. It is far from easy bending symmetrical parts. I`ll post images of the landing gear once I`ve progressed it further.

Mike.

[Mike.K 60]

OK, here is the first stage of the landing gear construction using a vice mounted wire bender capable of bending up to 4mm O/D piano wire. The unit was sourced from Robot Birds for around £18 and takes some of the fright and effort out of bending largish sized piano wire. It takes practice to use and one needs to gain a little confidence before committing to produce cabane struts, landing gear etc. Its worth reading up about bending radius requirements before starting to bend wire parts for your latest model. Its also worth noting that when you have bent wire to a required bend, you can expect that bend to start opening up again (known as "spring back") a few minutes later. You then have to check your bend again and perhaps apply more bending pressure to reset the bend. You might have to perform that operation three or four times before you get a bend that behaves itself!

This landing gear took me about six hours of concerted effort to make. The wires were cleaned with acetone on a clean rag to remove protective grease, before being abraded with a file and again being wiped in acetone to remove all remaining traces of contaminate. All joints were bound with copper fuse wire (10m lengths available from eBay) before being dobbed with acid flux, heated with a large soldering iron and being flooded with proper lead solder. (On red reels, NOT the yellow reel non lead stuff often found at builders merchants) Joints were left to cool by natural heat loss before being scrubbed under hot water with a wire brush or wire wool. It is important to get all that flux removed otherwise the job is a pain to work with, the remaining acid based flux gets everywhere and you will never get any paint or adhesive to bond to the wire. Job cleanliness is vital.

My landing gear building result is seen in the images below. It will now be sheathed in a ply and balsa laminate before hopefully being covered in self adhesive timber grain vinyl. Further images will be posted once the gear is fully finished.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Some further progression now with the Fly Baby landing gear now sheathed in a 1/32" ply and balsa laminate.

The covering is sticky backed vinyl which I previously used to tonse up some bare white UPVC windows on the house. I obtaining it from eBay several years ago. It is of external grade and five years later still looks good having been subjected to all weathers. The ply laminate required epoxy on the surface to give "energy" for the vinyl adhesive. That enables the low tack vinyl to grab the surface and adhere well. Joints and corners had a little more epoxy applied over then to help stop fuel ingress. The result looks quite convincing and rather like raw spruce. Its as near as I could get to emulating the timber work on the full sized aircraft.

Now onto the cabanes which need similar treatment.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

A few more images of progress to the Fly Baby. I had a week or so away from it as I had the Seagull Jungmeister kit to assemble. It was good to have a break from the FB as construction is all of a prototype situation and the constant problem solving can be mentally tiring. The quick assemble Jungmeister is relatively simple to put together and not much brain power is needed. With that model completed to ready to fly status, I`m now refreshed and battering away at the final parts of the FB construction.

Since my last posting, I`ve added flying wires and tensioning turnbuckles to the tail feathers and also constructed flying wire  hard mounting points on the fuselage. Images are below. 

I now need to build two dummy engine cylinders based on the cylinder details of the SC120FS power plant. I expect to make the mock cylinders from a 1/32"ply and balsa laminate. The cockpit coaming needs finishing and the windscreen making and installing. The cabane wires need sheathing in the same way that I detailed the landing gear. The wings then need to go back on to enable inter-plane strut dimensions to be obtained and then the struts themselves need building. The fixing details for the struts to the wings are already designed in my head and I then also need to make a handful of small brass brackets to link the whole lot together. After that I need another flying wire construction session using wire, crimp connectors and some very nice little miniature turnbuckles. All wires are doubled up as per the full size aircraft in case of any single wire failure in flight. Twelve turnbuckles feature on the wing rigging with a further four on the tail of the model. I make that a total of sixteen turnbuckles at a cost of £32! Shark fishing 100Lb breaking strain stainless steel stranded trace wire takes the flying loads and was obtained from an eBay seller who runs a fishing supply business. The plan is quite specific about the need for the load carrying wires which are a mandatory requirement due to the very light construction used in the wings. Fit the wires or expect the wings to fold up in flight!

Once I get the above list completed, I don`t think this model is far off finished. C of G checks and ballasting will be made after which this model will be near finished. I suspect this model will be complete in around a week or so. Badly needed is a garage space re-organisation. It`s getting a bit full now. I made a small start on rubbish clearance. The large pile of kit boxes has been reduced ready for the dustbin lorry. The image of the garage shows how badly I need more storage space!

More details in due course.

Mike.

[Mike.K 60]

A few more construction images below. Cockpit combing, sheathed cabane struts, dummy fuel cap, dummy cabane cross braces and finally, the hand built windscreen now on the model. That screen was fiddly and quite an effort. With that pile done, wings are due to go back on the fuselage for the the inter-plane struts to be sized and  constructed. Then another round of flying wire assembly. Not far off finished at that point. The next project would now appear to be a Seagull Steen Skybolt resplendent in "Batman" colour scheme! Another thread created for that one with the final image here depicting a complete Skybolt in ready to fly condition..

[Mike.K 60]

Now nearing completion, the Fly Baby is not far off finished. You can see in the images the missing inter-plane struts, flying wire mounts and a few other parts. Not much more to do now.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Work has continued on the Fly Baby with inter-plane struts and one dummy engine cylinder being constructed. Images below.

Sadly my Father, Peter, died early on Tuesday at East Surrey Hospital after a long Parkinsons illness which was exacerbated by the Covid virus. Peter was founder Hon Sec of Riddlesdown MFC and was the person who encouraged my modelling activities from about 1972. I`m continuing the Fly Baby completion to keep myself occupied whilst we make arrangements for his burial. The Riddlesdown guys have been informed of his passing.

The Fly Baby now only requires the fitting of the inter-plane struts, flying wires and NiMh battery to ballast correctly.

Final images shortly.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

The Fly Baby is 99% complete and just requires four more rigging wire sets to be fitted. Just four more .6mm flying wires and four more turnbuckles are needed to see final completion. Its been a very long build!

All up weight is a rather beefy 13.3Lbs. Rather heavier than James example I would think. Its essentially been built to the plan with only a couple of small mods done to the wing joiners. The large 120FS is perhaps a bit heavier than an OS90FS... C of G came out spot on with no nose lead added. Now it has to be flown....

Images here show the model out on the drive this morning with a few of its recently built stable mates out in celebration.

All comments appreciated.

Mike