"Mario's:, Miles Hawk Speed 6. -Built to 1/4 scale
Plans are from Phillip Kent
Build time was 3 years
Covered in ply, then coverall.
Finished off with Randolph Butyrate dopes
Here's some info on the Tomboy. The Tomboy was designed by Vic Smeed
and published by Aeromodeller in 1950.
After seeing 3 Tomboys fly in Bendigo (Victoria, Australia) back in
May 2009 and being told of the International Rally I had to build one.
( See< http://www.sam600.com/b_tboy_plans.htm
>,<http://www.microchess.sk/work/tomboyrally.pdf >
It took some weeks to get the electrics from Hobby King in Hong Kong
but I have completed construction of mine in only 2 weeks. You can
see progress at <
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/hasse00/DetesTomboyConstructionAlbum# >
I did some trimming flights in windy weather with not much success although I
managed to get the controls sorted out (too much Rudder movement) and
the CofG was too far forward. It is now 78mm back from the LE. Due to
bad weather I only got to fly a
full battery last Wednesday 5-9-09 Wow! A perfect day with little wind and soft
thermals. After a trimming flight I had 2 full flights. First. 23min 37
sec and latter 34min 50 sec. Both flights were witnessed by my fellow
modelers Russell Stanley and Bruce Butterworth. I was thankful they
were there to spot for me as I was close to flying OOS
I got into a weak thermal but as I didn't want to cut the motor as
restarting is not allowed under the rules I just tried to ride it out.
The situation was complicated by the fact that the Tomboy was harder
to see under the blue sky so to stay visible I had to fly under the
white / grey cloud where the lift was. At about 25 mins I chickened
out and cut the motor. I flew slowly down in buoyant air and back in
the comfort zone I realized this had been a special flight. I may
never have a better flight with Tomboy but that one alone was worth
the building of 'him'.
Cheers Dete
Dete Hasse FAI No. AUS 19279
Northern Flying Group
.
