Ornithopter

The weather has been bad lately so I thought I'd try something different. It's a FREE BIRD II ornithopter. Flys OK in the lounge room but the space is too restricted. I gave it a few flights outdoors at 6:00am one morning before the wind got up. Only used 40 to 50 turns and got about 10 seconds flight time. Weight is 0.2 ounce. The covering is Solarfilm LITESPAN.

Had a quiet Christmas Day today so I built this before lunch. Tried it in the lounge room. Wow! It flys FAST.  It's a MINI GYMELLO RP. I got the plan from Hip Pocket Aeronautics. Weighs 0.8 ounce. I used a Hobby King prop assembly and Undercarriage  that I had on hand so that made construction easier. Litespan covering.

A.R.F.A. Senator

While we are on the subject of rubber power, here is Alan Beggs' first attempt. He chose the half size Senator from the free plan in Aeromodeller Jan/Feb 2013.

Peanut Scale

Here are some photos of Owen Cameron's first attempt at Peanut Scale. The kit was picked up at a deceased estate sale recently. Owen and I have great respect for those modellers of peanut scale, what with all those fragile, fiddly bits. Patience and a soft touch is certainly needed.

Bambi

Here is my first attempt at rubber power - an Aeroflyte Bambi. Please excuse the wrinkles in the covering, I haven't used tissue since about 1965. A couple of test glides have been promising. A proper test flight  will be done soon. A copy of the plan is on Hip Pocket Aeronautics, but beware, it is not the correct size. My copy came out too large. I have drawn a new CAD plan but it is not quite finished yet.

Notice the 1/16" incidence trim  packing under
the leading edge.