No chance of a maiden flight for the Schoolboy in the wind and rain at Ponte Wayne, but the wing did go for a flight down the car park - plucked from the back of the car as soon as I opened the tailgate!
Did manage the maiden flight for the Schoolboy this morning, with calm conditions at the club field, so I went ahead with the plan to fly the wee model on rudder-elevator-throttle proportional radio. Checked everything out on the bench and it was going the right way, but the elevator control rod outer was moving and eating up much ofthe available down elevator. That was secured temporarily with a small piece of Blenderm tape and improved the situation.
The first attempted handlaunch went strongly to the left, but the long grass did it's job with a cushioned landing. Control surfaces checked again and they were pretty well centralised, so tried again with a bit more power on and got away okay. The model needed a bunch of right stick to go anything like straight and during the five minute flight, feeding in lots of right calmed things down a wee bit, but the Schoolboy resolutely refused to turn right - turned left with no issue, but even with full right trim still wouldn't turn right.
There were no really hairy moments, but approaching to land from the left was very challenging, every time I tried, I was lacking the ability to straighten out by putting in a matching right turn. Eventually I got it almost right, but settled for letting the Schoolboy come to a rest in the short rough, just outside the mown strip. A gentle landing with no damage.
So, a successful maiden flight, but not without issues. The elevator pushrod outer needs secured and I'm not convinced by the rudder authority with the tape hinges and after discussion have decided to whip those off and put some sewn hinges in their place. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get the model at least able to turn in either direction.
On the plus side there is no shortage of power, with the 1106 motor and diddy wee prop, it sips at the available battery capacity and the model climbs convincingly away. In all the excitement I forgot to weigh the Schoolboy but will remedy that.