Yes that is right, we don't know what happened we were moved to a new server and we have lost the pictures in the transfer, we did have a back up but it didn't put the pictures back, I am limited with this software we are using for the forum, so rather than lose it all I have decided to leave it. sorry for the inconvenient.
It's snowing like crazy again here in the Scottish Borders and as I've had enough shovelling for today (and it's dark) I thought I’d do a brief update on the RF4. First I’ll re-post a few pictures of the build then go have something to eat, more later.
I haven’t seen Ted Allison for a while because of the bad weather. Although his 50% Fournier is quite close to flying I think his 25% EE Lightning has been taking priority.
OK, now the flying. Since my last post about it's flying qualities I’ve only had one outing with the Fournier which had some minor problems. A bit of vibration was quickly traced to slightly loose engine mounting bolts. The other thing was that the throttle cut instead of cutting the engine, the revs actually increased. This was not so easily corrected. After some checking at the field and more extensive tests in the workshop comparing the data in the model memory with the copy backed up in a spare memory (Futaba 12 FG Tx) it transpired that although the numbers in the two memories agreed the throttle was not closing as much in the main memory as in the back up. The display screen also showed the throttle going up in the main memory and down in the back up. I have been unable to resolve this problem and am now using the back up as main. Any suggestions gratefully received! The last thing was more irritating than serious. The latches that secure the canopy failed in the locked position and as the canopy has to be removed to access the switches for the Rx and the wing securing bolts this lead to some frantic stripping of the latches. And that ended flying for the day. As the latches never worked as well as I’d hoped they were replaced by bolts into captive nuts, but by the time this was done winter had arrived so it won’t be out again until next year. On the positive side some rudder/elevator mix that I speculated about in an earlier post worked superbly and has transformed not only the rolls but also the handling in turns. I’m still working on the best way to use the airbrakes on landing. When they’re deployed it certainly slows down but the sink rate builds up deceptively quickly. Bringing quite a bit of power back on once the airbrakes are out seems promising and will be perused next year, again suggestions welcome. Hope this has been of interest, in the meanwhile a merry Christmas and a happy snow shovelling (if you’re in the UK) New Year to you all.
