I am happy to report that the Boston has had its first 3 flights.....not the tidiest of flights but it's back in one piece!
The two Laser 360s had previously been a Ziroli P-38 Lightning (well two actually but thats a long story!!). the last Lightning met its end after elevator flutter stripped the gears on the servos. Though the 360's were not badly damaged in the ensuing crash, they did end up needing new needle valves and bearings. Unfortunately this means I'm back to square one with the needle settings! After a fair while annoying the neighbours at home, I thought I had the settings about right. Initial runs down at the field sounded good and the engines seemed well matched. Taxi tests showed reasonable tracking, though the model always wanted to pull to the right with low power settings. I put this down to the nose wheel not being set up quite right..................
So, the first take off was initiated, with a seemingly stronger pull to the right (should have taken note here!!) and just at the point of liftoff, the right engine coughed, spluttered...but thankfully picked back up again. Had it not, then the outcome would have been very different. You'll see on the video that the resulting swing and roll was just about at the extremes of what could be controlled....I certainly feel lucky to have got away with it! A hasty circuit was flown and a firm landing got the Boston back where she seemed to want to be!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aSZSaesJIKU
