Now that the sweepstakes fever is over, thought i'd complete a project started for last year's sweepstakes:

The story started here last year:
http://www.rcindia.org/electric-planes/5th-sweepstakes-sunbird-adiboy/msg178569/#msg178569

The tail feathers were easy, fuselage not too hard.
But the wing?
All i can say is that if you went by the so called instructions, you would NOT end up with wings!

Here are some pics:

The wing area is a little over 2.5sqft.
Would you believe the weight after. 2 coats of Wonderwood on the fuselage?
Wing loading is going to be under 6oz/sqft
As compared to nearly 16oz/sqft for my similar size Pilatus B4
Hope to fly both tomorrow to compare...

Superb build sir looks like the bird of time glider, hope she sails as magnificently as her too.

Which one should i fly tomorrow?
They are about the same size, but one is 360gms, the other >960gms...

That is so beautiful!

 
waiting for flight video Iyer Sir.

-learner

But how come so much difference in weight iyer sir...

Pretty birds sir 

All the best for the maidens

Beautiful Bird Sir 

Great Job 

Thanks Tarneil, Ashwin, learner, Nirmal, Rai saheb and Col.

Must shamefacedly admit to the following mistakes:
1. In my hurry, forgot that the fin/rudder had just been pressed into place, but had not been glued
2. As usual for my maidens, it was tail heavy
3. As usual for my maidens, it was underpowered, due to habit of not using full throttle..


Result - after hand launch, she climbed with great difficulty, right into the power lines.

Lesson: Cheap ply dihedral brace is useless. Replaced with hardwood (window baton)

Perhaps not having your regular buddy adds to mistakes. With my dad on 24hours oxygen now, either I or RC Aunt have to be at home if the other is away. So golf nearly shut down, not enough motivation to go so far alone. RC down to about once a month or so.
But
Only 3 more days till Sunday. Hope maid agrees to stay for 2 hours...

woww.. superb build Iyer sir   

Iyyer Sir, if you are in a hurry to maiden that beautiful bird early, we can meet up.Will have company.
Im planning to fly this Saturday too...early morning(Sunday flying as usual). Let me know if that suits you...would be treat watching it fly!!

Here's a short video, of a home landing.


Inspired by posts of dhruvafreak and bmblb...

A home landing is some thing cherished by glider pilots, as it is the last flight of the day, and you can roll right up to the hangar after landing...

(Any IITK guys listening?)
Those who soloed on VT-GDD (Schweizer 2-22) and then progressed to VT-GDE (Schweizer 1-26) under Capt V V Nanda, Sanjay Atrishi, Rakesh Rastogi or Umesh Chandra in the late 70s- early 80s...

 .....so graceful......and what an enviable place to fly 

Very nice, sir 

Now I must build a power glider. Corro, 60" + + span 

Nice build sir

@bhanu Prakash,
Hum to aapka pinewood Cessna build dekh rahe the.
Aapko ye thread Kaise mila?
Regards.

Excellent build iyer sir

Forgot to upload video of flights after trimming completion.
Strong left roll corrected partially by removing (nearly imperceptible) warp in left wing, and by adding a small trim tab (1"x2"x1/4" depron). (No ailerons, only rudder, elevator, throttle)
Had looping tendency at over half throttle despite 2 washers downthrust.
Moved cg back gradually to remove up trim in elevator.
Was not enough.
Finally solved by mixing 5% down elevator into throttle!
(Had 10% initially, but that pulled the model down on launch...)

See if you can spot where i cut throttle (at about 22 seconds).
How high? 200-250 ft?
Thereafter in lift!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=C96oiT0ndgE

Here is a pic of the wing joiner/ dihedral brace to make the wing two piece to fit in a small car.

Sir, how do you ensure that the joiners don't slip out during fight? Is there some sort of locking mechanism inside?

@intorc,
There's no force pulling the wing halves apart in normal flight.
So the rubber bands that hold the wing to the fuselage are enough to hold both halves together.

May be a silly question but does it also apply in swept wings too?

 air to wings friction pulls wings back if you use the common spar perpendicular to cetre line
then there might be no problem.

Iyer Sir....you have just the right place to SLOPE !!! overlooking your flying field !

need I say more !