Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 10:56 AM

successful maiden of Tracer!

Because of lots of overhours I have I decided to go to the airfield this morning before driving to the office.

As I got no settings for the Tracer everything is a bit more thrilling than other maidens.

3 hand launches - 3 times more lead, then lay out the 15m rubber and 60m rope (airfileld is only 120m), breathe deeply - launch - straightaway up - releasing towline - a bit tail heavy - very precise to pilot

4 more high starts with some minor adjustments.

So it was a successful maiden of the Tracer :-)!

Tracer flys great, but seems to be not a very fast plane...

Monday, September 6, 2010 at 1:00 AM

Tracer: problems with V-tail area solved and radio installed

All problems solved, but this had lead to additonal ~ 50/60g. Not good wit the long lever...

 Additonal resin, filler and glass fiber for the V-tail attachment

New bowden cables and 3 bracings from foam (no polystyrene as photo shows) soaked with resin (Harry, thanks for this tip!)



Radio installed, left some space for a vario in the front as there is no space behind the cockpit.
Not perfect for CG...

Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 10:56 PM

Tracer: problems with V-tail area

The  V-tail area has a lot of room for improvement.


  • Mingy sticks on the V-tail wings
  • V-tail attachment in the fuselage has a lot of air pockets so I am sure the first tough turn would end without V-tail wings 
  • one of the mingy bowden cables is not usable
  • fabric tape for one rudder is lacerated for ~ 1cm on fuselage side

    But the quality of the rest of the airplane still seems to be very good.

    This will cost time as I have no experience (luckily :-)) with mouldie repair or modifications and will add some additonal weight to the tail section (what I really don't like!).


    Monday, August 30, 2010 at 3:29 PM

    Tracer build started, finally!

    This evening IO had some time to start with the Tracer build.
    To save time I had asked a friend to help me with the wing servos some time ago.
    He did this meanwhile.
    Harry, you did a great job with this! Thanks a lot!

    Tonight I finished the cableforms for the wing servos.

    Decided to use the connectors and not to solder the cables for easy replacement.


    A bit hot glue and we are done.
    Floating connectors in the wing, fixed in the fuselage.

    Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 8:59 PM

    succesful maiden of Sagitta!

    The needed enhancements are done and it was possible to maiden Sagitta today via airplane towing.

    The Sagitta flys very good and is quite fast, in spite of the thick airfoil.

    I am already in love :-)!