The Micro SkiGull has made it into the store today after a successful maiden this week. It flies pretty fast which came as a surprise to me. This probably shouldn't have as the wing loading is 28gm/d2 despite the extremely light flying weight of just 113g.
I gave up trying to get flight videos on maiden flights, I find it a distraction, so I will get out and get some footage when the wind dies down next, hence the pre-release tag.
Unfortunately the grass was very long where I was able to fly and so I couldn't go for a sliding takeoff as I had hoped but it was easy to hand launch. I started at low power settings as I was concerned about the pitch power couple, with the high mounted motor simply pushing the nose down. The first launch resulted a nice glide to the ground. I then made consecutive launches with slightly more power. It was a high risk plan but the model survived each 'landing'. Finally I was able to launch with high power and complete a circuit.
When I landed there was a wing drop which slightly broke the left wing just to the side of a glue joint, however the spar kept it together and a spot of CA glue at home sorted it out ready for flying again.
This SKiGull has been a really interesting project. All of the micro models I have designed have had a point built into the CAD build where they can be scaled up and have the necessary hinges, servo and motor mounts added in. With this model, I would interested to see if it can be scaled up in Cura alone.
Though it was planned for water use I think a scaled up version is the best bet for amphibious flying. The model floats but I can't bring myself to put the expensive UMX components in water - so I can't recommend you do either!
It is a pretty fiddly model to but together due to the small scale, but not unmanageably so and anyone with a little building experience will have no trouble. It is important to make sure the elevator Bowden is as free from drag as possible so that the small servos can cope.
In terms of new models I am going to get the final model in the micro series out next, the flying wing, and then I will turn my attention back to full size models, including a full size SkiGull.
As always I am always happy to hear your thoughts.
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