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Messages - Flamingo Flier

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31
Club talk / Re: Please Read important update regarding IAA
« on: August 21, 2020, 12:57:33 PM »
Ralph,
 I got in by copying the text into the browser.
As you say, and the document itself makes clear, this is only part of the story and I don't know enough to comment.

JIM

32
Club talk / Re: Please Read important update regarding IAA
« on: August 21, 2020, 11:48:29 AM »
Sorry Ralph, I can't get the link to work nor can I find the document on the website.
I came back from My Leinster last week full of enthusiasm and even ordered a new model (just an RES but the first model I have bought in many years). Then this arrived and spoils the simple fun of it all.

JIM

33
Slope Soaring / Re: Fingers crossed, Mount L next August 14,15,16th 2020
« on: August 09, 2020, 21:40:54 PM »
Sorry you wont be there Alan - but thanks for thinking of the rest of us.

Let me know when you can travel again and we can meet up - at Kilakee or Lacken - your call

JIM

34
I hope to be there on the day with the best forecast.
Jim

35
Slope Soaring / Re: Old Alpina 4001
« on: May 10, 2020, 09:32:01 AM »
Hello again Steve,
Sorry I wasn't quick enough with the reply - I don't open the Forum every day  or even every week......

The flamingo has a ply servo tray for the rudder & elevator servos, switch and the like epoxied into the fuselage. It was necessary for the Aileron and airbrake servos to be higher in any case so I could use a stiffer 6mm ply plate for these. This could be wriggled into place with the servos attached and screwed down onto the fixed lower plate

Yes I have for many years flown at Kilakee - and will again soon.......
Jim

36
Slope Soaring / Re: Old Alpina 4001
« on: May 07, 2020, 09:53:52 AM »
That's good Steve,
Yes I did put the spacers between the trailing edges and leading edges of the wings - I think these are important as the flat bar wing joiner allows the wings to swing back and forth if the fuselage stops in a hurry or if you touch a wing tip on landing. I had fuselage mounted servos for the ailerons and the airbrakes so I made the front dowel removable. Just a snug fit and double sided carpet tape on each end and it never moved - i renewed the tape every few years. As you say the front was a dowel but the rear one was, if memory serves a piece of 3mm ply about 15mm wide and was epoxied in. I stuck it to a length of balsa strip to fish it into place and taped the long balsa strip to the fuselage to hold it in place while the epoxy set - then I just snapped it off.
By the way I mounted the servos for the ailerons and airbrakes on a removable plate and I was glad I did. I replaced about 3 or 4 aileron servos over the 20 years I had the model  -  the gears were stripped by the wing swinging mentioned earlier.

JIM

37
Slope Soaring / Re: Old Alpina 4001
« on: May 04, 2020, 20:02:52 PM »
Sorry Steve,
Only 1 attachment 'stuck'

Jim

38
Slope Soaring / Re: Old Alpina 4001
« on: May 04, 2020, 19:59:22 PM »
Hi Steve,
No experience of the old Alpina but I had a Flamingo Contest from the same era and the wing joining system may be similar.
The english language instructions for the Flamingo has no diagrams - they are in the German version only. This was in the days before cut and paste!

Jim

39
Scale / Re: ASW 20
« on: April 28, 2020, 20:25:22 PM »
I think the 3m Alpina is still available. Try Tangent models.
I think the 3m would be a better option - the 4 m one is heavy and more difficult to land. I have the 4m and I would recommend the 3m. The 4 m is a fine flier but difficult to launch on your own and as I say not the easiest to land. It covers a lot of ground quickly!

40
Scale / Re: ASW 20
« on: April 28, 2020, 18:37:05 PM »
Hi Andrew,
If you want an elegant and aerobatic sailplane a 3m Alpina might fit the bill.
I think they are still available and  in an electric version. The entire Alpina range has always been good kits and good fliers though probably more so when supplied by Multiplex.

41
Slope Soaring / Re: Second model
« on: January 19, 2020, 18:39:35 PM »
Bill expressed it much better than I - a model with rudder, elevator and ailerons is better at demonstrating 3 axis control. It is more clear what control is changing what attitude and what your trim is doing. I have owned a plank but not a foam wing and so I cannot speak with any authority on the subject - I spoke only from casual observation when I have often seen them launched and leap around under full throws of the stick for a few moments until they settle down. I know than there have been a few full size flying wings but I don't know if they were ever used as trainers
On a lighter note - there is a thing as pride of ownership. Strangely some people seem to think us model fliers are, well, a bit wierd. It nice to have a model you are proud to show them!

42
Slope Soaring / Re: Second model
« on: January 19, 2020, 11:51:41 AM »
Hi Ralph and happy new year. I see where you are coming from but wings of this style are just downright ugly. I think they may also be too fast and skittery for a true second model - there isn't long enough to think about what is happening to learn. Foam if you must but something that looks more like a glider would be better. I know nothing about the Hacker Lunak - they may be rubbish but something of that style and flying speed would be better I reckon.
Jim

43
Slope Soaring / Re: New Year's Day gliding?
« on: January 01, 2020, 10:49:19 AM »
Hi Peter,
Should be cold but dry with a whisper from the west. I will be there but probably closer to 2:00

Jim

44
Wanted / Re: Multiplex Flamingo / Flamingo Contest
« on: October 30, 2019, 21:50:42 PM »
Fred,
I do have two quite usable wings ready for a refurb (probably best to replace the 30 year old multiplex hinge tape etc.) waiting in the hanger.

JIM

45
Wanted / Re: Multiplex Flamingo / Flamingo Contest
« on: October 30, 2019, 21:38:44 PM »
Fred,
Firstly  no, you can't have my Flamingo Contest.
However you are right that they are a really good machine - the best layout - Rudder, elevator, ailerons and airbrakes. I have been lucky to have had two. I bought the first from Willie Owens in Bray about 1989 and I flew it for 27 or 28 years.  I flew it regularly - maybe 20 saturdays a year for at least half an hour. So at least 10 hours a year at about 30 to 40 kph for 28 years - the best part of 10,000 kilometres! No wonder I liked it. It had suffered a fair few thumps and bumps over the years but was never seriously damaged until a couple of years ago. I launched it and it flew out perfectly - ignored the radio control (new 2.4gHz stuff), slowly banked to the left, and gained just enough height to do serious damage before it piled in. Total flight time 30 seconds. Goodbye to my favourite plane.
Luckily, 15 years ago David Mayrs had given me his damaged model as a source of spares for mine - a donor of vital organs as it were. My son had looked at Davids model for a month or so before he announced that he reckoned he could rebuild it. He flew it for a few years before being distracted by life and I am flying it now.....

JIM

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