WingBAT 48

Typical November weather outside today so it's time retreat to the workshop and work on my fifth glider model from the Stan Yeo stable.

Another 48" flying wing, but of traditional balsa and spruce construction instead of the usual EPP foam. I modified the all-sheet wing construction slightly, cutting 'windows' to reveal the ribs and adding rigidity with spruce spars in place of the 6mm sq. balsa spacers.

Stan accidently sent me the wing plan from the WingBAT 48E electric version with wing-mounted servos, which looked intriguingly 'normal' for a flying wing design. I called Stan and wondered whether to use this layout and install the servos in the wings, but he assured me that servos in the fuselage were much more aerodynamic and sent the correct plan in the next post.

There's precious little space to swing a servo arm in the compact fuselage, so I opted for a tandem arrangement as shown.

It is still too wet to venture out, so I'll see if I can find that old bit of translucent Solartex I was saving for a rainy day...

...and a couple of weeks later, here is the finished model:

Notice the weather has changed from too wet to too cold for flying; but fine for photography.

It's not quite PSS, but there's more than a whiff of the de Havilland 108 "Swallow" about it.

The centre of gravity is spot on with a 1200mAh square AA Ni-MH at the front. The all up weight is about 605g, which is 75g less than that shown on the plan, in spite of the Solartex wing covering.

The WingBAT 48 is reputed to be an excellent flyer as well as being one of the best looking tailless gliders around in my opinion. Roll on springtime...

Happy sandings

Russell H

Last Chance for the North Easterly, 1st September 2022

I have not been able to come on the recent club outings to the South Downs, but I didn't want to miss the chance to fly in the warm dry NE wind while it lasted (there were heavy showers later). So I packed the car and drove two miles to the bottom of Wolstonbury Hill then proceeded to climb up to my favourite spot.

The forecast predicted wind speeds of about 13mph with gusts over 20mph - a bit too blustery for my liking. But having made the effort to get there, and allowing myself 10 minutes to catch my breath, I had to give it a go.

There followed numerous five-minute sorties of adrenalin-pumping flying action, or wind-wrestling as I call it, as the elements and I debated the question of whether my models were flying forwards or blowing backwards. I am pleased to report that my models generally dominated the argument, only requiring one rescue mission when the Tomahawk landed on the wrong side of the barbed wire fence behind me.

Happy Landings

Russell H