Short S.42 1912 monoplane

[OZPAF]

Loads of period charm there Pete. Good luck with the trimming.

John

[dputt7]

Really great, certainly looks the part.

[Pete Fardell]

Thanks all for the nice comments.
I made a start trimming it today, at the Manchester Velodrome. I did actually set out  to try it in my field last week, but when the first test glide went three feet forwards from my hand, and then three feet backwards back INTO my hand I decided it was maybe too windy.

No wind at the Velodrome though...
It was as a bit stally at first but this is how it went after even more noseweight was added. (It even qualified in the competition!)

[TheLurker]

Ooh, they were very, very promising flights indeed. Can't wait to see it in action come April.

[KevinM]

Lovely!

[Jmk89]

That has turned out very well! 

I wonder whether it is a little over scale speed (I'm comparing it in my mind with the film I've seen of the Shuttleworth's Bleriot and Blackburn).  But that's really nit-picky.

[cvasec]

I love your renditions of the early planes.
Ron

[Squirrelnet]

Superb Pete. Who needs Keil Kraft grass, looks the Bleriot may have a rival

[Anyun]

That's a lovely model and seems to fly as well as it looks! It really evokes the slow flight of these pioneering machines.

[dputt7]

Very promising, are you sure that's not a power stall?

[OZPAF]

I feel Dave is right here. It looks like it is flying very close to the stall and may cause issues with more power if needed. It looks lovely flying though.

John

[Pete Fardell]

Well, the Short was not a great success at the indoor Nats, so I took the opportunity of an almost windless morning today to try a bit of outdoor trimming. Yesterday I firmed up the prop assembly/noseblock which was all a bit wobbly, including redrilling the nose plug to take a better, thicker prop shaft and hook. I did a few motor runs to make sure nothing was bunching or seizing up and all seemed okay.
First flight in the field, with about 400 turns (and which I didn't video) was quite promising; a long straight powered glide and no alarms. More turns and just a bit of left rudder and it still looked sort of okay-ish, but not really quite there. You can see a stall at the end of the second flight. The hard landing/crash in the last flight I filmed resulted in undercarriage damage and an end to the day's proceedings (damage not too bad though, and now repaired). What next I wonder?