My Pathfinder L.E. is finished, and test flown.

[John Miller]

Mine is finished, and test flown yesterday, Sunday the 18th.

Gordy was a great help, allowing me to use his paint stand to finish it up. Of course, this meant that he had to wait to finish his.

Since I was also running the Stalker .51 for the first time, I wound up launching it a bit too lean on the first flight, which caused some problems, so I installed a second, new .51 for the second and third flights.

A little time spent by Gordan, and the first engine seems to have suffered no great damage.

The Stalkers seem to have all the power needed here in Salt Lake at 4600 feet ASL. The total weight, less fuel, was 62.6 oz's with 650 sq inches of wing area. After launch, the plane lifted from the rather thick and long grass without a problem.

I am using a new prop, E 11 X 6 and 2 3/4 oz's of FAI fuel. I didn't time the flight duration, but it seemed close to what I would need for the pattern.

After adjusting the adjustable trim tap on the outer wing tip, it was obvious that I needed more than the 1/2 oz of tip weight that was installed. It was also apparent the it was tail heavy, exhibiting a bit of "twitchyness" in level flight. It wasn't so bad that I felt terribly uncomfortable flying it, just a matter of getting the hand to settle down.

I was using a set of lines that I use on my Legacy. They are 66.5 feet long, eyelet to eyelet, and seem to be about the right legnth. The handle though was set for maximum spacing, contributing to that twitchy feeling. I am making up a dedicated set of lines, and handle to help correct some of the trim problems I anticipate. Flight times with the engine launched at 8600 were 5.3 seconds per lap.

When we checked the CG, it was found that the plane balanced at 30+% at MAC. It looks like almost 2 oz's of nose weight may need to be added. I hope not, but it brings to mind why we didn't want to release the plans until after the proto's were built and flown.

The Stalker, with it's muffler wheighs 10.5 oz's. Gordy will be installing a Super Tiger .51 in his. We're a bit worried though as he shortened the nose a bit considering the heavier engine.

So far, we haven't heard from Jim Tichey as to how his is balancing out with the PA .40UL and pipe. We may need to consider adding some legnth to the nose for the lighter engines, or at least make some notes on the plans.

All in all, the design shows tremendous promise, and we're looking forward to finishing up the trimming, so we can start practising for some of the upcoming contests this season.

Here are some pictures. The first are from Saturday as we were doing the final assembly.

The last is on the flight line a few minutes before the first flight.

 

[Andrew Borgogna]

Very nice, really unique and beautiful color scheme.  Hope it flys as well as it looks.
Andy

[Randy Powell]

John,

It looks great. Hope to see you this weekend at the Regionals.

I'd try narrowing the line spacing before adding nose weight. You'll probably need it with a 30% MAC figure, but it would be worth trying first. Might have to add less.

I like the colors, though you know I'm not fan of green.; But here the application gives it an elegant look. I like it.

[Dennis Adamisin]

John:
That is a TERRIFIC color scheme: simple elegant and accentuates the shape of the bird - looks GREAT!    

I'm gonna agree with Randy and suggest you do other things with handle spacing & such before you add nose weight.  Heck, even adding the tip weight MIGHT reduce some of the twitchy feeling.  I would HATE to add 2 oz nose weight unless I ABSOLUTELY had too! 

[Leo Mehl]

Looks great john but how am I going to test fly it when the leadouts are out the wrong wing! See ya at the Regionals. Looks like the weather is going to be good.

[John Miller]

Thanks for the kind words guys. It actually looks better in the photos than in person. I know where all the flaws are, but I'm pleased enough as it's the first plane I've done without using MonoKote in many years.

I will indeed try handle changes before installing nose weight, as suggested. It may tame it down to a more acceptable level, as it wasn't all that bad, and the power off glide was good, with no ballooning.

Gordy has been a lot of help and encouragement during this project, even letting me use his shop, and especially his finishing stand. Now, we can spend some time to get his finished. He should be coming in lighter than mine did.