Official Black Horse 2350mm Gilmore Red Lion

[Twowingtj]

Got a chance to get the Gilmore out for a couple of flights today. It flew like it was on rails. The lastest ballast addition did the trick. Total lead added is now at 30oz.

As soon as I have the chance, I'll get it on the vanessa rig to see where the CG wound up at. It sure feels good to have it flying the way it should now.

[Twowingtj]

That Saito should pull it along fine and sound good doing it.

This bird looks great on the ground and presents well in the air. I've only had four flights in a slightly to quite tail heavy state, in windy conditions. Even so, at cruise and above, it's feeling good on the sticks. Once the CG is dialed in to improve slow flight handleing, it's going to be a stellar flyer.

One thing I have noticed after just four flights. The rubber skin on the tires is starting to wear away. And that's on a grass runway.

[bbolz]

Thanks. August is not bad. I can wait. Looks like an awesome plane. A good fit for my saito fg60r3.

[Twowingtj]

bbolz MRC Support says ETA around August. Alpha or Marco Polo might have a better ETA.


Got the Wedell-Williams tail graphics ordered from Callie. Should be in next week. Still haven't been able to get the stars to align to get the Gilmore back to the field. Hopefully things will align within the next week.

There are plans to fly the Gilmore Red Lion in at least three events this year. First is the Aeros' Festival of Giants in Chenango Bridge NY. Next will be the Golden Age Radio Control Model Meet, at the Golden Age Air Museum in Bethel, Pa. And of course, the Rhinebeck Jamboree at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Red Hook, NY.

[bbolz]

Hey alpha, any idea when the gilmore RL will be available again?

[Twowingtj]

OV10 he's working on it.

Got the Gilmore back on the bench. While adding additional nose ballast, I hooked the incedence meter up to the horizotal stab/elevator assembly. There is just under 2.5 deg. positive built in to the design. This, likely helps explain why it felt less tailheavy at normal flight speed and would drop the tail at near touchdown speed.

More test flights on tap for the next trip to the field. Once she's flying at the point it feels well balanced, I'll put her back on the Vanessa CG rig and check where the actual flight worthy CG is.

[OV10]

Twowingtj Hopefully the videographer was able to capture something that can be posted over on the Bronco thread

[Twowingtj]

It was great to see OV10 at the field today with the new FL Bronco.

I took the Gilmore up for an early flight to see if the extra 6oz improved the low speed handling. Winds were again a gusty 8-15mph crosswind.

There was a Very slight improvement, but not enough to feel in full control on landings. It was still very pitchy on the pitch axis at landing speed and required 3 go arounds to get her down safely.

The plane has quite a bit of positive incidence built into the horizontal stab mount. I suspect that this would account for the stable feeling at higher speeds, basically countering the tail heavy condition. When the plane is rolled inverted, it shoots up steeply with no forward stick pressure.

At this point it's obvious that I need to get more aggressive on the weight addition to the nose. I'll shoot for a more stable nose heavy condition, then go from there.

[OV10]

Twowingtj If your videographer is getting put to work maybe I could sneak over and get some CAS ground pounding Bronco action captured

[Twowingtj]

DaleD Good day to you too.

The Gilmore hasn't been flown since last report. The workbench was tied up with another project.

I was able to get her back on the bench yesterday. I had a list of things that did get done.

1) Added another 6oz. of ballast to the nose.
2) After setting in the sun on the last trip to the field, there were several areas of covering that needed tightening. Iron set to 250deg F addressed nicely.
3) Moved the elevator pushrods to the outer hole at the elevator for better servo resolution.

If the weather holds to the forecast, I hope to get her out for another run and video this Sunday.

I'm also planning to order the Wedell-Williams logo from Callie Graphics for the tail.

[DaleD]

DaleD Welcome to Hobby Squawk. Thank you for the kind words.

Black Horse has put out, IMHO, the nicest Wedell-Williams Model 44 Gimore Red Lion currently available. It was a pleasure to share the build. Our videographer was having equipment problems, so no video as of yet.

I got your PM and will be happy to answer your questions a little later today. Cheers.

Good morning, been waiting patiently on a video. Any update please, have you taken her out since the last update?

DaleD

[Twowingtj]

DaleD Welcome to Hobby Squawk. Thank you for the kind words.

Black Horse has put out, IMHO, the nicest Wedell-Williams Model 44 Gimore Red Lion currently available. It was a pleasure to share the build. Our videographer was having equipment problems, so no video as of yet.

I got your PM and will be happy to answer your questions a little later today. Cheers.

[DaleD]

I have thoroughly enjoyed following this build thread. Thanks for taking time to share your experience.

Would you by chance have a video of the model in flight available?

Thanks

DaleD

[Twowingtj]

Flight number 2,3 and 4 in yesterday while buddy Warbird Charlie was at the field to maiden the Flightline OV-10.

After adding the 5oz of lead to the nose, it balanced right at the 118mm, called for in the manual, on the Vanessa CG rig.

We were still dealing with a stiff and gusty crosswinds. At take off it handled much better. The ailerons felt even better than they had previously and the elevator felt less touchy. Cruise speed and full throttle passes were very rewarding. Even did a couple of large loops and an aileron roll.

When slowing down for practice approaches, the tail would drop a bit and the elevator was still somewhat touchy, especially in a gusty crosswind. My feeling is that the plane is still slightly tail heavy. I'll add another 3-4oz and see how it feels from there.

At right around 4.8kw at WOT, the Gilmore is powered perfectly for my taste. The DualSky motor, Hobbywing ESC and CNHL lipos don't seem stressed at all after a vigorous 5 minute workout.

Once dialed in, it's going to be a real pleasure to fly and it gathers a lot of attention at the field.

Thanks to fellow Squawker OV10 for getting some pics for me.

[Twowingtj]

OV10 Lets do that for the next flight and we'll get that Bronco maiden done too.

Maiden report:

Field assembly: The Gilmore is very easy to set-up. It’s simply a matter of sliding the wing tube in, slide each wing on, tighten the two wing clamp bolts on each side and connecting the aileron leads. Everything fits and aligns well.

Prep: The receiver and flight batteries were loaded. Then the range check was done from all angles around the plane. The control throws were set by the manual with low rates, mid was set to manual high rates and high about 10% higher. During the power run up, I noticed that the ESC was in medium soft start mode. Not ideal, but workable.

Ground handling: Time for the first taxi tests. There were 15mph crosswinds with some higher gusts. It tracked straight going into the wind, and of course wanted to weathervane while in the crosswind. Everything was looking pretty good.

Take-off: I set the rates to mid. With a little right rudder input, the throttle was rolled in. Just past half throttle, the big air racer broke ground into a nice scale climb out. The elevator felt quite sensitive and the plane behaved as it were a little on the tail heavy side. The ailerons and rudder felt fine.

Trimming: Once at a good altitude and about 2/3 throttle, she was brought into the wind for trimming. With two clicks of elevator, it was tracking true.

Handling:
Flight envelope: With it feeling a bit tail heavy, no aerobatics were attempted.

Stall Test: The wind conditions weren’t great for a good feel for stall speed. The plane has a good deal of washout at the tips so stall is fairly gentle. It started to drop the left wing. Application of power and push the nose forward corrected fine.

Visibility/orientation: Even though it was a cloudy day, the Gilmore showed up well in the sky. With the large lettering on the upper wings and its large size, maintaining orientation was easy.

Power as equipped: The power combination felt perfect for the airframe. Some full throttle passes were made and the 26” prop sounded great. The design, by nature, has a lot of drag. Anything over ¾ throttle resulted in very little airspeed gains and just added to the amp draw. When the throttle is pulled back, the plane slows very quickly. Just need to be aware.

Flight behavior: Other than feeling tail heavy, the controls felt good. Especially at a little higher throttle settings. Well, it is an air racer after all. It looked good at scale speeds.

Set-up for landing: Knowing that the plane slows quickly and having gusty tailwind on base, the throttle was kept just below half.

Landing: Once on final, it was just a case of managing throttle for decent rate and compensating for the crosswind. With the touchy elevator I flared a bit early, but was able to recover and set her down on the mains, with a little bump. No signs of wanting to bounce.

Power left: The timer was set at five minutes. The full time was used for mixed spirited flying. After the flight, the 8000mah packs read 3.94v per cell. So we’ll take the timer up another minute and adjust from there.

Post Flight: The CG was done using the tool provided by Black Horse. With this being a low wing plane, the bulk of the bird’s mass is above the tool’s pivot point. So it can be a bit tippy as you try to use it.
I decided to put the plane on my Vanessa CG rig after the maiden. As configured for the maiden flight, the plane was indeed a little tail heavy. It took 5 oz. of weight added to the motor mount to balance at the recommended CG.

The ESC was reprogramed for normal start as well.

I’ll update after the next flight.

[OV10]

Maiden complete! There are a couple of things to dial in a bit more. I wasn't able to get video or pics. That will have to wait until next flight. I'll provide more details shortly.

Shoulda called me, I woulda videoed for you and then you coulda videoed me maidening the Bronco . :rolling_eyes:

[Twowingtj]

Maiden complete! There are a couple of things to dial in a bit more. I wasn't able to get video or pics. That will have to wait until next flight. I'll provide more details shortly.

[mr.frankenjet]

Still waiting to do the maiden. Just can't seem to get any love from the weather forecasters. It's either wet, windy or both. They are even talking snow again.

yup, we finally get a cool spring and it's either windy or raining, a poke in the eye it is. Good luck with your maiden.

[Twowingtj]

Still waiting to do the maiden. Just can't seem to get any love from the weather forecasters. It's either wet, windy or both. They are even talking snow again.

[Twowingtj]

With the Gilmore Red Lion having a fairly short nose, it was likely that it was going to need a fair amount of weight in the nose to balance. As I’m not a fan of having dead weight in a model, it was decided to do an initial CG using lead to see how much weight might be needed.

Black Horse provides a CG tool with the plane. It’s a fairly simple tool consisting of two semi wing ribs with a cut out for the wing tube and a hole for the forward anti-rotation pin. On mine, the hole for the anti-rotation pin was drilled 10mm too far forward. After taking the measurement for the true location, a new hole was drilled. The tool also has nylon bolts that screw into tabs in the semi-ribs, at the recommended CG. They also provide cord and a section of tubing to serve as a handle. It's quite a handy gadget really.

The recommended CG is 118mm from the leading edge of the wing. With a 450mm wing cord, that places the CG at 26.2% which is a good starting point.

Once the CG tool was installed and the plane was level with the tail blocked up, lead ingots were added far forward in the battery compartment. The plane was lifted using the tool, and the weights adjusted until the plane hung level at the recommended CG.

With the 3300mah 3S receiver battery installed, it took just over 4.5lbs of lead to balance.

With that weight in mind as a starting point, flight batteries were selected that would meet the requirement and give good flight times. I selected a pair of CHNL 6S 8000mah Lipos. The battery dimensions were perfect for the battery tray and each weighed 1113g or 2.45lbs.

Once the batteries arrived, the CG was re-accomplished. The plane balanced at the recommended CG, with the two batteries at barely back of the full forward position. Use of the batteries called for on the product page would have required quite a bit of dead weight to be added to the nose in order balance. The all up, ready to fly weight came in at 24.6lbs. The airframe weight, fully equiped, minus batteries, came in at the 20.7lbs listed on the product page.

Next up is the maiden, when the weather and area health situation allows.

Here’s a link to the batteries used. https://chinahobbyline.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=87

Also of note, the kit doesn’t come with a spinner, at least mine didn't. The one I used was the Miracle 1.75”/44.5mm from ZYHobby. It was already drilled for the DLE 55/DA 50 bolt pattern, which the DualSky GA6000.9 motor uses.

Are there any other Hobby Squawk members that have the Red Lion????