Friday 13 May 2016

PMP Sierra Mk 2 - retro-chic soarer

Nice Mr Stan Yeo of Phoenix Model Products has reintroduced some 'traditional' R/C glider kits for the amusement of old-school balsa bashers like me, so I thought I'd give the Sierra Mk 2 a try. One winter of building later here is the result:

The retro styling is very appealing (if you like that sort of thing).
 
My significant mods to the kit were split ailerons/flaps (for crow brakes and future tinkering) and band-on wing mounting to allow for my unreliable landings.

It comes as a kit of many parts, which generally go together well, but special care is needed to ensure that the wings turn out flat and true. I managed to warp mine by gluing the supplied servo mounts too firmly onto the wing sheeting.

As for flight performance, I reckon its aerobatic potential far exceeds my current piloting ability. But so far I've managed four landings without major incident beyond pulling the rudder hinges out of the fin - I think a little rudder trimming or sub-fin extension is called for.
 
Cheers
 
Russell H

3 comments:

  1. Hi Russell, I really like the look of this model and am a fan of Stan Yeo's models, especially now that he's gone back to balsa ones. I still haven't worked out how to program crow braking as yet - maybe I can get a lesson some time ?

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  2. Glad you like it Rob. As this is my first experience with crow brakes I'm no expert, but I'll try and share the fruit of my recent steep learning curve in a future blog.

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  3. I keep telling myself I'm going to build one of Stans models, but still I haven't got around to it. Maybe this winter.

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