Kites are good as well.  Just be careful CLG's are highly addictive and can WILL intrude on other modeling endeavors!

Thanks guys. You can either call it brave or foolish depending on your perspective. The idea was to get some glides in on a hill with a 20' drop in elevation. So those tests were all away from the trees. The trouble was I wasn't expecting a crowed field so the two short test flights were in the vicinity of trees. After it hit one branch I packed it up. The kids had fun chasing it around though. I did take the advice to pack some kites along in case the wind came up. I have a feeling they'll really enjoy that. Funny thing about redheaded children... nobody told me about all the attention and comments they'd garner. His younger brother behind the camera with momma is a ginger too so it's always a topic of discussion wherever we go.

I posted a question about torque meters in the general questions section if any of you experienced flyers would care to weigh in.

Outstanding Colonel....love the shots of the fetchermites too!!!  Great stuff.  They'll remember these times forever! 
Sky9pilot

We were able to fit in a quick trim session last night after work. There was a slight breeze going and a pick-up game of adult kickball starting up, so my airspace was limited. She started out porpoising in a glide test. A little tail shim and nose weight got her gliding well down the hillside. Once I was pretty sure it wouldn't hit her I was able to toss it over my bride's head standing down the hill for an overhead picture. The second picture is when I wound it up about a hundred and fifty turns and let her go. Nice steep climb without stalling, glide coming down was slow and shallow. Need to work on some right turn though. On the next attempt the clay must have fallen off the nose after launch because it climbed okay but stalled at the top and started porpoising. It went nose first into a tree branch and fell to the ground. Put one little dink in the prop and the music wire hold down under the wing is a bit loose. It was CA'd on, so maybe a smear of epoxy will hold it better. I also have a new Volare torque meter coming my way now. After repairing the wing I'll be ready to try it out in a bigger field soon. I'll post pictures in went flying from here on out. Lots of fun was had by all, and my fetchermites were even pretty easy in their handling of it.

Colonel Manfred von Holstein wrote on Apr 12^th, 2016 at 9:16pm:


You should check this out, Colonel...http://volareproducts.com/?p=2041

>  I think it's an older model because all the ones I've seen pictures of have red gears.

Perhaps the reverse;  I've had mine  some 25 years or more and it has a red gear.    Check around for a Sidewinder torque meter which attaches directly to the winder.   I did also have a counter but eventually discarded it as it served no purpose for me once I got used to winding to torque.

Yes ... I guess I do get through a lot of rubber! It's my belief that if a model is to fly then it should be flown to its limit     Grin

You have a good winder there, Colonel ... and a wife worth keeping      My Sidewinder has given many years of reliable service.

I have the Sidewinder torque meter attachment which is calibrated up to no less than 130 in/oz  !

For a Senator with 6 strands of 1/4", or equivalent. at 30 gms. I'm comfortable winding to around the 20 in/oz mark; varies a little depending upon which model.   However, bearing in mind that you may well build  larger and more powerful models in the future  I'd suggest you think of a substantially upper limit.

Nice storage/transport box!

I cannot answer your question about the torque range you will need, but the following references may help. I recently built a torque meter (photo below) using the resource you found plus the following references. I had essentially the same question(s) you have and made a guess about what I might need. I haven't had much of a chance to use it, but FWIW the torque reading for my 2-strand 1/8" motors at 80% max turns is about 1 in oz, and the reading for my 2-strand 3/16" motors at 80% max turns is about 2 in oz.

http://www.modelflight.com/rubber.html

http://www.gryffinaero.com/models/ffpages/tools/torque/torquetech.html

http://www.volareproducts.com/PFFT/TorqueMeterKothe.pdf

http://www.volareproducts.com/PFFT/TorqueMeterForSmallModels.pdf

Would like to know what you finally come up with.