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Plan | Construction Rating: |  | | Flight Rating: | | | Overall Rating: | |
Contributed by Mike Salter Brief:
After seeing the earlier Flying Jenny review I decided I'd build a Flying Jenny. Originally it was just to use up some of the scrap materials I had lying around.
Construction:
Most of the construction is balsa but also is a short length of BT-20, launch lug, and nose cone. I had all of this lying in my scrap box.
The plans were much more compact than the instructions we see from Estes now, yet there were still easy to follow. Perhaps this is because of the simple and logical construction of the Flying Jenny. Due to the number of joints on the Flying Jenny it can be slow to build because most of the time is spent waiting for the glue to dry before you can continue.
Finishing:
Once built the Flying Jenny is a sleek looking rocket, I decided not to paint it in order to keep performance, plus it looks quite nice in balsa. However, since most of my flying is on stubble fields the balsa has a habit of being camouflaged against the ground!
Construction Rating: 5 out of 5
Flight:
The Flying Jenny takes a bit of work to get prepped but if done well you're in for spectacular flights. First flight was on an A8-3. The motor ejected from the model and this is to change the weight distribution from rocket to glider. The first glide was nice and it zigzagged away from the pad.
I tried again at a SERFS meet on another A8-3. Sadly it didn't glide this time but made a slow tumble down to the ground. Afterwards it was pretty obvious why it didn't glide: the nose cone was forced off by the ejection charge and I believe the motor collided with the strut, smashing it.
Third flight was at K-Lob 2003 on a A8-3 again. She boosted well and settled into a glide which circled round and round over the flight line. She looked really good in the air and afterwards a few people asked me where I got this bird from. I decided I'd push my luck and use a B6-4. The RSO who had seemed bit skeptical before had no problems this time. "No problem, you can fly that again. It was beautiful last time." The 4 second delay was a bit long and it lost a lot of height before the motor ejected. Sadly it didn't circle this time--I think it was affected by the stronger wind. Someone in the crowd was able to time it (thanks!) for a respectable 38 seconds.
Flight Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary:
An excellent rocket which gives good flights and a real crowd pleaser. I'm now looking at making an upscale to fly on a D12.
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Flight Log- Post a Comment -
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