christchurch and district model flying club

trevor’s short sealand

The Sealand flew very successfully in April, both without the tip floats and, once the maiden flight was over, fully equipped as an amphibian.

The finish is pretty much standard Pro-film which is perhaps a little shiny, but then this aircraft was a demonstrator and would have been polished and very carefully looked after during its travels.

Trevor has looked at possible flying sites for water operations (the model is not only capable of flying off water, but the designer, Ivan Pettigrew, doesn’t fly off land!  He’s based at Chilliwak in Canada (see http://www.teamtracon.com/0001.html for some fantastic pictures of his design seaplanes in action). The only lake which looks suitable is  at Spinnaker Sailing Club, near Ringwood, but there are an awful lot of buoys in the water to run into on taking off and landing. And the trees look close!  The alternative is to fly off Christchurch Harbour, which is a very practical venue, but salty of course.

Trevor made one small mod after the first flights, changing the U/C wire gauge to one size larger. The model, which spans 74”, only weighs 4 lbs, with a 3-cell LiPoly and 2 x Hyperion Z2213 - 24 motors.  Incidentally, they sound just like gas turbines when running, so a Dart-powered model would sound perfect and the little motors would slip neatly into the closely cowled confines of, say, a Dart Herald or a Viscount.

Ivan Pettigrew’s plans are not for ARTF builders, nor for rivet-counters, but they do make very good flying models.   Ed

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[Contents] [Chairman's Chatter] [Editorial] [Diary of a Flier] [Sealand Flies!] [Nietoperz] [Brian's Spitfire] [C&F 2007] [Seagull Arising] [Harry Spotter's] [St Louis Blues]