Stormeflyers
Baudis Banana
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"You know what it's like?" All your gliders are charged up and raring to go, sandwiches and flask made, your thoughts focused on the new day ahead and you wake up to find...............................nothing.............................not a single breath of wind...............Doh!
"Wait a minute, did that leaf just move then?"..........No; it was merely a squirrel farting! I'm going to sort this situation out once and for all and order a Baudis Banana combo, as this will not only give me something to fly on days like these, but also a 60" pocket rocket.
So what do you get with a Baudis Banana combo? One very slippery MG 06 ultra thin profile wing but two separate fuselages each with their own V-tail. One for electric and the other for slope..............Cool! No more being stuck at home dejected for me, I simply have to turn on the big fan at the front and make my own wind, all clever stuff.
The model arrived in my favourite colour scheme. Yellow...............after all it is a Banana coupled with striped red undersides, which still manages to make my models appear a lovely shade of black most days but occasionally when the sun does shine really stands out.
As you can see I am not a rudder man, more a breast and leg man really. I had previously made this mistake with my X-Models Blade and spent ages trying to juggle two servos where only one should go. I managed to cram them in with a shoe horn but then there was no room for a ballast tube.
I can do all I need flying small V-tails with elevator and ailerons, stall turns too with a little push from the wind. The linkage to the V-tail is straight forward, bond a small section of carbon rod to the existing pushrod, wrap with carbon tow and apply resin.
Care is needed as there are no servo cut outs in the Banana wing, enabling you to decide a two or four servo configuration, hold your wing above a 60 watt table lamp to see the main carbon spar, place a piece of tape on the wing to highlight the edge of the spar, then simply mark the cut outs over masking tape, remove with a sharp knife. I prefer to glue in wood rails to secure wing servos, this enables easy removal in the event of a problem.
As to the performance of the Banana, I was never in any doubt to it's ability and was certainly not disappointed. This is a seriously fast model, as in don't blink or you will be sorry! After all it is a latest generation French racing airfoil, which is exactly what I was looking for in a 60" moulded model with or without an electric motor. The handling is superb but the speed and performance can be daunting for the intermediate pilot, so be warned.
Talking of electric motors, I must confess this side to the hobby was all new to me. I had decided right from the start though that brushless direct drive was more than adequate for my needs, I did not want or need the extra expense of a gearbox.
These superb Baudis Banana flying pictures are courtesy of Kevin Newton
Having now had quite a bit of stick time with the Banana, I had set things up as per instructions........."as you do?" It was soon evident that this recommended c of g @ 65mm was far too conservative and had to have quite a bit of down elevator trim, which you don't want so was moved back, removing small amounts of lead at a time and dive testing until it was spot on!
I flew the Banana to a good height and checked the flapperons, to see what elevator trim adjustment I would have to input. I had set my flapperons with variable stick control, which also gives me camber.
With increased flapperon the Banana took a decidedly nose down attitude and violently tip stalled from side to side which could not be recovered by merely adjusting elevator compensation. So it was off with the brakes, where she recovered instantly, I tried smaller amounts of flapperon but these were having very little effect to aid landing, rather she picked up speed rapidly so I simply landed without them.
Rather than adjust anything else, I checked the c of g which was now @ 76mm, this was moved forward to 74mm which for my banana is a good compromise as the flapperons are effective with no vices with minimal elevator trim........about a gnats knacker!
If you were hoping a Banana would give you a 60" screamer forget it!...........It's so quiet in the air unless you pull some extreme manoeuvre........then again, noise is drag and this now ain't no slouch!