TOPIC: Aermacchi AM 346 for TSP L-2

Looking great

Well, the canopy took most of the day, getting the angles right, but it's ended up 'not too bad' which is as good as it gets for an old inept bodger like me.



Above and below : I tried really hard to get the angles correct, but the thicknesses of the cockpit coming match the photos rather than the drawings taken from a 3-view.

Not too bad indeed.

After that, it 'only' remained to glue on the fin and finlets, add a few extra decals and give it all a coat of dilute Valejo satin varnish;





One could go on adding details, but I thought it best to leave it at that. It is, after all, only meant to be a 'semi-profile '(and hence also 'semi-scale') model that I want to fly.

The M-346 weighs 31.6 grams with a used TSP-L-2. The span is 26 cm, the length 26 cm. The wing loading works out at about 8.8 oz sq ft in old money (units I'm used to, sorry!). A little more thanI would have liked, but it should be OK.

If it ever stops raining and the wind stops blowing I'll try some glide tests.

A really beautifully made model, a little work of art!
I'm waiting for a report on how it flies in the air!

Roger adds:
praise indeed from our TSP guru!
The M-346 is of course also flown by the Polish Airforce:





Any takers?

It being a bright sunny day with a very light breeze, my photographer (Mrs RR) and I went off to our local field for a trimming session. As the design is new and untested this was not without some anxiety. Though the M-346 looked 'right', had I built it accurately? Was the wing at the correct angle to the closely coupled tailpane (2.5 deg or so)? Was the CG in the right place (1/3 of the root wing cord back)?

There was only one way to find out: firm hand launches ( chucks) into the breeze. In the event, given an unskewed smooth launch at the correct flying speed (not easy given the variable wind) the M-346 glided away without any alarums. A 'first' for me was that no nose weight at all was needed and the glide was rreally quite good.





I have some doubts about directional stability, and I suspect a tad of nose weight will be needed under power. But all this was very gratifying and I didn't need to take extra heart pills. It remains to be seen if the M-346 is as well behaved under power, but it all looks promising.