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Bought in Canada during a fortuitous business trip, the little GWS Tiggie is my first ever 'bipe' and also the only aircraft that I have with no aileron control. It's cute, yellow, really tiny, twice as fragile as an egg, and with the souped up seven-cell pack and no wind, quite fun to fly. |
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The two halves of the fuselage were joined together with 5-minute epoxy. The tail-skid (from a cut-down control horn) and the engine-mounting stick are glued in place during this operation. |
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The stab and elevators are also attached with epoxy. The hinge is made by detatching the elevator and reattaching it with the tape-hinge provided in the kit. |
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In like fashion the fin and rudder are prepared and attached. The fin keys into slots in the stab and fuselage making it difficult to get it wrong. Just make sure it's square! |
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Simultaneously, the wings are prepared. They are removed from the box and 'unfolded'. The joints are glued with epoxy again. (I mix bicarb. of soda with the epoxy to lighten it.) Remember: No ailerons! Dihedral is important if this model is to be flyable. Scraps of pink foam hold the dihedral at the required angle while the glue dries! |
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As advised by numerous sites on the web, I faced the structs with 1/16th balsa and then 'painted' them black with a felt-pen. |
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The outer struts are attached to the lower wing. tape, lead, and foam blocks help hold everything in place until the adhesive cures. look closely and you may note tiny holes drilled in the four corner of the strut structure. These are for flying wires (elastic thread) to be threaded through! |
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The inner struts are then glued to the upper wing using the fuse itself as a part of the jig, with foam blocks and rubber bands playing a part in keeping everything locked in place while the epoxy hardens. |
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Finishing, the model was equipped with a pair of HS-55 servos, and eXtreme 5 receiver (later changed to a GWS 'Pico' unit) and a little ESC which formerly saw use on the ill-fated Pico Stick |
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And here she is, ready to fly! A simple, inexpensive mode, but not (I'd say) for the beginner. Too brittle and breakable fo the ham-fisted newcomer. And the novice pilot will bust it often. Even and expert ;-) like me busts it all the time! |
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The proof of the pudding is in the aerobatic manoevering, as we R/C pilots say! Well, maybe not. But she flies, there's no question about that! You can clearly see the antenna trailing behind in this shot! |
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Climbing strongly and looking good, the Tiggie is slow and purposeful when the nose is pointed skyward, but she goes up. No 'vertical' nonsense here, though! |
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Pictured here manuevering at shoulder height amongst the plants in a large garden, the little Tiger can be flown almost anywhere, so long as there is no strong winds blowing. |
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Here she is again, whizzing around in a small park area at little more than head height. These flights are fun, but the occasional shrub can be a bit nerve-wracking! |
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Clear air is a much less troublesome space for the Tiggie! Climb out over that shrubbery, and head for the clouds! This is the good stuff! :) |
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Sooner or later, if you are gonna fly between the shrubbery, you're gonna make a detour and try to fly through some of that shrubbery. Take my word for it: You wanna avoid this if you can. |
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It's a grainy shot, taken in poor light, but this makes no secret of what happens when the Tiggie and a tree rumble: The tree wins! Prodded out of the tree from about 30' up, the model sustained minimal dammage and was soon flying again! |
