LW PLA Graywing maiden (sort of…)

Maidened a new LW PLA version of the Eclipson Graywing today (https://www.eclipson-airplanes.com/egw-80).

What an excellent flier!

I’d previously printed the Graywing in PLA+, and had one good flight with it. On the second launch I damaged the wingtip (which I then repaired). I then tried a bungee launch, but got the position of the hook wrong……and discovered that the pointy nose does indeed make a good lawn dart!

So I then reprinted the Graywing in LW PLA (AUW about 490g). Hand launches are much better, and once in the air it flies really well. Rolls and loops are very nice, and landings are easy.

This video is of my second flight (didn’t record the maiden, which went very well). The second flight was going well, but part way through I realised I had a problem with one of the servos. Thankfully I managed to get it down without any damage, but the landing is not pretty. I’d re-used the servos from the last version of the Graywing. They seemed fine on the bench, but it turns out one of the them must have had some gears stripped from the failed bungee launch.

Anyway, I’ll put some new servos in and it should keep flying nicely. The red and black markings are just temporary tape. Now that I know it flies well, I’ll paint it for visibility and orientation.

Cheers
Jeremy