Mega Baron at Fall S.M.A.L.L. 2019

Had a Mega Baron from Squirrel Works at the Small Model Airplane Lovers League in Mayflower, Arkansas, on Oct. 12, 2019. Just to the left of the big delta wing model (tan, not painted).

Yes, it is a biplane rocket glider.

Video of the Mega Baron with a C11 boost engine.

Pics of the Mega Baron from another launch:

Launch pad was fantastic. Had built in receiver to launch rockets using transmitter.

Upward...

Weather conditions were fantastic. Light breeze.

The model, launch pad, and pilot are iter. Truly spectacular.

Here is a link to the kit:

https://www.squirrel-works.com/glider.html

Mega Baron flight looks good. I got the small Baron to work fine. I don't think I ever got the Mega Baron to work. I'm wondering what I may have done differently. I remember finishing with some kind of sealer. Perhaps, that was wrong.

A few detail pics. iter put the battery/receiver/servos under the top wing.

Crawf56: Thank you for the photos, and for your kind words! Your flights were awesome. That day was the most fun I had with rocket gliders, watching you and Dave fly!

aerostadt said:

Mega Baron flight looks good. I got the small Baron to work fine. I don't think I ever got the Mega Baron to work. I'm wondering what I may have done differently. I remember finishing with some kind of sealer. Perhaps, that was wrong.

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Mine has no paint or sealer. It's completely naked. The Mega Baron has a relatively high wing loading to start with, and adding more mass would make landings even harder. When you say "never quite got it to work," what were the problems?

Ari.

iter said:

Mine has no paint or sealer. It's completely naked. The Mega Baron has a relatively high wing loading to start with, and adding more mass would make landings even harder. When you say "never quite got it to work," what were the problems?

Ari.

Click to expand...

Hi, Ari. Thanks for responding. I have long since given up on the Mega Baron. My Mega Baron had several coats of sealer with sanding in-between coats and then red paint. It looked good, but perhaps was too heavy. I thought the first flight with a D12-3 was under-powered, but maybe it was too heavy. Anyways, the first flight crashed, but I repaired it, which probably added more weight. I then tried using an E20-4, but then had a ejection problem, which blew off the nose cone. Eventually, I had another crash and gave up. A brief and sketchy history can be found on the following thread starting at post #34.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/squirrel-works-red-baron.61922/page-2

Mine's had probably a couple dozen flights. but many of these needed repairs after landing. The concrete pavement at Moffett never helped, but even on dirt parts break sometimes. Having a controllable elevator, I can afford to sidestep ejection issues and land with the motor (well, the last stage--I have flown multiple CHAD D12->D12->E9 flights; the second flight at S.M.A.L.L. was C11->E9). The up part is rarely eventful. I have flown motors as large as F32 in mine.

This model made two flights that day: E9 and CHAD C11->E9. I don't think I'd fly this model on an C11 by itself. A single D12 would probably be a short but viable flight. E9s give a nice, drama-free altitude. Fs and cumulative-Fs (D+D+E=F) are fun, but I have to watch the attitude or I lose orientation at the higher altitudes. G12 would probably be a fantastic motor, but spectators would lose interest by the time I landed.

The Squirrel Works Mega Baron is a nice kit. The balsa is good quality and the laser-cut parts fit together very well.