Cermark Victor  The Guided Mite 

Vertigo II  Voltij Osmose 50

Out of the box the Tucano appears a well put together ARTF model, the solorfilm required a little ironing on some edges but nothing too much. The instructions were briefly read and then lost, but a quick chat to Overlander and the new instructions were e-mailed, so on with the build.

Firstly the rudder and elevator were glued in position and ailerons were hinged and new horns fitted, as ones supplied seemed too long.

Hi-Tec HS81 servos were installed in both the wing and fuselage and linkages fitted. The piano wire supplied didn’t seem to be of fantastic quality so was replaced, and with a few drops of oil and a dremel, the wire was spun in the tubing to allow it to move freely.

Two ¼" plywood plates were glued in the underside of the wing and holes were drilled to allow for fingers for hand launching.

The power train consisted of an AXI2820/10, Jeti 40A speed controller and ten 3700mhA GP batteries spinning an aero-naut cam carbon 11x7 folding prop fixed to a 52mm yoke with a 50mm spinner and 5mm collet prop adaptor.

To get the desired gap between the spinner and fuselage a ¼" plywood plate was installed between the motor and nose plate, secured with four M3 bolts.

Li-po’s are the recommended cells, but as Overlander built the early Tucanos tail heavy, the choice is either to fit about 240g of lead in the nose or opt for NiMh’s and move them forward to compensate.

The cockpit was cut to size and the pilots were painted and glued down.

The CG is on the leading spar and is adjusted via movement of the battery. One interesting point is that the instructions don’t indicate the amount of throw for the ailerons, rudder and elevator! The recommended throws are 10mm each way for ailerons and 12mm each way for elevator and rudder can be as required.

Decals supplied are far too large for some reason, but when the kit was purchased the supplier thankfully provided some the correct size. With a finished model and a dead calm Sunday morning it was off to the club and after range checks and usual pre-flight checks it was ready to launch.

Problem 1.

Just about to launch and I couldn’t get my fingers out of the holes in the wing. Thankfully with the help of Barry it took to the air.

All seemed well and no trim adjustments were required so a few slow passes and fast ones were performed.

Gaining confidence with the Tucano I tried a simple roll which barrelled a fraction but 10% of differential on the ailerons should solve that.

Problem 2.

The cockpit fell off mid flight!

Overlander use magnets to hold the rear of the cockpit in place and to be fair it seems to work ‘on the ground’!

A suitable catch has now been fitted! So a few more passes without cockpit and a landing was in order.

Problem 3.

No wind to slow it down and an extremely fast approach resulted in a landing that seemed to skid forever. Crow brakes have now been programmed in!

Conclusion

The Overlander Tucano is a quality kit that requires minimal work to complete. Its large enough not to become a tiny spec in the sky in the first five seconds and has a fantastic presence in the air being stable yet agile. Just to finish, it sounds fantastic on a quick pass!!!

See the video filmed by Peter Jackson at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyg5FopbOCI

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