Some High Alpha Fun with my RCP Mig29 V4

Hi everyone -

I finally had a bit of a break in the breezy weather yesterday, so I was able to start practicing some decent high alpha with my new Mig29 V4... :)

I had a bit of a "gonk" :( on about the second or third practice flight before I shot the video below, but all is good and once the glue dries, a quick sand, a dab of paint and it should be ready to "slip the surly bonds of earth" in one piece again tomorrow.

For my preference and high alpha abilities, my setup is as follows

• I flew with a 2200 Mah 3S battery for the extra bit of weight.  I found that moving the battery about 3/8 to 1/2" forward of where I normally fly with it gave me the best stability and angle of attack.  Flying with it where the battery normally was did not allow me to get the nose up as high without wing rock starting.  I did not really have to add any up elevator trim to fly the plane, but I did notice a difference in getting the nose to respond in more snappy type aerobatics.  So I might continue to use both battery positions, one for everyday flying and the other when I feel like having the option to do some high alpha;
• I have always found spoilerons work well for me for high alpha, only one switch to play around with to go from my normal flying mode to high alpha mode.  I found very little deflection is required to help keep the nose up, I only have about 5/8" deflection.  I found any more than that and wing rock came on much more quickly, this amount of deflection just helped me feel more in the "groove" as I tried to maintain any sustained high alpha; and
• I found that I didn't need a lot of power to keep it in high alpha, throttle was ranging between probably 45-55% dependent on what I needed to do to maintain the right attitude while minimizing wing rock and other adverse behaviors.

With about 6 flights of high alpha practice under my belt today, this plane does high alpha very, very well.  Main limitation now is the pilot... :/  Wing rock when it does come on is quite subtle, so it allows me to stay a bit more relaxed and make subtle adjustments.

Where I struggled to get the Mig29 V3 to do decent sustained high alpha, the Mig29 V4 just got in the saddle fairly quickly and easily and it was easier to keep it there for sustained periods of time.  Despite the little fixable "blemish", 63 flights and counting now on this amazing park jet  :)

Cheers,

Scott