My first serious scale model; the Miles M35b  Libellula.

    30" span (both wings) , 12 oz weight , powered by an Allbon Dart .5cc diesel. All stringers and tissue. A slow steady flyer.

    To check that a Libellula would fly I made a small chuck glider, but it didn't occur to me to transfer the glider's CG to the power model. I estimated the CG position from the main landing gear and it proved to be very far aft of the eventual position. Lots of lead in the nose, and revised incidences.

   The model would take-off from a smooth strip, but it wouldn't leave the ground until the nosewheel hit a bump.

   Both the above traits were manifested in the full-size . There is an interesting account of the full-size Libellula's first and only test flight in the Putnam "Miles Aircraft" book. It wouldn't leave the ground unless the engine was briefly throttled-back (after reaching flying-speed), and longitudinal stability proved to be dangerously marginal.

   Another flight trait of the model was the nodding glide; about 2 degrees amplitude and 2 cycles per second.

   An electric RC M35 is on my "must-do sometime" list (a very long list!). Not the 35b, but the 35 ; the projected Merlin-powered naval fighter, for which the 35b was a test vehicle.