As the Rocketeer said, "I LIKE IT!"

Tom

The Cutlass looks great circling the gym....very nice.  The demo flight looks very stable and if you hadn't hit your hand on launch she probably would have climbed to the ceiling.  Well Done....

The Viggen looks enormous on the building board.  Can't wait to see this one come alive....

Tom

SWEET

Tom

Hang in there...she'll be worth it, when sorted out!  I look forward to some pics or video or both of her flying around the room.

Tom

Now there are problems.  I was able to locate an indoor space for full power testing.  Turns out it was stable because it was flying slowly.  When it flies faster, launched with 1500 turns, it is another issue.  Pitch is very sensitive and a bad launch results in a dive to the floor.  Also, I have to get it to circle at mid room height.  If it contacts the ceiling or a light fixture it pitches down into an inverted flat spin.  Fortunately, it is light enough that, with nearly 90 square inches of wing area, it doesn't fall fast enough to hurt itself. 

I will get it sorted out, but I still have time to build my alternate model for the contest, a Saab Viggen.  It's a canard delta so sorting it out will be a non-issue.  Decisions, decisions!

Got it finished enough to test fly.  It came out a bit heavy at 16 grams with an 18" loop of 3/32", tan rubber.  I could probably get it down to 13 grams with a lighter prop.



The stability is astonishing.  It needed only a couple of degrees up adjustment of the wing tips.  Despite the weight it flies quite slowly because of the lift.  The climb is a bit rapid on this rubber and with the limited ceiling height I may re-trim for 1/16" rubber and go for more winds.



The wire thrust mount is easily adjustable and the offset provides the required left turn.



Now it remains to see how it does at the contest.

I was at the O.F.F.C.  (Old Farts Flying Club) meeting last week and was reminded that the contest, at the end of the month, was for no-cal pusher.  It seemed that everyone there was practicing with a Hansa Jet from the A. A. Lidberg plans.  Some others were talking about building a Shinden or an XP55. (Both plans are available, but I don't have the reference.)

At first I wasn't going to participate, my time being what it is, then it occurred to me that an F7U-1 could work very well, and would be mildly disruptive, so I decided to see if I could draw and build one in about 4 hours.  It's coming along nicely, squeezed in a few minutes at a time between other tasks, but I missed my O.F.F.C. meeting this morning and not having access to an indoor venue between now and the contest it will be a case of get it trimmed inside my den (13.5 foot ceiling) and go for broke at the contest next week.  If it flies well it's another possibility for a kit.