Fastest Prop Job I ever saw
So when I saw a post here about a Mustang I read it hoping it was about a heavily modified SIG Mustang 450 Pylon racer I recall seeing way back when (1987-1990)
There was a guy who would come to the same Fly-in every year with this wickedly fast plane.
He used the SIG kit as a start but hacked it pretty good to the point it did not look like the original model at all.
After seeing this same plane for a few years I fianlly struck up a conversation with the guy to pick his brain about how he got so much speed.
So heres what he did:
1. He removed the undercamber from the wing tips and I recall the airfoil was razor thin at the tips. Wing was sheeted with balsa and had carbon fiber reinforced stringer to help with G-loads in turns. Wing was heavily modified with reduced wingspan as well.
2. Only one side of the wing had an aileron the other side was clean. (dont remember which side it was L or R) Was barn door type not a strip aileron. The thing still had an very fast roll rate too with ony one tiny aileron.
3. No canopy as an unmuffled tuned pipe sat where the turtle deck normally goes
4. No wheels but he had landing gear. Gear was 1/8 to 5/32 music wire bent into a sorta-skid configuration. Tail dragger set up with gear way forward of LE of wing. To see that thing scape around on metal for take off and landing was the best part of the show for me. Landings were always deadstck too.
5. Engine was a WEBRA 40 (speed 40 maybe) rear exhaust w/ flat slide carb, but the guy never really used any other speed other than WFO.
6. Prop was a modified wood that only had a 9" diameter. I can only imagine what the pirch was... Helped out with drag and allowed for the stubby wire landing gear too.
7. Had like a 4oz tank as he'd only fly a very short time then scraper her on in... I know my nerves would be shot after 2-3 minutes at that speed. Plane got tiny REAL FAST !!!
Flights were hard to watch too. Guy always did left to right passes down the runway at about 10' altitude. As soon as he'd pass field center, he'd pull up into a loop and roll out w/ an immelman then dive in again for another pass.
Never saw a RADAR gun on the plane but I've been to many a Grand Prix/SUperbike race and those bikes do 160mph to 185mph and this guy was about the same apparent speed. Not really sure how fast to be honest.
I even have a good color photo (somewhere) I took that I need to scan and upload for all to enjoy.
Oh, and after I talked to him the last time, I placed an order with SIG and got me a set of Mustang 450 foam cores. Still dreaming about building my own speed demon myself I guess.