Corby Starlet
01-04-2013, 01:36 AM
#251
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Snohomish, WA
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RE: Corby Starlet
I realize this is kind of a dead thread, and the little Corby is no longer in production, but I had to revive this thread for one last post. After sitting on my kit of the 60" Corby Starlet for way too long, to the point of even considering selling it, I finally pulled the kit out from under my teetering stack and opened it up and just started building it. A little more than a week later, I had a finished and ready-to-fly Corby. It was a piece of cake to build, and the kit quality was top drawer all the way.
MAN, am I GLAD I finally decided to build it! This thing is FUN!! I barely got it off the ground and trimmed before I was doing avalanches, snap rolls, inverted circles, vertical rolls, hammerheads, you name it. What a pleasure this airplane is to fly! Not to mention cute as a bug, with its short-coupled fuselage, perky tail, and big bubble canopy. As some have said, it flies like a Pitts S-1 Special. And every landing is a float-and-flare three-pointer. What a great little plane!
My OS FS-70 is the perfect engine, and after years in storage it runs great. My all-up weight is right at 6.5lbs, with no need for any balance lead. I modified the wing joiner and root ribs, to add dihedral back to the same angle as the full-scale Corby, because I think the dihedral adds to the perky looks. I didn't notice any big yaw-roll couple problems with the added dihedral, and it makes me wonder why Chris White reduced it so much in the model. Flies just fine at 6 degrees (snap rolls are crazy fun!). I did add in some elevator dual rate, per the advice of just about everybody in this thread, and I am glad of it. I can fly the Corby with the elevators at full throw, but switching on the dual rate after lift-off keeps the pitch inputs smooth and predictable. I did leave the ailerons at full throw, though, and the roll rate is fast but no dizzyingly so. Rudder mix is not required, and I don't find I need to add rudder in the turns, for the most part, though I do have a lot of aileron differential in my throws. Inverted flight requires only a minimal amount of down elevator to keep the nose level. Sure flies inverted well! Makes me look good!
Anyway, just wanted you all to know that I am really enjoying this airplane. I've always loved the full-scale Corby Starlet, and now I have one in quarter-scale to get my weekend jollies with. Yeah, baby.
MAN, am I GLAD I finally decided to build it! This thing is FUN!! I barely got it off the ground and trimmed before I was doing avalanches, snap rolls, inverted circles, vertical rolls, hammerheads, you name it. What a pleasure this airplane is to fly! Not to mention cute as a bug, with its short-coupled fuselage, perky tail, and big bubble canopy. As some have said, it flies like a Pitts S-1 Special. And every landing is a float-and-flare three-pointer. What a great little plane!
My OS FS-70 is the perfect engine, and after years in storage it runs great. My all-up weight is right at 6.5lbs, with no need for any balance lead. I modified the wing joiner and root ribs, to add dihedral back to the same angle as the full-scale Corby, because I think the dihedral adds to the perky looks. I didn't notice any big yaw-roll couple problems with the added dihedral, and it makes me wonder why Chris White reduced it so much in the model. Flies just fine at 6 degrees (snap rolls are crazy fun!). I did add in some elevator dual rate, per the advice of just about everybody in this thread, and I am glad of it. I can fly the Corby with the elevators at full throw, but switching on the dual rate after lift-off keeps the pitch inputs smooth and predictable. I did leave the ailerons at full throw, though, and the roll rate is fast but no dizzyingly so. Rudder mix is not required, and I don't find I need to add rudder in the turns, for the most part, though I do have a lot of aileron differential in my throws. Inverted flight requires only a minimal amount of down elevator to keep the nose level. Sure flies inverted well! Makes me look good!
Anyway, just wanted you all to know that I am really enjoying this airplane. I've always loved the full-scale Corby Starlet, and now I have one in quarter-scale to get my weekend jollies with. Yeah, baby.
02-08-2013, 05:40 PM
#253
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: victoria, AUSTRALIA
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RE: Corby Starlet
the third pic in your post was taken by me (pinched from the BMMAA web site, as i put it there). these two corbys are the sportsman aviation ARFs. the blue and whit one behind is mine, painted the same as my fathers full size corby. as for the dihedral, the model doesn't have as the full size. there ar plenty of other slight differences, but they are good models, excellent behavior in the air and on the ground. Good luck
PvA
PvA
02-08-2013, 05:53 PM
#254
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Location: victoria, AUSTRALIA
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RE: Corby Starlet
great to see you have it in the air. I haven't flown mine for about a year. originally it had a magnum fs70, now it has a saito 60 twin. less power, but very scale. and absolute joy. here is a pic of my father with both corbies, and another with the corby and his es60 Boomerang. (you may notice a slight missing left arm. he fitted a motorbike twistgrip throttle on the joystick.)
PvA
PvA
