"New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Saw a picture of this today. Apparently its a 60ish size plane and looks to me like a cross between the Shoestring and Midget Mustang racers. Does look good.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Wonder which is faster...the shoestring...or the toni...

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I was at the Toledo show and saw it, looks great! Fiberglass fuse with sheeted wings and tail surfaces. Should be a great sport flyer!

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

The plane is a Midget Mustang Formula 1 pylon plane. Which one being the fastest, it or the Shoestring, will have to be found out when the plane becomes abailable. It'll be hard to beat the speed of the Shoestring. I think the Little Toni will be slightly heavier. With the same engine pulling both planes I think the Shoestring will prevail.

John

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Can we fit a G62 into it? ...............Just kidding!!!

Yak

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Just to clarify... The Little Toni was never a Midget Mustang in real life.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I think a nice twin like the DA 100 would be a better choice.:D

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I thought it was a Cosmic Wind?atleast that was what it was called when Great Planes had it out as a kit several years ago, with foam core wings and a glass fuse.:eek:

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I believe it is a modified Cosmic Wind

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Looks like this:

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

And the full-scale:

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

looks like a job for the OS 91 FX i love it looks beter than the Wm midgit mustang

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Has anyone purchased the Little Toni yet? Any comments?

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Tower pushed the expected date back from late May to Mid-June on their website.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

It is now listed as in stock!. Check tower's site. I thinking about getting one. [&:]

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Lil Toni-Cosmic Wind -Minnow-- same - Midgit Mustang NOT even close .
The LaVier (designer , named the Toni after his daughter) Cosmic Wind Ballerina was actually flown in aerobatic world competition in 1964 by British Champ Neil Williams
Tho many modelers see these as only go fast turn left designs - built light and setup properly they are super acrobatic models
This kit may be too heavy - don't know --
I would really liketo see some larger - properly built stuff on the market - but the kit guys are driven by sales and this whole world of f1 planes are not popular --- yet.
Strange -as the highly popular stuff like the EDGE are simply take offs of the early Formula Racers '
Oh well.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Some pics of Cosmic Wind

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I just received my Little Toni today. Did a quick review and it looks good. I did find one problem with mine. The rear former is loose, nothing that a little epoxy wouldn't cure. I saw the plane at Toledo and I ordered a OS 91 FS for it. The guys at Toledo stated the plane flies similar to the Shoestring but easier to build. I'm planning to start the plane within the next couple of weeks. I have Contender to finishing covering first.

I will keep you posted on my progress.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

anyone have theirs done yet?

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I am installing OS 91FX. The entire head fits inside the cowl!!
I just need a custom muffler solution that will minimize the mutilation.
It is probably the best job done by GP to date. Everything is flawless.

My only complain is that they should supply precut CA hinges. Why can't they include a pack they sell for retail? What is this measure and cut bull**** for CA hinges.

Oh! They improved the wheel fairing by imbedding the plywood between the fiberglass layers. No more glueing and drilling to prepare the wheel pants. It also slides on and off with wheel mounted in the axle.

Very Nice... Just include a precut CA hinges!

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

What color is the bottom of the wing? Will orrientation be a problem? Do you think a Bission Pitts muffler will fit in the cowl. I know it fits in the Shoestring.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

The pitts muffler will not fit inside.

i am held up by that at the moment. the head of the engine fits snugly in the side engine pod and any protrusion (muffler) needs cutting. I believe the entire cylinder (slimline pitts) will have to be exposed. It is very slim cowl.

The bottom wing is all red.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Check out the Bisson its oval, not round like the Slimline...It my fit better .That is what I used on my Shoesting.....JW

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

autoguns:

What is the thickness of the oval ( including exhaust interface ) and the length and width of the oval?

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Check out Tower hobby's part # LXNC71 the info you are looking for should be there...worst case Jim Bisson will custom make you a exhaust system....JW

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I received mine last Thursday. I'm trying to finish my gas Bearcat now, but this kit could probably
be built in two days easily. I'm planning on using my old YS .61 AR pattern engine on the pipe.
It should pull it nicely and be extremely quite. I have sometimes had problems in the past with
CA hinges not grabbing enough wood with glue and eventually, with time and vibration, one or more
hinges loosen up. And don't let any fuel seep in the hinge line. I found that the pre-cut CA hinges
are efficient, but now that I use Pacer Hinge glue on all my CA hinges I like the hinges you can cut
to the size you need. If you wick the Pacer hinge glue in the slot and a little on the hinge itself and ensure the hinge is long enough to go just pass the trailing edge interior side, those hinges ain't ever coming out. I tested this with vise grips. It tore all the surrounding wood and the hinge and wood were still intact. A little more work, yeah, but worth the effort. Plus you can take your time and position the wing and control surfaces for a real tight fitting hinge line (use tape to hold the control surface until the glue is dry [20 minutes tops]). Try it once, I'm positive you'll like it.
I'll post some pics when I get started. Still thinking of a way to mount the TP and Engine without
chopping up the cowl and blocking out the white fuse stripping.
Adrian
Adrian

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Here are some pics:

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I maidened without the cowl as I do not know which muffler or tuned pipe to put on.
The spinner that came with the plane is wildly out of balance and could not be flown with it. It will be either balanced or discarded.

The engine used is OS91FX.
Initial prop was APC 12x10 prop at 10,500rpm. This prop was overloading the engine too much. I had a 11x9 prop on hand and this brought the rpm to 12,500 and the plane really liked it. I might do jett stream muffler to gain another 1000-1500rpm.

It seems that this plane would like 11x11 or 11x12 at 12k-14k rpm but too much for this engine.

Has anyone tried OS 1.40 pattern engine?

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

A Jett-stream muff would be great if it fits in the cowl. If it doesn't, you might look at the TopFlite in-cowl muff that mounts on the fire wall

WW:D

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: red_z06
My only complain is that they should supply precut CA hinges. Why can't they include a pack they sell for retail? What is this measure and cut bull**** for CA hinges.

Waa! Waa! Want somebody to fly it for you too?:D

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

The spinner that comes with the plane should be thrown out!
It is static balanced ( back plate only first then with back plate and cone ) but still produces considerable vibration. Without an access to a dynamic balancer for this long spinner, it would be near impossible to balance it correctly.

I imagine that I might have to go for a tru-turn ultimate 3" spinner.

You might get lucky and get a perfectly balanced spinner but I doubt it.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Hi Guys,
Just picked mine up today looks very nice. I have a st. 75 I will use should be a fast one.:)
A little trick for you guys with any of the A-frame GP. spinners, grind off the rivets holding the A-frame on and get a spinner nut works great did it on my patty and my pitts, much easier to tighten up the prop nut and balance.[8D] Hope that helps
I will post with any problems on my Toni.

Flyinlow

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I have contacted Bisson about making a custom muffler for this plane. I get my plane and and a Magnum .91 XLS-A (2 stroke) next week. I know the head will fit in the cowl...but how much room is there around the exaust port and between the lower engine mount beam and the cowl?

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

There "aint" none. A Bisson Pitts muffler will pretty well hogg out the bottom of the cowl. I know. MM

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I just ordered tru-turn ultimate spinner to replace the stock junk and ordered bisson ultimate muffler. It is set back 1/4-3/8 back so I might be able to save front part of the scoop and the angle should help on drag compared to pitts muffler.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

You can try to save the scoop but it looks kinda dumb sitting out front with half of it chopped away from a Dremel. It was difficult balancing that spinner but, I found that you can do it with a little bit of J B Weld and a Dremel. It irritates me to pay money for this stuff and its junk to begin with [ spinner]. I'll bet Tru-Turn would like to make a better spinner for this kit if it was worth their time. Where are you guys mounting the remote fueler on the cowl? Ho-Hum:eek: MM.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

Mormon:

Did you run your engine with the spinner? You will be surprised when you do. Then again you might be lucky that the spinner is dynamically balanced ( what chance ).

With magnetic type suspended balancer, you get get the spinner to balance statically with patience but as the spinner length grows, so does the dynamic imbalance. For example, when you grind off inside of the spinner to balance, you do not know exatly which spot on heavy side is causing the heaviness ( near tip or near back plate side )

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

You are correct. I will try it to see what happens. Im hoping for the best. I hope you share the same frustration i do about this stuff leaving the factory without the manufactuer resolving the "problems" and tossing them into the customers lap. That spinner appears to be what was installed on the Shoestring [ looking at old photos ] If the spinner fails, looks like I will just have to spend more on an Ultimate Tru-Turn. Other than that, not a bad ARF. Thanks for your advice, MormonMike.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I flew it on Sunday without the spinner. (first with the spinner but I brought it down quickly thinking this is no way to fly).

first flight with 12x10 apc @ 10,500rpm. The prop is way overloaded and shows in meager speed performance.
second flight with 11x9 apc @12,500rpm. Now! This is what I'm talkin' about. People were guessing 120mph+
It ran fine this way the whole sunday. I wish I had a radar speed gun.....

I am now experiencing loss of power ( perhaps due to leaning ). Adjusted the needle few times but same problem. I'm going to try the setup I had before ( larger inlet fuel tube ) which ran my OS91FX fine with no sign of trouble.

RE: "New" Lil Toni by Great Planes
 

I have never seen a 2 stroke (other than an OS 1.40 Webra 1.60) fly well with a 10+ pitch prop. Most 2S engines need to rev to make power. They just wont unload in the air with a prop bigger than 8 or 9 pitch.

Try a 11x8 or a 12x8 I bet it will be even faster!

By the way...what muffler are you using...how is it cowled? Do you have pics?