Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

I suspect there's more than a few of us still looking for these, since Tower bought Lanier and trashed most of the proudct line. I did a search on Yahoo under "Shrike 40 Kits", and found a place in Edmonton, AB, called Hobby Wholesale, after searching through about 8 pages of results and going up many blind alleys. The kit was on their list, so I closed my eyes and hit the "add to cart" button. It went through, even down to the point of getting the automatic email for confirmation. Kinda steep- $85, but I've really been wanting to get one of these and do it right, after destroying four of them. The only airplane I've ever flown that was as smooth and fast is my Mikulasko Arrow.

hobbywholesale.com

This time, I'm going to make patterns for all the parts before I start building, and copies of the plans.

I'm probably going to shorten the nose or lengthen the tail a little to make it easier to balance, and mount the fuel tank near the CG and use a pump so it won't be so dang nose heavy like they always seem to be. I'd like to use a Jett 40 BSE, but I'm nervous about the price. I'll probably end up with a 46AX and a Mac's muffler to get the weight down.

Retracts would be the cat's butt on this, like one I saw on video, but I might wait on that, and do the first one as a hand launched bird.

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

How hard are they to hand launch? I like the idea of a clean airframe!

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

LeeHop:

The one hand launched 40 I built had a 40LA, and was fairly light, but in no wind conditions, it was real scary until it got up enough airspeed. I nearly lost it a couple times.
That's why I'm thinking about landing gear- the one ARF that had did real well from a grass strip with landing gear.

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

Mine always launched easily.

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

That is cool, Rich.

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

I've got a Shrike from years ago when they first came out with a YS 45 side exhaust, no canopy. The airplane screams and I built a dolly with tricycle gear for it to take off on. If anyone is interested I'll take some pics of it when I bring the airplane up.

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

I'd love to see some pics of the shrike dolly. Was it stearable?

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

Well, it was too good to be true. Wholesale is out of stock. Shucks.

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

How about a Diamond Dust as an alternative? Only $75 for the kit.
Disclaimer: I have no financial interest, etc...

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

I thought about that one. Not very pretty, IMHO. If I was going to get one of the deltas, I'd probably go for the Vortex, but they've been out of stock all summer.

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

The dolly is not steerable. I soldered it up with the nose wheel straight. Doesn't cover much ground before it's airborne.

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

A stearable dolly...

RE: Shrike 40 Kits Available
 

Evan - thanks for the pics. It looks like this works for a plane with a rudder that fits in the wire thingy. Brilliant!