Michaelj2k

I can't just help to notice that sleek, skinny fuselage and that very big tail! You can see where Simla came from.

kingaltair

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I remember seeing Ed fly this plane back in 1965 at the Detroit Invitational...the same year that Simla came along. Apparently he flew BOTH that season, (which turned out to be his last season where he was actively competing). He must have picked the plane for the particular contest or weather conditions at the time.

There is a short segment on Chuck's video, (if you don't have one of Chuck Winter's videos and you're interested in vintage pattern, what are you waiting for???), that shows Ed fueling up the Taurus II prior to a flight...that is so cool to see. Also see the still picture taken by my father at the same contest, (wish the whole plane was there). This is the Taurus Ed was referring to when he told me, "I'd fly the Simla, then the Taurus, then tell people that they fly sim-la".

To me, this Taurus was the "ultimate Taurus"...it was at the end of the four year evolution line in Ed's attempt to get the very best pattern plane possible. The Simla was more of an experimental plane with adjustable wing position, diheadral, and stab. Ed knew it was too heavy to be competitive, (especially after it was damaged and the repairs added 12oz to the plane's weight). The T-II was the same general size as other pattern planes he competed against, and I believe Ed felt the Taurus II was the most competitive plane he had. The interesting thing about this plane is it is the only plane we have actually witnessed flying!! For a 71inch wingspan plane it is quite fast and sleek in the air, yet very capable of slowing down, (check it out on You Tube..keyword Kazmirski or Taurus) I can't wait to build this one and actually compete with it in "Antique" SPA events...it should beat anything else there, (except maybe the Perigee which was ahead of its time performance-wise IMHO.

Duane

kingaltair

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Speaking of Simla, I just returned from Greensboro, NC at a VR/CS "Glory Days" event Friday night and Saturday. I took the Simla, which I haven't even flown since last year. Because it was my "article project plane", and original prototype, and since it was painted and I have no paint left for repairs etc etc, I was a little nervous flying it. Simla has only about 10 flights total on it, and had mostly been flown by Kevin Clark and the editor of Model Aviation. I got in 4 flights there in Greensboro, and now feel much more comfortable with it. At 102", it's such a huge plane that it was a real attention-getter...lots of comments during the meet. (BTW...Cees might be interested to learn that it won the VR/CS "Concours Award" for the plane closest to the original). [8D]

Because it has such a high-aspect wing ratio, (long wing), it behaves a lot like a glider, (just as UStik predictedway to go). There was an incident that proved that...one dead-stick landing. An expert pilot happened to be flying it at the time, and told us he thought it would be short of the 50X50 foot hard surface landing pad that everyone wanted to touch down on, but he kept slowly raising the nose to extend the glide, and in the end, Simla was still a few inches above the deck as it passed the pad edge, and landed in a beautiful nose-high touch-down on the mains amid applause from onlookers. It was very slow and graceful as it touched down.

I've included a few pictures from the event.

Falcon6667

Thats a great looking plane you have there.What was the flying weight?
Falcon

gene6029

Congradulations Duane! I emailed you the article written by Ed Kazmirski on the Taurus in 1962....Gene

kingaltair

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I believe it's 10.5 lbs. I wanted it to be more like the World Engine stated weight of 9-3/4 lbs, but I believe the covering and paint added too much weight. Ed told me an accident with a floodlight falling on the plane before its first flight led to repairs that added a performance-robbing 12 oz. If that's the case, Ed's weight and mine is about the same.

Duane

kingaltair

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The article Gene is referring to is the Champ Chats article which has been referenced in this thread several times. It was good to have my own complete "copy" at home. Thanks Gene.

Duane

Ladyflyer

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John ,
I believe that picture was probably from 1960 , perhaps 1961 . It is the old Radio Control Club of Detroit field located at the southwest corner of 18 mile at Mound Rd . Formerly the old Utica "Wings" airport , the field was at that time in Sterling Heights Michigan .Ed is facing west , 18 Mile Road is over his right shoulder , Mound is behind him .
The Radio Control Club of Detroit was a very early , some say first Radio Control Club in the US . They hosted many major events in those days . The RCCD held that field from 1960 until 1971 .

kingaltair

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LF

Yes, as someone who was a member of that club, (my first club) when I was a teen, you have all of your directions "right on". You have obviously relocated. How do you know the field and club so well.

Duane

Ladyflyer

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Kingaltair,

My uncle kept his Aeronca Chief at the old Wings Airport and I actually did my first R/C solo from the RCCD field . A fellow name Simone Arnone was my instructor . We passed the field nearly every day for about 40 working years during our daily commute .

Free Bird

All,

I know this thread is about the Taurus, but being this is "Kaz" related, I thought I'd ask here. I'm comtemplating building an Orion this winter and in the spirit would like to make the trim scheme as close as possible to the original. So the question is, does anybody know what the trim scheme is/was on the BOTTOM of the Orion? While there are a few pics of the top and such, I haven't been able find and underside pics. Only one I've found is just a pic of the L/E of the aileron and wing tip, and one could conclude at least the red trim on the top of the wing wraps around the L/E onto the bottom. Does anybody have any ideas? TIA

FB

UStik

This thread is the right place to search (ask), but it's just too long! The pics are from it, the first two Oct 2009, the third Feb 2009. I have them on my disk but don't find them in the thread right now. The first two pics are from the AMA museum IIRC, you could check there.

But I'd guess you're right that the red trim is on the wing bottom as well. The other pictures show that there's nothing else, nothing on the stab bottom, and only some red on the fuse front bottom. You see the nose landing gear (for that version) as well.

kingaltair

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Both Simla and Taurus models, (Taurus, & Taurus II original wing and final wing), have the paint scheme the SAME on both the top and bottom. I think you can feel relatively comfortable doing the same with the Orion. One way to be sure would be to contact the AMA museum and ask them to photograph the bottom for you.

One nice thing...you have a picture showing how the red is done in the front on bottom.

Duane

kingaltair

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One thing you'll notice, the Orion in the museum is NOT the same Orion Ed won the first "worlds" with because it has a "trike" gear. My guess is that the "trike" gear plane was later when the need for accurate taxiing became more obvious.

There is no way to know for sure, but this orion in the museum could very well be the SAME Orion Ed had with him at the White Sox stadium in the picture below.

Free Bird

UStik - thanks for the in-flight shots. I did notice that the only color on the botom is on the wing and nose. I hadn't seen that picture before.

Duane - That's the first thing I noticed about the AMA display. My goal is to build one model with two wings and be able to easily add/remove a nose gear for what ever mood strikes. Thanks for the info guys!

FB

pimmnz

Nah, can't be that one in the stadium King, that's the one with the eliptical tips...check out the shadow under the wings and have a closer look at the tips...we have been there before...
Evan, WB #12.

kingaltair

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Drat you PIMMNZ

Can't you let me be right every once in a while?? I've been hanging around with Cees lately, and I say it's the sun angle, and there ain't (written on purpose), no elliptical wing tips for you to notice. After all, this is the northern hemisphere, and things are "right-side-up", not upside down up here...so the sun angles are different, and all that stuff. I've done a bunch of calculations with secret methods that only I understand...and I tell you there ain't no elliptical wingtips.

Then on the other hand...

Duane

pt19 flyer

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hi gang
in process of building another taurus, had one many, many years ago and think I have
forgotten a lot about building from plans, 82yrs old and maybe mentally weak
somewhere on one of these taurus threads I saw a line drawing of a taurus showing
wood sizes for the various areas. working with plans from uncle willie but fuselage dimension
seems to be much larger. like the more slender fuselage in some of pix.
found the line drawing pix at work but on a linux system and was locked out of saving
and print functions so unable to save. been searching at home with no luck.
anyone out there know the file name?

thanks
pt19 flyer

RFJ

This one perhaps.

Ray

pt19 flyer

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thanks ray and many, many thanks for info.
that does not look like the one I saw but I think this one
is even better. working on building a taurus from uncle willies plans
had one many years ago. at 82 think I have lost some of my building
skills and knowledge but it all may come back. the fuselage on these plans
is not as slender as some of the pictures posted, like the more slender look
better. would you have a pdf file of the plans with the more slender fuselage?
I have gone thru all the postings of <redesign and reconstruction of the worlds
oldest taurus without any luck and ab out half way thru this one.

again I greatly appreciate the info and many thanks for efforts on your part.

look forward to getting another on in the air. have fuselage abougt 40% complete.

thanks again
joe pt19 flyer

pimmnz

OK pt19 flyer...the plan shown here is the first successful Taurus, the PCM (Prototype Contest Model) from 1961. The next Taurus we see is Ed's 1962 Nats version which is one inch longer and has a 1/2 inch lower fuselage top deck (and a 68" wing). Then there is the Top Flite version which is the same length as Eds 1962 Taurus, but 1/4 inch higher, and with the original 70" wing...Ok so far? Take your pick...Then there is the 1963 Taurus 2 (With a really thick wing) which went to the '63 world champs and didn't get flown, but appeared later with a new Bosch airfoiled wing. This one still exists...ask Duane about it...he has all the details. Any help?
Evan, WB #12.

pt19 flyer

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hi pimmnz
many thanks for info
greatly appreciated.
on the plans, the one I am using to build is from uncle willies version.
still indicates on left side of plans model airplane news, but near
middle has uncle willies taurus. I like the appearance of some of the
versions with slemmer fuselage. mine measures 5 5/8 at F-24 and
6 1/2 at F-23.
do you know the plans designation of the slemmer fuselage?

many thanks on info

pt19 flyer joe

pimmnz

Uncle willies plan will be the same as the top flite/MAN plan. They are the same, other than the MAN plan having the ribs all drawn. There is a plan, if you can find it, for the PCM version. There are no other commercially available plans. That's it. No 'slimmer fuselage' versions. You can, of course, simply draw a line 1/4 '' lower on the top deck of the plan you have...and presto, the Kaz 1962 model. Chop a couple of inches off the wing tips, and there it is. Or, you can do what every other modeller does, and modify it to what you like.
Evan, WB #12.

pimmnz

Though, looking at Ed's model, it looks like he simply raised the wing another 1/4 inch, and matched the fuselage underside to fit. Really simple.
Evan, WB #12.

pt19 flyer

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ok pimmnz
thanks for info, very helpful and informative
really appreciate you doing this.
will the incidence settings be correct by using the cutouts of
fuselage if very carefully cut accoring to plans? for the horizontal
stab and wing.

again many thanks greatly appreciated.

joe
pt19 flyer