"Stinger" formla 1 worth?
12-17-2016, 10:56 AM
#1
"Stinger" formla 1 worth?
Hey guys, I have a beautiful Stinger F1 airframe that I purchased a couple years back from a long time pylon racer. It is a gorgeous airplane but I neither have an engine nor the time to do much of anything right now. It's been sitting for 2 years, which is ok really as it's very pretty. It had a Nelson F1 engine in it and I had planned to put another JETT FAI practice engine in, but the dzus fastener for the cheek cowl is right in the front where the carb on the JETT would be. I really dont' want to hack up this airplane and have been unsuccessful in finding a good F1 engine so thought I'd see what you guys thought it was worth and maybe consider selling it to somebody who would appreciate it as much as I do but might actually fly it again. 
12-17-2016, 06:40 PM
#3
My Feedback: (1)
Looks like one of Andy McCadoe's old planes, a Don Rice Stinger before the long wing mod. The Stinger was originally designed by Bob Root, but was taken over by Don and further refined. Don managed to shoot me down at a PROPS race around 1986, so he gave me a kit. I extended the wing span to 58 1/2" and finished it in time to race it at the 87 Nat's in Lincoln. Unfortunately the receiver only had about 6 feet of range, so in the first heat it taxi'ed away at a rather high speed.
The airport pad at Lincoln was concrete with tar strips about every 20 feet or so and each time it hit one it would gain about a foot of altitude before slamming back down on the pavement. The guys at pylon one watched it go by and far off in the distance there were a group of pattern fliers getting ready for their contest. They were not paying much attention until the Stinger got much closer. About the time they were really dancing around, the repeated bumps finally flatten the gear enough that it finally took out the prop and killed the engine. However the Stinger survived and was held for the next season.
I'd be interested too, though I have one in primer and a couple of kits still. The next couple of years with the Stinger made it the most feared model on the circuit, as people did not realize what the high aspect wings were really doing. All was good until Jim Katz did a couple designs in Q midget and FAI that feature high aspect, and then the kat was out of the bag.
a brief slice of pylon history.
The airport pad at Lincoln was concrete with tar strips about every 20 feet or so and each time it hit one it would gain about a foot of altitude before slamming back down on the pavement. The guys at pylon one watched it go by and far off in the distance there were a group of pattern fliers getting ready for their contest. They were not paying much attention until the Stinger got much closer. About the time they were really dancing around, the repeated bumps finally flatten the gear enough that it finally took out the prop and killed the engine. However the Stinger survived and was held for the next season.
I'd be interested too, though I have one in primer and a couple of kits still. The next couple of years with the Stinger made it the most feared model on the circuit, as people did not realize what the high aspect wings were really doing. All was good until Jim Katz did a couple designs in Q midget and FAI that feature high aspect, and then the kat was out of the bag.
a brief slice of pylon history.
12-18-2016, 04:34 AM
#5
My Feedback: (1)
Hey Shaun, I flew a number of Stingers after the first one. Dan, Pete, Jim, Paul, and Tim (Bay Area fliers) all started flying them soon after too. The Stinger wasn't the easiest F1 to fly, I think Jim's El Bandito design flew better than anything else, but nothing at the time could touch the Stinger with equal power. From speed it could glide for about a lap and a half from pylon height. The Stinger was a pretty good rudder design, when I killed the engine and got it slowed down I ignored the ailerons and steered it with just rudder and elevator to landing.
12-18-2016, 08:57 AM
#6
Nice, I am very fond of those days, working at the hobby shop, hanging out at Jims, making fun of Rusty LOL. Can you believe after 35 years I finally got him to admit that on his Webra speed .40 engines he ran in Q500 he was exchanging the stock crank for the marine version? Good times for sure, I have a Q500 kit on the way although not sure if I will race and if I do which class. May catch a couple local,races per year.
04-12-2017, 07:50 PM
#7
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Anyone have the plans for the stinger .I have an old kit I want to put in the air but the drawings I have are all faded and water damaged .
Last edited by P-dog; 04-12-2017 at 07:54 PM.
04-14-2017, 06:49 AM
#8
My Feedback: (1)
I should have plans somewhere, but they were very rudimentary. More of an isometric drawings that Bob Root did. Since the wing and tail surfaces were built in the same fashion as other F1 airplanes of that era and the fuselage was glass, not a lot of details were provided, and many refinements were made and shared among those building a particular design. I built maybe a half dozen Stingers with the high aspect ratio wing modification which was later incorporated by Don, and there were quite a number built in Northern California up through western Canada.
