silent flight

Any of you old timers,like me, ever built and "flew" the Byrons Cap-21? Have a chance to grab a NIB kit. We built the Byron Pitts so am familiar with the foam construction.
I know their construction methods are now quite obsolete, but always liked the Bryon stuff. Any feedback is appreciated.

foodstick

I THINK this model was a bit SNAPPY, I am sure you have heard the nick name Snap 21 before

I have a friend that always builds a little extra washout in old kits like these just in case.. However it could be this plane is one of those that is very elevator sensitive...

Someone will surely know.. I have seen two or three of these turn up lately at auctions and such.

IFLYRC-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

I have built and flown this plane..watch the elve throw.. will bite you - not forgiving. High speed is all good. Watch the landing speed... I put both aiel up ever so slightly... I failed the elve linkage with a high speed snap. oops... probably should have slowed down. lol

I always liked the looks.. clean and simple.

silent flight

Thanks Guys, I think I remember hearing that the Byron Cap-21 liked to snap. I believe the manual is in the kit so I am guessing suggested throws are listed. Any one who built one that could give me info on their set up?. .Will probably use a fair size gasser. Many years ago I buillt Great Planes 60 size Cap 21. I remember having to add alot of nose weight. It flew super with no bad habits.

I believe the Bryons kit was not too popular because of it's bad habit.

foodstick

The same reasons a Cap 21 can bite you, is the reason they can do some fun tricks.. You just don't want it attempting those snap rolls in a corner or landing approach ! hahahha

Have fun with it !

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Many of the giant scale planes back in the day, didn't fly that great,, due to many reasons,,
Most of the time what I saw was the guys flying them had more dollars than sense, ya know,, guys fly what the can afford to show off, not what they had the skillz to fly.

Keep the speed up, wingloading is very heavy compared to modern giant scale aerobats.

good luck

radfordc

My Feedback: (14)

I had a Byron Snap-21 back in the 80's for a few weeks. Until it snapped into the ground. They are very heavy for the amount of wing area. Don't expect it to fly nearly as good as a modern 3D aerobatic model.

silent flight

Yup, I was around the Byron's stuff a lot in the 80's. Including many hours spent at Aviation Expo in Ida Grove Iowa. Most of his planes were very scale like and heavy,.
they struggled with power systems etc. for a long time. A good scale builder could make one look very nice .Most, I think were a hand full to fly, and only a few were really successful.
They seemed state of the art at the time, but now obsolete. Some were expensive kits at the time, and the kit was just the start of the cost too complete. If you were ever at the Expo
and watched the P-51 & Corsair kits carried out at $700. to $900 you wonder what happened to them all. I have a complete Corsair kit in my shop (no box) that I most likely will never build.

JeffH

My Feedback: (43)

The Cap flew pretty good. It would snap if too much elevator was applied or if you stalled it. It tended to give little warning when it stalled when you got it too slow. Today with a modern engine and radio setup, I think it would be fun to fly. My dad had two back in the 80s and 90s. The first one went in due to a Rx battery going bad and the second he got a bit too slow and landed in the soft farmers field. It was fixable, but it had so many flight on it, he just put it away. The first one had a Quadra 35 and the second a G-38 with smoke. I would put a Moki 2.10 or Saito 3.00 Twin on it to save weight and not have the fear of melting the whole plane with a fuel leak.The Cap does not snap any worse than my Byron's Glasair that I fly these days. Whatever you do, get rid of the plug in aileron system...they suck!!

silent flight

Thanks, JeffH. Yes I already planned on putting aileron servo's in the wings. Some of the Byrons ideas were good at their time, but I never could figure out why they used that goofy setup.
Byron had a very good developement team, so my thought would be, over engineering., I would like use a gas engine, so we can have good smoke. Any ideas on what modern gasser
in the 35 range that would save the most weight.?

JeffH

My Feedback: (43)

The obvious choice would probably be the DLE 35RA. You would have to build a box since it would not work with the Byrons mount. I think a box would be better vs. standoffs since they would be loonngg.

stevenmax50

My Feedback: (1)

I was offered ( and I jumped right on it) a Byrons Corsair with the robart retracts for the unbelievable price of $200. My problem is i am just now starting to fly a TFTgiant Mustang. I Have been flying for 4 years. I am still on a buddy chord with the mustang. I am just afraid of crashing. I've crashed plenty of things like trainers. I fly a heavily modified Tiger 60, a 1/4 scale Ultimate, a 40 size p-40. So I'm not a total newbie. And I love building as opposed to ARF. I know the value of a Byron Corsair. I absolutely want to build it. But I don't know if I am anywhere near ready to fly it.

foodstick

I believe the Corsairs flew great if built straight .. However I have many friends that have experience with all things Byron.. Supposedly the Corsair was a bit tricky to land. I was always told they seemed to like a steeper approach with flaps and power.. with a solid flare at the end. They didn't like being brought in on a long and flat approach.. My buddy says they would get into that problem where each bounce was bigger than the last and you had to go around or plan on it getting ugly once it started...

I personally have never owned or flown one. But I have heard that story many times.

Have fun its a cool plane.

silent flight

You certainly got a deal if the kit is complete. I have kit and have looked at it several times but just haven't put forth the effort to date. The Bryons Corsair is not a easy build.
It will take lots of time to make it scale as the model deserves. Some of the steps are outdated. Especially the aileron linkage they used. I would find a way to mount servos in the wings. Good luck with the Corsair, It is a great bird.

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

you could start a Byron thread easily . They were the originals as far as I was concerned. There was nothing bigger or badder in the 80s and 90s/ Miss the expo, miss he kits. every opportunity I have to own one, I go for it. The werent always the best flyers but you were flyig a corvette while everyone else was flying chevetsand escorts. The Byron models and expo did alot to introduce the hobby to the public and grow the hobby

silent flight

Ram-bro, From your location, I would guess you attended the Expo at Ida Grove Iowa. If I remember correctly I only missed one, was at the very first, then a Fun Fly.
and the very last. Spent every day there each year. Moved it to Des Moines and shortly thereafter it failed, but was able fly Zero's in Striking Back in Des Moines
for a couple of years. Still have parts and pieces of the expendable Zero's in my shop. I don' t think it ever has or ever will be duplicated. Many tales to tell of that era.
Wonderful stuff for the 80's & 90's Nice kits, great engineering by the Byrons crew They were masters at making that show better year after year..

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

the Expo was great. My flight instructor was Dean Copeland. He is still here in Omaha flying. The show made such a great impression on me that a buddy and I bought the Cloud Dancers F15s, parachute drop plane and the Witch......

silent flight

Several years back, I read that the Cloud Dancers show team had disbanded. They were outstanding to watch. Excellent R/C pilots. Were you able to buy the actual models they flew?
If so are they still flying? I cant remember ever meeting Dean Copeland personally, but certainly remember seeing him in Ida Grove. After they left Ida Grove we had one of the Mitchell's
here and done some wiring & repairs and got it in flying condition for the show in Ankeny. Had several contacts, and again recently with Cal Orr, who was Byron's radio guy. Had a chance
to fly one of his ingenious Airtronics Tx that would transmit on the 72mgh band and the ham band at the same time. Pretty cool. Byron started with Kraft and later switched to Airtronics. .

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

we bought the originals or at least 2 of the 3 F15s. Mine is sitting in storage, but still flyable. I imagine I could lighten the jet by about 5 lbs using todays technology. The twin engined parachute dropper bit the dust and the witch fell apart. Jet #2 was sold so I am not sur eof the status