Capt. Bill

My 2nd airplane in 1971 was Contender 60. I still have a Contender 40 that was my back up for years . Just recovered it and going to fly it again. I loved the no stall but both had that reverse roll with rudder. About the Lanier planes, I remember they were around in 1971 when I started flying but I only heard bad things about them from the guy who taught me to fly.

Cutlass 60

I still own an old Contender built in '72' with an old Supertigre G60 small block in it. Last summer I had it out to the field one day and one of the better pilots asked why I never tried to fly a Knife Edge. "Won't do it" I replied. "I can make it knife edge" he replied. He checked the rudder throw and said that it was ample. Off we went and when we were 3 mistakes high I handed him the transmitter. When he rolled it to the left and applied full rudder deflection, all the blood drained from his face. That Contender turned him every way but loose. I wondered if my old Contender was about to bite the dust, but he finally got it under control. His comment was "How can such a great flying airplane turn so mean with that rudder" It is a great flyer and that is why I have owned it for all those years. Just go easy on the rudder and it will behave itself.

dionkadet

Anyone have experience with Sterling Spitfire 64 inch span RC model by Harris , I believe? Any particular bad habits like the Contender?

I have the kit I bought in 1973 and only after I received it that I discovered this was not a first model to learn to fly with ? No clubs, no help back then! Ended up buidling and self teaching myself to fly using an original Sig Kadet (no Mark) and RC Modeler original first print Flight Training Course.

I still need to get more proficient before trying a Spitfire but I wonder if I would be better off with a more modern version of that model?

Mike Denest

My Feedback: (1)

dionkadet,
Here's how you deal with a Sterling kit. Open box, remove plans, canopy, hardware, decals, etc. Toss the rest. Just kidding, Sterling kits are ok and will fly well if you are very attentive to weight control. Most of the wood is probably die crunched and hard as a rock. I have the F-51, the wing ribs were crunched from 10# balsa. Really not good so punch out all the parts and replace with good quality wood. The design was originally published in the Februrary 1962 issue of American Modeler so it is legal for VR/CS events. Sterling redesigned the airplane for kitting so there are a lot of differences between the two. It can be modified for flaps and retracts and will be a nice flyer with a good .56 to .60. It will be a fast flyer and proper speed management is highly recommended around the pattern. Wanna sell it?

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

LOL. I thought I was the only one lame enough to do that; mine was a Jester, I think. .25-size low-wing sporter, trike gear.

My first time with expanding spray foam, I naturally used too much, and watched in horror as the stuff finally "caught" and blew that plastic fuselage up like The Blob was inside.

Tommygun

My Feedback: (2)

How about anything made by Flitecraft? Those were awful. Had a Solo 1 "trainer" that flew as fast as a pattern ship, without the manuaverability. Or any of the foamies from Hobby Shack. I had the "Spirit of 76" glider. That thing was a rock.

Kwigen

I built a plane called a HiLo Evolution, I don't remember who the manufacturer was, but it could be built high or low wing with removable wing tips. It was a study in mediocrity.
After hanging it up, I read an article about foam wing cores and decided to design and build my own airfoil.
Proving we learn a lot from our mistakes than from our successes.

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

Dumas?

Kwigen

A friend of mine had a Hobby Shack SO76. First plane I ever saw that did a pirouette. The batteries went dead and it did a death spiral. By the time it hit the ground the wing tips were touching.

And yes, I had to look up how to spell pirouette. I couldn't even get it close enough for the spell check.

Kwigen

Yep, Dumas. I should have remember that because I changed the pronunciation slightly.

tinsink

Hey GWILLIE,

I like the modifications that you did to the Sterling Lancer. I bought one in the 70's. Ended up flying it
the last time in 2005. I broke the fuselage, one of several crashes and decided that it was time to
stop repairing that fuel soaked bugger. It was fast with a .40 and you had to land it fast or else it would stall at a relatively high speed. Interesting quirk. Did your wing tanks help with the stall?

GWILLIE

Thanks Tinsink,

I'm glad you liked my Lancer-I've attached another shot of it. I had an Enya 45 on it, equipped with the Enya muffler, 11x6 prop. That engine/muffler was surely not as strong as today's .40s. It flew nicely with that combo and I didn't have any problems slowing it up for landings; maybe the tip plates helped. I don't know how much it weighed, but it had the Heath GD19 with the big KPS-9 type servos and big heavy Dubro slick tires. It was finished with silk and dope and I used lots of sandpaper, so it probably wasn't all that heavy.

I found though with the tip plates (and almost any other "square" type tip for that matter), the plane would yaw or rock when coming out of loops ot any type of tight pullout. I saw the same thing on Ukies. With a Flightstreak style taper tip, I never saw this behavior. I put these tapered style tips on most everything I've built since.

I always liked the early jets like the F84 Thunderjets,Panthers, etc; they're what inspired my mods. I also saw a pic of a Texas ANG Mustang and stole the orange from it. I did up a Banshee in similar style.

I don't have my Lancer anymore. I was at a contest. On my practice flight, I took off and the plane started rolling. My buddy who was calling for me said rolls didn't come yet as I hollared "I Ain't Got It" and took off running down the field holding the xmitter over my head in true old 27.255 super regen 50s style. All to no avail, one cell it the receiver pack had gone bad and with the 4 wire servos, I had full throw locked in. Now I throw away all my batteries after 3 seasons whether they test OK or not.

Sorry for all this boring old time stuff, but that is what we retirees do in our twighlight years.

Rocketman_

The old Contender knife edged very well. You just had to keep them going straight using elevators and ailerons during knife edge. Even tried knife edge loops but that was scary and I usually chickened out on the down side of the loop.

It was my favorite model in the 70's and 80's and I had several of them. I flew them so much that I wore out a Fox Eagle 60, two Veco 61's, two Fox Hawk 60's and a Fox Eagle II.

There is one still in my basement with a Fox Eagle III that I never finished breaking in.

I fly mostly 3D planes now and many of them don't go straight in knife edge flight either.

kingaltair

My Feedback: (4)

In the very first post of this thread, the VK Cherokee was mentioned as a "classic" design--and it is. I've built and flown two of them. They were a nice size with roughly a 65" wingspan, and probably was one of the nicest looking semi-scale kits produced. I still have my second one that will require a bit of "servicing" before being ready to fly again.

Another VK design was the Navajo, a high-wing model that also was good-sized---my Dad built one of them. Unfortunately, this was a lousy-flying plane, but I was never sure if the design was to blame, or the fact my Dad tended to build "rock heavy" planes. One of the first planes he built was a Krackerjack that was so tailheavy, it literally required molten lead to be POURED into the nose to balance it. We were both true new-comers, (actually I was just a kid, and an oberver at that point), with a steep learning curve ahead of us. I remember that plane as he tried to take off that first flight---it looked like the Spirit of St Louis lumbering down the runway!! Later on we used the lead ball, (as big as a grade A, extra large egg), as a paperweight, and finally to hold down the nose on my Phoenix 1, (I couldn't afford the engine at 15, but I loved those swept back wings). If you look closely, you can see that same ball of lead in the nose.

Moral of story--build light!![8D]

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

I remember the flitecraft very well. I thought it was the ugliest model series I had ever seen and I can't say that I have changed my mind since. That huge seam down the middle is just awful. That plastic fuse would split, crack and come apart so easily. I did see a flitecraft at an R/C auction last month, it was the Cub, and I almost bought it for collections sake but even then I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I also remember the Hobby Shack models well. I have seen the cessna style planes fly and they fly OK. I would buy one NIB if it was a deal just to have one. I did buy a Spirit of 666 glider in Jr High because I liked the way it looked and I used a high start to launch it. I don't recall a single flight over 30 seconds, up then down.

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

Always wanted that Spirit of 76....

Mike Denest

My Feedback: (1)

I literally flew the pants (and wings) off of Challenger, the Navajo's predecessor. Same for the Krackerjac, flew it with an Orbit 3 + 1 and OS .19. Both were a ball to fly. Sounds like you just built heavy as they were both great flyers.

buzzard bait

Have no regrets about the Hobby Shack Spirit of 76. I bought one when the price went down to $19.95--that was way more than it was worth. There was a very positive review in Flyiing Models that really taught me a lesson about magazine reviews.

It was extremely tail heavy, but the front half of the plane had no reinforcement for the bead foam, so when I added nails to the front to balance it the fuse would break in half on every landing. Jim

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

I got it balanced and not to break by using light sheet balsa for the tailfeathers and fiberglassing the front end with the R/C system all the way forward. It would zip up, come clear of the line and glide FAST with a pretty quick sink rate. I finally made a pod from light ply and mounted an Enya .19 I had and it didn't work any better. I pulled the R/C system, put it in a 55 gallon drum at the field and lit it up, big black smoky fire.

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

I think is was a sloper disguised as a thermal plane, probably did fine on the slope.
Anybody ever do Das Slupen Thing, another hobby shack special?

subarubrat

My Feedback: (1)

I have had a few planes over about 25 years of flying that just did not fly. Some were planes that others had luck with and some were known bricks.

1. Wristocrat hand launch glider. It would fly no further than you threw it.

2. Spirit of 76 glider, up then down.

3. American Helicopters Super Mantis (1982ish) I don't know of one that ever flew. The GMPs at the time flew OK for the time of no gyro and no heli specific engines. But the Mantis would just break something almost every spin up and if it did stay together it didn't leave the ground.

4. Graupner Nemesis, newer micro electic pylon racer (18 inch or so wingspan). Give it a toss with the prop whizzing away and it curves to the left then crashes. After several corrections and retrys there wasn't enough plane left to try again. There are a few threads and people either said that they flew fine, or would not fly with the stock power package (but flew well with a better one) or that it curved to the left then crashed.

This last one doesn't really count because it flew well. My first non 1/2a RC plane was an MRC trainer hawk with an Enya 19 that would no peak out but the plane still flew well. The wings were just foam and I had not learned the fiber tape trick yet. So when the plane took off it would flap like a bird most times and on that last flight of the evening we would all watch and laugh as it flapped off into the sunset.

So, since people in this part of RCU seem to have some history behind them, what planes did you ever have that just would not fly?

dgliderguy

Well, we can't go far with this thread without mentioning the Midwest all-foam Cessna. Mine flew, but only after I increased the power from .049 (waddalaugh) to an OS Pet .099. I had to toss the foam elevator (a flimsy strip) and substitute balsa. The fat foam rudder moved back and forth like it was supposed to, but didn't do much to turn the airplane, so I swapped that out with a finer balsa specimen, too. By the time I got it all painted and pretty, it was a flaming brick. Man, those landings!!

Now, the Midwest all-foam Chipmunk, on the other hand, with an OS25MAX, was a superb model airplane in every way. The only drawback of these all-foam models is they don't have a fatigue life worth spitting on. In no time at all the foam begins to 'disassemble', and the epoxy repairs rapidly become more numerous.

Oh, and for "ARFs That Wouldn't Fly", put me down for the Hobby Shack all-foam Cessna 150. Wanna see what a separation bubble the size of Texas can do to an over-eager take-off run? Mine never did get off the ground without snap rolling into the pavement. My buddy made a built-up wing for his, and it flew, but it was a real clunker.

Don.

Idare2bdul

Sureflite flying qualities. The Spitfire I had did not have the new longer wing. It required a lot of rudder on take off or you would find yourself going left in a hurry. Keeping your speed up on landing was important becuse you lost any control from the ailerons at low speed. At low speeds the rudder, if you had it conected, worked just fine. With a Magnum 46 it was a bullet! If you gathered up all the pieces when you had a crash it was usually airborne in about a half hour after gluing it back together with 5 minute epoxy or foam friendly CA. It finally got to looking so much like Frankenstein that I stopped flying it.
The Sureflite Pete was a different story. It seemed to be quite a handfull even for the more experienced pilots at our field.

dgliderguy

Yeah, I forgot about the Sureflite Pete. Mine was built as a two-channel with rudder/elevator and a Cox TD.09. It flew right from the hand-toss, all the way across the open field, straight and level all the way. Only problem was that I was throwing the rudder desperately from side to side, trying to get it to TURN. Well, THAT idea didn't work so well. I talked to a guy a few years later who was smart enough to add ailerons to his. It turned okay, as he remembered, but he didn't have many fond memories of it.

arcav8r

A few years ago I was given a Kenhi Buzz'rd. The builder said it never flew right with a LRB radio. It needs recovering, and I have a set of plans for it. Any comments or knowledge about this oldtimer? I will try to fly it three channel with an old K&B Stallion .35RC.

I can upload pics if anyone is interested

Thanks for any input.