Well, I finished the Shoestring and had the first flight on Wens. Short version - it flew right off the building board! Great flying airplane, even better than I had been told it would be. Slightly nose heavy; about half full up trim and a touch of right aileron trim - that was it. Guess all the warps cancelled each other out. As I mentioned in the building thread, this is the first all-balsa model I've tackled since 1981 - nothing but foam, fibreglass and ARFs for 25 years. This was a tough one to re-learn my balsa butchering on!

It weighs exactly 4 1/2 pounds ready to fly, a little heavier than I expected, but well under the 5 pounds CG says on the box...the ST .46 is perfect power for this airplane. I insisted on using my ancient Citizen-Ship transmitter, which caused a cramp in my right thumb in about five minutes. At the Mid-South meet after a demo or two with that beast, I'll switch to my 1970 MRC-Futaba TX (still on 27 mhz.) It's almost as comfortable as a modern radio.

It loops beautifully, aileron rolls are very axial and graceful, but still slower than I like - guess I'm used to my electric Mini-Funtana's 360 degrees a second! I'm glad I enlarged the ailerons, should have made them even bigger. Snap rolls and spins are precision manuvers; it stops exactly when you want it to. I even did an inverted spin on the second flight.
Wing overs are pretty, this model is more docile than most any modern ARF I can think of. It would make a terrific electric, which is all I fly today except for the vintage models.

The stall is as gentle as a Falcon 56, no falling off on a wing, ailerons were still effective even holding full up elevator.

The only negative I have is it's a real floater; with no wind you have to have the speed back or it will sail right on by...it lands as slowly as a Falcon three point, and makes beautiful wheel landings. One big advantage of electrics - the windmilling prop is a a great drag producer, making landings much more predictable. But after only two flights as a glow model, I'm very comfortable with it.

This is the R/C model I wanted as a kid looking at those Goldberg ads (The Goodyear racer YOU can fly!) in the model mags. I've never even seen one, except for the one I built. So 40 years later I can check off that box! See you at the Mid-South meet! Russ Farris

P.S. Special thanks to Tailskid who picked this kit up for me in Phoenix last year, JimmyC who sent me the the landing gear from his Dad's deceased Shoestring, and Dan Gipe at Wing Manufacturing who molded a flawless Shoestring canopy to replace the damaged one in the kit. BTW, he's considering adding the Shoestring to the Early R/C models line (modernized construction of course) so let's give him some encouragement - it's a great looking airplane and a fantastic flyer...

that's a fine looking model! Congrats, I've always liked the Shoestring.

No, thats a great looking model.
Very good work.
john

Seems you also have not forgotten how to slap a nice finish on it! Beautiful!

All worth it in the long run.

Robert

Thanks Robert, that's Sig Aerokote Cub Yellow (which I think is the same as Ultracote, very easy to work with) and Missile Red Monokote - except for the cheek cowls, carb airscoop, landing gear, wheel pants and canopy, which is a automotive base coat/clear coat. Not cheap, but I wanted some experience with it before I restore my 1963 Studebaker GT Hawk!

Russ Farris

Ah, yes! The '63 Hawk!
Nice car! Some who don't know better think its an old Mercedes because of the front grill shape. I saw a blue one for sale on a used car lot in Lincoln a few months ago.
What color is yours?

Robert

I'm suprised that Lanier didn't ARF this one as they did CG's other classics. Probably only a matter of time. Sad isn't it. You can only get the classics conveniently as an arf.
Dennis

Robert, at the risk of de-filing an airplane forum, here's a picture of the Hawk. It has the Avanti R-2 supercharged engine option with a four speed tranny - only 276 were made.
It was originally white, the guy I bought it from painted it that brown color, and I'm thinking black - Studebaker judges only care about correct color for the year, not the actual car. I also have a 1964 Avanti. Russ Farris

maxpower, NICE car and a real good and nice build.
I'm building an old Long Midget just like my dad raced in pylon in the 1960ths.
This is my car

allways wanted to build one but will not pay the kit prices on ebay.keep looking for plans and patterns to scratch build.

Russ,
Nice job on the Shoestring! Sounds like she flies as nicely as the one I get to
zoom around every summer. That one has an old Enya .45 and it's got plenty of power.
Dave

The Goldberg Shoestring was presented in RCM about the same time that the kit came out, so getting plans is no problem.

Russ, have you noticed that you have more throw one direction than the other on each channel? Since all the old RC systems used simple RC networks to set the timing pulses (thus giving an exponential response due to the RC time constants), while modern servos use a linear ramp (constant current charging a capacitor).

Hey HighPlains, I just checked - your are absolutely right! The difference is slight, but it's there. The servos travel slightly more clockwise. I would have never noticed...Russ Farris

Hi MaxPower,

That is a great looking Shoestring! You just can't beat that look; like a 50's sports car. You mentioned it would make a good electric... I just finished one and e-converted it. I'm using an E-Flight Power 46 motor and a 4S4000 lipo for power. I haven't flown it as I am working out some issues with the radio setup on my Falcon 56. I'm a big fan of the Goldberg kits. I've also e-converted a 1/2A Blazer and 1/2A Viking as well as my Gentle Lady. I sure hope mine flies as well as yours. Yours sounds like an awesome flyer. I assume you built the full size wing? I have a build log-ish over on WattFlyer here: [link=http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16629]Shoestring build[/link]

Here are a few photos...

Franny

Hi Franny! Yes, I came across your Shoestring build a few months ago, and it was a big help in constructing mine. Yep, it's the 54 inch wing. You won't be disapointed in the way it flies.

I remember yours came out to five pounds with the conversion and all, but mine flies great at four and a half pounds. At the recent Mid-South VRCS meet, everyone was amazed at how slowly it landed. It has the appearance of a hot racing plane, but it flies like an aileron trainer - old Carl really knew what he was doing!

If Dan Gipe decides to add this one to his Wing Manufacuring Early R/C models line, I'd be the first to buy one and build it as an electric. The drag of a windmilling prop will really help steepen the landing approaches. As a glow airplane, you have to really watch against letting the nose drop on approach - it is so clean it will float into the next county.

Let us know how the flights work out when you do get her into the air. Russ Farris

Just to give you some idea of the glide the Shoestring has, at the Mid-South meet I was making a pass down the field at about 50-75 feet, as it went by I went into an aileron roll
to the left - passing inverted the engine quit! I finished the roll, turned downwind, flew a normal landing pattern and I STILL landed long! By the way, I get the superior airmanship award and dumb ass trophy together...genius here had forgotten to re-fuel and had run out of gas! Russ Farris

Thats hilarious! I did the same thing with my Falcon back in the day... I though a low inverted pass would be cool and when it rolled up side down, the hatch came off and the gas tank fell out! Never a dull moment.

Yeah, I can't wait to get it up in the air. The problems I had with the Falcon was radio related. I switched from a three cell to a four cell lipo and was unaware that the BEC was not rated for the additional cell. I had a brownout on final and went in from about 100'. The crash wasn't all that bad, but the Lipo was damaged and started to burn. It caused a real mess inside the fuselage, but I have it all repaired and have upgraded to a Spektrum DX7. Since the Sportster Bipe, Taube, Shoestring, and Falcon all use the same power setup, I was to get some time on the Falcon before I maiden the Shoestring. I did Maiden the Taube and it flew great but I was just lucky...

Have fun with your Shoestring!! Do you have any shots of it in the air?

Thanks,

Franny

No inflight shots yet, maybe this weekend. Russ Farris

Russ,

Great Job on the Shoestring. Sorry I didn't get down to the fly in to meet you. I really like what you did to the Citizenship Tx too.


Dan

Love your Shoestring and the Citizen-Ship radio ! Here is a picture of my Citizen-Ship collection:

BRODAK.COM offers tons of great old timer stunt kits..I just completed their Buster..quality product, easy build, and full size plans ..most hardware for around 59.00.....not bad ..there site also sells everything control line you will ever need

Mole,
I think you have the Goldberg CL Shoestring confused with the Goldberg RC Shoestring. The CL model was simular to the Goldberg CL Buster and CL Cosmic Wind.

Maxpower, Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I purchased the plans for the Shoestring from RCM Magazine, and have been looking for the canopy for a few months. I even searched RC Universe for suppliers of custom canopies, and every time someone asks about a replacement canopy, the same answer comes up. Make your own.

After reading your post, I decided to give Wing Manufacturing a call. He had it for a reasonable price so I now have one on the way.

Thanks again.

Jim

By the way, nice looking plane.

Hi Guys,

Just a couple photos of the Shoestring in the air. Boy, you are right... It sure is a floater! I ran right off the runway on the first flight. Must be that big wing. It really is smooth in the air. It tracks like a nice pattern airplane - goes right where you point it. The E-Flight motor seems to work well and I plan on trying a few different props to get a little more speed out of it (it is a racer after all). I checked and it is eligible in the vintage meets so that should be fun.

MaxPower: I mentioned the E-converted Falcon56 a bit. Well I have all the bugs worker out (I hope) and it is flying great! I did add a couple degrees of incidence to the wing and now it flies with all the surfaces flat. I thought that was a little weird, but seemed to work. It flies and flies and I think I should land before I run out of juice and the battery still has half capacity.

I couldn't be happier with both airplanes! Go Carl Goldberg!! Gas or electric!

Franny

Hi Folks,

There were TWO (2) Shoestrings in 1966

R/C Modeler Plan # 157 from January 1966 SHOESTRING by Carl Goldberg Formula I & II Trainer for Racing ....... (2) Large Sheets

And ... Model Airplane News August 1966 SHOESTRING by Jim Kirkland Plans available...... (2) Large Sheets

Hope this Helps, Ken