roncoleman

My Feedback: (14)

Harvey,

Was in Korea 73 - 76. First 8 months was station on the DMZ at this place call Camp Liberty Bell in direct support of the JSA guys who had Panmunjeon security duty a few miles down the road. Then was assigned to Yang San in Seoul. We use to fly on the parade field at the ROK Air Force Academy in Seoul. Good times, and good memories of the good old days and old friends, both American and Korean. I still like eating Kimbap, Yaki Mandu, and Bulgogie.

H5487

We have several oriental markets in Houston which allows me to satisfy my occasional Kimshi cravings.

Harvey

Oops, I didn't mean to hijack this thread.

dgliderguy

Does anyone know where to find plans for the Separator? I have a yen to add one to my hangar.

Please help feed my Vintage fetish! Thanks.

buzzard bait

Happy to oblige...

buzzard bait

Here's more...

buzzard bait

I did not know this design in my youth, but I have to say the reason I've kept files on it is that it really appeals to me for some reason. It's no beauty, but I really think I need to build one. Jim

dgliderguy

Blessings on your 'ead, Buzzard Bait! It's times like this when I appreciate these forums the most.

Can't wait to add this chubby chortle to my burgeoning collection.

Thanks!!!

buzzard bait

Wow, that was quick! You're very welcome glider guy, and I hope you'll run a thread on your "chubby chortle" some time (which is a great description!).

Jim

adobos

There were plenty of Guillow's free-flighters, a Comet Aeronca 54-incher, and several Scientific .049 C/L planes... but my first actual R/C plane was a RCM Royal Coachman flying on 3 channels powered by an O.S. Max .19 with a Rand/Sperry Galloping Ghost actuator. Occasionally, my brother would let me fly his planes prior to me building this one, but those planes were his and this one was mine. As i recall the plane was overpowered and I was inexperienced, but it was great fun while it lasted. The plane finally met its demise when the wing separated in mid-air. As I recall I held full up elevator (to no avail) as I helplessly watched the fuselage nose-dive like a rock. The wing on the other hand fluttered gently to the ground. Years later I built another from plans and electrified it, but that was back in the NiCd era. I'm tempted to build another, but the old-timers are taking up all my build time.
-adobos

grotto2

My Feedback: (2)

Not my first plane, but one of my earliest ones and one I had great success with. Mambo, K&B .19, Heathkit GD-19.
The wing folded doing loops. Investment: The ten dollars that I had.

otrcman

Yup, similar Mambo experience here. But in my case I had a more primitive radio (CG 5 Channel reeds) and a McCoy 19 with homemade throttle. The engine wouldn't throttle back enough to stop climbing, so I spiraled it to keep it from going out of sight. In one of the power-on spirals a wing folded and separated from the fuselage. The engine never sounded better as the fuselage came plummeting down with only one half of the wing remaining. Needless to say, it was all a big wipeout.

I ran over to the impact site and stood there looking at the debris, stunned. After about a minute there was a loud "pop" right behind me. I just about pee'd my pants, because I knew I was all alone at the field. When I turned around to see what had made the noise, there was the other half of the wing, about five feet behind me.

Dick

grotto2

My Feedback: (2)

Yep, sounds familiar, Dick.
The plane just wasn't meant for any spirited maneuvers. The wing design was minimal and the kit had a wood spar (unselected spruce?) glued together in the middle such that one side was closer to the leading edge than the other. I seem to recall a tube receiver and escapement drawn on the plans, and it may have been fine with that.
-Ron

rc lifer

Hey adobos. I remember the Royal Coachman ads showing it flying inverted at a low altitude. Did you ever get yours to fly inverted intentionally?

50+AirYears

I built a Royal Coachman from the Sterling kit in 1967. Used the battery pack, receiver,, and 3 servos from my Controlaire 5. Strike one, Sterling kit, I think they substituted oak for balsa. Strike 2, I think in 3 channel configuration, the radio weighed around 24 ounces, and Strike 3, I tried using a Fox cross scavenged .15 RC engine. Relatively small wing area for the weight, I think over 48 ounces. Very slow taxi on concrete was the best I ever got, no where near flight. I did use that engine to fly other planes, with newer, lighter radios. The coachman wing eventually went onto a Northrup Square Hare, with the fuse slightly modified to accept the different chord of the Coachman wing. Plane was lively with an OS Max .30 RC engine. When I mentioned that to Bill Northrup one year at Toledo, he thought I was nuts. He only used a Max .15 or .19 on his original Square Hare. But then, I don't think that either of my .30s had as much power as my Fox .25s, or my Webra .21.

spaceworm

I was given a Mighty Mambo with a Merco 61. I hope the wing is stronger on it as I plan to fly it as soon as the snow goes away from the field here.

Richard

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

I flew my Cox .15 Sportsman powered Mambo twice without radio. I had built it when I was 13, but while I had the Ace KV3K receiver and a Bonner SN escapement, I did not have a transmitter. So my dad convinced me that it was mostly free flight anyway, we should just go ahead and fly the plane. It did constant climb and stalls on the first flight (maybe because it lacked the weight of a radio), so we put a shim under the trailing edge of the wing. It flew very fast at tree top level but landed safely. My Mambo has spent nearly 47 years waiting for it's third flight, so maybe it time to patch the wing covering and add a bit of elevator trim to put her back into the blue skies.

I finally did get a single channel transmitter about 5 years ago. Have to see if a Mule can drive a Ace-Kraft design to kick a Bonner.

otrcman

That should be very interesting. I'll bet you will be surprised at how easy and gentle your Mambo is now. But for a beginner out there trying to learn on his own, they seemed like a real handful. My recollection from the few flights that my Mambo survived is that my mouth was so dry I couldn't spit for an hour afterward.

Dick

adobos

Hi, rc lifer...
I was never that adventurous - I had all I could do just trying to fly straight and level and keep it relatively close. My brother's plane was the Debolt Champ on a .15 which was a super-sweet flyer. In hindsight I wish he and I had swapped motors since the Royal Coachman pretty much flew like a bat out of you-know-where.
-adobos

adobos

Hey, 50+AirYears...
You're right about this being one heavy model - the entire plane was sheeted balsa and no lightweight. I was contemplating about re-doing it as a profile foamie, but there are better subjects for modeling especially with the new materials, techniques, and electronics available nowadays.
-adobos

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

While we are still close to the subject of the Mambo, I read somewhere that the Mambo had one particular problem that was related to the design of the horizontal stabilizer. What was claimed was that if you got the Mambo nose down after a spiral dive and then opposite rudder to straighten out the airplane, that the lifting stab would prevent the airplane from recovery and it would just tuck into a bigger dive until it ran out of air. Of course if the wing blows apart, that might also be slightly bad too.

Any truth to the fatal dive or was it just Hal deBolt selling his symmetrical tail designs? I've got a LiveWire Trainer framed up, so I'm good either way.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Interesting question HP? As much as I looked forward every month to Mr DeBolts column I suspect that there is not to much to that logic, Of course I am not anykind of engineer but can hold up my example of the neat replica of my first successful RC airplane an Airco Aero 9 which I still fly four or five times a year. This airplane is a typical for the period (mid fifties) made for RC design and uses the common stab to wing decaledge of around seven or eight degrees and the stab is a subtancially airfoiled lifting surface. There is not way this airplane could ever lock itself into such a graveyard spiral.

I don,t know anything about the Mambos but looking at Spaceworms picture above it seems that airplane has very little stab to wing decaledge and perhaps this is maybe the real basis for the locking into a spiral theory. Anyway I have a Live Wire Sonic Cruzer still in the box I have been hoarding for a while that I need to ramp up. Yes, I know when it comes to model airplane stuff I confess I am a hoarder.

John

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

I think the Sonic Cruiser is a great looking design John. I have looked at the plans several times over the last couple of years. Did you ever hear of his Over and Under design? I think it had a hinged wing, so that when it flew inverted, the wing changed to anhedral to make it more stable while inverted. That would have also required modifying the neutral on the servo so that when returning from down elevator it was more negative than when it returned from up elevator.

H5487

John,

What is the pylon plane in this picture?

Harvey

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Harvey how ya doing? That is a Kerswap That I built from the plans fifteen years ago with an OS .20 two stroke and its been a pretty prolific flyer. Around these parts its called the coke bottle airplane for obvious reasons

Ya ya know HP I do recall having heard the name of a DeBolt design called the Over and Under but certainly never realized that was the Gig. So how cool is that? That would be so much fun to do. I must admit I was a bit of a fan to the point I actually had me a few corn cob pipes for a while

Here are couple more shot from the local fellows. The Blue and Silver airplane is a Crackerjack from a kit that gave to this gentleman, He completed it for rudder and throttle only. The red airplane is from another local built many moons ago and its in the Esquire family I think maybe a modified TriSquire.

John

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

It looks like the high art of model airplanes is well practiced around Kingman.