aerowoof

saw where busa is re releasing some of the kits from the 70's,always liked the smothie and excaliber but at the time could not afford them on 2.25 an hour,anyone fly the excaliber?how did it fly?what if any would you change if doing it now?

gittarpikk

Great!...

I may have to scan a few old picts I had of the Smoothie I had...and I think I still have a pict of the mods I did to it.. (t-tail, anti-vortex drooped wing tips single wheel under wing ...like Mach None and Mach One).. The plane would taxi, takeoff and land great.....but when I would give it a rudder command, the plane would jerk into an opposite roll as the leading wingtip dug under the oncoming air due to the extremely drooped tips....weird feeling when flying and was not anticipated whe I designed those mods....but sure looked cool.

dennis

My Feedback: (90)

The Excalibur that they released is a simplified knockoff of their first offering under the Joy Products label. That model was gorgeous, this one is utilitarian. It does fly well though.
Dennis

hogflyer

In the May 2009 issue of Model Aviation, pg. 49, BUSA has an add showing the Smoothie, Moonraker, and Excaliber as their new line of nostalgic kits. They have kit numbers, but no pricing. I went to the [link=http://www.balsausa.com/store/category.php?id_category=19]BUSA website under sport planes[/link] and lo and behold they have them on there (new website too) and they are priced at $79.95 each. I remember they also had a parasol plane that I was told was a very good flier, but don't remember the name of it off hand.

Hogflyer

optech

My Feedback: (9)

Hogflyer,

I had one of those parasols. It was my secord or third true R/C kit built plane and was a good flyer but was only three channel. It used the Swizzle Stick wing. When I finally piled mine in, I rebuilt the fuse and added ailerons to the wing. It worked and added some dimension to the plane but ideally it could have used a little less dihedral. I still enjoyed that plane though. I wish I could remember the name as well.

Mike

warbird51

My Feedback: (12)

I had an Excaliber back in the 80's. A great flying model with a K&B .40 on it.

rkinman

My Feedback: (7)

Also glad to see Balsa USA step up to the plate and provide these vintage kits. In the early 80s when I got into this hobby I'd order a big box of balsa from them and scratch build everything. Always wanted the Xcaliber or the Moonraker so I appreciate the chance to get one now.

Brian C

Does anyone have any experience flying the Excalibur with aileron and elevator only. A clubmate of mine just got the re-released version and we were wondering if making the rudders work was worth the effort.

For the record, the new Excaliburs only show an outline for the rudders on the plan and have no instructions on the plan or in the manual for how to rig them. Surprisingly, the kit is die crunched, also,not surprising - the wood is beautiful! Vac formed plastic goes on the nose for the cheek fairings. Looks to be a great flying airplane.

Brian C

warbird51

My Feedback: (12)

I did not have working rudders on mine and it flew just fine.

dennis

My Feedback: (90)

The parasol that BUSA made was calleed the Tempo. I do have a copy of the plans somewhere in the stash. This was your basic 3 chanel model but if you added the Stick 40 wing with ailerons it became a lot of fun. I lost my last one about 20 years ago doing a flat spin. There isn't enough fin and rudder to stop the turn and all other methods failed to stop the enevitable.
I've often thought of revisiting that model as it was so much fun. Perhaps I'll go looking for the plans and scratch one out. The wing is straight Stick 40 your choice of ailerons or not. The rest is easy stuff.
Dennis


edit,,,I need to spell check before posting.