Posts: 659
Joined: 2/24/2004 From: long island,
NY, USA Status: offline
micAGREENMACINE i already no how much of a blast it is to fly. I had one already!lol the first one took about a year to build but i figure this one shoul dtake around six months cuz i already no how to assemble it.
Posts: 261
Joined: 11/11/2002 From: Manassas,
VA, USA Status: offline
You guys are driving me crazy! I'm contemplating by first bipe, trying to decide ARF for build, and If I decide to build I had the Super Skybolt on the top of my list! I want something scale (or sport scale) and a good looker flyer. This thread has all but sealed it now!
Posts: 19981
Joined: 4/22/2002 From: Willmar,
MN, USA Status: offline
Ok, It's time to show my shame
My Skybolt is 11 years old this Xmas and it has been through hell and back. It has been retired at least 5 times, but each time, I wind up needing it again and dragging it out and throwing an engine and radio in it (it is about to be retired again)
Looking at the pics, it's plain to see why it's being retired:
Pic 1 The Cowl. I have had several engines in it, so the cowl has had to be modified a few times. Once it came loose and rubbed against the back of the spinner causing the rather large prop hole.
Pic 2 Various taped and untaped holes in the covering
Pic 3 A Field repair to the stab after a spectator stepped on it (No covering) And a Major repair to the wings after they were both sheared off by a sapling on a dead-stick landing (Covered with Clear monokote)
And 4 The chin area behind the cowl was lost in the same dead-stick landing that sheared off the wings (But it makes a dandy place to install the smoke pump! )
Behind the wing, two access panels were cut to install battery packs (One to offset the weight of the heavier YS Engine, and the other to offset the weight of the smoke pump). Both panels were held down with packing tape, but the smoke oil loosened the tape and the hatched went bye-bye.
But for those of you who have seen the videos, you know she still can bore holes in the sky!
Posts: 19981
Joined: 4/22/2002 From: Willmar,
MN, USA Status: offline
You've seen the video Robert. That's the condition it was in at the time (But then it still had the cowl attached)
What can I say, it's my old war horse. I keep pulling the equipment out of it and saying, "That's it, this plane is retired." but a season or two later, I either miss it, or need a plane, so I drag her back out and dust her off (and sometimes I don't even dust her off! LOL )
Every time I fly it I think, "This is it, she's going to fall apart on this flight".
But she just keep going and going (I wonder if the batteries are Duracell )
Posts: 5554
Joined: 1/25/2002 From: Hubbardston,
MA, USA Status: offline
Mike, And all this time I thought you were exagerating the condition of your Skybolt.
That the way my Sportster Bipe looked when I retired it last fall, and about the way my 4* looks now. Well, maybe not quite that bad.
I actually take a certain pride at having one plane that looks like that flying. It seems to help put things in perspective for some of the newer guys. You can tell them that a plane doesn't have to be "perfect" to fly well, but actually seeing something like that put through some nice aerobatics seems to prove the point. Dennis-
_____________________________
He who dies with the most toys is, none the less, still dead.
Posts: 28
Joined: 8/1/2004 From: Garden City,
TX, USA Status: offline
RC-Sport.....................
I am about to begin building my GP super Skybolt and to say the least, I'm very exited after reading all the posts about skybolts. I'm considering the Saito 100 for power. (I dont want to open a can of worms about engines cause Ive read all of them posts too!) The Saito 100 could be used in some of my other planes and the 19.6 ounces is hard to resist. Of course I've read all the posts about the plane being heavy and tail heavy and somewhere I read that yours came in light. Can you give me some tips? I havnt got my kit yet so I dont know how heavy the rear sheeting is but I will replace with light stuff if needed. How about lightning holes? I would really like to lighten this plane up without risking structural failure. If I cant lighten the tail up I guess I'll go with a OS 120 or a YS 110 $ . Any suggestions would be welcome.................Thanks, Mike
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