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LA7flier -> RE: Lavochkin LA-7 scratch build (1/12/2005 8:29 PM)
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ORIGINAL: Captain_YAK
Hi all thanks for the feed back!
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La7_Flier your LA_7 looks great, I am not familear with DS/LA_7 (How is it in the air?) what size is it etch,etch. If there was anything you could change to the design when you were building it what would it be?
Well Cap'n....since you asked......the Don Smith La 7 is pretty close to scale. 81 inch w/s. The cowl is huge and I could put it over my head like a lampshade. I built it with the functioning leading edge slats which extend when the landing gear come down. It helps the slow speed stall tendancy. I flew it with a 3W 48 twin cylinder gasser on electronic ignition. The plane weighed about 24 pounds. Very interesting in the air....somewhat tough to takeoff straight down the runway as the big rudder really caused the tail to swerve even with minor inputs. The plane flies on the thrust of the engine....somewhat like a jet...it won't glide at all but comes down like a brick. I used to surprise people watching it fly by coming in low and fast....I would have it lined up with the runway at full throttle and at about 20 feet...I would get to midfield and pull full up elevator, right aileron and a bit of right rudder and drop the gear, flaps and pull the engine back to half throttle...the plane would do a sharp right climbing turn and I would keep the plane in the turn effectively doing a circle with half throttle and the plane would end up being aligned with the runway at about 35 feet, half throttle, gear down, flaps down and boocoo speed...at about 15 feet over the runway threshold with the plane screaming along I would chop power....people would swear I would end up overshooting the runway but that plane would settle into the nicest landing you ever saw....worked almost every time. The plane was not a beginners plane as it could stall and snap at the top of a loop or 1/2 Cuban Eight and spin into the ground....once in a spin, it was finished so I never elected to allow the plane to get too slow during flight maneuvers. It was always a crowd pleaser and very unique so people always were interested in the plane. I liked it so much that I built two of them from Smith plans...who knows, I may even build a third one....
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