RE: Top Flite Taurus  
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RE: Top Flite Taurus - 5/10/2005 5:39:49 PM   
mightyhorn


 

Posts: 48
Joined: 8/12/2002
From: Caldwell, ID, USA
Status: offline 		Hello:
Sounds like you were in the same boat as my dad.
He had to take out a loan for his radio- he was building a Sultan- and then proportionals came out. He was out of $$ and
his stuff was obsolite. I'm now into the hobby and will be sharing it with my son.
I still have his Sultan, but WON'T fly it.

(in reply to spud8939)
       Post #: 76

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 5/14/2005 11:10:41 PM   
Hueydriver


 

Posts: 135
Joined: 5/2/2005
From: Dartmouth, NS, CANADA
Status: offline 		An aerodynamic question....I bought a Taurus in the mid-70s that was in need of restoration. It had the swept wing as per the figure in Howard Mcentee's "R/C Primer" (my hobby shop owner, Bob Hansen, of Bob's Village Hobbies in Fresno, CA offered me the Kraft analog radio with the Taurus for $20....wish I had taken it). Bob told me the swept fin and rudder helped keep the nose up during coordinated turns...rather helpful if you flew reeds. Explanation?

That Taurus, with a Wing Mfg foam wing replacement later went on to 500 odd flights. BTW, does anyone from the Fresno area know what Bob is up to?

(in reply to mightyhorn)
       Post #: 77

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 5/15/2005 1:56:55 AM   
iflyj3



Posts: 985
Joined: 5/18/2002
From: Paris, KY, USA
Status: online
quote:

ORIGINAL: Hueydriver
Bob told me the swept fin and rudder helped keep the nose up during coordinated turns...rather helpful if you flew reeds. Explanation?


The swept fin and rudder was used on several planes of the 60's. I have a VK Challenger that also has it. The theory is when the rudder is deflected the slip stream will push down on the rudder which causes a sort of an elevator effect. Therefore, in shallow turns very little up elevator is needed. But rudder has to used to get the effect. Ailerons by themselves won't do it.

Even man carrying planes have this, look at the later Cessna 150 for example.




_____________________________

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(in reply to Hueydriver)
       Post #: 78

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 5/15/2005 2:56:22 PM   
jim52519


 

Posts: 69
Joined: 4/10/2005
From: , IL, USA
Status: offline 		To all you Taurus fliers out there. It looks like this airplane has a very short nose moment and a long tail moment. Is it hard to get the C.G. correct? Is it often necessary to add lead to the nose? I have considered building one.

Jim

(in reply to iflyj3)
       Post #: 79

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 5/15/2005 4:39:15 PM   
spud8939


 

Posts: 76
Joined: 8/27/2002
From: GOLDEN, CO, USA
Status: offline 		Hi Jim,
Actually, the last one I built needed some weight in the tail, that is with the wing swept to make the trailing edge a straight line, and reducing the dihedral to half of that of the original design. One additional thing you should do is to add about 1" to the width of the fin to improve the "fish tailing" tendency of the original design, which is made slightly worse with the wing sweep. You will be hard put to come up with a better flying airplane set up this way. ENJOY!! BTW, I used a K&B .61, so you can use that for weight calculations.
Sam

(in reply to jim52519)
       Post #: 80

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 5/27/2005 7:14:45 PM   
astropuppy


 

Posts: 189
Joined: 1/11/2002
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Status: offline 		I may be really wrong here, perhaps someone can confirm it. But, I believe a swept wing Taurus was known as a "Zeus Taurus" in the chicago area. I was a just walking when my Dad flew these on Reeds.

(in reply to spud8939)
       Post #: 81

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 6/7/2005 11:51:01 PM   
Eddie Warren


 

Posts: 3
Joined: 6/4/2005
From: Wilmington, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Hi Folks:
I also remember a design which was published in American Aircraft Modeler named the "Comptaur" which was a Taurus with mods for proportional radio.

It had a swept leading edge and straight trailing edge. Don't know about the dihedral or the rest of the structure. The plans for it are still available, I think.

Say, did you see where Ed Kazmirski's Omen II was powered by a .60? And you guys are talking about putting a gasser on a large Taurus? Wow! Should climb straight up.

Eddie
Wilmington, NC - USA


(in reply to astropuppy)
       Post #: 82

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 6/8/2005 1:08:57 AM   
iflyj3



Posts: 985
Joined: 5/18/2002
From: Paris, KY, USA
Status: online
quote:

ORIGINAL: Eddie Warren

Hi Folks:
I also remember a design which was published in American Aircraft Modeler named the "Comptaur" which was a Taurus with mods for proportional radio.

It had a swept leading edge and straight trailing edge. Don't know about the dihedral or the rest of the structure. The plans for it are still available, I think.

Say, did you see where Ed Kazmirski's Omen II was powered by a .60? And you guys are talking about putting a gasser on a large Taurus? Wow! Should climb straight up.

Eddie
Wilmington, NC - USA




Eddie,

If you remember up through the 1960's the AMA maximum engine was a .60 and that is why planes were limited in size.


_____________________________

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Visit www.groups.yahoo.com/group/mp8k for support

(in reply to Eddie Warren)
       Post #: 83

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 6/11/2005 8:00:17 PM   
pt19 flyer



Posts: 333
Joined: 11/9/2002
From: Roanoke, VA, USA
Status: offline 		hi

I have done extensive searching for plans of this plane with no results. you can find the plans but they do not show formers or wing rib patterns. this had a special airfoil which made it the excellent flyer it was but without this info it would not fly like a taurus.

there was several years ago plans for a plane with similar flying charactistics...called the "old fart" or southern eagle. available I believe from RCM plans service.
if you ever find plans showing former and rib patterns please let me know. the taraus was an excellent flying plane.

good luck and happy flying

pt19 flyer

(in reply to joefox)
       Post #: 84

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 6/11/2005 8:22:20 PM   
spud8939


 

Posts: 76
Joined: 8/27/2002
From: GOLDEN, CO, USA
Status: offline 		Hi PT-19,
Here is a bit of info on the "Comptaur"--- the reason you don't see info on the wing is that it used a Taurus wing. I have a copy of the original magazine article that I will send to you if you want it, just send me an address to my email, samlynn@aol.com. I don't know if it represented an "improvement" over the Taurus, (hard to imagine), but it was a bit different. I never built one, so I don't have first hand experience.
hope this helps,
Spud8939

(in reply to pt19 flyer)
       Post #: 85

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 6/11/2005 9:02:18 PM   
Old Shep


 

Posts: 56
Joined: 12/27/2002
From: Midland, , TX, USA
Status: offline 		Interesting thread about a neat airplane...I have a fiberglas fuse version of the Taurus that I received in a trade...has the dowels for rubberbands, silkspan covering, black Hobbypoxy paint, and a Merco 61 installed. Anybody interested in buying it? Shipping might be an issue, but I'll entertain any reasonable offers.
Old Shep

(in reply to spud8939)
       Post #: 86

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 6/11/2005 9:46:15 PM   
kdheath



Posts: 1275
Joined: 11/9/2002
From: Rochester, MN, USA
Status: offline 		Geez, Shep, if I was still in Lubbock.....

edited for dumb typo....

< Message edited by kdheath -- 6/12/2005 12:41:07 AM >

(in reply to Old Shep)
       Post #: 87

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 6/15/2005 1:18:56 AM   
Gavioto


 

Posts: 5
Joined: 6/14/2005
From: Sevilla, SPAIN
Status: offline 		pt-19 flyer

Hi, I'm Spanish and live in the south of Spain (Sevilla). Thirty five years ago when I was fifteen, i used to go to the US base in Morón whith my father.
We went there because americans friends.At that time, taurus was an aspecial plane and everybody there has one.We bought a kit and I learnt to fly whit it.
Now at this moment my father and me (he is eighty and continues flying) are building again a taurus from a old plan which is in a several pieces.This plan contain the rib that you was talking about and dont find.Probably (I don't speak english properly) I've understood that, and if You want I can send you by e-mail the pattern of it.
I have had to reduce the main rib(28 cm) at 68% to get the last rib (the smaller one- 19cm) and build the wing in ¿polyestirene? ¿polyspan? (I don't know exactly the name in English for that) cover whith balsa 1 mm or 1,5mm, because is easier and quick to build and very hard make it whith all the ribs .

Best regards

< Message edited by Gavioto -- 6/16/2005 4:10:22 PM >

(in reply to kdheath)
       Post #: 88

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 6/15/2005 3:44:09 AM   
HighPlains


 

Posts: 2664
Joined: 3/2/2003
From: Over da rainbow, KS, USA
Status: offline
quote:

Say, did you see where Ed Kazmirski's Omen II was powered by a .60? And you guys are talking about putting a gasser on a large Taurus? Wow! Should climb straight up.


The Omen II was not a Kazmirski design, plans are available from RCM.

_____________________________

In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman - Margaret Thatcher

(in reply to Eddie Warren)
       Post #: 89

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 6/17/2005 5:05:29 PM   
kingaltair


 

Posts: 430
Joined: 5/25/2005
From: Asheville, NC, USA
Status: offline 		I have a picture of a SWEPT WING Taurus taken back in 1966 or 67. It was flown by a Howard Thombs, I don't know if he is from the Chicago area. An absolutely beautiful plane, that flew beautifully. I'll try to post my picture if I can get properly logged into RCU from home.

(in reply to astropuppy)
       Post #: 90

RE: Top Flite Taurus - 6/17/2005 7:14:18 PM   
Mike Denest



Posts: 725
Joined: 5/21