yee-ha

Hey everybody, please meet my latest design the High Octane. Recently I have been flying smaller and smaller airplanes, and starting to get a kick out of their simplicity. I had a .25 sized stick, and a Great Planes Electrostreak with a Magnum .15 on the nose. It is amazing to me how with as many planes that are on the market, there are still times when you cannot find what you really want. The .25 stick thing was too slow, it was a high wing, and had too much dihedral. It would not fly upside down well at all. The electrostreak was fun, fast, but not fast enough! So I had to seek out a new plane somewhere between the two. No luck. The closest thing I could find to what I wanted was the Sig Kobra, or maybe a northeast Rapt-air. There is also a plan called the Coyote and the Fox that I considered. But for the cost of the plans, I could buy all the wood for my own...So I choose to just design my own airplane. I drew the plan up on the cad system, and printed a full size plan. It was designed to be a really simple build. There are no pushrods, and the fuse is a simple box. The canopy is something that came from a estate sale, and so I don't know what it is or how to get another one. The engine is a OS .25. It has a GWS mini receiver, and a mixture of Hitec and Futaba mini and micro servos. There is no landing gear. All that is left to do is some trim work to add some color, install the ailerons, and hook up the servo linkages. It should be a pretty hot little number and I am expecting unlimited vertical. What do you guys think so far? It is kind of fun to see something different and it is really satisfying to build your own design. However, there is no guarantees that it will actually fly! The chrome monocote was sure a pain in the butt. It shows every flaw, and every fingerprint. I am going to put some high contrast black stripes on the bottom of the wing for orientation purposes. Here are the specs:

Wing Span: 40"
Wing Area: 306 sq'in.
Ready to fly Weight: 2 Ibs 8 oz.
Wing loading: 18oz/sqft
Engine: .15-.25

hogflyer

yee-ha,

Looks nice, hope it flies good for ya. When's the maiden?

The canopy looks like a Wing Mfg. sport and pattern canopy which is still available from them (http://www.wingmfg.com/), item# CCA-21. Is yours about 19-1/2" long? If so, that's the one with a current price of $8.99.

Hogflyer

yee-ha

Hogflyer! Thanks sooooo much for the canopy info! That is exactly what it is. I wanted to offer the plan with info on the canopy...Sweet! The maiden should be sometime this week. I am slightly nervous... ok maybe more than slightly. [] I started doing the trim... Transparent red over the chrome. Looks sweet!

yee-ha

Alright everybody. The work is progressing. I should have the plane finished tonight. All that is left is covering and installing the ailerons... What do ya think of her? I will try to get some really good pictures before the first flight, which will be the first good day we get.

Paladin049

Looking forward to the maiden info, Yee-Ha. Tail looks like a Mooney!

Hydro Junkie

I was thinking the same thing. I was thinking it looked like a cross of a Mooney and a Patriot or something along those lines

yee-ha

Thanks guys. The tail is in fact patterned after the Mooney. I am a little bit of a fan of the Mooney Mite. It was a single seat!

Maiden:
Can we forget about the first flight, ignore the holes in the covering and pretend the second flight was the first?.....

Ok I didn't think you would let me....

The first flight was a nightmare... This is the second plane that I have built from scratch and both times I have missjudged the initial weight and balance. So it was tail heavy which is not what you want for a maiden voyage. It is a awesome day here is SE Minnesota with no wind and clear skys. I gave the plane a healthy toss with the OS .25 running well. Somehow my hand bumped something on the release, and it was less than a good level toss. The plane was all over the place and crashed into the bean field. No major damage. Bunch of holes in the covering and a small crack in the fuse. The pilot came loose inside the canopy and now he bounces all over the place.

Down to the hobby room. Cut out the holes... few patches and some CA for the crack... Move the battery as far foward as possible... Add a 1/2oz of led to the nose... Tame down the aileron and the elevator control throws. Can hardly tell it happened.

2nd Flight:
Changed the way I was holding the plane for the toss. This time nice and easy, and away we go... It flies!!!!!

The plane is wicked fast! The control throws are way too much! The roll rate is very fast even on low rate... I trimed the plane for straight and level then just tried to feel it out. It is clear that the plane is....Gulp....Dare I say....Over powered.... I have never said that about a plane ever. I designed this plane for a .15 but decieded on the .25 because you can never have too much power. Still, I idled the engine back, and flew it slow to feel it out before landing. I flies around slowly very nice. I set up my landing approach after doing a loop or two, and some rolls on low and high rates. The aileron high rate is wicked. I mean wicked fast. I might leave it that way just for shock factor. The first landing was a bit fast so I decied to go around. No problem. The engine runs great... Just a gentle climb up and around the obsticles back into the pattern. The next one was perfect altitude and speed and I landed right on the mark. Big sigh of relief! It is hard to fly a plane that you spent that much time on!

Things that need changed are the control throws...
There is too much rudder, and aileron. The elevator seems ok.

Protype #2 is going to get bigger servos in the tail for the elevator and rudder. Not because it demonstrated anything nasty while flying, but because the small ones make me a little nervous. They are Hi-Tech Econo Feather servos, and they don't look tough enough. I ordered them from Tower and when they came I was surprised at how puny they were. I pictured them to be the size of my other mini servos.... Still I am guessing that flat out and in a shallow dive this plane will do...70-100 mph? I would hate to loose the plane because the servos stripped.

A success! However this plane will not be for the inexperenced, or the meek and mild types. It is a real rocket with the .25. It climbs straight up like I expected, and rolls like there is no tommorow. The slow speed is nice and it builds pretty fast because it is a very simple design. Is there anyone intrested in a plane like this? I would like to find a laser cutter and make a small run of these...

Take care.

yee-ha

More Pictures.

yee-ha

Ok. Just calmed down enough to fly once more. The plane handles really nice. It is a great flyer with the CG in right location! It is also much easier to fly when you are calmed down. Fast but not too fast. Awesome roll rate. The color scheme is gorgeous in flight! A pain to see, but gorgeous none the less. I am off to get my very first Warbird ride! A guy is taking me around the patch in his new Vultee Vibrator. Wish me luck!