ORIGINAL: Tripower455

Back about 20 years ago, I built Parkinson's F-18. The construction is nearly identical to the Regal Eagle. It was a very easy build, but there is a lot of sanding around the nose. Like an old Bridi pattern plane, you build a box and sand off whatever doesn't look like an airplane. It's not a very scale looking airplane compared to a YA or similar, but definitely looks like what it's supposed to be.

It flew well, but mine was heavy (glassed, painted, retracts etc.) and underpowered with a Rossi .60 RE. The Byron fan it was designed around is very low tech and inefficient. I always wanted a KBV .82 for mine, but could never afford it. If I were gonna do one again, I'd watch the weight, and use a more efficient fan setup or a larger engine. Mine would do looooooong takeoff rolls, and the only way to do a loop was with a long dive first. About 3 clicks off wide open and it was coming down. I had inflight mixture on it, and that was critical for sustained flight as well. If you loaded it up in a turn it would do the dreaded snap to the opposite side of the turn, but was easily recoverable given enough altitude. It tracked well and stalled straight. All of the issues I had with mine would've been rectified with less weight and/or more power!

It was fun, but I ended up giving it away.