Hi All, I just received my Baby Banshee. Thanks to Don for bringing these kits to us. My emphasis is flying these on a lightweight electric system designed to pull the plane smoothly through all the old and new patterns with grace and style. I am flying Bob Aberle's Park Pattern Flyer at an all up weight of onlly 12 oz using a Thundrpower 850 mah pack which weighs a little over 2 oz. To me the success and enjoyment of these little planes is being able to do this at such a reduced weight. It also is way fun to actually build something and enjoy the modeling like I used too.
I will have to say the little Park Pattern plane still will not always do the FAI inverted 2 1/4 reverse spins like I want but that could have something to do with my turning 70 today. Also it was only 10 here yesterday. Tough on the brain for flying.
Now landing gear. Fancy Foam Models has just come out with a 1/2 oz carbon blade set up which is sandwiched between two 1/4 light-ply pieces which will sit right in front of the bulkhead at the wing leading edge. Also the pre-cut pieces are the same width as the Banshee fuse. The gear is called Mono-plane landing gear kit. These are going on all of my baby pattern planes because you can adapt it to the fuse so easily and not add any structure to the wing which means more weight.
Another weight saving idea is to use Coveright "Microlite" film.