ORIGINAL: k_sonn
Has anyone built and/or flown the Taylor 64'' Hellcat? What retracts did you use? Will the Robart 615s work? Did you add flaps? How was the fiberglass fuse? Did it need much prep work? What engine did you use? How much did it weigh? How much scale detail did you put into it? Is the outline scale or semi-scale? Where did you get the scale documentation (three views)? How did it fly? How was the slow speed handling? How was it on the landing approach? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Hi Kirk,
Glad to see you are back on this one. Or are you starting all over again? I have not built the Taylor Hellcat but good friend and Masters/Top Gun competitor Bob Frey built one a few years back and used the glass fuse. Bob's was about 14 pounds (yikes!) and, as I recall, was powered by an Enya 1.20 four stroker. Unfortunately some sort of aileron failure cost Bob the airplane before he got too many flights on it but he was very complimentary of the way it handled. The only negative thing I heard him say was that it was a bit elevator sensitive. Bob is no beginner so I must assume he had the CG in the right place but maybe moving it forward a bit more would have helped. As it was meant to be a competition airplane Bob's bird had all the bells and whistles including flaps and retracts. (I think Century Jet) I acquired a set of Taylor's plans shortly after I finished designing my own 1/8 scale Hellcat and from what I can tell Taylor's is as close to exact scale as you are likely to get. Certainly better than my own efforts which were never intended to be anything but sport scale. I am using the Robart 615s in my Hellcat, and also had them in my TF P-40, and they worked fine for me. I'm sure they would go in the Taylor airplane but I don't know how much re-engineering would have to be done. Both my Hellcat and P-40 were less than 10.5 pounds though and I would not use the Robart gear on anything much heavier than that or if you plan to fly off of anything other than smooth surfaces. I know that does not address most of your questions but maybe is of some interest. A relatively bad picture of Bob's Hellcat is on the Klass Kote web site and I've re-posted it below.
