ORIGINAL: doxilia
Well,
my vote goes to the Compensator if for no other reason that we haven't seen one built on the forum as far as I know. My next vote would go to the Atlas, also because few recent builds of this model have been seen or discussed on the forum. These criteria evidently have little to do with ''advantages for SPA''...
As far as ease of building and overall flying qualities, while perhaps not the coolest of the set (no anhedrals or side mounted engines), I'd build a Deception any day. I also like the ''mid-draft'' position of the wing on this design. Engine maintenance and installation in a Deception is also very straight forward, especially with a 2 stroke OS 61 SF (I'm assuming it's an SF since you mention it's an ABC engine but perhaps it predates the SF?).
Unfortunately none of these models look good as tail draggers so although being flown in SPA, I'd build them with trike gear. In my humble opinion, the design that would look the best with legs extended is the Atlas .
David.
David,
Thank you for your input. The first plane on this list that I was going to build was the Deception, have printed plans and discussed getting the cores and glass canopy from Scott. When the Compensator was given to me I just though, what the heck, I'll build this. It looks good too. Now, as time is so precious, I really need to choose the best plane for the contest. I like to win!
Yep, it is an SF and pumped. It has not been run, and I have no experience with these pumped. I hope to put the tank on the cg, but will get the engine running on a stand before I commit to that.
Fortunately, although I love taildraggers, I believe a classic pattern plane should be true to the original and think the trike gear looks better on them. (Aeromaster is at least one obvious exception
)