Blake,

you're on to something now...

First, the Tipo is one fine aircraft - both in terms of looks and on the wing. I think of it as being the female version of the Curare - voluptuous yet slender with curves in all the right places.

The lack of a clear canopy and the tuck lines along the fuse make for a nice and sleek model. In the original model builder article, Hanson designed the wing tips to be assymetric along the chord. The article was published in February of 1980 as you know from the article. Later, when GP kitted the glass/foam version in 1982, they changed the design of the wing tips slightly and, if I'm not mistaken, also changed the planform of the wing and stab ever so slightly. I personally prefer the plans shown planform and wing tip concept and would go slightly further to produce straight TE wing tips with sections that extend the ailerons. In the GP kit, the tips are round at the LE and the TE which makes for a trickier and less robust TE. But I'm getting into minutia without addressing your question, so...

Second, the issue you brought up has been brought to light before. The main thing here is that SPA condones design changes made today by builders and pilots within certain margins. The fact that Hanson did the same exact thing back in 1980 with Hanno's Curare apparently doesn't fly with them. The Tipo is considered to be an original design from back in the day even if it really was a departure from the Curare. In short, the SPA apparently has said NO due to cut off dates.

It's a shame in some respects because the Tipo is really and all American re-design championed by Dave Brown, Tony Frakowiack and others back in the day. Since the SPA is also an all American association, it would be fitting to allow the Tipo to fly. But dates are dates and they have turned it down.

There are other models which apparently do abide by the cutoff date but they have also been disallowed...

The good news is the Atlas (glass/foam) or the Compensator (built up) make very nice alternate candidates! And then, of course, there is always the Deception - an easy model to build with interesting planform for the day. Longer and squarer than most.

David.