Jim,
ORIGINAL: TexasSkyPilot
I found a few sources for the Hostetler kits, and I think they're all associated with each other. The model looks like it's going to be pretty heavy for the size, though I'm sure it'll fly okay.
It's about 5" more wingspan than my GP Super Stearman, and I think the extra weight is due to old-style stick building design versus the weight savings of today's lite-ply engineering we now see so much. My Super Stearman (at 15 pounds and 1440 sq inches) should be highly-powered with the 30CC engine it has, whereas the Hostetler model at estimated weight of 24 pounds and 1660 sq inches would be an underpowered dog. They recommend 50CC minumum.
I don't have all the info yet, so I'll keep researching it.
I have the Hostetler Skybolt plans and a kit by Precision Cut Kits. Glass engine cowl and wheel pants by Fiberglass Specialties, aluminum main landing gear from Abell Hobby. The kit is a little more than three years old now, and was cut by CNC router before PCK swithed-over to laser.I have a Zenoah G-62 (62CC) with a Toni Clark electronic ignition conversion.
The Hostetler 'Bolt plans are a 1/4-scale (76.5") enlargment of Sig's 1/6-scale 'Bolt plans, with slight building differences here and there. Sig modeled thier 'Bolt after Steen's debute 1970 edition, therfore the same for the Hostetler. I have the Sig 1/6-scale kit as well and have made the comparisons bewteen it and the Hostetler plans. Being larger, and being Hostetler, Wendell added some areas of support not needed in the Sig. One area I'm not too wild about is that Hostetler followed Sig in using solid balsa sheet tail surfaces. The vert. stab/rudder - hori. stab/elevators are 3/8" balsa. I'd be far more comfortable with open-structures using laminated outside edges. Far-stronger and far-less susceptible to warping like sheet balsa. Needless to say that as the builder, modifications can be made to suit.
Last summer, I came across a guy selling a set of Dario Brisighella's 1/4-scale 'Bolt (78"). Brisighella's presentation is truly scale. The main landing gear is a built-up wire structure emulating the full-size 'Bolt instead of "strap" aluminum gear. The tail surfaces are built-up, open-structures utilizing laminated outside edges. The plans themselves are a work of art, and I'm very lucky to have come across them.
Between the two, I'm really conflicted because I have the kit and all the major components for the Hostetler, but I really like the Brisighella better...