Bill;

I was just taking another look at your paint scheme and "where the lines fall", and it looks prett darn good to me. My black stripe on the bottom isn't all that different from yours. I think the stripe should end past the stab, so it basically isn't all that visible anyway.

SIMLA UPDATE:

I just returned from Greensboro, NC attending a VR/CS "Glory Days" event Friday night and Saturday. I took the original Simla prototype, which hasn't even been flown since last year. Because it was my "article project plane", and original prototype, and since it was painted and I have no paint left for repairs etc etc, I was a little nervous flying it at my skill level. Simla has only about 10 flights total on it, and had mostly been flown by Kevin Clark and the editor of Model Aviation. I didn't need to be concerned. I got in 4 nice flights there in Greensboro, and now feel much more comfortable with it.

A few additional flight observations: Sealing the ailerons is a MUST..it made a huge difference in roll rate and responsiveness. The OS .91 FX was very adequate as a powerplant; it "perked along" at a good clip and had good vertical performance with that engine. I still haven't tried Simla with the original .60 in the nose, but I believe that a "hot" .60 will fly it adequately but with limited vertical performance. I can imagine that those of you flying with a 120 will have a super-performer on your hands with unlimited vertical [X(]...yet it slows down to a "walk" and is very forgiving and predictable. "Flies like a Taurus anly better..." is something I've heard more than once. At 102" wingspan, it's such a huge plane that it was a real attention-getter...lots of comments during the meet about how beautiful and graceful it looked, (even when I flew it).

In the hands of a good pilot the Simla really shines and is literally a JOY to watch perform. An expert, was doing Rolling Circles with it. With full rudder, Simla would not quite hold Knife Edge...we either need a little more rudder throw, or mor speed, (which that 120 would certainly provide).

Because it has such a high-aspect wing ratio, (long wing), it behaves a lot like a glider, (just as UStik predicted it would back in the Ed Kazmirski's Taurus threadway to go Burkhard). There was an incident that proved that point...a dead-stick landing, and a long approach. The expert pilot happened to be flying it at the time, and told us he thought it would land short of the 50X50 foot hard surface landing pad that everyone wanted to touch down on, but he kept slowly raising the nose to extend the glide, and in the end, Simla was still a few inches above the deck as it passed the pad edge, and landed in a beautiful nose-high touch-down on the mains amid applause from onlookers. It was very slow and graceful as it touched down like an airliner on full flaps, (there are no flaps on Simla...doesn't need them). Those of you who have purchased a kit and are building the plane....YOU WILL LOVE IT, and be the "envy of the flight line".

I've included a few pictures from the event. (BTW...Cees might be interested to learn that it won the VR/CS "Concours Award" for the plane closest to the original). [8D]

Let's get some reports and photos!! Do we have two more in the air now besides the prototypes?

Duane