Originally Posted by brokenenglish

Ray,
Concerning your Catalina comments, I can add a bit of my own experience.
You probably know the Aeromodeller CL Catalina plan, 62" span for 2 x 2.5cc.
This is an absolutely superb design and plane that I would recommend to anyone.
In 1963, I was in Aden for two years (horrible), BUT we had the most fabulous model aircraft club, the guys virtually lived in there.
About 5 miles from the base, there were "salt pans". This is small lake, about twice the size of a football pitch, with a perfectly smooth and level sandy bottom, and a constant depth of about one foot, over the entire area.
I decided that this would be absolutely ideal for water plane flying, so I built the Catalina, as a pure flying boat (no u/c).
It did fly, absolutely great, once you get it into the air, but unsticking is a big problem.
Think about it... On a scale CL plane, you must have the CG well forward (no problem), BUT, in the case of a flying boat, the fuselage is the floating hull, and this means that you're stuck with a very nose-down attitude when sitting on the water. It's a helluva job to get the nose to rise on the take-off run. At least a lap with two powerful 2.5s running full bore, and full up elevator! Anyway, eventually it unsticks, but the power required for take-off is such that the flying speed is unbelievable (no u/c drag). What a memory!!!