Originally Posted by
Mike Gretz
The differences between the KOUGAR and the KOUGAR MkII were not noticable in the label picture, thus it wasn't changed. One of two improvements was the center section of the wing. The original KOUGAR did not have a stationary piece attached to the wing between the two inboard ends of the ailerons. It was left open. The other main difference was going to an injection molded ABS cowling, instead of a vac-u-formed ABS cowling. The KOUGAR was selling well enough at that time to justify the large expense of making an injection mold for the cowling. That same cowling is used on the KING KOBRA.
Mike
Great information! The SIG Komet that I'm in the process of building must be one of those older SIG kits, which I estimated is between 40 and 45 years old. One of the things you mentioned was "the stationary piece attached to the wing between the two inboard ends of the ailerons". The Komet does not have this stationary piece, I have incorporated that specific design into the current Komet build that I'm working on. I didn't like they way the plans showed a gap in that area and felt the stationary piece is not only an appearance enhancement but also an structural integrity enhancement as well. Another enhancement to this Komet that I incorporated into this bird from the Kougar builds is the two dowels that hold the front of the wing into place to the fuselage. The Komet plans call for only one dowel. The Kougar has two so I went with building two dowel system into the Komet. This would be strictly a structural integrity enhancement, as the dowels are not visible when the wing has been attached to the fuselage. I also added a little more balsa materials to the fuselage where the horizontal stabilizer mounts to the tail section. Also added to the Komet is solid bulkheads, four of them in total between the tail section and the trailing edge of the wing. There is now absolutely no flex in the entire fuselage at all. I'm installing a much more powerful and modern power plant into this plane than what it was originally designed for, so I knew I had to accommodate such changes in the form of strengthening up the fuselage a bit.
I've not built a Kobra or King Kobra before so these are two birds I may build in the future.