Dave,

thanks for your PM. I just dropped you a reply with some info and my email address.

James,

thanks for your kind reference. I thought I might add a little to what I told Dave in my PM...

For some time I've been interested in the smaller 25/32 size classics as well as the 40/50 size slightly smaller birds than the 60's which I like to think of as "classics on a budget" as they allow us to burn a little less fuel or save on one or two lipo cells.

Anyhow, I told Dave that I will be bringing two other 70's/80's designs to the table this year and both of them are practical models to build as electrics. In fact, when I redesigned them, I expressly considered their viability as both glow and electric powered models. Some of the Bridi classics I've done so far like the UFO 25 and the Dirty Birdy 40 as well as the Mach-1 40 (not a Bridi design) can be converted to electric power but to be honest, are better suited to glow power by design. Last year we embarked on a multinational multi-participant project to re-design Kato's (of MK fame) Super Chipmunk 120 which is a very nice 72" span semi-scale classic with F3A moments. The model was designed for 120 4-strokes and we started from the ground up with electric power in mind. It was rather involved and complex to bring it all together but with the excellent team involved, it came full circle and we produced some 15 of these kits which are now in the hands of various folks. I'm not sure how many have or are being built but when they do see the light, they should be very nice. But I digress.

If you are interested in building a 25 size Tipo per my reduced plans project, one of the kits I'll be bringing to the table will be exactly that. Foam core wing and stab and a laser cut interlocking fuse with a simplified vertical alignment and an optional removable canopy for either tank or lipo access. As an electric it would do very nicely on any of the EF1 motors on a 9x6 and 4 lipo cells. I actually have a 1200 Kv OS EF1 motor en route to me to see how well it will fit and work in the prototype. In short, the design is ready to go and just needs to wait for its rightful place in the production queue.

Incidentally, I built a smaller yet electric Tipo (40" span) per original plans and although I was happy with how it turned out, I also saw, in the process, how it's design could be made more contemporary, lighter and easier to build. The vertical requires a little care when building especially with the smaller scales (although they are all built the same way) but I didn't want to sacrifice the airfoiled blended design of it in favor of a simpler sheet fin as I find this aspect of the design integral to the classic Tipo lines. Likewise on the airfoiled stab. The frame up of the fuse and vertical are easier with the new design and the flying surfaces are to be covered with 1/32" skins as I did on the little 40" Picorare. While the Pico was gearless, the Nano (T25) is conceived for e-tracts which are perfect for e-power as well. Naturally, going with fixed gear is an easy option too.

The other model will be a slight variation on Don Coleman's Cutlass. Really, it just has a slightly different vertical more along the lines of Kristensen's Saturn which he designed with the Cutlass (among others) in mind. This will be a nice model to build as an electric too as it will have a large upper front removable deck which will provide access to both the battery and the radio compartment. The jet-like over sized front intake is also ideally suited to e-power from a cooling standpoint - no need for slotted spinners or other fuse mods for motor, ESC and lipo cooling. The same internal design elements will be practical and convenient to use whether one uses electric power or glow power with a 50/55 size engine up front. I'm expecting an all up dry weight of about 6.0 - 6.5 lbs for this one although the original size has been preserved.

So with that, I'll sign off.

David