TS,
thanks for your PM reply. I PM'd you back. Please follow up by email if you don't mind.
Originally Posted by
ThermalSniffer
Nicely done David and thanks for that in depth review.
I hope it's of some use.
Originally Posted by ThermalSniffer
I wondered what happened to those kits as I was planning to buy one of them. There were 3 and they had languished unnoticed until I mentioned them here and then they disappeared before I got my chance to buy.
Luckily I've since found the original manufacturers website. It seems it is very much a cottage industry product which is manufactured on order.
Good to know! I take it you were able to source a kit then?
Originally Posted by ThermalSniffer
I have a CNC router and have cut a few kits for myself with it. It is deadly accurate but if you get the router bit, speed through the wood or depth of pass wrong it can leave ragged edges on the parts. I don't think it's the tool best suited for wooden kits, I bought it with the modern milled foam core molded wing in mind as is prevalent in soaring circles right now.
Nice. I know that it is possible to produce nice parts with CNC routers. I just felt that this kit was a little "coarse". Then again, I'm used to the accuracy of laser.
Originally Posted by ThermalSniffer
... I am looking for a small pattern flyer to follow on from it. Perhaps you could suggest something that would have been available to me in the late 80's early 90's as far as a 20-25 size mini pattern model goes. I have identified that there were a couple of Supra Fly's in the photos so I'm thinking of building a Supra Fly 25 but am loathe to scratch build one if I can't get a canopy and cowl for it.
We might be on our way to solving this. The OK Model (Pilot) kits are very easy and straight forward to build and given Hanno's simpler later designs they are ideally suited to each other. The one thing that I will change in the CAD re-design is the "weight" of the fuses. The wings and empennage are standard and fine in weight but the fuses are built like tanks with too much birch plywood. If one were to use glow 25-35 size engines most all ply can be swapped for lite ply (half the weight) and if they are going to be e-powered, much of the 1/8" lite ply (doublers in particular) can be substituted for 1/8" balsa. I expect to cut weight down by 0.5 - 0.75 lbs all up and be able to carry a couple more ounces (7-8) of fuel if needed in the larger models (e.g., Mystic) if using a 35 or even a light 40 size engine. The mid-wing designs (Mystic) will likely use plug-in wings while the low wing (Curare, Calypso, SF, SS, etc.) will be standard one piece wings. All models will be designed with e-tracts in mind whether conventional (Calypso forward) or trike (Magic backward).
David