for a look at one of the "SPAD marvels"... I'd have to get my stupid digital camera to work
You can come up with a light SPAD airplane.... you just have to know how. (and its not hard)
The US AirCores trainer is a mass of errors in use of Coroplast. At least 40% of the airframe weight can be deleted.
The SPAD Debonair is one of the worst examples of overweight in the SPAD plans list at
www.spadtothebone.com The PVC tube fuselage is very heavy. (especially if you use the US tube instead of the Canadian which has appx 1/2 the wall thickness) The double-spar is totally un-necessary. The 4MM wing skins are 40% dead useless weight. (you do need more than just a single yardstick spar if doing a 2 mm wingskin at that span...)
2 MM coroplast is better for wing skins than 4 MM for .40 size and smaller. A bent fusealage from 4 mm Coro will stand up to a .46 with minimal reinforcement at the front end. (mainly to keep the screws holding the firewall in from pulling through the coro)
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Now go look through the plans for the CoroStang. That plane with VERY minor mods becomes a nice lightweight high speed (but able to slow down nicely) stand-off scale Mustang. It will easilly fly with a .15, and can get going very fast on that little power. With a .25... its greased lightning in the air. 2 mm wing skins... 4 mm coro formed fuselage... no PVC. (and use the yardstick spar... its much lighter than the aluminum and is more than adequate)
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I am NOT selling pre-cut Corostang kits with my mods any more... However I did modify a few, and found you could streamline the nose with ease... and taper the spar... and make the wing fully symetrical. Add the rudder channel and landing gear. With a .25.. that plane will do the full Intermediate Pattern. Knife-edge forever. (I have a lot of trouble with Knife-edge... that plane made it EASY!) Unlimited vertical. Flys like its on rails.
I modified one for speed... The tailplanes will flutter off if not modified with 1/2 dowel leading edges. Wish I had a radar gun... I think it was doing about 115.
http://home.hot.rr.com/fhh/corostangkits.html