RE: Midwest Giles 202...need input
I have built the Midwest 80" Extra and the Giles. I have the 80" Cap 232 sittin around here in a box somewhere.
If I ever build the Cap--the fuselage will be competely redesigned.
The problem with these kits is that they are heavy. Built like a Russian outhouse. They are supposed to fly nice, but just too heavy. It's all the lite-ply in the fuselage. The whole thing is solid lite-ply.
I want to redesign the fuselage on the Cap and make it about 1/2 balsa. You don't need that lite ply on the top of the fuse. It all gets covered up with sheeting on the hatch and turtledeck. You could easily build balsa formers instead and drop a ton of weight.
Same thing on the bottom of the fuse. All that lite ply behind the wing saddle. It gets covered up with formers and stringers to form the belly. No reason to have all that ply in there.
I want to keep the fuselage sides so that I have the wing saddle. And of course, keep the motor box and firewall in the front end. But the rest of it can be built from balsa sticks.
The wings are pretty hard to lighten up--unless you want to spend $60 on contest balsa for a weight loss of about 8oz.
Putting a glass cowl on it will lighten it up a lot, and CF gear could save you a few ounces.
The Giles is just not big enough for me to screw with anymore.
I will lighten my Cap if I ever build it. Thats big enough for a gas engine.