In the late 80s one of my fellow RC club members built and flew a FK SBA Speeda in pattern competition. He offered to let me fly it a few times and I really liked its flying characteristics. It was powered by an OS 61SF LS pumper with a 12X10W APC prop and pipe and had Spring Air retracts. It was super fast and so graceful, with incredibly large loops and it could do a slow roll from horizon to horizon. I loved the design but try as I may I could not get a kit from the US distributor, Mutchler’s hobbies located in Corydon, Indiana. I had one on back order for many months and finally in mid 1992 gave up and ordered a Great Planes Tiporare. You can see my Tiporare build thread at
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_2827386/tm.htm
I love my Tiporare but the awesome beauty and flight of the SBA Speeda kept pulling me back and after some research here on RCU I discovered that the SBA was actually a fiberglass knock off of the MK Blue Angel kit. MK no longer makes the Blue Angel but one of the RCU forum members generously agreed to send me a set of plans so I can scratch build one. The plans are on their way and I’ll be documenting the build on this thread.
I haven’t seen the plans yet but I understand the FK kit design is pretty complicated so depending how detailed they are I plan on paying for the setup cost to have a foam wing cores custom cut and build the fuse from the typical balsa and plywood. The foam wing should simplify the construction and be lighter than the built up wing used in the kit. I’ll build the fuselage light and glass the outside for strength. MonoKote will be used for the wing and horizontal stab and MonoKote paint for the fuselage.
I’ll be using one of my OS 61SF LS pumpers for power with a 12X10W APC prop and of course the requisite tuned pipe slung under the wing. Tri-gear Spring Air retracts will be used for the undercarriage to keep the tail up where it belongs on one of the great classics from the rocket ship era.
The image on the left is the MK Blue Angel and the one on the right is the FK SBA Speeda on a page from a 90s vintage Mutchler’s hobbies sales brochure. T.Yoshioka won the 1973 world championship in 1973 flying the Blue Angel.
This will be my fourth build thread (Blog) on RCU. You can see my Kwik Fli III taper wing build at
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_2434444/tm.htm and my Cold Duck build at
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3092876/tm.htm
To be continued…