ORIGINAL: somiss1
I had many a fun filled afternoon with my Falcon 56 with a ST .23 that really screamed with it's open faced muffler. I learned alot of aerobatics on that airplane. It's funny that we have progressed light years in equipment and airplanes and I seem not to have as much fun as I did with that Falcon 56. The kits today are far superior to the kits back then plus we had to silk and dope them. Never did fly a Senior Falcon but I did build some for other folks and there were some that had wing brace issues. If the builder was not heavy handed on the epoxy for that joint then failure could result.
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Lots of folks flew the Sr. Falcon with a .60 size engine. It wasn't designed for more than a plain bearing .45. Fortunately for me, building this particular model was my first experience using the then new epoxy glue. I bought my epoxy at the hardware store in town. It was gray, of all colors.
I flew my Senior Falcon a couple of times in stock condition, then I cut two wing panels off of each wing and replaced the stock ailerons with large aileron stock. When I took it back to the field, no one would test fly it because of the mods. So I did. No problem. Looking back on it, it flew a lot like the original RCM Trainer 60. It was nice and aerobatic, but it would slow down nicely for easy landings.
My wife built a Falcon 56 after building and flying a Skylark 56 with ailerons and an OS Max .35S R/C for a couple of years. Her Falcon 56 was equipped with a Fox .25 R/C (plain bearing) and a then new World Engines Blue Max 6 channel rig ($200 new). We never could get it to ROG because of the thick grass at the field. She chose to fly it 3-channel (REM) and had a ball with it.
The G20/23 Tigre was a high priced engine in those days, IIRC, when compared to the plain bearing Fox. The little Fox screamed its brains out, in typical Fox fashion and never gave a hint of a problem. I "think" she used a 9x4 MAS on that engine, but not positive.