Jullian:

Sorry, blame it on Yahoo. Anyway, the YJ #1 was a home brew thing made from some suff laying around in the shop and attic. Viper wing, cut down to 40". Fuse, from stock laying around using general Q-500 fuse moments, reshape of tailfeathers and nose for streemlinning and larger tank etc. Started playing with general design in the late 60 after blowing a jugg on my Cessna 182 and bro loaned me his Cessna 206 with retracts. The change in flight characteristics when the gear went up was so good, I became obsessed with retracting a model. Only problem, no model retracts made at the time. After seeing a movie (Carbine Williams) who made the army carbine rifle while in prision with a file, figured I could make retracts having a files, bench vise and hack saw. Got a prototype working in 6-8 months, buddy Joe Wolfshaw, general manager of a aerospace firm (Systron-Donner) took pitty and had his machine shop make things pretty from basic design. Only remaining problem, 60 pattern kits available at the time just did not have room in the fuse or wing for my mechanical retracts. So, began a home designof home made pattern ships enlarged in the nose tank area in depth. Made foam cutter from railroad transfoemer and cut needed wing. After flying about design 8, came up with good flyer and trike retracts operated from one Pro-Line standard servo. No high torque servos made at that time. Best flyer ever had, won several contests with the thing, think the Judges just liked to see the gear go up and down, a real novelity at the time. Lesson, almost anyone can design a airplane following established general principals (design). Modify to meet your needs, steal from the best and make better. YJ-1 flew well on first try, should as was generally a jazed up Q-500 viper. As the airplane and I aged, the gang started to catch up to a point we were not winning over 50%. So, time to jump ahead again. YJ II is again roughly based on a Q-500 moments, viper wing 45" and a little more engine, Jett 60LX, all up weighs 3.5 lbs. Went with the high wing design just to shake things up a little. The Jett 60LX is proving to be more engine than needed, but thats what the left side stick is for. YJ-1 was/is a lucky survivor of mid-airs and goofed landings. YJ- II survived first trials from a new intermittent switch, starting I hope a long lucky life. It is yet to fly its first race, so overall end results remain unknown. It does grove, and I think will keep up, or outrun the better Q-500 which are not legal in the club raceing class the YJ II was designed for. Yes, a little overkill, but we need a little advantage at 72. What does Dave say, "Old age and tretchery will overcome youth"? With a little more luck, a pic or YJ 1 in its youth will pop up. How's that for a long winded answer to a simple question?