ORIGINAL: dbacque
Seems like the plans did say something briefly about retracts. Like maybe, install retracts if you want to. I'd imagine they'd fit in the wing just fine.
Thanks for the nice comments. Oh man, do I love this plane! Even after a year of flying it, I enjoy it more every trip to the field.
Dave
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I'm glad that you are happy with your new Dirty Birdy.
I noticed that even the Dirty Birdy 40 shared many of the fine flying qualities of the 60 sized model. While the Super Kaos 40 flies very well, to me it does not fly similarly to the 60 sized version.
I'm a firm believer in foam wing cores when using retractable landing gear. It is so much easier to construct and it is much more robust, as far as I'm concerned. Of course, I'm basing this on seeing others models with built-up wings and retracts with broken ribs sticking up through the covering. It could have been that no wing type could have withstood such a landing, but the foam always seemed so much easier to build and maintain. Yes, I have built and flown foam winged versions.
I have a Blue Jay Bridi kit of the DB 60. But I'm thinking about buying foam cores and installing conventional retracts. You can always leave them down for SPA flying. SPA doesn't outlaw retracts, they just insist that you leave them extended while flying in their competitions. Sounds reasonable to me.
Ed Cregger