So what on earth is a
Nanorare @!? Is it a rare heavy metal or maybe Michael Crichton's latest novel? You don't think so...? Well, if that's the case, read on!
It would be fair to say that the
Nanorare (and its siblings) has been my brain child for quite some time. As a teenager I lusted after the sleek and beautiful pattern aircraft I couldn't afford that were being flown at my field. To satisfy my desire to build something different, I would tear letter sized plans out of RCM magazines, re-draw them by hand at a scale I could afford pocket and school time wise, alter them, build them and then usually throw them in the air and see what would happen. Some models would spiral upwards to the heavens never to be seen again (alas, some also spiraled in the opposite direction
but I should mention that my first control system was provided by a Cox/Sanwa 2 channel proportional radio
) and others just plainly bored a cylindrical curving tunnel through the skies that made my blood thicken! That was my idea of what a 60 sized pattern model would be like through and through and Dick Hanson's
Tiporare embodied this mirage completely.
With that little prelude out of the way, the Nanorare is a scaled down version of Hanson's Tiporare - 74% scale to be more precise. It has a 48" wing span, 41.5" overall fuse length and is intended to be powered by a .25 to .32 glow engine or electric equivalent (500-600W). Some of you who may read this thread will probably be familiar with another plans thread where I provided scaled versions of Dick's Tiporare in 10, 20, 40, 60 (the original) and 120 sizes - the recent early manifestations of my brain child. For reference, here's the thread:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7825947/tm.htm
Since I started with the actual scaling concept, I convinced myself that sooner or later I would scratch build a Tipo in all the various sizes (don't ask me why - I must have become a little obsessed at some point). With that in mind, in conjunction with a fellow modeler, we setup templates and foam core blocks for the wings and stabs of each scale and currently have a number of cores on the shelf in each size. With that done, I was able to start planning my first assault on the project and settled on a 20 sized model primarily because 20 sized vintage pattern models are few and far between and also because I don't really have any models in this size.
So this begins what may be a rather slow progressing build thread of
two Nanorare's - one glow powered, the other electric powered. I'm hoping that the dual nature of the project, in addition to satisfying my curiosity and desire for such a pair of models, may peak the interest of others. Judging from some recent exchanges (and a total of 217 scaled Tipo plans downloaded to date!), there seems to be a growing momentum in building assorted scale Tipo's now that the winter building season is approaching in the Northern Hemisphere.
Taking some license with the photos of accomplished Tiporare builders and pilots, below are a few snaps of what I hope will be a similar outcome of this project. A picture of the
Nanorare scaled plans is also shown. BTW, in the center of the third photo are three of the beautiful models I used to gaze at in my youth - a Tiporare, a Phoenix and a Deception.
Build on!
P.S. If the owners of the aircraft depicted wish me to remove them from this thread, please just let me know.