real deal,

I can a answer a few of those questions. The gear was on display, I don't know if it is custom made but Charles said it was made of aircraft grade aluminum and suitable for grass. It looked pretty nice and appeared light. Servos should be same as HotSpot, one on each elevon, one for each rudder, one for speedbrake and one for nosewheel assuming electronic valves are used for gear and brakes. The wings are removeable and use a machined aluminum "I beam" type spar. There is a cutout for speedbrake, but I have found with my HotSpot that the speedbrake is unecessary. The most important thing is getting the airplane slowed way down in a nose-high attitude for approach and landing. I do not use the speedbrake to slow down, throwing it out at high speed is a good way to strip gears even on an 8411. Once you are in nose-high slow flight the speedbrake adds very little drag. Compared to the enormous induced drag of the high angle of attack the parasite drag of the speedbrake is next to nothing, definitely not enough to allow a "power on" approach into a short field.

As for use as a trainer, hard to say, depends on the weight. If it turns out a featherweight you might be able to get it slowed down enough to use as a trainer, but if the wing loading is high it may take some experience to handle it. In any case it is small enough that you should be able to hang a two-stroke glow engine on there and fly it around as a pusher. With a turbine weight will be a factor. This is a case where it might pay to put up with air starting and go with the Mamba as it only weighs 1 lb 12 oz. I don't know what the RAM 500 or Simjet 1200 weigh with and without electric start. Anybody know?


747 driver,

That would be fantastic if you get some info from the designer. I guess it won't be till at least mid-summer before we see some flying if the first production models show up in June. I know the SWB people plan to fly one with a Mamba. Keep us posted if you get any more info on the Stingray.