Mike Noin

I am looking for a plane design that will allow me to tow gliders, carry weight around 10-13lbs, fly in a wide airspeed range, fly in almost any wind condition up to 40 mph, fly off of floats sometimes, stable ground performance, fly out of rougher fields than most prepared flying sites, take off and land in relatively short distances. Does anyone know of a model or design that I could use? If not I will attempt to design one myself but would rather not put the time into that if someone else has already.

I have a 120 four stroke Saito for the front of this plane therefore it will be of reasonable size. I also have a computer radio and will be looking for a full house design( I want to play with some mixing).


Thanks for your time,

Mike

JimTrainor

How about: http://www.btemodels.com/flyin_king.html

greenboot

My Feedback: (1)

Most of the goals you mentioned will require a slow flying plane. A big CUB might be fun. The 40mph wind is going to be a problem.

Tom

Angueto

I recommend you the Pilatus PC-6 Turbo porter, is a good solution for what you need.
Look here
http://www.mraerodesign.com/pc6/PC6.HTML

http://mypage.bluewin.ch/aviationworld/pc6/index.htm

Tall Paul

This sounds like a job for...
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.
.
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SENIOR KADET
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It will do all that, on a .90!
.

http://home.earthlink.net/~pjburke1/kadets.htm

Ben Lanterman

The Senior Telemaster works well.

Mike Noin

Thanks guys for your replies. I really like the look of the PC-6 Porter. Does anyone know if it has been flown off floats in a model version?

I realize some of you may think the Porter is ugly but I'm the kind of guy that finds the A-10 and a Hummer beautiful. There is something about a vehicle that is so ugly its beautiful. If you don't know what I mean, I will never be able to explain it better than that...lol.

I would like to find out more about the Porter if someone has one please let me know so I can pick your brain.

Thanks again.

BMatthews

I understand there's a drop in clinic for folks like you.....

Actually I go back and forth with my opinion of the Porter.

I was recently at my first ever aerotow glider event and I have to insert here that if you want to tow gliders then THAT is going to really be the determining factor in almost all of your model and engine selection parameters. 10 to 13 pounds is a lot of glider and it's going to take a fat engine to do that. I'm not knowledgable enough about the needs for glider towing yet to say what you should use but I do know it's going to likely be bigger than you think. Also you want a model that has a very broad speed range. The old timey scalers need lots of pull at low speeds but the modern glass jobs will actually over run the tug if you can't keep a good forward speed up during the climb.

The glider flying looked like fun but I think my heart was in the towing even more so. But the sizes of the stuff I saw called for an engine that runs about $1000 or more up here in Canada so I may have to lie down until the feeling goes away. The one I saw there were quite big however. For your 10 to 13 lb limit I suspect you can get away with a medium sized gas engine or LARGE glow option.

Ben Lanterman

I did a search on tow and got

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...ght=tow+planes

The tow airplanes I have seen usually have a really big motor. They should be interesting to fly in the clean configuration..

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

I was thinking a SIG Rascal 110 but the flying King sounds just as good!

Angueto

For a model with floats look here:

http://www.acr.net.au/~tony/floats.html

Cdallas2

What about a Unionville Beaver?

Mike Noin

I actually have a Unionville Beaver 8'. I like the plane too much to try anything other than normal flying with it...lol. I want a plane that is not something I will worry about and is easily repaired.

toucano

I never saw "cale appearance" in your criteria, so I'll throw in the .60 sized Ultra Stick.

I have a Magnum 1.20 in mine. The Magnum is heavier and less powerful than your Saito. With fill flaps, I'm off the ground and in a vertical climb in much less than 10 feet. Even without flaps, it breaks ground in a hurry.

With the quad flap wing setup, you can deploy crow (ailerons up, flaps down) and land it in tight spaces.

With crow deployed in level flight, you can assume nose-high slow flight, or if the wind is right, stationary flight.

The extra weight of the larger than recommended engine let's you fly in windy conditions. The bigger engines lets you tow planes with no problems.

The only weak spot, and I've had 4, is the landing gear mount. Just put down a layer of fiberglass and you'll be allright.

Mike Noin

I have a 40 sized Big Stick and I have no complaints about the flying characteristics. I think I want more room in the fuse for cameras and other things like that, maybe I should just make the fuse mid section a little larger if I go with the big stick to fill this need.

You are also right that the plane I am looking for does not have to be scale.

Great suggestions guys keep them coming please.

BillHarris

Scale is neat, but with scale, there are compromises with flying a scaled-down aeroplane

John Derstine's Pegasus towplane is likely the best "all-around", do-all design:

http://www.scalesoaring.net/EMM/pegasus.htm

Of course, I tend to like the Bruce Tharpe Flyin' Kings (regular and super-sized):

http://www.btemodels.com/


--Bill

Cajun

Several years ago I built a ship for all the same purposes. I just scaled up the old Kraft Ugly Stick for a 90 four stroke. I don't remember the dimensions, but it was around a 72" span and had conventional landing gear.

It would tow a glider, lift a glider with a piggy back carrier, drop candy, drop toiler paper, carry a 35mm camera, or just bore holes in the sky on Sunday Afternoon. I never put floats on it, but it would not have been a problem.

The Kadet Senor would be ideal except I don't think it would handle gusty winds.

Cajun

Angueto

I'm sorry guys but I think that some scaled models, as the Pilatus Porter, fly so well as the real.
Greetings, Angueto.