Volfy

My Feedback: (23)

Ray, the servo locations are great for someone like me who isn't a hardcore scale buff. I would imagine most folks interested in these "scale ARFs" would be okay with the exposed servos. I definitely like the open access to the fuselage and the traditional bulkhead and stringer fueselage construction. Looks like you've designed it light and right. I sure like the tail wheel bracket, which I hope will be retained in the production version. I've replaced so many ARF stock tailwheel brackets, it's not even funny. It's nice to see you're not trying to save 43.5 cents per kit by going to a cheapo bracket.

You mention the wings are 2-piece with aluminum tube spar. Are both wings this way? Fiberglass tubes, I presume? THe GP Wagstaff Extra fiasco has soured many folks' taste for phenolic or paper tubes.

Frankly, I can't think of anything else I would change on it. Keep up the good work and get it into production, SOON.

IronCross

Waco like in way co is the town
Waco like in Wack o is the plane
At least i have been told that is the way to remember it.
Ray.
How about a DH Beaver. It would look nice alongside your Monocoupe
Hard to find even a good kit of that one.
As for the color scheme on the prototype I think it looks great
Just one man's opinion :-)

OVER WORKED

It's Way-co like the town, not wacko like a batman comic.
I like the Beaver as well but there is one already out there that I don't care to compete with. I also like the Cessna 195, and find the Wilga on this page strangely appealing.
I've received some great ideas for the next Aerobatic model and will keep them under my hat till I do some research and a quick test design. We're trying to decide what size to make them, opinions are welcome.

OUTCAST

i like it

OVER WORKED

Volfy, I designed the new tail wheel assembly for our larger planes and it will be included in all of them soon. It's sprung to absorb ground shock and sprung to the rudder to unload the servo.
Both wings are two piece and the alum spars ride in fiberglass tubes.

cstevec

My Feedback: (1)

I like it and if the price is competitive I will be having one of the cream ones in the spring, the covering schemes are going through my mind right now. It will make a good aerobatic companion to my Pica kit version. Please tell me there will be no cheap glue used. I just hate it when that happens!

IronCross

If you go to www.wacoairmuseum.org/index.html and turn your speaker up you
will find that the plane is pronounced
Waahco as in AH ha . Sorry about the K in the previous post
The town is still pronounced wayco :-)

Mike Bogh

My Feedback: (14)

Yup, he's right...it has always correctly been pronounced Waahco...and yes I have flown in the full scale.........even asked the owner the correct way to pronounce it.

OVER WORKED

Very interesting, when I was a Waco field in Ohio (we stopped there on the way to Oshkosh) everybody I talked with pronounced it Way-co not Waah-co.

PlaneDoc

It's Waah-co.............Those who say wayco are just plain wrong.

Volfy

My Feedback: (23)

Well, as with all language issues - USAGE is what ultimately dictates what is right and what is wrong. Regardless of the word origin, if enough people starting saying WAY-co, then eventually that will become the "correct" pronounciation.

Just ask an Oklahoman how to pronounce the name of the town: Miami, OK. It's bad enough we all call the one in Florida: mai-YAH-mee, where few other European languages would have pronounced the two "Mi" differently. The folks in Oklahoma call their Miami: mai-YAH-mah. Wrong? Nope, that's just the way it is.

Okay, back to the subject. Ray, are you going to build a fixed firebox for engine mounting, or leave the firewall unfinished? I think many airplane model designers are still stuck with the old mentality of the modeler using a tradition adjustable reach beam-style engine mount. However, a fixed firewall on an model intended for gassers makes for a much more cumbersome setup. It usually requires the use of custom standoffs to get the right firewall to prop hub distance. Worse, if the down and right thrust need to be adjusted further or fine-tuned for the particular engine, then the modeler is really up a creek. I would vote for an open front-end like the Sportsman Aviation Super Decathlon.

OVER WORKED

Ok I'm convinced, from now on I'll call it a waa-co.
Volfy, The firewall will be fixed. I didn't want anybody to tear one out so I locked it to the inner support on both the inside and the outside. The inner support also ties in the gear plate, cabaine support, lower wing saddle and the first four fuselage formers. The extra plate shown in the photo is a doubler that can go in front or in back of the firewall, it's not attached from the factory. It seems firewalls are a major problem and I don't want any problems. Also remember the cowl is adjustable in length.

IronCross

Seems to me the person that designed the plane should get to name it. Not all the people that don't know better.

VoughtF4U

My Feedback: (1)

Ray,

You the man!!! I was looking for some plans for a gasser Waco and you just saved me from a long build. Here are my thoughts on it. I want it as cheap as possible, but am willing to pay a little extra for something that will last. Being light is important, but I will gladly sacrafice a 1/2 pound for a beefy firewall that won't come loose and gear that won't rip out from the factory. Covering dosen't matter to me as long as you keep it looking like a classic Waco and not a modern aerobatic plane. As for Franklin's schemes, I definitely prefer the Black to the red. I'd prefer to not have the stretched fuselage, but I understand why you felt it was needed. For a 40cc gasser, keep it under $500 and you got a winner. Good luck and I hope to see it on the market sometime next year!

And as for the engine mount, I have found that a setup like the Great Planes gas engine mount works pretty good. You have the firewall with four bolt holes. To these four holes you mount a piece of good quality plywood that is mounted to the engine. Between the plywood plate and the firewall you use appropriate sized spacers for your engine. You can make the spacer from broom handles, large dowel rods, scrap plywood or even large rubber corks. I generally use the large corks, you find them at the local hardware store in various sizes, drill a 1/4 hole through the middle and thread you mounting bolt through this. Tighten it till the cork starts to bulge a bit and then put a lock nut on the bolt to keep it in place. The cork acts as a semi soft mount and absorbs the heavier knocks from the engine.

-Scott-

OVER WORKED

IornCross, take it easy, I don't care if we call it a thing-a-ma-bob. The only thing that's important to me is that the customer gets a good product, and that I can sleep at night knowing we did our best.
VoughtF4U, If you are going to use a rubber insulator it's very important to have rubber on either both sides of the firewall or both sides of the engine lugs. If you don't the engine will slam back when the rubber decompresses. This in the long term will be very destructive. I do not use soft mounts on gas engines, for stand-offs I use aluminum 1/4" cable ferrels. They have a 1/4" hole in the center with an outside diameter of 3/4" and are available at most hardware stores in lengths from 1/4 - 1 inch. As for the covering the plan is to have it in the red/silver with a solid cream as an option. Retail price will be $499 so the street price should be a bit less. I do not believe I can keep the black covering stable in the sun.

damifino

What's the status on the Waco? I'm INTERESTED.. Been searching for the right plane as my first gasser and this is it. It has to be a bipe, it has to be a classic. and it has to have smoke. Kanke's reputation speaks for itself and this bird will fill the bill for me. Make mine light cream, please, with no stripes.

OVER WORKED

The pre-production model is on my desk now getting built. It will be flown in the next couple days and torn apart for Q.C. So far it looks very good and we are pleased. I think we should have them by February, but understand if anything is wrong we will delay production until it's fixed.

Bearzilla

My Feedback: (17)

DECALS!

I bought the Kangke Monocoupe several months ago and LOVE the plane! Beautifully constructed and light for its size. The thing that bugged me on this ARF is that it doesnt come with ANY decals. I had to pay another $60 to CajunRC for their full decal set - very nicely done in black/white/gold btw. ALL ARF's have decals included with the kit except this one. Hopefully that is being remedied on the new kits?

A valid gripe on an otherwise flawless plane.

- Paul

mancha

Ray:
I will buy your new plane<!
I will buy also a Bucker junmeister in the same scale!
please update me on the junmeister idea!!
happy new year!

tiggerinmk

Looks like I joined this a bit late as you're well on your way to producing these!

Anyway, here are my thoughts...

I've looked on and off at various bipes for a while, and I almost bought the Sprtsman Waco until I saw one at a local field. The Sport Waco looked cheap and a bit stark with that bright white covering and red trim. I don't think I'd really want another white ARF, I've got two already: an LT-40 and a Funtana and they disappear in a cloudy sky....

A short while ago I bought a Modeltech Great Lakes ARC off of Ebay, it turns out this plane has somewhat of a reputation so it's on the back burner 'till I get some bipe experience. For this style of plane I like the ARC idea but I understand that the market seems to have gone away from this unfortunately. I bught some blue and yellow covering as I believe this offers a good contrast.

For Xmas I received a Kyosho Tiger Moth. I got this as I already had a 52 4 stroke laying around, otherwise I would've gone for the GP 72" version. The one thing that impresses me about this plane is the covering. The fabric like Solartex has a great feel and look to it, and for me gives the product a quality feel and is more authentic than the typical MonoKote style covering for this type of plane.

Looking at the prototype in the first post, it's a very nice looking plane. However, it reminds me of the Trace I just got from my LHS in almost exactly the same colors. It was impossible ti determine which way up it was due to the lack of contrast.

Salient points:

1. Could you look into a Coverite/Solartex covering? I'm sure this would look a lot better than film..
2. Color: Plain white/cream or a scheme with lots of white will disappear in clouds. Also, adding a scheme to an already covered plane could be labor intensive e.g. checkerboard on the wing bottoms. The prototype looks nice (and different to most ARF's) but is totally lacking in contrast.
3. Tail servo mounts: Will these be covered to allow the option of the servos to be mounted in the fuse?

OVER WORKED

Bearzilla, We are working on decals for the Monocoupe 1/4 scale as well as the new 20% scale, the first batch were not to our company standards so they were not included in the kits. We will get this worked out but nothing looks worse than bad decals on a nice plane.

Mancha, The Buker is on my list but there are a few before it, we make planes sold by other companies as well, and you've probably flown our planes and not known it. I haven't decided on the scale yet and I am open to suggestions.

tiggerinva, The trim in the photo is the scale scheme used by "Jimmy Franklin" and is easy to see in the sky, it's bright red and silver. There will also be available a beige with no trim for those who wish to create there own. I do not like Solartex so it will be covered with Ultracoat, this is our favorite material, gives the most consistent results, and is very temperature stable. Elevator servos may be mounted either on the servo tray or in the tail, the servo holes will not be opened at the factory.

AJF--2

My Feedback: (119)

Did somebody say Jungmister[X(]?????? Be still my heart----Can I pre-order???? (Can you tell this is a vote for the future?)

damifino

Over Worked, thanks for the timely reply. The opportunity you afforded the readers of this forum to participate in the developement of a new product is very unique. I think genuine excitment can and will be generated for your products as word of mouth spreads from readers of this thread because a number of people will feel they participated in the Waco's development. Keep up the good work and please do this again.

taildragger21

My Feedback: (197)

Ok I'm kind of late...............but I think a waco would be a great idea. I seen Jimmy franklin at Tulahoma this year and loved it. He is awesome!!! I would like a waco in black like his.....the red looks good as well. Great idea...

OVER WORKED

AJF--2, We will not take pre orders untill the proto type has been built, flown, and we are satisfied with the performance. But yes I plan on doing a Buker some time this year. For that design I think I will start another thread and use the modelers here at RCU to help with the format as was done with the Waco.

Damifino, Thanks for the comments. In the design of the Waco I listened carefully to what was said and tried to accommodate as many as possible. It is not possible to do all the things requested, but for the most part I only designed the structure, you people designed the lay-out. I am very happy with the finished product so the formula seemed to work and I intend to use this forum as resource for future Kangke Super/Kraft designs.

taildragger, Your not going to get it in black. There is no way I can keep black covering stable on an open structure in the sun. Consider this, with a black plane, on a sunny summer day in Texas with outside air temp at 95-degrees, the inside temp of the plane could easily reach 145, do you really want your radio gear at that temp when you go to fly?

Happy new year to everyone, be safe, stay away from Tequila {personal experience}