I've nearly finished my Corby, and had a question about the clevises and quick links in the kit. We've had a recent experience in the club where plastic clevises have broken on an ARF Spitfire (I didn't get the manufacturer), but it got me thinking to ask what everyone's experiences have been with that hardware on the Sportsmans Aviation Starlet (52/70). How are they holding up?

Btw, went with Betty Boop for a pilot. Will post a photo or two when finished (all that's left is balancing, photos recommended before maidens!).

Finally got around to that photo. Have ~25 flights on her, real sweet flyer, light and quick. Baffled the cowl, put fueler in carb inlet, remote glow. Still working the idle down on the new Saito 72 so landings are a little hot with 13x6 prop. Cowl & wheel pants didn't hold yellow color too well (UV?), but the horns & clevises are just fine. Had to reinforce the landing gear mount, and the tires are wearing out pretty quickly (that's a bit odd). But all-in-all a very pretty plane that flies well and gets lots of compliments.

Looks great with Betty in there!

.

Redball8, nice and neat looking corby. I am also having similar changes to my cowl. The yellow has gotten a much deeper color over the past weeks and I thought it might have been from engine heat, but the wheel pants are still the same color as the covering. Also my wheels are about 1/4" smaller than when they were new... it looks like they were running sideways the way the tread has been worn off. could be the alignment is off or maybe too much play between the wheel collars.
In any case , this is one sweet flying airplane. Touch and go's are a blast because the spring in the landing gear makes it hop like a kangaroo, so when you advance the throttle it's already back in the air.

My power is an OS FL-70. , more than enough to give it scale or acrobatic performance. This is a real fun airplane and relaxing to fly. Good luck with yours.

Jerry

Try a pair of Falcon floats. You'll be impressed how this plane performs off the water. Saito .82 powers mine. MM

i just got an e-mail from hobby people.Due to low sales the small corby starlet is no longer being sold but the big corby starlet will.Just thought i'd pass this on .


ken

There is a fellow in Arizona that just posted his used 52/70 Starlet for sale on RCU, a bargain if you're close enough to pick it up. This past spring I spent a good two months searching hobby shops for the last NIB 40-size Starlet in stock (in the US).

RB8

My Corby Starlet is still flying, but had a small altercation that broke the canopy. If anyone has a canopy that they would be willing to sell, I'd surely be interested. Mine is now fitted with a full lighting package, and is really impressive flying near dusk. Havent tried it in the dead dark yet, andprobably won't.

Does any one have a Corby Starlet on floats? How does it fly?

Hows this look. Flys great too. MM

Is there a thread on the latest Corby Starlet offered by Hobby People?

Thanks

thats the best thing i have ever seen!

I'm looking for a Corby Starlet...still in the box. The yellow one.
Shubova
[8D]

Hi,
I'm looking for a Corby Starlet, the yellow version.
Let me know if anyone is selling one. Hobby People does not stock them anymore.
Shubova
[8D]

Hi,
I'm looking for a Corby Starlet, the smaller yellow version.
Let me know if anyone is selling one. Hobby People does not stock them anymore.
Shubova
[8D]

Does anyone know were I can find a Corby Starlet, the yellow one as show in the pictures above.
Sportsman Aviation (Hobby People) no longer sells them.
Shubova
[8D]

Well, the inevitable happened a few weeks ago and I cracked the canopy on my Starlet up pretty good. A lot of guys in the club suggested I simply trim the top off (sort of turning a hardtop into a roadster), but I bit the bullet and made a plug of the canopy (yes, I had a spare). Have molded a handful of spare canopies out of 1/16" PET, which makes a very clear canopy (think soda bottle) but there is the occasional imperfection. I recall a number of folks were interested in spare canopies; one fellow even thought of replicating the scale sliding canopy. So if you're interested send me a pm and I'll forward a photo or two.

- RB8

Hey Red,

Nice work mate. And yes, people do need canopies. I smacked my Corby in the other day!! Idiot mistake of playing with the JR radio and I reversed the servos. Bugger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8XpxeWr-aw

Check it out for yourself.

Again, good work on the lid.

Phil.

I'm just approaching completion on mine after a few months (read that as a year and a half) off....I had glued the horizontal stab in and stood it on its nose to dry and something NEAR it fell over and knocked it over right after I left!  It dried a good half-inch lower on the left.  Finally have surgically removed and replaced it, and so I am proceeding on the completion now.. 

Seems it's a collector's item suddenly.  I should've bought a few when I had the chance.  These are really cool looking planes and I'm gonna bet this one will be a handful (read that as: FUN!) to fly.  I'm hoping somebody decides to put it out under some other label somewhere and then I will grab a few for future fun.

A Saito 72 is going into this one.  I have a 62 and a 72, decided to go with the 72.  There are few others around to compare engine size and performance, so I had to make a judgement call.  If anybody has any comments then I'd be happy to hear them, since my decision is not final yet.

I see nobody has posted to this for a while, so I guess there are VERY few of them around.

Jim

I no longer have mine (sold it) but I flew one for a long time with a Saito .65 four stroker.  It was enough but certainly not too much.  The .72 would be a better choice and an .80 or .90 would be even better, IMHO.  They are great flyers and the only hard part is getting them down without bouncing.  At least that was the only issue I ever had with it. 

Thanks, Chad.

Long time since we've talked.  Good to hear from you.  Do you think the bouncing was from the gear or ??? maybe the wheels?  I was thinking of using foamies.  I don't remember if it comes with foamies or not.

Jim

Jim,

I think the bounce was the result of a short and "springy" gear.  Because the Corby sets relatively low to the ground it is my judgement that it likes to float in ground effect.  It seemed to float and float until the wing finally stalled at which point it would drop a tip and the bouncing would start due to the spring in the main gear.  If I were ever to scratch build a Corby there are two things I would do to make it fly and land better.  I would increase the tail moment just a bit and I would add some flaps.  Still, the Corby was a great looking and flying airplane and I enjoyed it very much.  I think you will like it too.

Regards,
Chad Veich

Ahhhh .... the corby. Yes very nice little plane to look at .... but a bit of a challenge to fly. Again this is due in no part to the short moment of the tail section and coupled by the stout wing profile. I remember shooting touch and goes all morning long just to get the landing right. Sometimes it was soooo good it would bring a tear to your eye ... others ... well there were tears, just not the good ones.

The springy (read WEAK) undercarrage needs care in landing ... otherwise you will drive the wheels up into the wing and punch through the balsa sheeting.Also - CHECKYOURC.o.G. This is important to ensure good groving through the air at any attitute and will result in nice landings. I had so much lead in the nose it looked like aWinchester reload warehouse.

Chris White (a fellowAustralian) brought the Corby to life and should be congratulated on his versionof this little aussie wonder. They are still available in Australia and are common in the LHS.

As to the engine .... go the.70 at least..60 isjust a bit on the sluggish side of scale flying.


Man .... Istill have thecarcass of the corby in mygarage. Cant part with it just yet. Got to move on ............

Phil

I have a Magnum 80FS in mine. Have flown it hundreds of flights.
I can second every work in phil's post there - get the CG right and they will reward you!

I still have mine (with some clear packaging tape to hold together a cracked canopy)