RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Mike,
Our field is off of I-215 exit 21, its the Jorden River State park facility. The Toni flew today for the first time. Got in 5 lights all went well but the plane is hard to slow down, no bad habits just slick. The Jett pulled it at approx 110-130 mph the best we could judge. I glassed the firewall and gear holddown plate plus the wing center section. A number of guys in the speed plane column have written about these mods. The minnow may need similiar if you plan to fly it fast. I also sealed all the hing lines top and bottom. I would love to fly up in Logan. My son is starting freshman next week at USU so I will be making a few trips up your way. I'll send you a PM with my cell #. Also if you fly Warbirds (most of my planes) we will have a big Warbird fly-in Oct 1st at Jorden river. Should have up to 50-80 planes.
Congrates on getting one "out of the nest"
Cheers,
Kirk

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Kirk, very good ! The wife and myself plan on coming up to your site on September 10. I will call you ahead of time to arrange meeting. REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS ! My "Toni" is kind of a "mellow" plane, I almost call it a "trainer". And yes, I always re-inforce the "weak-points" with fiberglass resin. You said you flew your Toni, did you mean your Minnow? With this wedding out of the way, I can get in more flying time now. Will Call you sometime Monday, 'till then, seeya, MM

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

OK guys, Here it is. This plane flys like a pattern ship. Very stable, very smooth, Tip stalls straight ahead at idle. Couple clicks of left aileron trim was all that was needed. Balanced out with one ounce of lead at tail using ST .90 with Pitts style muff. Throttle linkage needs plenty of braces along the way. Long way from throttle servo to the carb linkage arm. Usual loose cowl screws after the first flight, Just snug'em up a little more. This is a real floater too. Does'nt come in any faster than Shoestring or Toni. Land into wind if possible, slows down just fine. Sponge tape on wing saddle will stop the rubbing in that area. If you have average expierence flying a hot plane you'll be OK with this. Certainly not for begginers. My engine will perform much better in a few more tank fulls and flights too. Quite impressed over-all. Wonder what racer Great Planes will come out with next ? Seeya later, MM

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

:)Hey kirk and Mike...You guys ever get up my way? Love to see those minnows. And 130 mph plane would be awesome. All mine go like 40.
Thanks
Barry

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Glad to hear it performs well Mike :) It is indeed a nice looking kit.

Just as an aside here.....

The markings #4 and N210C on the tail number are confusing.

The only "Minnow" race#4 that I am familiar with is one of the original Cosmic Wind series the guys came up with. Was #10 for a while, then trimmed down to be more like Little Toni later on as #4 N21C. Ballerina was similar. (photo)

Bill Stead's Miss Cosmic Wind (aka Little Miss Reno) was shoulder wing reconstructed from Cosmic Wind parts and a new wing. Is this what the model is base on ? I thought that was race #6 N36C ? Maybe its just the markings that I cant seem to match up.

What this new bird from GP looks more like is a Ricky Rat (aka Top Turkey, later Polecat) which is modified Shoestring K version.
http://www.brcdesign.com/polecat/polecat.html

My documentation is pretty incomplete on this bird. If anyone has documentation on the shoulder wing cosmic wind minnow, can you direct me to a source ?

Thanks.
Bob

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Bob, Yes you are correct, I can't figure out the markings either, They are not making sense. MM

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

What prop did you decide on for your ST G-90. I switched the Webra 1.20 for my ST 90 as well. I had one off of my Fokker tri plane, so I stuck it on the Minnow. I took the 1.20 back to the store and got another ST 90 to replace the one I robbed. I had a bunch of cash credit to spend at the store then, so I grabed some items I've been puting off for a while...lol. The 1.20 pump engine would have required a different mount and to much cowl cutting to suit me.
Hope to fly mine this week or weekend. I still need to add more tail weight though. Mine must have built heavier in the front than yours did? I picked up the GP CG balancer today with some of my credit and found it may be off more than I thought by using just fingers to pick it up. Anyhow...I'll throw some more lead to it I guess.

Regards,
Jim[8D]

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Bob,

The Cosmic Wind Minnow was flown and modified by Herman "Fish" Salmon. Although it started out as the low wing Minnow which was the same basic airframe as the Little Toni and Ballarina. It was modified by Salmon by stretching the fuselage, covering the aft fuselage with cloth and raising the wing to the midwing position. It kept the same registration numbers. Later on is was rebuilt again, this time with a stubby constant chord wing with a laminar flow airfoil. This version has number 6 and a different registration number (N36C).

The Ricky Rat is a slightly modified Shoestring (K10 designed originally by Rod Kriememdahl). The real difference was mainly in the wingtips, tail and a tighter cowling (with bumps for rocker arm covers).

There seems to be two airplanes that used the "Polecat" name. The first was built by Ernie Prosch and was modified from the Cassutt design. The other later Polecat is a Shoestring as you noted.

Information from the two Hirsch books as well as Mendenhall.

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Jim, I did'nt do anything different that would have thrown the balance off like whats happening to yours. I have the best of luck with ST engines, running about twelve of them on various planes of mine. Kinda oily till they break in though. MM

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Thanks HP.....

I didnt realize that Fish did the original mods. I thought they were done later on.
Anyone have photos of the original #4 as a midwing ?

That Polecat/Ricky Rat/turkey lives in my backyard here. Museum near by owns it. Interesting is that when it was painted as Polecat, the original paint for rat is under it. You can see the trim and paint marking lines from the original RR paint job. Nice plane though. :)

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Jim, sorry, I did'nt pay attention to the thread. Im using an APC 12-8 at 4500 feet altitude. It seems to be the best combo. I tried 13-8.... noop, I tried 12-9.....noop, so I stick with the 12-8. I really do like this one. I'll make sure the wife has it on my RC plane replacement policy should a crash occur. MM

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Bisson makes a neat muffler that might work better than a regular pitts. It's their Ultimate muffler and they offer for ST, OS, etc. It's a pitts style in which the muffler is shifted back for cowls like these. Tell me what you think.
[link]http://www.bissonmufflers.com/en/muffler.html?mufflers::listing_id=114069[/link]

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Yo Dave, The term "Pitts Muffler" is being stretched by me into a generic term. It is a Bisson "Pitts" style muffler that I'm using. MM

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Hey guys...I had time to get two flights in on mine yesterday after work.
No unusuall tendencies at all!!! Didnt even touch the trim on either flight.
Good flying plane!!

Jim Hoover

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Latest findings. Long tail moment slows plane doen cosiderably in sharp bank and turn. ST .90 may not be enough for this plane at 4500 feet altitude. Six tank fulls and I still dont see an increase in RPM or power. Strange though, it weighs about the same as Shoestring and Toni [8 and a half pounds]. At this point, it's running slower than Toni. As thin as the wing is, should be a real "screamer" but it's not happening. Will try another 4-5 tank fulls and adjust needle to max RPMs. Flys like a pattern ship if your not into racing. May try to increase nitro by 5% too. Seeya, MM

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

MIke,

just a suggestion - if it is struggling through the turns a bit, move the CG back another 1/4". Free it up a bit.

Bob

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Yo Bob, I did just that, holds the turns much better now. MM

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Here's my GP Minnow on it's first flight. Uses an OS 91 Surpass, 8.5 pounds, quite aerobatic, but lands fast unless you really stretch the approach.

The pilot is the late Bob Denver, AKA Gilligan. Who else to fly a ship called the Minnow?

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

GROAN!!!

We're all glad you like the model.

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

I have two flight reports in so far on the Minnow with the Jett 90LX-T up front. (Same engine set up as for the Little Toni).

So far folks seem to be happy. Going to take some experiments with props on the Minnow. The 11x9 and 12x7 worked well on the Toni, and Id expect they will work well on the Minnow too.

This photo courtosy of Jon out in Tucson. Currently has the 11x8 turning 14,500 rpm. About right for 2500 msl (or thereabouts).

Kirk, how have you made out with your 90LX in the Minnow ?

Bob

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

If you guys are really interested in racing aircraft, there is a great book available from Amazon:
"The Air Racer" by Charles A. Mendenhall (cheap too at $14.) It's entirely of beautiful scale drawings of all the famous and not so famous racers from the beginning to the 1980's or so. The Cosmic Wind series is included with a special section that shows the modified version that our GP Minnow appears to be based on.

I'm especially intersted in seeing how this a/c handles precision aerobatics. It appears to have very similar proportions to many pattern airplanes. Will be a couple of mnths before I can get mine flying (got two projects in line ahead) so if anyone is experienced in pattern and is flying the Minnow, send me your comments.

Anybody interested in a 100CC version?

Chris

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Bob,
My Jett 90 is in the Little Tony. Flies like a Bat out of H#LL. I will get a pic for you this week. I reinforced my firewall and the LG holddown plate and glassed the wing center section. Currently swinging a 12X7 15% nitro for a ground RPM of 13.7. Very good set up but the fiberglass fus vibrates something fierce, any ideas?
Kirk

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Kirk, I have'nt forgotton you, The club here is really pressed for time to complete the new flying site before were kicked out of the airport. I'm caught-up in that project almost everyday for the next three weeks. I still plan on flying at your site before snow hits. The kit supplied spinner for the Minnow may be a problem. There's no visable wobble through the RPM range but when replaced with a shorter one there seems to be even less vibration throughout the airframe. It still appears slower than Shoestring and Toni even after 15 flights, 10 minute duration each, 15% nitro. Mine's at eight pounds, ten ounces, with ST .90 w/Pitts muff. How's yours doing? Seeya, MM

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

Good info Kirk,

ummmmm...... are you using the stock spinner that comes with the kit ?? That has been know to be a source of vibration. As an experiment, try running with just the prop-nut supplied with the engine, see if it makes a difference... at least that way you will know if the spinner is an issue.

12x7 at 13.7 is right on the money - good performance for your location. Should be unloading right into the sweet-spot on the muffler.

If the spinner or prop balance turns out not to be a factor, one way to change the 'frequency' of the fuselage buzz is to change the prop. I think you can get away with a 12x8 (as long as it stays soildly above 13K rpm it will unload nicely), and perhaps try an 11x9.

Bob

RE: GP Cosmic Wind Minnow
 

That's what I'm using, 12/8 APC at 4500 feet ele. Only about 9900 RPM's though. MM