I am looking for a good beginner's plane for my AP Hornet .09. Does anyone know the comparative merits of the Thunder Tiger Scooter and the Hobby People Schoolboy? Any other suggestions would be welcome.

-Barry

Barry:
I would select the Scooter based on wing loading... I live at a very high altitude place (Mexico City, 7350 ft. high) therefore we need to fly very light and slow planes, since them will have to be flown faster here, just to keep them from falling from the sky.

The Scooter has a lower weight since it is covered with Ultracote lite, the structure is light and the wing has more area also.

I have the Scooter since I also had a new AP-09, and there are not many kits or ARF's available for this particular engine... I examined a Schoolboy at the hobby shop when I bought my AP-09, but preferred the Scooter after comparing the numbers.

Good luck with your selection. BTW, my AP-09 runs beautifully (only bench tested). Less power than a TD 09, but much more user friendly and has an excellent carburetor and throttle.
Regards, Alfredo M. Claussen, Mexico City.

I bought one for a 'fun plane' and haven't been disappointed. It's a lot of fun, and has quality construction, but I would like to point out a couple of things.

Just remember that this is a 3-channel airplane, it has no ailerons. It will have to make very wide turns or it will spiral in if you try to bank it hard. That might not make it a desirable trainer. Also, your engine might be a little overkill. It has a lot of dihedral and rights itself very nicely (provided you have the altitude).

The first engine I used was a Norvel .061, which is a hot engine. I could never open the engine all the way up.. I was always throttled back and had a lot of down elevator cranked in to keep the plane in sight, straight and level.

When I switched to the GP-07, a weaker engine, it flew better. The GP-07 has enough power to make it the Scooter a dot in the sky. Even at that, I throttle back quite a bit and can get about 20+ minutes out of a tank of fuel. That wing really wants to climb.

Your Hornet .09 might be too much engine for the Scooter. I think you could literally fly the wings off the Scooter under certain conditions, if it was opened up.

Just something I thought you might want to consider.

Bob

Dear Bob:
Thanks for your reply regarding the TT Scooter, your comments are
very good indeed.

Please consider that at our quite high altitude (7350 ft), glow engines
usually loose about 25% (or more) of their "sea level" power...
Here the air density is much less than at sea level. Our city mild
climate (warm) frecuently lowers the density even more, it is not
uncommon to be at the equivalent of 10500 to 11000 ft of "density-altitude"
during the summer months.

It is a fact that here in Mexico City, a "normal size" trainer that is
usually powered by a bushing (non ball bearing) 40 size engine at
sea level (most of the USA is below 1000 ft above sea level),
requires a hot 0.46 ball bearing engine, just to fly so-so. The stall speed
of an airplane here, is increased about 40% of the sea level value on a
hot day.

On the other side, the AP-09 is not very powerful; but is capable of
moving a 7" prop, when the Norvel 0.061 only goes up to a 5.7x3 APC,
making it more suitable to pull the large wingspan of the Scooter, but
I appreciate your concern and will take note of the character of the plane.

I plan to use a Hitec 555 receiver, two Cirrus CS-21 servos for Rudder
and elevator, and a CS-10 sub micro servo for throttle, with a 150 mAh
NiCad batt in order to save as much weight as possible. I also have a
700 mAh NiMH (AAA size cells) pack that I recently made that weights
a tad more. And taking into account your comment regarding the fuel
consumption, I'll put a two oz tank. The AP-09 seems to use less fuel
per minute than any of my Norvels!, maybe because it only gives
11,000 rpm at our altitude... compared to the 0.061 going as high as
16,000 with Byron's 1/2A fuel.

I'm planning to make the wing separable in two halves, to make my Scooter
transportable inside a small suitcase. I've thought of using a "half vein"
3/16" router bit in my dremel to rout a straight channel inside both plywood
wing joiners, to house a 3" to 4" lenght of 3/16" carbon fiber tube, epoxy both
parts toghether and then cut them in half, installing each half in its respective wing
to work as sockets, using the CF tube as a joiner, and wide tape to keep wing halves
joined during flying. The Stab and Rudder can be installed with small 6-32 nylon bolts
also.

If you have any other idea, please advise!

BEST REGARDS. Alfredo M. Claussen, Mexico City.

Thanks for the reply, Alfredo. By the way, my sister-in-law lived in Mexico City for about 15 months and loved it.

I was thinking that where Barry lived in Tennessee, his local flying area was closer to sea level where the Hornet might develop much more power than he would need. Overall, I really liked the Scooter. It was a very nice airplane.

Barry, did the two of us give you something to think about?

Bob