impressions of SPAD planes???
 

I have built many spads and some fly super duper and some don't. Being so cheap and fun to build with, the ones that don't fly very well are a challenge to find out why and with my imagination, research, and help from the RCCombat SPAD forum, fix it. I never thought of myself as a scratch builder or a builder at all. I have made the statment "I would rather be flying than building" and that still stands true, but the coro lends itself so well for prototyping new designs and ideas.
I like building now, and that suprises me. Spads have opened up an area of creativity in myself and that feels good, and I feel awesome when it takes to the air. The nice thing about it, is that it is afforable, quick, and if I crash, no big deal, usually they don't break but if they do, so what, it frees up my radio gear for the next one!

Like the balsa planes, some fly great, some just fly. I can honestly tell you, my DPS is the best all around plane I have ever flown. When I brough it to the field, everyone told me why it wouldnt fly well, now they ask me how it flys so well. :thumbup:

As far as the museum quality, I am sure there will be some of kraut & tattoo's planes there for all to look at. They are the founding fathers of the SPAD movement. You guys should show some respect around royalty :D

A couple of great fellas.

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

hi all,
Here is my POV/MHO as a beginner RCer with limited means and budget. Well some of you guys must be lucky enough to afford those high priced balsa planes - I am not ; so a straightforward reason for me to go the SPAD way.

One more thing "Laws of nature/physics doesn't discriminate" so what difference would it make if I make a wing out of balsa or 2 mm coro except for the weight which can be easily compensated with a better engine ...... I am a beginner so I may be missing something :)

Another thing I go to the field to fly and have fun not to do that girlie thing - howzz my plane looking today ? ;)

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

ANY model aircraft, if not built properly, is unsafe. i don't think SPADS lend themselves to being unsafe any more than a balsa plane. if you look at the Deb's instruction manual you'll find most of the basic skills required to go forth and create your own spads. i think it's a good idea for every new spadder to start with the Deb since it will expose you to all the basics...and it'll only put you out about $5.

Oh Boy
 

I have built and designed numerous balsa jobbies, some from scratch. Heck yeah it was fun, but It was no fun wondering if it would be in splinters. Now I have built numerous S.P.A.D.'s, The SNS, Mig7, SpadStang and a few in the works always.

As far as the comment about real men flying planes that fly and look good- Um, I'm a pilot jim, not a beautician- 'nuff said about that. If you're into building beautiful Balsa planes then great.

I suggest that, if you have never tried, build yourself a SPAD. Build it with full-colored pics of the build process for free, free online support daily for that specific plane. Spend the $10.00- get a coke sign, (Or a Camel sign) and make it hover. You will, believe me, have guys telling you, "Man that thang is BEAUTIFUL.!!"

Spads are taking over combat meets, so I'd be careful in that arena too. SPADS are here to stay, so is wood I suppose. But if you want a real mans project- take the plunge, and get off your duff sanding that P51 1/5th scale for months just to find out there are "imperfections" in the balsa you chose..

IMHO S.P.A.D.s are as safe as any balsa counterpart, any concerns in safety are addressed during the building process. If not, they wouldn't be allowed in AMA sponsored events, and with newbies trying their luck at AMA sponsored fields.

There used to be scratch builders, builders from others plans, ARF, RTF, etc, now there is TLAR, RNAF and dont install the dowels until the cg is right.. As was said before all in fun, but true. Thanks Spad Founders for bringing this evolution in R/C literally to our door.

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

I'm not here to turn this into another 'ARFs are king' discussion. :rolleyes:

As I said b4, my only real concern is for safety. And, as I said before, it's not the material, it's the builder.

As for weight being compensated for by a bigger engine.... It's all about wing loading. Try a lightly loaded plane, then come back and tell us the engine makes up the difference.

Back to the harrassing. :D

Some of us can fly, so we don't have to build indestructible aircraft.

This pic is for Tattoo ... it's not the hover, it's the height of the hover and the percieved risk. :cool:

(yeah, I've been lower, just not when a camera was there... this was taken at a public demo in a school yard this summer. Very tight area, runway was a 270 degree, short radius turn between trees, park benches and soccer posts. Nice swirling winds arond the school too, notice the lean into the wind) :eek:

From 10 feet its tough to tell the diff
 

My Mig7.......all Coroplast.....an no, my 5 yr old son is not smoking!

http://members.rogers.com/ctatham/spad.htm

10" away ...
 

That Mig's looking good... :cool:


My DR1. Up close and personal....(sorry, not coroplast)


more pics

And her first contest

.

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

WOW....thats in another leugue completely!

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

Exactly! That's what we've been saying :D


What's that covered with Jim?

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

My fave, Supershrink Coverite.
Can't buy it anymore, it's discontinued. :mad:
I guess there's just not enough demand, what with all the ARFs 'n now SPADs. :rolleyes:

I have enough to finish my Waco then it's either back to stitts or ??? :confused: :mad:

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

Hmm,

If i remember, someone asked how SPAD's fly. Not whether or not Jim's DR-1 was accurate in detail.
Its funny how Jim always has to show up with a picture of one airplane that he spent hundreds of hours on, and tries to compare it to one someone spent 3 or 4 hours on.
If we wanted an airplane to compete in scale competition, i think it stands to reason, we probably wouldn't build it out of coroplast.
But, some of us (most people, i think) would rather have 295 of those 300 hours (or more) to fly, instead of in front of a board building.
As far as the "real men" comment. It seems to me that someone has an inferiority complex. You don't see me on the scale forum posting pics of my combat planes. :).
Back to the original question of how a Spad flies. One which i am qualified (as Jim and his buddy probably aren't) to answer. I've had some that fly great, and some that didn't. The ones that didn't. The ones that didn't, though, were because of something i did wrong, and normally, with some tinkering, i've been able to make them all fly fairly well.
I built several of them for people in my club, and the only comment about them i have gotten is that people can't believe how well they fly.
As far as the safety goes, i've seen plenty of balsa planes poorly put together. I've yet to see a coro wing fold in half midflight, for no reason, but i've seen several balsa, and several foam wings do just that.
Calling a Spad an arf is a total misstatement. A spad is a scratch built plane. An arf is not, and i think thats pretty much obvious.

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

I keep catching the same fish. :rolleyes:

There's always one (often the same one) retentive type who takes joking (smilies and all) seriously and just can't seem to progress beyond a posted topic. :rolleyes:

As for 300 hours. Huh? It was more like 1K, most during non daylight hours. It's what I do instead of Nintendo, watching reruns of the Simpsons, playing with dolls. etc..... :rolleyes:

Tired of the triplane eh? It's just my latest and I'm proud of it, check my website for others. I'll add more as I get around to scanning the old photo albums....

No, I do not spend all my flying time building.
A few of my credentials:
2 - 3rd place finishes at Nationals in scale
1 - 6th place finish at TOC North
1 - 7th place finish at Nationals in heli
- Made the Canadian scale team this year.
- consistently in top 2 at local Funfly events
- many trophies from other various contests.
....

But bragging is boring, I always say put up or shut up so.... I challenged you b4, I'll challenge again.... Meet me at a contest (I compete in scale, Funfly, combat, IMAC, quickie 500, heli...take your pick) and we'll compare skills gained through flying time spent... :stupid:

Wake up and give your head a shake, as for me, you can find me at my club's Funfly this weekend.... :cool:

--------

Back on topic:
I've flown a couple SPADs and talked to a couple local SPAD builders. The outcome is always the same, "they survive a good wallop but they fly like they look... a drain pipe with a politician sign screwed to it ." :D

IMHO SPAD flyers must be terrible flyers to put up with the poor flying characteristics simply to bring home a complete aircraft after an afternoons flying. :D

note: pay attention to the smilies.

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

No one said you couldn't fly. Who really cares? Funny, you've talked to a couple of spad builders, and flown a couple of spads. I've talked to hundreds, and flown close to a hundred. Very few of them were dissatisfied, and very few of those i flew flew poorly.
So, you can keep your opinion, based on 2 planes, and 2 people, and i'll keep mine based on hundred of opinions.
As far as catching fish, i think you were the one who was caught, and continue to get caught by every post about Spads. Some people just don't like that i can design, build, and fly a plane all in the same day. Oh well, their loss.

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

I can see Jim's light hearted nature on the topic.....sometimes this can be lost in text. With respect to flying....I have spend many hours building balsa and many hours building spads...got into spads for combat and some less "nervous" flying. Comments on how each flies are useless. You have design, you have materials. If both are combined in a good way then things fly well. Both balsa and coro planes can fly poorly and well based on these factors. You can't generalize on either. If the shapes are good and the wieght right then both fly very well. Coro planes will never look like that triplane but they are used for very different pleasures and reasons.

By the way, the Devastator spad on my page (http://members.rogers.com/ctatham/spad.htm) looks like ***** but flies incredibly. $20 worth of materials and 5-10 hours. I grin like an ass when I fly it. The skybolt at http://members.rogers.com/ctatham/sk...ring_final.htm has too many hours to count, flies great but makes me very nervous. I grin like an ass when I take it out of my car.

FWIW

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

hehehe....
I forgot my gutterpipe
http://144.92.249.236/images/2288.jpg

I am a terrible flyer (really) and all my planes look like garbage :D
I have crashed this plane many times, while trying to do tricks that I know are beyond my skill level. It still flys great and I am learning by doing without the fear of making kindling wood.

Your plane is very nice, and congrats on the nats, you have alot of balls to risk crashing that thing. I think You must be Nutz :D

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

Ah yes, It brings back fond memories of my childhood. When I was a kid, a friend of mine and I would go down my basement, design and build an airplane in one day, then, take it out and have a ball with it...

Then we grew up. :)

But, back on topic...

Before you spend money on coroplast, go to your local Sign Shop and ask if they have any pieces they are going to throw out. Many times they have rejects that they screwed up the screen printing on that they would be happy to let you have for free.

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

My thinking on the spad topic is :

- - If you want a plane that you can tool around with, and not care if you crash it, go spad, whereas if you want a plane that is an exact miniature of a full scale plane ( in looks and price ) then by all means, go with balsa.

*To any experienced spad builders*

I'm thinking of taking the Debut design and substituting the FNS's vert. fin for a 4 channel 30 size plane. Any tips or suggestions on how to go about this ?

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

flyer_of_planes:

The FNS rudder is a bit larger than a normal rudder would be for an aileron plane. It'd work just fine, but, its probably alot more rudder than you really need. The standard Debut tail, with a hinge cut in line with the elevator hinge would work fine as well. (2" wide rudder).
As far as the servo, just mount it next to the elevator servo. Completely build the plane, and then install the wing hold down dowels in the appropriate place to make the plane balance.
I've done several combat planes with a rudder, and they were a hoot to fly. Be careful with the flat spins, though, sometimes they are hard to recover from.

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

Thanks for the info ..

The main reason I want a big rudder is for hovering. I'm working on learning the techniques and don't want to end up trashing my stik.

Any suggestion on a good, torquey prop for a TT 0.36H ?

Thanks again

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

If you want to hover, I'd build the fuselage out of coroplast, and increase the wing chord to at least 12" with 3" ailerons at the root, and tapered to 1" at the tips. This'll really lighten the plane up, and make for a much better hovering plane. I'd also lengthen the fuse out to 33 or 34", just to get it a little farther back from the tail.
I am guessing on the prop, but i'd think a 10x3 or 10x4 would be a good one.

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

What is the reason to not always build the fuselage out of coroplast, if it makes the whole thing lighter? You'd still need some minimal type of framework built from wood or something, right?

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

You know, it just occured to me, why not build a pizza box flier instead. They hover and do high alpha stuff great, and are so simple to build.

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

pizza box flyer ..

that's only the second time I've heard of those ..
what exactly are they ?

as for a coro fuse, how would I go about that ? build a box with an overlapping face ?

by further back from the tail , do you mean move the tail feathers back, or have fuse sticking out the end ?

so many questions .. and much thanks

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

Really?

$6.00 worth of Coroplast, drainpipe and yardsticks
Weighs less than its balsa counterpart
Flies better than its balsa counterpart (transmitter passed between hardcore balsa fliers for several hours of utter disbelief:))
Free plans to be posted soon on: http://www.spad.org



http://144.92.249.236/images/2223.jpg

impressions of SPAD planes???
 

For a coro fuse, i just build a box around short pieces of gutterpipe, with the flutes running the length of the fuselage, with 5 sides (one overlapping).

The pizza box flier is just a square piece of coroplast with elevons. Dean just finished one with seperate elevator and ailerons, and is quite pleased with it.

For more info than you can stand, check out the spad message forum.

Spad forum

I hang out there alot. You can find alot of info on the pbf's both on the spad board, and in the funfly section of this site.