8178

My Feedback: (17)

That is a great engine and has a small case and is a little shorter that most of the newer engines. It is 97mm long and uses the small 39mm wide mount. At $114.99 from Sheldons Hobbies the price is right too. The silver case Irvine is 100mm long and uses the 39mm wide mount. I’m sticking with my two strokes!

tlrascal

My Feedback: (56)

Don't jump on top of me for these comments. I am operating strictly from memory and that may be a little fuzzy. First, I flew pattern in the late 60's and early 70's and did pretty good. I currently have a Kwik Fli I that I fly ocassionally. First thing I fly the I that is one because I think that represents the most desirable from a vintage point. Most of the changes in the series were to the tail. If we had used servos in the wings back then we would have had a lot better flying airplanes. The bellcranks and linkages involved did not make for a tight setup as is able today with dual aileron servos. I saw one picture in this post of a Kwik Fli with strip ailerons, no way Jose. Those big barn door ailerons were what made this plane distinctive. I made them by just building a wing with sheeted trailing edges and then cutting the monster barn doors out. Incidentally I cut all of my parts by had from a plan and built and covered this thing is less than 4 hours.
Phil Kraft did not use an Enya on the III. He used a Webra blackhead and then later the Super Tigre 60 blueheads. Rhett Miller came on the scene and also used ST G60 blueheads. I ran a hobby shop back then and sold over 600 ST blueheads in less than two months.

The III series also had stringers for the fuselage sides I believe from the rear of the wing saddle back and they all kind of came together and formed the platform for the stab. The thick carved fuselage top was what gave this plane it's strength.

If those who want to build this want a kit fine, but this plane is so easy to build from scratch that a kit is not necessary. You give me a stack of balsa and in two hours I will give you a completed framed up airplane.

jjpetro

Hmm, perhaps Mr Kraft didn't run the Enya in competition, but that's what is denoted on the MAN plans in my possession. This plane in two hours? Wow! There is too much carving/sanding in the cowl and deck for me to get it done in two hours. You are a far better and experienced modeler than I.

tweedy

My Feedback: (1)

[font="Verdana"][size=2]The cad drawings that I created of the Kwik-Fli III can be downloaded free in DXF format at http://plans.rcmodell.hu/plansport.html or i can e-mail a copy to anyone interested I found that a new enya 50 fit perfect using a Dave brown mount without having to alter the firewall position, and it seems that the Great Planes spinner profile gives the smoothest transition into the fuselage I would really like to hear from any builders that have built their Kwik Fli's from my plans, I'd like to see photos of your projects also.

hope this note is of some help

Richard

flyingscott

I don't know how much difference there is to from the kwik fly and the kwik fly III but I have the kwik fly apart and could send you photos of how the tail is attached. Mine crashed and I'm striping it in hopes to rebuild. If you have a set of plans I'd love to see them. My front end from the wing forward is missing in action. Laugh if you will but I've rebuilt my original trainer from the tail forward! And they said it couldn't be done!

gary
[email protected]

jlingrel

Any kits ready yet? I have not been back to this thread for a while. Got a NIB os 60 FGR to go in it when it is available.

John

s. wallace

My Feedback: (24)

Photos in M.A.N. from 1967 show Mr Kraft with his Kwik Fli 3 and Enya at the World Champs. He may have run Webra's or whatever later, but when he won it all it was still the trusty Enya.

I agree with 8178 that to be competitive in SPA it would need the 91 4C, but a 46-60 2 stroke would be perfect for VRCS pattern! VRCS really captures the era from which the model is from. VRCS contests are held in Florida, NC, NY and Colorado...hopefully more to follow. Check out the VRCS web site for more info.

jjpetro

Two prototypes are currently being built/finished up. Then its on to test flights and finalizing prints, instructions, photos etc. Looks like March. Kitting these vintage/spa planes is a small home business for me, and, wouldn't you know, the other people in my home demand attention, too!! Balancing the home-life, day job, and designing/kitting planes gets tricky when there is only 24 hours per day. I'll drop a line in this forum when kits are ready.

jjpetro

See the prints mentioned in Richard's (Tweedy) response for tail feather drawings. I had downloaded a set of on-line prints and compared them to the originals about a year ago. I'm not sure if they were Richard's. I found the airfoil and some of the fuse dimensions to be slightly off from the original prints I had obtained from MAN. If I remember correctly the tail feathers measured ok.

The difference in dimensions could be due to many causes. A lot of fuss is sometimes raised over the accuracy of drawings. The CAD drawings I've created were painstakingly created by measuring every single line, arc, cricle, etc from the MAN prints I have. More than likely the ones I downloaded were too. However, every copier has a different scaling factor, along with humidity and temperature, and shrink rates of paper when exposed to heat. When I make copies of my original drawings for the kits it may take up to 7-8 tries to get the scale right on a high end Xerox large format copier. You could probably hand out 20 different MAN prints to 20 different CAD operators and come up with 20 slightly different reproduction drawings. That being said, I don't necessarily fault the other online drawings for accuracy when compared to my own.

Richard's drawings show an open frame rudder, the MAN print show a solid piece of balsa (Kwik Fli III).

tweedy

My Feedback: (1)

Just wanted to drop a note and let people know that the plans that I have posted on-line for the KwikFli III were drawn for my own amusement, and are not intended to compete with the plans jipetro is offering on his website. There are some liberties taken with the type of construction used in the leading edge, (my preference) the built up rudder is just something I added to the stylized side view to add interest, the airfoil is not traced but based on the original KwikFli III Coordinates. I do not think that building the plane from either source would be a problem with SPA competition. I really love this airplane and want to see as many in the air again as possible I'm sure Jipetro is going to put out a great product and I encourage anyone who want's a laser cut kit to use his service. My plans are for non commercial use only as a tribute to Phill Kraft and His great design.

Richard










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