ochsnm00

I’m an RC guy; I haven’t flown CL for 50 yrs. A friend gave me this partially completed kit so I finished it up. It has a symmetrical wing with a span of 34”. The wing is open so I originally glued and pinned the leading and trailing edges to the fus. That was too flimsy so I sheeted the center section and reglued it to the fus. It sort of has a P40 profile. Does anyone care to take a shot at identifying it? I used sewn hinges and I made the rudder adjustable. What is a good starting deflection for the rudder? How should a CL plane be balanced? Should there be weight on the right wing tip? That is a Fox .15 that has been lying around for 40 yrs. I am guessing at the proper engine size. I just got it running with an OS A5 and it pulls pretty well on 15%. I ordered a handle and 52’x.012 lines. How do you make the loops in the cable? I made the leadout loops by crimping brass fuel line. Is there a quick and dirty way to make a kill system or should I just measure the amount of fuel? Thanks for any help you can give.

Jim Thomerson

I'd say balance it at 10% chord to start out with. Maybe a little rudder offset, although rudder offset is much less used these days. Take a look at the AMA rulebook online for illustration as to how to do line ends. Do not use solder. Guess that it will take @5 sec to make a lap, and fuel it for about 10 laps for the first flight or two. Flying CL is said to be like riding a bicycle; you never forget how. I was out for some 10 years and didn't have much trouble getting back into CL.

paw080

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Hi OCH, I'll take a guess at identity; It looks like an AJ's 1/2A Stork. The kit was designed with movable flaps.

The next surprise is that it was designed for a Half- A engine. I've got one, built by Bare. It flew okay but it

was difficult to set the CG far enough back for optimum performance. He powered it with a PAW .049 BB diesel.

Let make make a stab at your questions:

#1 - When Bare added the required tail weight for optimum CG, that caused the wing loading to skyrocket and it resulted

in lousy performance. Besides, it was over powered with the PAW .049 BB diesel, which is much happier powering

250-260 sq" stunt models. Unhinge your rudder, glue the fin and rudder together, then glue it to your fuselage

with NO offset.

#2 - Set the CG anywhere between 15% and 20%.

#3 - Ballast the outboard tip with .5 - .6ozs weight

#4 - It's too late to use a different engine; your Fox .15 is too heavy, so you'll run into the same problem as Bare did.

#5 - 52' X .012" line is fine. No use complicating things, worrying about a fuel shutoff.


I think you should research cable end forming on various controlline forums such as Stuka Stunt Works.

For the readers of this post, the Stork is a decades old 1/2A stunt kit; with a smallish wing area of 190sq"s.

Then, that would have been perfect for the Cox Medallion .049. But it was really too small for TD power.

I mounted a pre-production CS .049 that is also nicely suited for the Stork. The C.S. .049 was the precursor

To Brodak's sport .049 engine. Have fun getting back to controlline flying.

Tony

Lou Crane

Ochs and Tony...

That looks like the baffle piston Fox 15, not the Schneurle. The baffle piston 15 - about 3.5 oz - is a lot lighter than the schneurle, but still a bit much for the wing area. The old baffle piston 15 isn't a powerhouse, but should be a lot for the model.

With a forward balance point to begin with, and fairly gentle and SMALL hand motions for control, it could be a groovy, fairly fast flyer.

The AMA Rules with the instructions for forming line ends are available to everyone, and are posted on their website;

http://www.modelaircraft.org/

The Control Line General section shows several "approved" methods. Probably the quickest and surest for you would be the crimped tube method. The tube should just barely fit the line going through 3 times- once outward, which is fed back through the tube, then once more going outward. For competition - and for anything else - the crimped ends in AMA's book can only be used on stranded cable, not solid wire.

Try to get the lines as equal as possible, so you won't have to fight to hold a comfortable neutral for level flight.

Welcome home! I usually add to Jim's thought about 'riding a bicycle' that you can pick it right back up, but you'll notice how wobbly you can be, and how much work it is. That wears off in very few flights, though.

There used to be quite a bit of CL activity around Lincoln, and a nice hobby shop a bit south of the downtown area. Haven't been there in about 40 years; things change. Up in Omaha, I believe the Orbiting Eagles are still active, and at least one guy I flew with then lives in Plattsmouth. When I was in Omaha, we had a big AAA CL Contest IN the SAC Museum Grounds at Offutt AFB!

ochsnm00

Paw, you are exactly right it's a 1/2A Stork(designed by Dwane Stork). I didn't think I would ever find out what it is. It seems to be a highly regarded plane. Here is an article from the AMA archives that mentions the Stork and the photo is from Brodak, they sell the kit. Maybe they would sell me a copy of the plans. When I got it the elevator was missing so I drew it out the way I thought it should be. That's why mine doesn't match the photo. Now I know that the flaps were missing also. At some point I'll add the flaps but I think it will fly without them. Right now it is balancing just forward of the spar. That is about 30%. I also have 1/2 A engines that I could mount in the plane but I think I'll make the first flight with the Fox.

paw080

Hi OCH and Hi Lou; Lou : I know it's the baffle piston Fox .15, but the Stork was designed for 1.5 ozs engines, not 3.5 ozs engines; and at this point, yes it will be

okay as a stable grooving control line comeback model.

OCH: Keep the current model as is, but do move the CG up to the 15% - 20% range. It will likely become an out of control oscillating jackrabbit at a 30% CG.

For your next C/L model, you'll be better able to select a design for newly generated expectations. enjoy your latest modeling interest.

Tony