JacekMaz

Hey Guys,

I have recently received a plan of this floatplane. The guy who gave it to me has built a beautiful model (without covering yet) out of it. Of course I am seriously interested in building that plane myself. Therefore: Does anyone have informations about the plan? Construction tips, flying characteristcs ... everything is welcome!

Thanks,

Jacek.

dhansen

Hi Jacek

I've been thinking about building one myself but something a little smaller than the ziroli version. (I have the Ziroli plans.)

Do you know the history of the Swoose? It was designed in the late 30's or 40's as I recall to be flown as a free flight. The float arrangement is quite different from current conventional designs to better suit the flying characteristics of a free flight model. I am tempted to change the floats slightly to a more conventional shape and location. Ziroli's seemed to work fine though so who knows? Maybe it would be better to leave them as is.

Not sure when I might start building one. Too many other projects to choose from.

Good luck. I'd like to hear how you are doing with yours.

Dennis Hansen.

JacekMaz

Thanks for your posting Dennis,

that is a lot of stuff that I didn't know off!

Just like you I don't really know when I will start to build "the swoose". I have some other projects going on right now, but I an confident that I will start by the end of the year and have it flying next season!
I intend to make the floats replaceable with a normal landing gear, so I have more flexibilty when it comes to where to fly from. Also, since this is my first sea-plane, I thought about making the first starts from soild ground to get used to the airplane.
I probably won't change the size of the airplane, it seems to be just the size that is still transportable but not nervous in flight.
As for motorization, I thought about equipping it with a LRK electric motor (which might fit in terms of noise level to a sized-up rubber-powered oldie!). The guy I have the plan from had a 4-stroke engine built-in, which is probably also a good combination. Covering will probably be SIG Koverall.
You have made some interesting comments abouts the floats, maybe you could tell me more about it (again, my first sea-plane...)?

Maybe we could exchange E-Mail adresses and keep each other informed about building/flying progress. I will make some digital photos of the building progress and send them to you (or post them) if you want to!

Have a nice weekend,

Jacek.

RobStagis

That plane is too cool! From all reports it flies well. Good luck and post pics!

4Stroker

My Feedback: (33)

I have a friend that built one of these many years ago and, as I recall, did not have much luck with it. Seems it came out rther heavy and he could not get it to sit correctly in the water. You may want to consider keeping it as light as possible i.e. replacing birch ply with light ply, hollowing bulkheads, lightweight covering where practical, espcially in the tail. It was a good looking model but I don't think he ever got it to fly. BTW, this friend is out of the hobby now but was an accomplished builder and flyer. Hope this helps, and good luck.

boberos

A fiend of mine just finished one.
They are fine fliers but heed the advice about weight.
My buddie's has a Fox 50 for power plus a pound of lead in the nose to balance it. So build the tail section lighter than light.
Good luck ,
Bob G

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Here are a few pics of one that I have redesigned as an Electric version of the plane. It is not quiet finised yet but you can see what it looks like. Mine will weigh right around 16 ounces AUW when finished.

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another pic...

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Bob Talley

Just so all you young-timers know, the name "Swoose" came from a popular nonsense song of the early forties. It was called "Alexander, the Swoose"

It seems that Alexander was, according to the words of the song, -

"- he was half swan and half goose. Alexander was a Swoose."

The song was made popular by the band leader Kay Kyser and sung by Skinny Ennis, if my memory serves me right.

Bob T.

Mike Denest

My Feedback: (1)

And don't forget the B-17D "The Swoose", a veteran of the early Japanese conquests in the Phillippines. The airplane was patched together from several other aircraft, thus the name. It now resides at the NASM Paul Garber facility in Silver Hill, MD.

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Thought I would add a few pics with the finished covering.

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