smoknrv4

My Feedback: (11)

I scored this old Midwest Products kit from the sixties, from a fellow club member, its called DELTA HUSTLER XD-7, Its probably something I would never build, but it is cool, for one thing they call for .19-.35 engine, but after looking at the plans, I would fly it with at least a .35 size engine, its big, another thing the airfoil is thick it looks like about 3inches at the thickest point.
Check out the Zippers that come with it for the top hatch, never seen that before, interesting.
CHeck out the pics
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9050283/tm.htm

pd1

If I remember correctly, the .19 was for racing. The larger engines were for sport flying.
It's a great sport flyer.

Deltas were penalized compared to conventional planes for racing.
The wing area had to be 50% greater than a plane with a fuselage.
That's why it's so large.

ukengineman

I remember the Hustler well. I flew one in the late 1960's with a Super Tigre ST60 (yes it was fast) and F&M Digital 5 radio. I had some success with it in open pylon racing events. It finally came to grief when trying a low downwind turn with a dead motor, it flicked out of the turn and crashed.

RFJ

A surprisingly old design the Hustler - published MAN March 1962.

Ray

pd1

Here is a contemporary of the Hustler.
This is a Sidewinder now electric powered and a sport flyer.

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

Ray....


The .19 Veco engine shown on original plan was about as hot and large as permitted during the era. There was a AMA class for .15 powered aircraft. I used a more modern Veco on mine, with muffler.

One thing is that the extra thick hump of the airfoil was because the only suitable servos at the time were Transmites. And a Transmite was rather large.


Wm.

smoknrv4

My Feedback: (11)

Lots of good info here, this is what I fly right now, its a scratch built Sceamin Demon, by Mikes RC he sells the kits now. Goes like grease lightening, love it.

Cherokee Flyer

If you build it, they call for reflex in the controls, don't put less than they say. Don't ask how I know!! It will fly, just won't climb!

L.

50+AirYears

I spent almost 20 years building one from the MAN plans. For the heck of it, I mounted a Fox .45. Apparently, during a high speed turn on the maiden flight, the output shaft on a Kraft KPS-14 I was using for elevator broke. Splat!

I understand the center rib pattern was also used for one of the Snoopy Doghouses. With the Hustle plans, and a copy of the original MAN doghouse article, maybe a future project.

wizzinbya

Ahh...the Delta Hustler. I remember the first time I saw my Dad fly his and I was amazed. It had a Veco 19 in it and it was a screamer. I don't know what happened to it but he was always buying 2 or 3 kits at a time and I am lucky enough to have one of them. It is complete and wood is all good, would never sell it on ebuy as that would be a crime. These kits were never meant to sit on the shelf and I will build mine and fly it too. I just might put a Veco 19 in it as I have several of them and I believe one of them was from the Original. More than likely though, I will electrify it. With todays radios and programming features, it should be a breeze to fly it. The one thing I will not do is put zippers in it, a small hatch with magnets will replace those. Who knows, it might be a long enough winter this year and if I get my Brand Spankin New 46 yr old Taurus outfitted with radio, I might have time for the Hustler.

Buildem Flyem Trynottocrashem

CoosBayLumber

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On mine a few years ago, I used the older DuBro stackable muffler system on the Veco 19. No noticible HP difference between with and without it on. Used small sheet of thin plywood to radio "Door" and steerable nosewheel too.

Wm.

50+AirYears

If that DuBro Stackable muffler was the old Muffleaire I, I believe it. I have a few that I still use on older engines. I was at the Toledo show shortly after they went out of production, and was told by the DuBro rep that they stopped making them because they could be so effective people thought they were restricting engines way too much. My old tach and sound level meter showed they did a better quieting job with less RPM loss than many of the stock mufflers. Of course, most people never knew how much the stock muffler held back power becuse they never tested with and without, and using different mufflers on a given engine.

My Hustler didn't last long, but for the couple turns and single loop, I was impressed just how stable it was. It went exactly where it was pointed.

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

So, that is what went on then. I thought the competition and beating of the magazine by the large cast aluminum muffler groups did them in.

I have one of the last era versions of a DuBro muffler. It may then be too quiet.


Wm.

50+AirYears

I also have a couple of the Muffleaire IIs with the internal spring, and didn't think they did quite as good a job as the Muffleaire Is. Sometimes I think another thing that contributed to the demise of the Muffleaire line was the need to file down the hard steel locating plates which keyed the muffler to the engine stack, as well as the engine mfgs almost unanimously including stock mufflers with the engines. Install with a couple screws, no fitting, no trimming.Also, most of the Muffleaires I have installed show some distortion of the key slots in the soft aluminum.

If you fly within a mile of two or neighbors today, there is probably no such thing as too quiet. In fact, some years ago at my club's previous field, we were having a bit of a problem with a neighbor over noise. On a couple occasions, I noticed a local police cruiser stopped on the side of the road, with an officer out with a sound level meter. That stopped after a couple sessions, since at the time I was flying Hand Launched and High Start gliders. Quieter than any powered plane, even electric.

We eventually solved the situation, and he returned to bringing his kids over to the field to watch, although he himself sort of stayed out of sight. He grew up across the street from the field, and there were other personality conflicts involved in the dispute. Ended up we were always well withing the community sound level statutes, but we improved our compliance, even though it got a couple of our large gas engine guys a bit upset.

warbird51

My Feedback: (12)

I scratch built a Midwest Delta Hustler from plans back in the late 70"s It was powered with a OS .25 and it had Goldberg retracts. I side mounted the engine and cowled it in. It flew real well, but needed a little more power IMO. It's in storage now. Maybe I ought to look into putting in a outrunner electric in it. I'm flying a Delta Vortex and a Shrike 40 currently.

BruceTharpe

My Feedback: (1)

I designed the Delta Vortex ten, maybe twelve, years ago. When I first started showing it at trade shows, it was surprising how many guys commented that it "looks just like a Hustler!". Even though I liked to read about and study older R/C sport designs, I had never come across that particular model. Somebody finally sent me a reprint of the article, and they are certainly similar. Then again, aren't all deltas in a way? The Hustler was definitely a cool model. I hope you guys that have them build them!

Delta Vortex info: http://www.btemodels.com/vortex.html

50+AirYears

Kind of funny about the power the Hustlers could handle. My original MAN plan shows a Veco .19 for pylon racing. I built mine for a Fox .45. I've seen pictures in mags showing .60s.

IIR, an article in MAN on one of the Snoopy Doghouse stated that the root rib from the Hustler was the basis for the Doghouse.

At Toledo about 7 or 8 years ago, I was one of the people who mentioned the resemblance of the Vortex to the Hustler.

MJD

My Feedback: (1)

Back then, "racing" with .19 powered deltas the size of a garden shed door sawn across the corners wasn't quite what you'd see today at a local Q500 event. Those deltas are now what we'd call .40-.60 size. On the bucket list for me is to build one of my deltas extra lightly and drop a hot .15 on it - just an experiment with the old AMA deltas in mind. I have one nearly framed for a lekkie motor that is boring me and it might just get this treatment, I was fondling it and thinking about that just 3-4 days ago.

So J you better copy those plans and make templates and build that bad boy! I have a Veco .19 you can use.

MJD

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

I think at the time the kit was new, the rules were such for Pylon racing that you had to use a .19 or .15 to get in to an official AMA race. The max SI was based upon which engine was chosen too. Just look at all the older glow engine advertisements for what was appropriate power in what class/catagory.

Was a big rundown on this in the early 1960's era flying magazines.


Wm.

MJD

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I'll see what I can find in my magazine piles. AFAIK these deltas were rocketing around at 70-75 mph or so.

MJD

MJD

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Here's an old thread on the subject - and yes, 2.5 mile course times were above 2 minutes, so 75mph average would be a hot speed with one of these.

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6491541]Old AMA pylon deltas[/link]

MJD

My Feedback: (1)

From MAN May 2001, by Hal deBolt, found it on an articles posting site at [link=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3819/is_200105/ai_n8949181/]History of pylon racing[/link]

THE BEGINNING

Like most things, RC competition began in a small way. In 1956, the AMA held its first competitive event, and Chet Lanzo took top honors with a 2 1/2-minute program that included two controlled turns. It took 15 more years for a contest maneuver schedule to emerge, and at about the same time, our urge to race with RC became obvious.

Early AMA pylon "races" involved only one plane flying against the clock around two pylons for four, 1/4-mile laps. Because radios weren't very reliable, few of us were confident enough to risk the required low, precise flight!

With the arrival of citizens band (CB), the RC hobby was accessible to a multitude of modelers, and increased demand for RC equipment soon led to developments that made it more reliable. RC contests featuring rudimentary maneuvers became commonplace. There was still one hurdle to be overcome: only one contestant could fly at a time, so during a day, there wasn't time for any pilot to fly more than once or twice. To ameliorate the situation, contest organizers scheduled two simultaneous events. With the addition of pylon racing, entrants could fly several times-usually more in pylon than in stunt. This was still "AMA pylon"; most flew their sport planes, or even their stunt-pattern craft.

Interest in pylon contests led to the development of special pylon racers, and rules soon called for two sizes with specified wing areas:

* for up to .15 engines and 350 square-inch wing area;

* for .19 engines (the more popular) with 600 square-inch wing area.

In those early AMA pylon days, the goal was to complete the course in 3 minutes, racing only against the clock; today, 1 minute is the goal for the 2 1/2-mile pylon course.

The first license-free CB spot was 27.255MHz, but the popularity of RC flying impressed the Federal Communiications Commission so much that it opened five frequencies on the 27MHz band. Having five frequencies allowed planes to race alongside one another, and these early, rudimentary, unofficial races showed potential.

RC racing was modeled after full-scale events: the early Bendix Air Races inspired the Cleveland Air Races and the Reno Races, and the full-size "pylon polishing" racers attracted huge crowds to these events. We enjoyed the Cleveland Races for decades, but then dramatic and tragic crashes-caused, in part, by skyrocketing speeds led to a concern for public safety and, ultimately, the end of the event-a disaster for the speed merchants who wanted to know how they could continue to race; in fact, there was so much interest that a group formed a committee with the idea that racing could be both exciting and safe. Its members proposed a new class of racing with new restrictions; for example, only stock Continental BS engines would be allowed, and aircraft size would be limited. But ideas are nothing without sponsors, and that's where Goodyear stepped in.

From there, it's history. The Goodyear Air Races caught on and, when no longer sponsored by Goodyear, became the "Formula One" races.

50+AirYears

Somewhere in my collection of mags and copies of articles, I have a small drawing of an early non-delta pylon racer by either Bill Winter or Ken Williard. Drawing showed a K&B 0.09, apparently very large downthrust to control altitude, since the plane had a flat bottom airfoil, and a single channel radio with a bBabcock SE-2 escapementgiving rudder and a kick-up elevaato. No other control. I can imagine how much fun it would be racing something like that.

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

Much of my information mentioned here came from an article about twenty years earlier. Long before Q500 or Goodyear was incorporated in to the schedule.

I do happen to have the original plan for the RACER by DeBolt that was dated 1967 and I thing Nagy (of Arizona) now has a copy of. It was designed for one of the new K&B rear rotor .40 glow engines.



Wm.