Fifteen months in and my SMP is close to the finish line! It’s been quite a journey!

You will enjoy it, it’s a very nice flying model.
Don’t overpower it…

I powered it with a OS 46 (old school). I will post some pictures when I have 10 posts. It’s a forum restriction.

If you are talking about the Sig kit.....I worked there from 1976-78. Those are my hands you see in the instruction book! This is a photo taken at Sig field with me holding prototype number 2. It was the first one built with production parts, and the one being assembled in the instruction book. I was 21 then. Wish I still had that much hair! I was running a K&B .40 and a Kraft radio.

Good choice.
Mine had a .46 FX though I did feel that if I built another one (I plan to) I would use a .40

Jeff,
Thats unbelievable! It is the Sig Kit. I started one in 1980 and I realized it was over my head so I sold it with the wings built.
I always regretted that decision and I decided to put it on my bucket list. I found it challenging but having spent 45 years in the RC hobby I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and experience. I will post pictures soon. Thanks for sending the pic.

Robert

[QUOTE=Jeff Foley;12819375]If you are talking about the Sig kit.....I worked there from 1976-78. Those are my hands you see in the instruction book! This is a photo taken at Sig field with me holding prototype number 2. It was the first one built with production parts, and the one being assembled in the instruction book. I was 21 then. Wish I still had that much hair! I was running a K&B .40 and a Kraft radio.

Thats amazing Jeff! I hope Sig brings back the kits. Thanks for sharing. See my post below.

Jeff, that is pretty cool.
What a neat job to have at the age of 21

(Jeff, your named seemed somewhat familiar.. as in I had read of you or something. So, I took a peak at your public profile. Congrats on a just a few successful scale builds... And on a career in this industry)

Lol....thanks for the kind words. Yeah....I'm getting old and little slower, but I'm still slinging glue and wood chips. I have started rebuilding my 109 that won Top Gun a couple of times, and hope to fly it at the Nats this year.

Jeff

New guy here. Can I chime in?
Back when I was around 13 I ordered an Sig catalog. Two planes I fell in love with was the Smith Mini Plane and the Liberty Sport. Fast forward to the late ‘80’s and I jumped into the hobby in my late 20’s and just before I got married.
Somehow I never managed to tackle either of the two kits I desired during my RC “career” that I threw in the towel on back in 1999. A young family of four kids, wife working separate shifts = no time to get behind the sticks and fly confidently.

Here I am now retired, empty nesters and lots of time at home alone with the wife still working. I’ve been staying busy building plastic scale models.
Sometime around the first of the year I decided to start a bucket list. So far only one item is on the list. Get back behind the sticks and learn to fly confidently and build those two kits and fly them.

I’m starting out with the old Ace 4-20 with a Saito .30. Going to master it before moving on. I’ve already found a SMP kit and bought it. I grabbed a Saito 82 as well. Is this over powering it? I also have a Saito 56 I could use. And yes, it will be built and painted exactly like Sig had it in their catalog. But keeping my eye open for a Liberty Sport kit now.

Jeff, a big thanks to all you’ve done for the hobby!

I would use the .56 for the SMP and keep the .82 for the Liberty Sport (I am at the finishing stages of one, and it’s certainly a larger plane from the SMP, which I found slightly overpowered with my .46 two stroke).

I’m feeling a bid under educated here. Please explain to me how too much power affects the flying capabilities of the SMP? Slow speed characteristics like landing approach with too big of a prop spinning? Or not flying smoothly at higher speed?

To answer your question, for me an overpowered model means a model that at full throttle flies much faster than I feel comfortable flying it.
Yes, I am familiar with the argument that you can always close the throttle but the practical meaning of that is that you are left with a smaller throttle range than you would like.
So I aim to power my models such that I am comfortable flying the model at any and all throttle settings.
With a .46 I could climb to a ridiculous altitude for a stall turn and perform giant loops and generally at full throttle it could fly like a rocket which is completely uncharacteristic of the real SMP so if I build another one I intend to use a .40 two stroke.

You're certainly welcome.....but actually the hobby has done a lot for me as well!

As EF mentioned, I would probably use the .56 in the SMP as well. I flew mine on a K&B .40, which was a great engine at the time...but not exactly a powerhouse. It was more than adequate for that airframe. It is a lightly built model, and there is no need for the weight, stress and vibration of a larger engine. Plus, I would guess the .56 runs about a 12" prop? If you go much bigger than that, you will have ground clearance issues. You can always go back later and change engines if you want. The big advantage to four strokes is the muffler situation is much easier to deal with. Good luck with your project!

Jeff

I am in the process of ''re-starting'' to build my SIG SMP. I started building it in 2003, got the fuse and bottom wing done a the time, then life got in the way. I managed to keep it intact in the garage. Now that I have the time, I am back to it. I am planning to motor it with an old Saito 45 that I will tune with a Saito 56 cam gear. I have a long Canadian winter in front of me to complete the project.