TimC

I was given a Pole Star kit from the Simitar series today. The plans call for a .65 K&B Sportster engine. I have a .91 FX and a YS .63 available to use. Which engine would be a good candidate for this plane. Has anyone built this kit, and how did it fly? Thanks, Tim

MikeSell

My Feedback: (2)

I put a rossi FIRE .65 and tuned pipe in mine. It fits well. How fast do you want to go? A KB .65 is not a speed engine; It turns largish props at moderate RPM.

TimC

Not too fast Mike; more just tooling around the sky.

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Tim:

With the YS it'll still be fast. I wouldn't consider the OS .91, but that's me.

Bill.

MikeSell

My Feedback: (2)

The plane is very predictable. It gets more stable the faster you fly it. The one thing I found odd was its behavior inverted. Small amounts of down elevator made it climb as expected but more throw sends it out of control, spinning erratically. I guess the short coupling doesn't afford much stability.
By the way the Rossi takes it over 140 mph in level flight.

TimC

This plane might be above my pay grade. Mike, do you have any pics you could post? The box and instructions don't have any photos of the completed aircraft.

MikeSell

My Feedback: (2)

Mine is none to pretty. Foundryrat tried to sell it for a year and finally gave it to me to "get it out of his way." I have seen pictures of much more attractive specimens. I just couldn't beat the deal. I installed my engine on his mounts and was done.
I'll take a picture but remember it is a crude, cast off example.

jimlynn

I've got a really ugly one also. I've beat it up, dropped it, ran it through a pole doing a balloon burst at a funfly... It still runs. It's carrying about 5 lbs of Krylon paint on the wings and will get stripped and covered this winter. It and the engine (O.S. 70) are almost 10 years old now and still a hoot to fly. As stable as an arrow. The faster you fly it, the more "solid" the plane feels. It's almost impossible to stall, it just starts wallowing and bleeding off altitude. Easy to land even if you build it without the rudder.

I would build another one if I could find a kit or at least a wing kit.

Enjoy. I think I have an image here somewhere..... Since this picture, we've added the name "Frankie" 'cause it is now an official Frankenstien. Just for fun, it has a servo actuated hatch on the bottom of the fuselage (since it's mostly empty) and can egg drop, or push out parachuters. I even have a 36" parachute to stop the plan on a short field landing. It's a laugh to watch....

TimC

Thanks for the info and photo jimlynn. Thats a great idea about the drag chute. I'll bet that turned some heads the first time you deployed it. I just so happen to have a 70 in an old beat up trainer I could use for a motivator.

JZHANDYMAN

I AM INTERESTED IN GETTING A SET OF FOAM WINGS SO I CAN SCRATH BUILD A KIT WHEN CAN I FIND A SET TO PURCHASE

THANK YOU JOHN[ul][*] [*] [*]
[/ul][ul][*] [*] [*]
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Ed_Moorman

My Feedback: (1)

Funny this plane should come up right now. I found some old plans from RCM at a swap meet and my buddy & builder is going to do one with balsa ribs. He's not a foam fan and has 70 years experience cutting out balsa ribs. Yeah, that's right, since about 1937.

I'm also going to have him add a rudder with the servo on top of the fuselage with a pull-pull set-up. Probably forget that little curved cut out at the bottom rear of the fin and slice out a 3" rudder. With a rudder, I can do snap rolls, spins, etc.

No telling what engine we'll put in it. I may even go with a 4-stroke .91. I have a couple of Saitos not flying.

I wonder how a twin fuselage conversion would do? You could use two .46-.50 engines. A 12" center line spacing would up the span to 62", not too bad. Definitely have to shorten the nose a little, even with smaller engines, to get the CG in there. I had been thinking of a twin fuselage Shrike 40, but I don't like the small wing tips on the plane. The Pole Star might be a better choice for a twin conversion.

TimC

My kit is still in storage. I've shown it to several custom builders and they wanted no part of those sheeted foam wings.

Ed_Moorman

My Feedback: (1)

I think it's because they haven't done a foam wing before. I used to design a lot of planes and had a foam cutter. It seems like the longest part of doing a complete wing was making the rib templates. Once I had them, A friend and I could hot wire out a set of wings, lay on some carbon fiber, sheet and join it in an day easy. My buddy is 85 and still likes to do it the old way he is used to. Since he builds and I fly, I told him to cut ribs. the plans only have the root and tip ribs, but he says he can stack several ribs and carve them out.

wesaysoracing

dont know much about the pole star but can comment on the desparado series , i currently have a desparado 60 with a super tigre 91 on it, it is quick but is a fun to fly and very stable

TimC

I have a Simitar with a Webra .50. It flies great but is a little tricky to land. It comes in hot. I've got it down to about 3 bounces now.

crashfix612

I built a desporado 15 years ago cool plane flew great and looked neat with the anhedral wing. I still have the plans & the foam cutter Hmmmm might have to build a new one!!

acobra

My Feedback: (40)

Does anyone know where I can get cores for a Simitar Slo-Motion? I've e-mailed Bill Evans at [email protected] but get no response. I just finished one that I had cores for from way back and now 2 mors club guys want me to build one for them.
acobra

Ed_Moorman

My Feedback: (1)

Does anyone know the name of the airfoil Bill Evans uses? These days foam cutters want a data file of the airfoil.

TimC

Ed, this quote is from another web site. The link didn't work for me.
"From what I've dug up so far, it looks like the airfoil Bill Evans used was similar to an ESA40; here's a link to one page in the NASG Airfoil Database on it:

http://www.nasg.com/afdb/show-airfoil-e.phtml?id=1160

Looks like a good flying wing airfoil with a reflexed trailing edge; no horizontal stabilizers were used, but very large vertical stabilizers were always used in Bill Evans' designs. Here's a link to a thread with a lot of his plans:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=502443"

This quote is confusing because at another site, ESA is said to stand for Evans Simitar Airfoil.

Ed_Moorman

My Feedback: (1)

There's been a lot going on since I posted on this forum.

The ESA40 air foil stands for "Evans Simitar Airfoil 40 size."

I found some plane and have completed a Pole Star and flown it. It is an excellent plane, better, it is a great flying plane. It's fast-I have a Tower .75 with an 11-8 Rev Up prop in mine. It is very stable-goes right where you point it. Also very nice at slow speed. Does all the acro. I even got a nice flat, inverted flat spin. Lands nicely on the mains.

I also found his phone number and spoke to Bill on the phone. He no longer makes kits, but will cut wings. He is going to visit grand children for a couple of months in Indiana and Texas (he lives in California) and will be back about the first of July and will cut some wings then. I plan on getting a couple myself along with some wing sheeting, double sided tape and some of his X-hinge. He has a Pole Star twin fuselage version that I am planning on. From what I can calculate, it has a 14" center section and uses two .46s. Two .75s would probably be nose heavy as heck.

barrelracer

My Feedback: (99)

I heard the other day AMA is offering foam wing core for their plans ,another place is McClain wing cores or McCain I am not sure about the spelling but he does advertise in RC Report in the back section .If it is a RCM plane he might have a set of plans to cut the coes.I have 4 of his planes flying now with about 4 more in kits

Hotrcair

My Feedback: (1)

Tim C
You will love it no matter what yo power it with. Here is a picture of a Bill Evans plane that is at least 15 years old. powered with a strong 61. Still flys.

Hotrcair

My Feedback: (1)

Tim C
I forgot to post hte Picture of the Bill Evans plane

TimC

That's a nice looking plane Hotrcair. What is the name of that Bill Evans plane? Is that long dorsal fin part of the design, or did you add it yourself? Which .61 did you use? When I finally get retired, I might tackle the Pole Star kit. I have a vacuum pump for auto air conditioning that I might could rig up with a vacuum bag to squeeze the sheeting for the wings.

Ed_Moorman

My Feedback: (1)

Over on RC Groups, Claude Vest from Indiana has posted scanned copies of all of the Bill Evans articles. The thread is 6 pages long so you'll need to look through it. The planes start around page 3. Look up the Tracer. It is the long tailled one designed for pattern.
[link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=502443]Evans planes[/link]