Ready for a power plant on my wonder.I think I want a Norvel .25 but that muffler looks very low on the cylinder will I have to BUTCHER my fuse much.The fire wall is moved 1/2 back. Either the Norvel or the OS FX 025 whats easier???

Neither....

The Wonder is one of those planes you want to keep LIGHT. you want a light weight .15, the lightest .25 on the market is too heavy and will impair its performance.

I had a Wonder. It flew nicely on a .09. It did fine with a O.S. .15 FP. I strapped on an O.S. .25 FP ( a light .25... lighter than either you mention) and it was a total DOG. More power is NOT always better.

My wonder is all but covered. My question, since this is my first such plane, is how to land it? We fly off a compact DG runway, and I don't want to tear up the bottom of the plane. Any idea's on this? maybe a thin sheet of plastic across the bottom??

Any thoughts?

I am running the OS.15 on mine. Looks like plenty of power for such a light and small airframe....er...airplane!

RB

When the engine dies, you make a relatively normal approach and flair out... and let it slide in on the belly.

Carry a roll of clear packing tape and apply a layer or tow to the belly. Each landing check how much has been worn through. If you land in soft grass... little or none. If you land in sharp rocks you can take the belly out of the airplane. Pavement tends to wear through 1 layer of tape.

BTW... Find out the prop range for your engine. Ifyou want maximum aerobatics... you will want to use the long low pitch prop. If you want maximum speed you want the high pitch short prop... If you want a little of both then usse the ne in center of the range. Test fly it with the long low pitch. (safer for the airplane durring hand launch... it gives maximum accelleration and best climb rate)

Well, I gotta disagree with a 25 turning the Wonder into a dog. I have an OS FX.25 in mine and it is a rocketship! You had better be an experienced pilot if you want to try WOT with that combo!.

PS, set your prop so that it meets compression at the 3 o'clock position. That way, when you land, you can kill the throttle, and the wind will move the prop out of the way for you.

I think it's the first time in one year and a half of RCU that I will have to disagree with minnflyer's opinion




I have several wonder in .15 and .25 size, modified with rudders and also build with stock fins. I also made a twin wonder.
All of them are great flyer, but fly diferently. The .25 is of course heavier, so the aproach and landing speed are a bit faster and it fly only a bit more faster than a .15 one fitted with a good .15 LA
In my opinion, the wonder is the most funy when it's build how it has been designed by bruce tharpe. LIGHT with a .15. it will have unlimited verticals and a top speed around 70-80 MPH

the price to pay in wingload in order to accelerate this thick profile around 100 is in my opinion to heavy !
there are more judicious choice of plane to fly fast with a.25, but a 15' nimble flight with a 4oz tank and a gentle approach with your.15 powered wonder landing at your knees is something unique !

I heard of guys installing .25's and just beefin up the airframe a little. I even saw a video here on RCU of a wonder over powered and it looked like a blast. I know its not a speed plane, I got standard servos 3, a light .25 and want to look into the norvel and a little BEEF up. spar ect.

> We fly off a compact DG runway, and I don't want to tear up the bottom of the plane <

I don't what what "DG" is. But I flew my Wonder off of grass. I put a 1/32" plywood plate on the outside bottom of the fuselage. The plane was covered and then a strip of self-adhesive, non-skid tape was stuck on.

Keep the plane light. A .15 engine provides plenty of excitement and the plane will still have a lovely glide into landing.

On my first Wonder I had a Norvel,way to tempermental,might start, might not,my third and last Norvel, went to a .20 flew nice but couldn't move fast enough for our club combat,went to OSFX.25 and can catch them all! Plane was a blast,full speed made a 180 and the wing went tumbling through the air and the fuse became a yard dart .The plane flies great with the FX.25 but the wing hold down area needs to be beefed up or the wing will rip out on high G turns Also found out the Wonder isn't much on combat,first mid air and instant sawdust.[]

Read the kit instructions... the test pilots for Sig tried assorted engines... the little thing was designed for maneuverability, not speed. Its structure is designed around a .09 to .15.

Yes, you can improve speed with the bigger engine. but maneuverability suffers too much. (same roll rate at same airspeed but loops get big fast as weight goes up) Stall characteristics can get downright violent if its too heavy. Bad stall characteristics = broken airplane when trying to land it.

You can improve speed on anything with a bigger engine... but is it really an improvement when it rips the wings off?

I am thinking of putting the Norvel .15 AME, not the Big Mig on mine. sounds like this is the way to go to keep it light. Any use one of these engines on a Wonder? How does the Norvel AME perform in your opinion?

Thanks for the info
Allan

Ok, let me restate what I said earlier...

A 25 is not too big if you balance it a bit tail heavy to keep the loops tight. Mind you, this has now become an "Extreme" plane and this modification should not be made by the faint of heart, or the slow of fingers.

Pigman I have three Norvell's and I don't care for them,never know if they will start and if they do how long will they run,and yes I know what size engine the planes call for,but I would rather wake up and have fun with the .25,and as Minn said,if the plane is balanced it will boogie and turn with the best,I have three different wonders with different size pull power,I like the FX.25 the best,next time I'll try the .32.

Ok I got it. First I will go with a 15 but the la doesnt sound good whats a hotter light 15. aside from Norvel?
Then I can build another,but I have a shrike waiting in the wings. the wonder was a gift.

excuse me to disagree, but a correctly broken in .15 LA is one of the must powerful .15 engine you can find.
the .15LA is the only great engine of the LA serie, it fit the wonder perfectly and you will have unlimited verticals.

As I told u I have several diferent wonder and the most nimble and funy one is the .15 LA build light with 3hs81 servo, a hitec555 receiver, 600Mah battery pack and 4oz tank.

By the way I told u to not overpower your wonder, but I will continue to work on my 32SX powered shrike10 .

You talked me into the 15LA.

my building tips if you go with a .15 are simple. build stock, ecept that you may want to tri stock bottom each side of the stab to reinforece the aera xhere the fins are glued try to keep the final weight below 1.75 pounds and you will have a little funy bird

To keep weight down more... I used a 250 mah battery in mine. sure... I had to recharge after 2 flights... but TIGHT loops. Losing about 2 oz is a WONDERful thing

Then I took the hing and competed in R/C combat with .46 power Gremlins... and I was ALL OVER thier streamers. Sure they could RUN... but they had to come back. They couldn't HIDE. (I've been known to cut an opp's streamer when I was dead stick... Slow is not a problem in combat if you can out turn the opponent.)

Yes the 250 Mah is a great idea, I confirm, but I have always a trend to have the knees shocking if I don't have spare electrons. It will fly better with a small pack, but mine fly already great with 600 Mah


if you get the speed virus with your wonder you will maybe finish with this and have a turbine on order like me at the time being[>:]