Why do we need the turtle deck for?
Does it contribute anything to the flight characteristics of the airplane?

I built sig mid stars, four stars and now GP ultra sport 60 all got turtle decks and canopies, and let me tell you these canopies are a source of complications and trouble, scratches, hard to mount them clean, oil can get there, difficulties during covering not to mention the drag and weight.

I understand canopy and turtle deck adds beauty and realism to the airplane but if that’s their only contribution maybe a bubble canopy is beautiful enough.

Thanks
Alex

Also adds protection for the pilot(s).

Trust me, you want the turtle deck on the Ultra Sport. It's probably the biggest reason why the plane flies so well in knife edge. The Ultra Sport and the Kaos are pretty similar planes. In fact, they are almost identical except for the turtle deck (and a couple of other very minor differences). The Kaos is "so-so" in knife edge, while the Ultra Sport is "OUTSTANGING" flying knife edge.

I know that the turtle deck is a royal pain the rump to build, but trust me it's well worth the effort. It's one of the things that makes the Ultra Sport such a great flying plane.

Ken

OK thanks for the clarifications, the turtle deck stays, well also the canopy it brings along for the US 60.

Now I know that I could get along with balsa canopy but my airplanes become more sophisticated and real like, so im stuck with the canopies I guess.

Alex

My Kaos was able to knife edge, it just didn't do it very well. The flat narrow fuse is stable but Bridi made some changes to his other designs and the knife edge was improved A lot by adding the turttle deck and making the fuse wider. This is what I had to do to pretty up my Kaos knife edge. Is it cheating?? Well, yes but it adds something new to cross wind landings!!

Thanks guys,

that dorsal fin looks nice, how helpful is it on cross wind landings?
i'll build my US with the turtle deck, but maybe add a bigger dorsal fin, we dont fly when there is cross wind at our field.

Alex

What he said. In a knife-edge the main source of lift is from the fuselage side at a high angle of attack. The more surface area on the side of the fuselage, the more lift.

The Dorsal in A cross wind???? Well, does the term weather vane mean anything to you?? A Kaos is so long that it weather vanes in A light breeze. Add that Dorsal and when I fly in A heavy cross wind the plane comes in looking at me. So, the Dorsal is no help at all in A cross wind and if you aren't ready for it then it's going to bite you very hard right where it hurts the most!! What it does is add the side lift that is required to do A nice knife edge. To that end it is perfect and works very well. This and one other little plane are almost always with me so they get A lot of air time and they both tend to be the most fun planes I have to fly. Bigger fly's better but my 60 size get flown the most!!! At A couple of fields here if you don't fly in A cross wind then you would never fly at all. Vegas is A very windy area and the local fields wern't designed by RC pilots so you take what you can get!! We do have some very nice looking women in the area though!!![8D]

Weather vane, is this when the airplane somehow points his nose into the wind without me intending to do so?

Ok now I understand better how I almost flipped crashed my plane into jets although I passed them about 30 ft…

I don’t fly in cross wind because of two unique spots at the field, these spots don’t have vegetation near them so in a cross wind on approach for landing with a 40 size airplane you get a very nasty surprise wind gust and of all of a sudden your airplane is flipping over and slamming into the concrete….

“what don’t you see the field champions don’t fly in cross wind so you are going…�

Beautiful women?, hmmm... nah i'm married to a woman that allows me to build in the living room....

Thanks
Alex

You told your wife you wanted to move there just for the warm weather didn't you?

I'll pass on a tip from the scale model building guys. Future floor (wax). If your canopy is scratched during building or shipping just dip it in future, remove it, catch drips with a facial tissue or paper towel by just touching the drip itself. Hang it up to dry for an hour or two and ta da - no scratches.


Bill

Chuck, in A million years I would have never thought to move here. Mater of fact I would have never thought to move to Mariposa either. My wife is in charge of all our new adventures and she came up with this one too. The weather really does help the old bods though, it only took two days and I was walking upright again. Great deals on show tickets right now!!!
As my advanced flight instructor always told me, you have to learn to fly in any and all kinds of weather or you could be grounded A lot. Learning to land in A cross wind is just something you have to learn. When the wind is blowing here I often have one field all to myself. I have my own way of doing it and it works very well for me. That old Kaos is A total hoot in the wind. Never seem to be any show girls around when I'm flying though!!

I've seen the wind blow so hard down there, you wouldn't even have to start the engine to see the plane fly. One of these times when I'm in the area I'm going to visit a flying field. It just seems that I'm always there on a work trip and have no time or the other half has me doing other stuff.

You should invite the entire cast of Crazy Girls there at the Riviera. I'm sure they'd be really impressed.

Gray Beard,
Ok, I can't take it any more. I just have to ask. I've read all of you posts for awhile now and it's driving me up the wall. Why do you capitalize all of the "A's" when you type????

Enquiring minds want to know.

Ken

We discussed this topic over in the aerodynamics forum (just Kaos turtle decks, not the show girls). One thing I learned from Dick Hanson (Tiporare designer) is that he discovered the famous tail wobble of the Kaos is the result of turbulence off that bubble canopy buffeting the fin/rudder. Gray Beard, did the dorsal mod cure that?

I've accumulated the wood, hardware and a US60 canopy to do a little turtle deck mod to my Kaos for better knife. I plan to make it a bit lower than the US60 design to reduce the hit to frontal area. It was built in the '80's and needs some upgrades to the tail like pull-pull rudder while I have her opened up. I can do a quickie thread in Kits if anybody is interested?

I already shot Ken A PM, something I was taught in the first or second grade, all single letters like A or I should be A cap, some things in life I can't seem to shake. None of my Kaos planes had A tail wobble unless I let the rudder go too fast or at the wrong time. None of mine ever have had A canopy until now and that's just because I found one hidden away and it took to the dye. The Dorsal has made the plane track better and hold the knife edge without doing A quick drop. I have my old 120 Kaos getting ready to get back in the air again. If it's any fun I will do A rebuild with some mods and new covering. I have the plans for the Sunfli and Daddy Rabbit plus A few more hidden away so I may just start over from new and scratch out something. I keep saying that but keep doing other things??