https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=mDxLu0Hu8ds In 1997 I built its little brother and dropped it 100 times off the back of a Byron pipe dream. Flying the pipe dream with a Q 35 on it was the challenge. The Shuttle flew well but you had to put the nose down to get it to glide anywhere.

Here is a pic. of the two shuttles………. Back in the day I even purchased an official shuttle pilots uniform. I only wore it a few times flying the shuttle. I will have to find it and put on for a picture.

A scale planform will glide and fly just fine, so long as you keep the wing loading down. No need for a flying brick. What a scale version does have is a pile of drag from the blunt rear end, but that is just the way it is.

As for starting, I have useing a small 2.5gallon air compress from harbor freight with no issues for starting

OK so its not exactly an official space shuttle uniform. It is just the official shuttle pilots head gear for our flying field. ……….. Just having a little fun.

a byron pipe dream! never seen one of this flying.. very cool.

I bought in my visit to cape kennedy a patch of the 100th shuttle flight some years ago. I saw the uniform in the tourists shop but guessed that my wife wouldnt allow me to use it..LOL

About 10 years ago, I had a student that built a .46 glow size Shuttle. It was the hardest thing that I have ever maiden and flown. I am not sure where the plans came from, but think RCU or AMA. Maybe the plans could be enlarged to help?

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2150369http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2150370http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2150371http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2150372http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2150373http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2150374

The plans came from RCM.

http://pulling-gz.blogspot.com/2013/02/space-shuttle.html

I replumbed the fuel tank with some Viton tubing. The regular old neoprene was starting to get hard. The fuel tank is a 1 gallon syrup jug. It is thicker than a dubro tank. All the hoses are friction fitted through the tank.

It was my shuttle that Gaspar & John Wright mentioned. The model is as scale as I could find drawings for except the fuselage is 25 mm too narrow. Flies very well now the CG is fixed, & aileron throws reduced. It uses a Super Sport engine & the U/C is positioned in a position to allow take off (the scale position is way too far back)http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151335http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151336

Here is how i came up with my shape. It is all foam cut except for the nose. Bulkhead A and B cut out a mail box shape, ( the cargo bay area). Bulkhead C and D made a loaf of baked bread shape( the engine compartment). The wings , leading edge extensions, and vertical stab. were straight forward foam cut parts. The foam parts in the picture were from the first one I cut out in 1997. It was hand launched to figure out the CG.

I sealed the fuel tank with some epoxy and fiberglass. I also made a few battery trays to make the batteries easily removable.

My model is 'Lite ply' balsa fuselage with foam wings. Span is 1220mm (48"). Controls are: ailerons outboard, elevators inboard, engine speed, retracts & brakes, opening cargo doors by radio. Some years before, I made a 24" span model to be carried 'pick-a-back' on various models, this flew dozens of times at various shows in the UK.http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151413http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151414http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151415http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151416http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151417
First pic with chuck glider to find CG. 4th pic shows turbine model & pick-a-back model. 5th pic shows dummy tail pipes & open cargo doors.

Where's your air inlet? Hidden on the black fuse bottom?

Yes, holes in underside & covered with gauze (to prevent FOD) painted black so you can't see them when its flying.

I hope everyone keeps flying their model space shuttles. We can keep it alive in our own little way. It was so sad to see the program end. I could not understand when people were cheering as the remaining shuttles were piggybacked to their final resting places. I was thinking " We have no more manned space program". It is even more of a joke needing to rely on the russians for a ride to the ISS…………………Anyways I finished the battery trays so they come out with one screw.

if you need help with the mercury i converted 6 AMTs from airt start to electric start.

Thanks for the offer. I will try manually starting the engine for the time being. Are there any issues with using a 2S lipo on the ECU? The old AMT nicad was leaking so I got rid of it.

2S lipo is fine.

After tripping over this for so many years, I am going to throttle down my ambitions and put some shortened fixed main gear in it for a positive AOA.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...d3a6a6df2a.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...2627b7dc70.jpg

Probably calculator was in use to make this video, great job Joe

I flew the shuttle this past Thursday. The mercury came out and I installed a Swinwin 80. The all up weight was 27 1/2 pounds. A little heavy for a four foot wing span. It was nose heavy and took every bit of 400' to get off. you can't see the landing very well but I slid it in.It came down fast when I reduced the power. A gallon of fuel is too much. I stripped everything out and will reset the CG with 60 oz of fuel, move the engine forward, and eliminate whatever i can along with some nose weight. I am closing the air intake on the bottom and will move them to the sides. Maybe put some blow in doors on them eventually. Sorry about the rotated video. I will try to get better video on the next flight.

I sorts forgot about this thread. After a few years of trial and error I finally got this thing flying OK.

Very nice!!!!