Hey everyone.

I have a very nice conundrum here that I will need help from the gracious people of RCU. Here's the deal.
I have 2 planes in at different stages of building but I only have the materials to build one of them. I will be using a newish YS 120 (10 flights and break-in) and 8231 servos. Basically, I want to be able to fly one of these planes for next year to intermediate while I build the other one. I need help in choosing which one I should build first since I can only spend about 1 hr a night working on the plane.

Plane 1: Naruke Silent ST from Pattern Tek. (Just a gorgeous plane)
What's been done:

- Firewall and Hyde mount already in place for YS 120 (Thanks Jimmy!)
- Wing tube already set and mounted. (again, Thank you Jimmy!)
- Wings/stab/rudder are sheeted.

What is needed:
- Wing adjusters
- Install the horizontal stab and control surfaces.
- Make holders for servos, etc.
- Install servos, engine, fuel tank, etc.
- Paint and cover.
- Header and pipe.



Plane 2: Chip Hyde Hydeout (full fiberglass body)

What's I have:
- Fiberglass fuse, cheeks, belly.
- Wing and stab cores

What's needed:
- This is basically a kit so I still need to get all the required items and such.


I'm leaning toward the Silent ST since it's "nearly done". Then again, the Hydeout would be an excellent ship that will be good for basically everything. Yet, it may be "too much plane" for intermediate. Then again, do you see what people are flying in this group? Also, the Silent is one heck of a beautiful plane and it would be a rare sight to see in a pattern contest. What do you guys think? Thanks.


Butch

Since you want to compete next year, finish the Silent first. It will be faster and easier, guaranteeing you are flying for next season. If you shoot for the moon and try to squeeze in a full build, Murphy (you've heard of him, right?) will often get in the way and you will be left watching at the first contest of the year... This way you can build the Hydeout and enjoy the experience instead of dreading it or being pressured to get through it with a contest date looming.

Doing the Silent first will also let you get practice time in for trimming that new plane and getting used to it's quirks before you have to fly it in battle.

Just my $0.02 (CND at that)


Mark

Thanks Mark. Yeah, I think you're right. The silent was the next plane I really wanted to fly after my Curare and Tipo. I bought this plane almost 10 years ago and just never got around to doing it. I'm not a good pilot by any means so I think I just want to max out at intermediate for next year and practice my butt off in the winter via simulator and F3P foamies. Good thing we have a pretty good group of guys doing pattern here in the Chicago area that help each other out.

B

I'll second that!! Finish the Silent and fly, fly, fly.... It is a great flying airplane and should perform the current schedules nicely especially in the lower classes. Plus it is much smaller than a 2 meter ship and will be easy to transport. If you need a back-up engine the YS 110 will fill the bill perfectly as it has more power than the original YS 1.20SF. You'll also get more flights to the gallon and pattern is about practice (effective practice!!); the more you fly the better you will get.
I really like the looks of the Silent. The only modification I would make is to change it to a tail dragger, preferably fixed gear.
Good luck!!
-Will B.

Oh definitely a tail dragger. It did have wells for retracts but I'm making a carbon/balsa/carbon plate for fixed gear installation. I'm also fabricating a carbon landing gear for it...actually glass/glass/carbon/glass/glass sandwich. Yeah, I would love to just go out and buy a new 110 but that's cost prohibitive right now. Next year while building the Hydeout, I'll have to 2-stroke it probably with an OS 160 and pipe. I was gonna go with a Mintor but I read some people here having problems with tuning and reliability.

I have to agree with you about the looks of the silent. I just love the smooth look and the flowing lines. The 120 is really shoehorned in there, just enough space for the required parts...haemostats required, definitely. I just hope that the fixed gear won't cause too many changes to the flying qualities.

I very clearly remember Jason Shulman's Silent back in the late 80's. Stunning ship! *GASP* at the fixed gear though... But i'm a big fan of retracts anyway, so take that how you will. Along with the beautiful presentation and flight characteristics of the Silent, were the inevitable comments about how fast it was... thus a bit of a challenge as you move up in the classes.

My personal offering to helping you make a decision is to finish the Hyde Out. It's very controllable in every pattern through FAI and is a much more simple kit to finish even if it is hardly touched so far. The Silent deserves the attention of a slow meticulous build and should be worshiped at the local contests as the standard all kits should rise to these days.. not rushed to finished and used at a trainer for the Hyde Out...

Put an amazing paint job on the Silent! 10+ comes to mind... ;-)

Enjoy!

Joe W.

Joe,

The Silent is definitely beautiful and worthy of a meticulous build and a beautiful finish. I'm thinking of starting a Silent ST build thread maybe here or the "Classic Pattern" forum since this was made when what we didn't have forums like this. I just finished a better inventory of things that I have and what I need to finish the plane and really, there's not much to do except to make trays to hold everything in the fuse as well as figure out if I want a double pull-pull for the elevators or maybe use DEPS.

I'm attaching a picture of the "kit" now and I'm starting a build thread. Finally, I can stop with my other projects for a while to make a something for myself.

Oh yeah, the plane behind the Silent is another one of my projects. Can anyone guess what it is? Hint...not an Extra, Giles, DR, or any of the really famous ones. Yet the plane has won a lot of competitions outside the US.

Hey there Dol,
I'm excited for you already! It looks like a great kit, though Jason's were the wood versions.. Perhaps MK kits?

i just saw your build thread and will certainly be checking in often. Enjoy!

Joe

I give up- please tell me more about that plane on the wall and where I can find out more info on it!

Dave

Joe,

Dude, thank you. I just hope the build will do the plane justice.

Dave,

The plane is called the Slick 360. It's made in South Africa and it seems to be doing very well in Advanced competition. I emailed the company/designer of the plane and they gave me permission to make it so now I have 2 plans (hand drawn), one for a 120 and one for 50 cc. I'm in the process of making it in CAD to CNC the pieces out. Hopefully, this will be another good project for next year after the Hydeout. If it flies well, why not give some to friends, eh?

Butch