Mike James

Hi everybody,

I just became aware that the "St. Croix" line of kits is being carried on by Fusco Aircraft. Their new web site just went up Monday. This includes the nice kits of the "Long EZ" and "Quickie". (Image attached, from their web site)

These are built under license from Burt Rutan himself!

Check 'em out at http://www.fuscoaircraft.com

Red_Jeepster

As far as the "LONG E-Z"......This is one odd bird to build. I built 2 of them in mid 80's from ST. Croix kits. I must say, the kit was perfect, just took a bit of thinking before glueing.
The included bits in this version are a bonus!
RIT dye does a good job of tinting the canopy any color you want.
A Dave Brown mechanical retract for the nose works well.

One bit of advice: This thing needs to land quick, so the smooth runway is almost mandatory!

Vampire

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Hello Mike:

It appears that you have a fondess for "Canard" type aircraft.

My brother, Keith Sterner, designed this very 1/4 scale "Quicke" model which was published in MAN and then he sold the mgr. rights to St. Croix.

It is an EXCELLENT flying model and very unique.

I also reconize your AVITAR as a Piago (spelling ?) P-160. I aquired the FACTORY 3 Views and the ENTIRE AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS MANUAL when they had a sales office in Whichta, KS. years back.

I also built an 18% Excat Scale Beech Starship-2000A
which was on dispaly at Toledo and The New York WRAMS shows in ' 95.

Still have it and is still flying !

Regards
Kerry J. Sterner
[email protected]

Mike James

Alright!

I've been wanting to make contact with you for a looong time, after seeing your gorgeous "Starship" on various Top Gun videos. How is it flying?

The 1/6th scale Piaggio P-180 is one of my pet projects, (The plugs are glassed and stabilized, just waiting for the final stages.) which I'll come back to after the 1/6th scale King Air B200 we're working on now.

I should receive my Long EZ and Quickie kits within a week or so, and will be posting a complete construction/flying article, both on my web site, and here on RCU. The owner, Val'a Fusco, is a great guy, with real integrity, and is committed to improving the existing kits, as well as developing some "surprises" that we'll all enjoy, in the near future. (Stay tuned to http://www.fuscoaircraft.com )

Kerry, I've followed your modeling for years. Great work!

Vampire

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Hi Mike:

Thanks for the kind words.

Please let me know if you need any additional information on the P-180.

I do have some color photos ofthe P-180 demo aircraft that I captured at Mojave in '91.

These photos include shots of the Main Gears and etc.

I will try and locate them in the next few days or so.

There was a "spin-off" smaller airplane design by a third party, I think its name is the AURORA. I will find the factory pic' of the prototype model as well as it is SWEEET. Also a twin turboprop pusher.

Keep up the good work.

Regards.
Kerry S.
[email protected]

Mike James

My pleasure, Kerry.

My philosophy with scale projects is that there's no such thing as too much documentation! I have all the documentation I need for building the SHAPE of the P-180 accurately, thanks to some engineers at Piaggio. But, exterior shots and details like you mentioned are always welcome, and will come in handy for scale accuracy. Thanks!

Please let us know (maybe start a new thread) what you're working on these days. You do great work!

Dago Red

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Heres my long ez.

pdansalvish

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Hi,

I still have one of the orginal St. Croix Quickie's in a box. This thread is making me want to pull it out and start building it. I haven't started it before because I was leary on fiberglassing the plane and it required a pump to be installed. I'm wondering if the updated kit still has these requirements?

Dave

Dago Red

My Feedback: (11)

Go for it , build it. I plan on rebuilding mine in a few months.

ronstew

Dago Red,

I want to build one of these Long-EZs. It would be my first RC aircraft. Once it is complete, I would probably buy a used trainer that I wouldn't have too strong emotional attchment to.

How much training would I need before being competent to fly this model with a reasonable chance of landing it intact?

(P.S. - I am a student Cessna pilot, which may or may not help.)

Dago Red

My Feedback: (11)

Id say that If you build it and then buy a used trainer, your best bet is to give it a year or so. Ive heard that they need some speed before take off. they also need some getting use to while flying it, since its backwards. If I was you, Id buy the trainer first, and while training start to build the long-ez. I f you have any other questions , let me know or email me.
Dago Red

Dago Red

My Feedback: (11)

I found out my long-ez is a St. Croix kit. I spoke to a guy at fusco Aircraft, and he said for me to hang on to it. I plan on rebuilding in about 2 month-depends on money and my Dago Red.

BirdBoy

I just got the blue prints for a 1/4 scale Quickie designed by Keith Sterner. I am a beginning builder and this is a project I want to work my way up to. Could anyone tell me about some of the flight characteristics of this model? thanks

Doug D.

I've got a Cresline Quickie that I built a few years ago but haven't completed, framed and glassed. The reason I haven't finished it was because I was told that I would have a rough time with take off and landings at our grass field. I've seen a couple of different video's of the aircraft where they take off from pavement and land on grass and always flip over.
Were all of them painted white? Ive only seen one of the full sized aircraft in photo's and it was white as all of the model have been. [&:]

Stickmaster

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Has anyone tried a 1/2 scale Quickie?

hsubman

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Ronstew,
I built and flew one of the original St. Croix Long EZ's I purchased at the Toledo Expo back in the late 80's or early 90's when the
kit was first introduced. As I recall, it was a very interesting model to fly! A very long take-off roll before enough ground speed was
attained to make the canard effective, at which time the plane wood suddenly jump into the air. It used the full length of our grass
field.
Once in the air, the model flew exceptionally well, very smooth. Although, because of it's unique configuration, complete concentration was required to avoid visual orientation problems. The wing has no dihedral and the plane will not recover in a
turn by itself. This is a model that has to be flown through every manuver, without taking your eyes off of it! I recall mentally
putting myself in the cockpit to maintain orientation. In a turn, or a roll, at any kind of distance, I remember all I could see
was the wiglets! One would go up and one would go down! Landings required a long low approach with throttle management.
Although not a difficult model to fly, I would say it's not for a beginner. It did get a lot of attention at the field! HTH

John

vt325xi

I ordered the Quickie from http://www.seattlemw.com/ the price was decent and I hope to be able to reuse one of my unused OS35 in it. I really like the looks of this model. It is definately unique.

camss69

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I had one a long time ago, never got to see it fly, sold it on RCOnline first....

N1EDM

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VT, could you show us some photos of it when you start building it?

Thanks,

Bob

vt325xi

No problem, I am also looking at putting my first 4 stroke engine in an airplane to see how that works.

sticks-RCU

My Feedback: (23)

Stickmaster,

I started on a 1/2 scale Quicky II a long time ago, I have the templates cut out for the fuse plug. I then got side tracked on a 45% Long-EZ and a slug of other projects. I wish I could get a feel for how many people would be interested in one of these two models. They are very large, but would have a fiberglass fuse with foam core wings. I have been working once again on the Long-EZ and have the plug for the fuse about 60% done. I have all the wing, canard and winglets ready to cut out of foam, I just need to get the canopy and canopy tray shaped so I can start to make the mold. Maybe one day I will get the itch for the Quicky II again, it is a very unique looking aircraft.

Stickmaster

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Great! what woud the engine choice for the 1/2 scale , I am looking for some plans to build the 1/4 or 1/2 . I have a cd with the plans to the real plane but it only offers some ideas.[]

sticks-RCU

My Feedback: (23)

I will have to check and see what I can find on the Quickie II. As far as power for the plane, I was hoping to power it with something in the 80cc range, but the size may require something a little bit bigger. Good luck on your venture, just talking about it gets me wanting to start up again. Maybe another day, for now I need to get the big Long Ez done. Please keep me updated on your progress.

Stickmaster

My Feedback: (22)

Ok after crawling the net for 2 days here is what I have found. www.rcstore.com selles the plans for the 1/4 scale quickie . Here is a link to the fullsized plans for free http://www.finleyweb.net/default.asp?id=100 And another here http://quickiebuilders.org/QBA05/qba_021.htm
I found a small eletric quickie arf for 80.00 and a 40 sized model arf just under 200.00 the link has been posted by vt325xi but here it is once more. And pics from the websites on the 2 planes. Hope to find and post more. I should have the plans in a week or two I will try to post a pic of them.
Later..............

Iflyglow

My Feedback: (79)

There was a fellow about 10-12 years ago flying a 1/2 scale Quickie w/G62 here in WI. The plane was awesome to see fly, and it was huge. You have to remember the full size only had an ONAN approx 18 hp. I was offered a complete full size kit w/engine back in the late 80's for free. The catch was I would have had to drive to CA to pick it up. I am still kicking myself in the a** for not getting it. I to have been looking for a while for a Quickie kit. There was a company selling a composite 1/3 scale Quickie around 1995, Just about the time I was going to place an order the add vanished. I had a saito 100 twin ready to put in it. A dragon fly version with conventional gear would be much easier to fly (Quickies like to ground loop). Then there was the Fusco f*** over. I allmost placed an order put instead watched the fiasco on here.