This plane approaches the size limit for indoors, but is a great
indoor subject none the less. About 400 turns is the max or the
plane will bounce repeatedly off of the ceiling. The "24" is also a great tow plane for the Sorta-Schweizer (see below). The plane is from
a Herr kit (an excellent laser cut model) with much of the balsa replaced
with thinner and lighter wood. The beautiful laser cut parts made
excellent patterns for duplicating the replaced pieces. Video
wingspan: 76 cm
weight: ~38g without rubber
power: 2 strands of 3/8 inch
design: modified Herr kit.
built: 2002
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Fokker DVII
A plane that I haven't flown enough to get trimmed properly.
This wings are covered with Japanese tissue which has a lozenge pattern
printed on it from a colour inkjet printer. Printing with a colour printer
is quite simple: attach the tissue to a sheet of paper at the top with a
bit of glue slick and print on the lightest possible setting. At coat of
matt krylon keeps the colours from running. Video
wingspan: 51 cm
weight: ~37g without rubber
power: 2 strands of 1/8 inch
design: John Cooper
built: 2002
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Hawker Hurricane
The plane flies nicely around the gym in a large stable circle. It is covered with
Japanese tissue on the top surfaces and silver domestic tissue, reversed
on the bottom. The back side of the silver tissue gives a pretty good
shade of light gray that is quite opaque.
wingspan: 48 cm
weight: ~18g without rubber
power: 2 strands of 1/8 inch
design: ?
built: 2001
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Auster MkIV
A nice little flyer, capable of greater than a minute flights from
an ROG. The plane is not really to scale and I deviated from the plans
by making the wing chord about 20% bigger than the real machine. The plane
is covered in green Japaneses tissue with a several very light coats of
brown acrylic for the camoflage. Video
wingspan: 40 cm
weight: 5.5 g without rubber
power:
design: ?
built: 2001
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Fairey Barracuda
After more than 10 years, the Barracuda has finally been trimmed and can climb and glide in a tight turn. Video
wingspan: 51 cm
weight: 18.4 without rubber
power: 2 strands of 1/8 inch
design: Earl Stahl plans
built: 2001
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Royal Aircraft Factory BE2c
A fairly scale looking model, it has a realistic flight pattern but doesn't
get very high. This is probably because of my less than efficient 4 blade
prop. Wing covering is on one side of the wings only, but this is not obvious.
Rigging on wings was done with a needle and thread, with the model assembled,
but before the top wing was covered. Video
wingspan: 51 cm
weight: 17.5 without rubber
power:
design: unknown
built: 2001
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Petit Saint
Nice light indoor-only models easily capable of flights of several minutes. The clear one
is Covered in Ultrafilm and the silver one is covered in mylar. The silver saint, without
landing gear, makes an excellent living room model. It can make several circles of the room
until it inevitably hits the ceiling and goes off course.
wingspan: 20 cm
weight: 2.5 / 3.6 g, without rubber
power:
design: From Saint Competion plans
built: 2001
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Morane Saulnier L Parasol
A pretty good indoor flyer, although not a very scale looking plane. Covered in domestic tissue;
White Light Japanese tissued, dyed in tea, would have been a better choice.
wingspan: 51 cm
weight: 33 g
power: 2 strands of 1/8 inch
design: John Cooper
built: 2001
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Nieuport 17
The Nieuport 17 is now looking a little battered after some outdoor flying.
This is a nice stable plane which can do flights up to 40 sec.
It is covered (poorly) with silver domestic tissue. Note that silver tissue
is fairly strong and has a realistic appearance of silver doped fabric. It is however
very difficult to apply. It doesn't shrink well and doesn't get a good grip on the
framework.
wingspan: 51 cm
weight: 35 g, without rubber
power: 2 strands of 1/8 inch
design: John Cooper
built: 2001
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Fokker DVIII
My first indoor flyer, it was much too heavy. I put too much weight into the
fuselage; a good part of it the paint for the lozenge pattern. It has,
however, flown from one side of the gym to the other and crashed into the
wall. Fortunately the wings are held on by rubber bands.
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