My Cox Powered RC Planes

Ron:

I've been considering a ""Skydrill" as a possibility after I complete my Spit'. I'm now waiting delivery of the basswood stringers from Tower Hobbies before I go any fartther. They ghould be here on Tuesday.

Would probably do the "Drill" for CL rather than RC because I don't want to go to the expense of buying additional RC equipment. I currently have three RC set-ups in operational planes and enough is enough.

You can't guess who's is telling me that. (And it ain't our cat)

The Scoundrel kit hasn't made it to market. Steve designed the original prototype, cut the pieces by hand, and powered it with an electric motor. He then revised it a bit, drew it up on CAD to allow the pieces to fit on suitable size sheets for laser cutting, and had a few trial kits cut for proof-of-concept. I was lucky enough to get one of those. He asked us to try out the parts, make drawing revisions as needed, and give him feedback. Several of us who were attending the SMALL fly-in that year built one and took them to the meet. Mine was built for the Cox Surestart and included ailerons. The others used more dihedral and flew with rudder/elevator control. They used an electric motor and a small PAW diesel engine for getty-up. We all gave him some feedback about the model's construction and flight characteristics but the project, as often happens in life, just never made it to the top of Steve's priority list. Though mine flies with ailerons, the design is probably better suited as a rudder/elevator plane for easy sport flying. Anyway, here's a pic of 3 Scoundrels at SMALL 2010. Pictured are Chris Sweeney, Steve Staples, designer Steve Adams, and me.

Cool.
That is a really nice plane.
Indra

Very classic looks/lines,the scoundrel should be a hit...........now if it was just 010/020 size

This is called the Scalpel. I built it from Steve Adams' drawings/pre-production kit. It's inspired by the old ACE Simple 400. It employs the tapered ACE foam wing cores. Has spars made from carbon fiber tow thread. It will hopefully be available soon from Select Hobbies.

It's powered by a Mangusta DR .049 rear rotary induction engine. I've had this engine for over 3 years and have been waiting for the right plane to put it on. It seemed like a good match.

The radio receiver is a Spektrum 6115e 2.4 park flyer unit. Powered by a 400mah 6V NiMH battery pack. Has a Hitec HS65 servo on the ailerons and Dymond D47s on the rudder and elevator.

Covering consists of Coverite Microlite on the wing and Monokote on the rest.

There is a full build thread of this plane over at the RCU 1/2A forum.

Nice plane.
Very "Sharp" looking oh wait I said the sae on RCU lol.
What kind of airfoil do the ace wins have?
Indra

The Ace wings are semi-symmetrical, Indra.

Tee Bee wrote:The Ace wings are semi-symmetrical, Indra.

Okay thanks.
Indra

nitroairplane wrote:
What kind of airfoil do the ace wins have?
Indra

They are very close to a NACA 2415.

andrew wrote:

nitroairplane wrote:
What kind of airfoil do the ace wins have?
Indra

They are very close to a NACA 2415.

Thanks.
Indra

really awesome plane.Flying planes has become a wonderful hobby that is open to all.
[url=] Such Planes[/url] are surely fun stuff, for people of all age groups.

This thread from early last year sparked my interest in the Scalpel.

I watched and watched Select Hobbies web site but the "soon to be updated" area for the plane never appeared. Last week I made an order for some props and other bits and I inquired about the Scalpel kit number "A256".

His response was very fast. No he never got around to kitting the plane, but did have many laser cut short kits and would be happy to sell me everything needed. I asked for two kits and yesterday they arrived. He send a CD with his initial build photos. No Notes and no written plans. He responds very fast to e-mail and has answered all my questions.

I plan to build one for RC and one adapted to C/L both powered with TeeDee or Medallion .051s I have, may even try to use the RC carb I got from Benrie.

I am not posting the total cost as I do not know if Steve intends to go forward with kitting. That said, each complete "kit" I got was very inexpensive. Wink

If any of you want to build one, I suggest contacting Steve Adams at Select Hobbies, http://selecthobbies.com/kitdata.htm

Fred, you won't regret building the Scalpel. It is a nice, smooth flyer. Good manners all around. The TD is a great match for it. Please share it with us when it's done!

Tee Bee. I told Steve that your posts were where my interest came from. He said you were one of his Prototype builder and test pilots. When I get after the build I might have some questions for you.

The Scalpels are third and fourth in line for my building board. Probably be late spring before I start on one of them

I will probably start a build thread here when I start

Question for Tee Bee... Is Mangusta totally out of business...they dont respond to mail and site lets cart get items but no payment can be made

fredvon4 wrote:
Question for Tee Bee... Is Mangusta totally out of business...they dont respond to mail and site lets cart get items but no payment can be made

Tim ran into some problems several years back and left some folks with unfilled orders. His website was re-registered 11/4/12 and extended thru 12/2/13. His work is obviously very good, but he went thru a series of events that left him unable or unwilling to complete his contracts. At this time, I don't think he is producing any products.

Yeah, Tim's line of engines and parts seem to be as rare as bear fins these days. I once had an open line of communication with him before his troubles following the car accident. I received a brief message from him about a year ago when I showed some pics of his Mangusta DR on my Scalpel build thread, but further efforts to contact him were unsuccessful. That is a beautiful engine and has been fun to tinker with but I've never been able to get it to run as strong as a TD .049. His Skyline FX reedies were finely crafted and ran very nice and consistent. Wish I had bought a couple more of them when I could. I wore one of them out and have a new one still in the package. I also like the turbo plug heads he made. As for the Scalpel, I'd highly recommend the TD over a reedie if possible. The plane likes enough power to zip along "on the step".

I got to know Steve a bit by spending time with him during the SMALL fly-ins. We hit it off well and had some good laughs. I highly recommend that event to anyone who enjoys this aspect of the hobby.

BTW, I just started building a prototype of another one of his designs. A low-winger with ailerons and a TD .020! Stay tuned.

A pity he does not respond. Would have liked a few of the engines but really interested in some of the items still still on the site like the spinners, glow head conversion, and back plate with fine thread NVA ...Oh well

My Scalpel will probably have a TeeDee or Medallion .051 on Bladder or a Norvel Big Mig .061.

Tee Bee, Where do you think best CG is on the Scalpel?

Skaliwag (Steve Adams) sent me two kits and three wing sets (one set constant chord) so I have plenty of options to follow your build and make adaptations. The CC cores may support doing a Scalpel variation on control lines.

I see Tee Bee is south of Houston near Texas coast. Tell us more about the SMALL fly ins, when where, etc

Fred, My Scalpel balances about 1.75" from the leading edge measured at the fuse side. A safe place to start.

As for the SMALL Fly-in, it's in Wrightsville, AR just south of Little Rock. There are threads covering all the details and coverage of years past on RCGroups. 1st weekend of June. Many small plane enthusiasts travel long distances to attend annually. My ability to go this year looks sketchy due to work conflicts.

Here is a pic of my Tee Dee .049 powered rc plane hanging in my shop. It's just a simple scratch built low winger with 2 channels, elevator and ailerons. Sorry for low quality picture.

These are two really nice planes, the low wing, and the white V-tail.
Do you have any more data (wingspan, weight, etc) or photos?

dirk gently wrote:These are two really nice planes, the low wing, and the white V-tail.
Do you have any more data (wingspan, weight, etc) or photos?

Thanks dirk.
The white v-tail is one of those coroplast combat S.P.A.D.S. for a .15. The wing is made from 2mil and 3mil coroplast and uses a cut down wooden yardstick for the wing spar, 3" square Canadian gutter pipe fuse and it has a plexiglass firewall as well. Search google for spad to the bone for more info. The square fuse was from an old combat plane that I flown probably a hundred times and needed a new wing and tail so I folded up a new wing and made a new v-tail. It's not finished yet but it will be after I finish my other projects. And I'll take more pics of the yellow plane and try and get a weight for you as well. It was scratch built with no plans with a few ideas from looking at a few pictures here and there. I'm also getting into cutting my own foam wing cores and made a wing for a scratch built .020 powered Stick project. I still have to add a balsa leading and trailing edge and sheet it with balsa skins.



And here is the hot wire bow I made.




Shawn

Great, thanks for the reply!
How about the yellow-green low-wing?

dirk gently wrote:Great, thanks for the reply!
How about the yellow-green low-wing?

I replied to your PM

Shawn