The 'Thing' Returns !!!!

Yet ANOTHER dinosaur gets pulled from the cobwebs, pushing the current-build projects aside.

"The Thing" appeared as a plans-built project in Model Aviation Magazine WAY back in the early 1990's. I eventually built three of them, powered by an .010, an .049 (this one), and an O.S. .10.

The O.S. .10 version still exists and could be made to fly. The cute and tiny .010 version was unfortunately destroyed in my last move (1998).

The original plans for this one called for an .020, but I had a Tee Dee .049 handy, and so, bolted it to the 'middle child'.

The first flights with the wide open, un-throttled Tee Dee Thing were, in grossly unstated terms, 'exhilarating'. Other terms like 'Bat Outta Hell', 'Mach-3 Dart', or 'Baka Bomb' might have been more accurate.

Adding to the excitement was my choice of color-scheme---the charcoal colored Monokote I thought made it look so cool ALSO made it nearly impossible to tell if the Thing was banked toward or away from me. The Thing was a black, high-speed silhouette, without form, and crazy-sensitive controls.

I'd installed (I think), a half-ounce control line fuel tank to give the Thing a reasonable time under power. This was MORE than enough fuel, with me mightily praying for the engine to quit as the Thing snapped back and forth across the sky. It was out of trim, so I was holding the stick somewhere out in one of it's quadrants, while trying to adjust the rudder and elevator trim with my left thumb, but finally just decided to ride it out.

The Tee Dee finally used all it's fuel, and when it shut-down, the Thing suddenly became friendly, gliding down just a little steeper than a typical 2-channel plane. A little nose down for some extra speed in the last few feet allowed a somewhat amazingly nice flair to touch-down.

I eventually acquired a knack for flying the Thing, but was never really happy with it's crazy speed and generally suicidal tendencies, so it eventually got stuck away in the rafters.

Now, it's getting the new/old radio set I just discovered, and a Tee Dee .020 for power, so we'll see how it goes.

More to follow!















https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX0GexET-6E