Shoestring!!!!!!

Oh Yeah, I've seen one of those before!
Can't wait to see it go together.

Cool! You saw mine. Purple and white are taken! Remember how I doinked the wheelpants? I'm gonna get it going again, until the Nobler is repaired. SIG Koverall is tough stuff!

Not sure about the colors just yet. I have one ahead of this one. The CLC Super Clown. I am going to mount a Fox .35 that I received from Ken on it.

Doug you need to get that Shoestring back in the air!!!

Ron

GUS THE I.A. wrote:Cool! You saw mine. Purple and white are taken! Remember how I doinked the wheelpants? I'm gonna get it going again, until the Nobler is repaired. SIG Koverall is tough stuff!

I was kidding, I just finished one, I have a couple of threads about it. I did see yours and you were right, after you posted the pics, it is prettier than it sounded. You can see pictures of mine in my "Maiden voyage of my Shoestring Stunter" thread.

My Goldberg Shoestring that was framed-up by an old fellow, that I inherited,(the plane, not him!) and covered with SIG Koverall and painted in my signature colors. I cut all the numbers and letters, as the originals were not present when I received the model. I made the wheelpants from balsa. It has tiny, rubber wheels from a Sterling or Guillow's kit, and a well used FOX .29 on it. See how the tank is faired into the L.E. of the wing? I don't know if that is standard, or not.

You saw Mike fly this one, so you know they can perform. I need to get some "stick time" so that I am able to show-off the Shoestring's capabitities.

Good luck with yours! Keep us updated with your progress.

Hey, that's a pretty cool way to integrate the tank into the shape. Gives it a full figured look.
Just for the sake of comparison, if you have a weighing device and if you get a chance, I'd like to know how much it weighs and where your C/G is located. Mine is slightly overweight, but only by about an ounce.

RknRusty wrote:Hey, that's a pretty cool way to integrate the tank into the shape. Gives it a full figured look.
Just for the sake of comparison, if you have a weighing device and if you get a chance, I'd like to know how much it weighs and where your C/G is located. Mine is slightly overweight, but only by about an ounce.

Tell the story about your first flight Doug!

I did not receive the plan sheet with this model, so I finished it according to standard practices, i.e., Koverall and Dope, then the glorious, ancient FOX .29. I balanced it on the lower spar, which required 2-1/4 ounces of lead at the tail. That is a common, 25% to 33% of the wing chord, to get things going.

First flight: Engine starts, stooge launch, shoots nearly vertical into the air! Down elevator to correct and level-out, sets up a pilot induced oscillation! Uh-Oh! Up, Down, Up, Down, until I find that it's happy at about a 60 degree angle, up in the circle! Okay, I'll plow around here for a while, until the fuel is depleted, and remove some of the weight when I land. Then I thought - Oh geez! If it wants to fly like this with power, it will drop out of the sky with no power. Engine quits, and with judicious use of elevator inputs, this thing floated down like a Hawk, to perch on a fence post. Wings spread, slowing down, and descending at a 75 degree angle, to touchdown, on the runway. Whew! I removed ALL of the lead, and it's been a predictable plane since! I made Mike fly it one evening, and he did a great job with manouvers. I'll get some "stick time" with it, and be able to approach some recognizable stunts soon, I hope!

I do not know what this model is supposed to weigh, but, I'll check it, and post it, soon. That SIG Koverall on it is really tough stuff! I covered the wing, and the top of the stab and elevator with it, but not the fuse or fin/rudder.

Out of all the Shoestrings I built, I found the plans to be incorrect on the CG. The Shoestring can maneuver well if kept light, but it can really be a wild ride if tail heavy. Koverall in my experience is a good product, but it's extremely heavy especially if painted with numerous coats of dope. Sig Stix-It or Balsarite will also put on the weight if used for the attachment coat. If you were using Koverall for strength for racing then I would certainly use it. It's durable and can take some hard pitstops when it comes to catching the model. If using it for stunting, your really penalizing the model. When building a racing model, a little extra weight isn't always a bad thing. It can assist the pilot in whipping the plane back into the pitman. Koverall doesn't slack up in the sun or when dormant. That's a big problem with Monokote and this robs speed due to a inefficient airfoil and vibration. If you ever decided to use Koverall for cloth hinge material, it's the best I ever used aside from the fraying while cutting. A sharp single edge razor is a must and I sandwich the material between two pieces of paper. Ken

Haha, good story. Those tail heavy flights can be thrillers. Turning circles with it 60 degrees overhead is a recipe for dizziness if you've got a lot of fuel in the tank too. I've had several of those types of maidens, and a couple of them landed before they ran out of gas.

My Goldberg plans say it should weigh 28-30 ounces. Mine was a wreck when I got it and after piecing it back together it weighs 31.1oz. My CG is significantly forward of the spar. It seems to fly nicely like that but I'll wait until I have some more air time on it before I tinker with it.