Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009

Kim Thu Nov 10, 2011 5:03 pm

The Birth and Flight of "Little Traveler I" !

The Plan: Fly a modified Sterling "Minnie Mambo" on a 15 mile non-stop flight from the back of a pick-up truck to raise money for St Jude Children's research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

http://www.semissourian.com/story/1578021.html

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 110

I thought, at first, to makes several hops to get the 15 miles. Then, a friend started pushing me to make the entire flight in one hop. Here is the Minnie before I knocked out the bulkhead to make room for the 4 ounce Sullivan Tank that let us go non-stop.

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 710

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 811

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 910

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Dscn7410

I replaced the kit's sheet metal landing gear with music wire, mounted in a hardwood torsion block in the fuselage.

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Minnie21

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Minnie11

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Minnie12

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Mambo_10

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Mambo_12

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Minnie13

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 4_16

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 5_15

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Minnie15

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Minnie16

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Minnie17

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 100_2710

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Minnie19

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Minnie22

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 11_13

microflitedude Thu Nov 10, 2011 5:21 pm

Do you think you could get 30 minutes with a 2oz tank? Looks like there's plenty of room in there.

Kim Thu Nov 10, 2011 5:54 pm

I ended up putting a 4 ounce tank in the Little Traveler, which ran out at just over 35 minutes. Did some bench testing to arrive at that amount.

**Cribbs74** Thu Nov 10, 2011 11:00 pm

Very cool indeed! How long did it take to cover the 15 miles?

Kim Thu Nov 10, 2011 11:56 pm

Right at 35 minutes. The engine was un-throttled and we adjusted our speed to match by yelling at Drive Mike to speed up or slow down...I'm surprised that at some point, he didn't just pull the truck over and kick both our butts !

nitroairplane Fri Nov 11, 2011 12:05 am

How many of these have you built?
or did you build swap the engines Smile

But this plane has some really nice lines.

Kim Fri Nov 11, 2011 12:12 am

This was the only recent Minnie I built...it went through several changes as I built it.

My FIRST Minnie Mambo was built when I was 14, and guided (part of the time) with a Citizenship Escapement radio. I chased it as much as I steered it, but when it DID work right, it was magic!

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Mambo_11

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Mambo_11

nitroairplane Fri Nov 11, 2011 12:19 am

Kim I can tell that this plane has a special place in your heart.
And you know that Early RC are kitting it again.
http://www.earlyrcmodels.com/id15.html

Kim Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:08 am

Thanks Nitro,

I'm still flying Little Traveler I...with a new tailwheel, and one of Bernie's Surestart throttle assymblies. Low/Slow passes are my specialty!

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Little10

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Little10

nitroairplane Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:13 am

Hey!
Those little "boring"(not to me) trainers are good for things like this and also airdrops etc.

Kim Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:15 am

Yeah... nothing like a gentle, sweeping, close-in turn on a calm evening...then power up, and here we go for another circuit !!!

nitroairplane Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:19 am

That is the kind of flying I am aiming for with the .010 piet I may go with a MF throttle for those ultra slow passes.

Kim Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:55 am

Speaking of Piet, I was wrong about a three-view being included in it's plans...Here is a good profile from it's weight and balance practice sheet, but I have some actual model airplane plans that I'll track down and get to you!

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Piet10

Little Traveler I .....October 10, 2009 Piet10

dankar04 Fri Nov 11, 2011 12:07 pm

Looks great and good luck with it. I had the bigger one and it flew great.
Dan Flying

nitroairplane Fri Nov 11, 2011 3:49 pm

Kim wrote:Speaking of Piet, I was wrong about a three-view being included in it's plans...Here is a good profile from it's weight and balance practice sheet, but I have some actual model airplane plans that I'll track down and get to you!

Much appreciated Kim.

dankar04 Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:17 pm

Nice airplane for scale subject.
Dan

Kim Fri Dec 30, 2011 9:10 am

Updated with Photos

nitroairplane Fri Dec 30, 2011 12:16 pm

Cool here is another thread on this plane including the mods by Kim.
http://coxengineforum.forumakers.com/t374-q-tee-mods-to-make-it-little-traveler-ii-for-nitroplane

WingingIt74 Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:16 pm

Very cool Kim!

Kim Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:23 pm

WingingIt74 wrote:Very cool Kim!

Thanks! Gonna do it again at some point !

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