Re: My 1/2A Gladiator Combat wing.

pkrankow Sat May 02, 2015 12:49 pm

After you get the wing fixed you will need to size the motor mounts to your engine choice. Actually plane to size the mounts during the wing repair. The effort in resizing mounts is high enough that I have not messed with my wing yet.

A .19 to 35 should fly that well for sport, but if you want to fly combat you will need the power of a healthy .25 to .35. I would expect a .15 to be underpowered.

Phil

Ken Cook Sun May 03, 2015 3:43 am

Eric, that wing has extensive damage. Even if it was repaired I would seriously question on how it would fly. I would really be concerned if it is safe enough to fly. It certainly doesn't look to be a stranger in the circles and it appears to have some time on it. Is this damage a result of a mid air collision ? That can seriously compromise the control system and internal areas such as the pivot point of the bellcrank and or the platform itself. The single boom was very typical of the 70's using Super Tiger G-21 .35's and or Fox Combat specials. Looking at the width of the bearers it could certainly be either of the above. I can't make heads or tails of the reasoning of the inboard leading edge sheeting and the absence of the missing sheeting on the outboard wing panel not to mention the half ribs. It's usually one or the other and the less you can build it with the better. Unfortunately, these designs aren't going to chug around the circle like a Ringmaster. It's going to go fast regardless of what you install on it. The airfoil of that wing closely resembles to me what appears to be a Nemesis like airfoil.

I personally would inspect it closely and determine if it really is worth fixing and if the nose is still adequately connected structurally and not oil soaked to the point of the glue breaking down. By the time it's repaired you may have a pretzel on your table that isn't even worth the risk of flying. If everything is pretty much superficial on the outside and all looks good internally than I would recommend a low powered engine with a wider beam spacing such as a Enya .35. Run it on 10%. The can on the fuse is a pacifier holder. Pen bladders or binky's or pipette bulbs were used for that type of can. A bladder may work but the can doesn't have much depth to receive it.

Last but not least, if flying this type of plane has been in the back of your mind for some time let me make a suggestion. Dick Mathis made several designs of "Slow Combat planes". These were entry level planes for what was true slow combat. Slow combat died off and is rarely even flown any longer and these were designed for Fox .35's or Mccoy's. Fredvon on the forum here is a fan of the Mongoose. I personally like all of the designs due to the simplicity of them and durability. Install a 3.5 oz. chicken hopper tank on one of these and your will be flying that plane comfortably for a long time. A very capable plane with simplicity in mind and low speed lending itself to those who wants to fly and punch circles in the stratosphere all day long. Dick designed the Bonanza, Mongoose, Ercoupe and a few others. Ken

getback Sun May 03, 2015 8:45 am

First off Thanks Ken , The plane was intact till UPS got a hold of it here is the thread it was originally came from and mine was #3 . https://www.coxengineforum.com/t7121-combat-planes-fs-for-shipping-cost?highlight=combat+plane+for I think to inspect the engine mount surfaces for durability will bee the first thing to do = It is old and I am too and don't want to get hurt for no good reason ! Shocked

I may look into some slow fling combat just to see if is some thing I want to pursue Airplane

Has anyone else done anything with there models that they got that were worth fixing ? Anyone?

pkrankow Sun May 03, 2015 9:12 am

Shipping damage. More pics here
https://www.coxengineforum.com/t7121-combat-planes-fs-for-shipping-cost

Taking it apart for templates to clone might be better than fixing, now that I look at all the pictures again.

Phil

pkrankow Sun May 03, 2015 9:17 am

getback wrote:First off Thanks Ken , The plane was intact till UPS got a hold of it here is the thread it was originally came from and mine was #3 . https://www.coxengineforum.com/t7121-combat-planes-fs-for-shipping-cost?highlight=combat+plane+for I think to inspect the engine mount surfaces for durability will bee the first thing to do = It is old and I am too and don't want to get hurt for no good reason ! I may look into some slow fling combat just to see if is some thing I want to pursue Has anyone else done anything with there models that they got that were worth fixing ?

I got my hands on a couple different engines to try to fit them in, but the beam spacing is HUGE! The widest I have is McCoy and those are too narrow!

I thought about going electric, but I haven't messed with electric for CL yet.

Phil

Ken Cook Sun May 03, 2015 10:12 am

Rusty I didn't mean to intrude on your topic. I just enjoy these topics . Looking back I now remember those planes being offered. So apparently the damage was cause by shipping. This may just be worth looking into then. If it doesn't look bad in regards to repairing other than a few ribs and patching the covering it should work fine. Reading the post and the history of the planes leads me to believe these were used with the engines I explained. The one pic with the leading edge notched was typical of a coffin back Fox Mk engine to allow it to recess up and against the leading edge due to the weight of the engine.

My 1/2A Gladiator Combat wing. - Page 2 Dscn2321

My 1/2A Gladiator Combat wing. - Page 2 Dscn2321

Here's a pic of a MK engine which would've been typical to the design. This was the first series of the coffin backed engines which arrived mid 70's. These out of the box put an end to the reign of Super Tiger G-21's. You can see my foamie has a leading edge notch to pull the engine back into the leading edge for proper balance. Ken

**RknRusty** Tue May 05, 2015 12:03 am

I came home with another Gladiator, perfectly folded in the middle, leaving me two good wing halves and spare controls. This was also compliments of Mike. I might make an .09 TEOSAWKI since this wing resembles that one. And I have a Tee Dee .09 that's been languishing in a drawer for years that I've always wanted to run. I've never seen one run in real life before and never flown a mid-sized plane either. Another possibility is my Thunder Tiger GP .15 that 66Malibu gave me when he came and got all my old race car parts. But that might be too big for this wing. I've been wanting forever to have a Junior of some sort.

I posted an embellished flight report on SH that non-members can't access, so I'll paste it here. And here it is:

Hey, it flew pretty good. I'd been in Huntersville for about 10 minutes. Cooling my jets, sitting on the tail of my car with the gate up. I see Mike walking up the drive. From 50 yards, he holds his hands out like, So, where is it. I reached behind me and whipped it out, he took it and looked it over, Hmmm, it'll fly. Wanna do it now? I fidgeted a second, Well what are you here for!? Okay okay, that did it. I like a man that gets to the point.

We rigged it up and lit the fire. It has an AME .061 on it now, and a 4-1/4" Rubber Ducky. I waved it off and it went like a rocket when I caught up with it nearly overhead. About all I could do was keep it turning until I could figure out where the hell, or even how the hell to point it. I gradually worked it lower and made a couple of... what we stunters call Laps, and something that resembled 8s, not even close to lazy. I felt like I was gradually taming it when it flamed out. As soon as the engine cut, it came into the circle with the lines crumpling, Mike shouts UP! But ain't no way I was going to catch it, so I just watched it fall. I was within reach of one corner of the paved runway, and that's where it hit nose first.

It looked okay so I let Mike try it. He waved it off and it flew sraight into the ground. Ooops... uh Mike, I hold the handle backwards. You What! Sorry, I should've mentioned that. Ya think! Okay, we got past that and launched it again and he was zinging around for a while then looks over and yawns and grins. I think my wife has all this on her phone, I'll check. All of a sudden he starts doing something like vertical figure 8s like I've never seen before. I'm pretty impressed. Mike shouts, The weights came off. Ha! he held onto it a long time, but the end was inevitable. It didn't hurt it too bad, just a tape job and I'll be flying it across the street from my house. That was a pretty damn entertaining way to start the weekend. Thanks everyone who answered all my clueless questions. It was worth it and I'll keep flying it until I can tame it. I was getting there. I think with a little more fuel I would have smoothed it out pretty good. I'll look for any pictures or video on the phone.
Rusty

**RknRusty** Tue May 05, 2015 1:46 pm

Here's big Mikey:
https://youtu.be/k6-ExTXOrps

Sig Skyray Tue May 05, 2015 2:18 pm

Agile! That plane flies great, thanks for posting!
Greg

**RknRusty** Tue May 05, 2015 4:59 pm

Sig Skyray wrote:Agile! That plane flies great, thanks for posting!
Greg

It was even more agile after the 1-1/2 ounce weight stack flew off the nose lol. I wish she'd gotten the camera on my maiden flight. It was quite wild.
Rusty

londke3 Tue May 05, 2015 9:25 pm

Good stuff Rusty. I like the idea of making a .09 or .10 stunter out of the broken wing. It would work.

**RknRusty** Tue May 05, 2015 9:54 pm

londke3 wrote:Good stuff Rusty...

Thanks Mike, glad I could provide an entertaining story with the movie.

I'm looking forward to seeing Robert's videos of us flying stunt. Holley's camera work was appreciated, but Robert really got the goods from near the judges perspective. I also have a helpful point of interest about your stunt flights when we can look at them. This Summer maybe you can tune up. Your plane appears to be a competent stunter.
Later,
Rusty

londke3 Tue May 05, 2015 9:57 pm

RknRusty wrote:
londke3 wrote:Good stuff Rusty...
Thanks Mike, glad I could provide an entertaining story with the movie.

I'm looking forward to seeing Robert's videos of us flying stunt. Holley's camera work was appreciated, but Robert really got the goods from near the judges perspective. I also have a helpful point of interest about your stunt flights when we can look at them. This Summer maybe you can tune up. Your plane appears to be a competent stunter.
Later,
Rusty

I edited all of them today, just posted the link on Stunt Hangar.

roddie Wed May 06, 2015 5:38 am

RknRusty wrote:Here's big Mikey:
https://youtu.be/k6-ExTXOrps

Holy Mackerel! I gotta' get out more! That looked like FUN!!!

getback Wed May 06, 2015 9:51 am

Looks like bib Mikey was reaming it out pretty good , yeah would have like to see your maiden . Thanks for the entertainment Very Happy

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