Samuel's Backyard Flyer Update

pkrankow wrote:Nice to see hearing protection

Nice little airplane.  What are the basic dimensions?

Phil

 Wingspan is 34", it is 8" at the root and 4 1/2" at the tips. It has a straight leading edge. The stabilator is 7" from the trailing edge. The stabilator measures 10" by 1 1'2". I used the "looks about right" method with everything except the boom. I made the boom longer than I knew it needed to be and with the engine, wheels, and bellcrank installed I would slide it in to check the balance. I cut off short sections of the boom a little at a time until it balanced just a hair nose down. I guessed the CG at about %25 from the LE. Then I glued the boom in place. It worked out well, no additional weight was needed up front or in back. Using the Norvel Tank and mount really gets the engine out there so if you were to use a Cox engine I'm sure the boom would have to shortened considerably to get it to balance correctly.

londke3 wrote:I slammed this together in about 3 hours with materials I had in the shop. It's actually a pretty good flyer. I did inside and outside loops and flew it inverted as well. Samuel put up a dozen flights on it today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOVL2HnpH0w

A dozen flights a pretty darn good day of flying. I was looking at those arrows in Walmart the other day, I'm going to grab a few next time for some easy planes to fly at the church across from my house. Thanks for the flight report.
Rusty

GOOD FUN not a bad looking plane and easy build , that sure put a smile on my face to see a young boy out there flying and having a good time . Thanks for the report and video ! getback

Excellent!! Looks like a lot of fun, and what a way to spend a day!!

Wow, Good on you and on Sam. Tough little airplane and that Norvel seems to be quite the runner.

Bob

Samuel is getting big. I remember the first picture with his first plane on stunt hanger. Looks like he'll be flying combat soon..

duke.johnson wrote:Samuel is getting big.  I remember the first picture with his first plane on stunt hanger.  Looks like he'll be flying combat soon..

That is my hope Duke.

That was my hope too. Now one of my boys can out fly me and flew the Bladder Grabber last year. Dang kids showing off.

I really enjoyed that! I bet a good pair of sunglasses would make him comfortable enough to try going over the top!

I like the trainer plane. My only question is how the stabilator is secured to the end of the arrow shaft. Just thinking about it, I'd probably sleeve it with 1/2" aluminum tube and bore a hole for a crosswise tube or maybe 3/32 wire hinge rod. Hopefully that would keep it from being floppy. Could even use two sizes of CF boom tube that fit together for a sliding length adjustment... maybe. That might be over-doing it, but then I could swap engines and balance easily.

Thanks for the idea, Mike, this is on my to-do list, even with the Stuntman 23s languishing across the table from the Twister. I haven't had time for posting Twister updates, but the paint booth is open for business. I'll get caught up on that thread soon.
Rusty

londke3 wrote:

duke.johnson wrote:Samuel is getting big.  I remember the first picture with his first plane on stunt hanger.  Looks like he'll be flying combat soon..

 That is my hope Duke.

Or Stunt. Don't forget, Mike is an aspiring stunter too. He and I have a Mano y Mano fly-off coming up in about 7 weeks. One of us will be the official CEF Stunt Champ.

Sam flew 3 unassisted loops tonight. First one's ever. So proud of him!