home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!sun-barr!news2me.EBay.Sun.COM!exodus.Eng.Sun.COM!worke.Eng.Sun.COM!macs
- From: macs@worke.Eng.Sun.COM (This IS a test)
- Newsgroups: rec.models.rc
- Subject: Re: Plane for .19 engine?
- Date: 20 Nov 1992 20:56:43 GMT
- Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca.
- Lines: 64
- Distribution: usa
- Message-ID: <lgqk8bINNgh4@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
- References: <BxtvD5.Kyy@csn.org> <24061@hacgate.SCG.HAC.COM>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: worke
- Keywords: Second plane, sport trainer
-
- >In article <BxtvD5.Kyy@csn.org> eeak@teal.csn.org (Ed Krejcik) writes:
- >>Since I have lots of time to shop around (I haven't finished my EAGLE II yet),
- >>I'm still trying to figure out a good plane for an old Enya .19 I have.
- >>
- >>Does anybody know anything about the SIG Doubler II? Its for a .15 size
- >>engine. Looking at the box at my local hobby shop, it looks like a
- >>smaller version of the SIG Mid Star 40. The Mid Star 40 gets great
- >>reviews at my local flying field and from RCM.
-
- The SIG Doubler is a design that dates back to at least the '70s.
- If you look real hard at the RCM Illustrated Plans book you
- will find that the design was originally published in RCM a long
- time ago. So long ago that I believe it was originally suppose
- to fly with 1 or 2 channels (that means it goes back to the
- escapement days).
-
- The Mid-Star 40 is only at most a two year old design. It is the
- mid wing version of the Four Star 40. The Doubler and Mid Star
- my appear be related, but I think it would be a mistake to assume
- that they perform the same. For one thing, the Doubler was originally
- touted as a Quarter Midget/Sport Plane which means it was suppose
- to go fast as well as be aerobatic. I am pretty sure the airfoil
- is symmetrical and rather thin. It also looks like it would end
- up having a rather high wing loading. I have no experience flying a
- Doubler, but just from seeing how it is built and looking at the design
- I think I can safely say that it should fly fast and on the prop.
-
- The Mid Star has a semi-symmetrical wing and has a rather light wing
- loading for a sport aerobatic plane. It flys very differently than
- what the Doubler should fly like. Mid Stars and Four Stars tend
- to fly on the wing and are a more forgiving airplane than your typical
- go-fast plane. Again, I have no experience flying a Doubler, but
- I think it does not fly like a Mid-Star.
-
- If you want a plane that flies like a mid Star in a .19 size package
- try to locate a TDC Windbreaker or Pronto. I had a Windbreaker
- with a K&B .19 (not a .20 Sporster, this was a an honest-to-goodness
- Clarnece Lee designed engine from the late '70s that in my opinion
- has got to be the best engine in this size/weight category ever made)
- that flew great. It didn't fly fast and it had a hard time holding
- a good knife-edged, but other than that there was very little it
- couldn't do. At 3 1/2lbs and somewhere around 400 sq inches that plane
- could practically land and take off as if it were on an elevator.
- It was so good a doing snap rolls that now that I don't have it anymore
- (more later) I feel that every plane I have basically can only do a
- fast axial roll, not a snap :-) To top it off, it was a trully well
- engineered design and kit so that it was real fast to build and took
- punishment likme nothing I've ever had.
-
- The Pronto is basically the same plane except it has more sedate
- lines than the Windbreaker.
-
- That plane lasted me about 2 1/2 years until it finally sucombed
- to pilot error, my friends, not mines. It was a dive straight into
- a boulder at full throttle. Only the plane was a wash-out, the engine
- engine and radio survived, although how, I don't know.
-
- Earlier I said try to find one because I think they are not being
- manufactured anymore, either the company is gone or thye are being sold
- in this area. Sheldon's had a half dozen of their kits the last time
- I looked and I think there was at least one Windbreaker and a couple
- of Prontos.
-
- Manuel.
-