Zippy?
About 11pm after I had finish some work on the Rohrbach I had this idea. Small, fast, light, streamlined battery compartment, symmetrical wing.... The battery hides inside and ejects forward on hard landings.
I almost trashed it twice because I didn't like the way it was progressing and then I decided to finish it. I thought it was too heavy and I rework the aileron controls once. It's a scrappy little thing and has taken quite a beating.
Yes, It can Fly!
First flight was mediocre. When it came down I notice the motor was not even hot. I stepped up to a 10" 8 pitch prop and it came alive. This thing was flying like a WWII fighter compared to my other planes. I was having so much fun that I stuck it in a 50' elm tree. When I chainsawed the tree down the plane sustained major damage. I thought it was dead, but I glued it back together and several hours later it was up again. I have while cavorting around had several very hard landings. One at full speed straight down and tore a wing off. Wow, It was tremendous.
It is still flying. I have been able to fly sustained inverted flight. With my crude flying skills even an aileron roll. More mods are in the works. Zippy II is on the bench right now. Hopefully lighter and even more zippy. I think with a little rework this makes a A6M2 Zero very promising. Wing on the bottm - hide the aileron servo more and rework control rods- put in a little dihedral and I will be strafing your neighborhood soon.
STATS
Wingspan: 30"
Length: 18"
Chord: 6"
Weight: 6.7 oz with No paint ready to fly with battery.
Servo: GWS Naro
Motor: GWS DX-a gearbox
Build time: 5 hours or less minus glue time
Tools: Razor knife - Polyurethene Glue
Material: Bluecor 1/4" foam insulation - tape - skewers - ect.
Check out the first in the series The Tin Donkey
Check out the second in the series The Little Red Trainer.
Check out the third in the series The Fokker D VIII
Check out the Fourth in the series The Rohrbach Roland.
Check out the Sixth in the series a Cheap Stealth
Check out the Seventh and Eighth in the series New Blue Planes.
Check out the Ninth in the series a Biplane.
Check out the Tenth in the series a WWII Zero.
Check out the Eleventh in the series a 1908 Antoinette.
Check out the Twelveth in the series a Corsair.
Finally #13 is Catsup and Mustard a faster aileron plane..
Here is #14, Homemade Brushless Testbed - motor made from an old cdrom drive.
Airplanes by Jonathan Townsend - email - jon@jastown.com