John Cooper's Rubber Powered Freeflight Page 2

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Fokker DVII A plane that I haven't flown enough to get trimmed properly. This wings are covered with Japanese tissue which has a lozenge pattern printed on it from a colour inkjet printer. Printing with a colour printer is quite simple: attach the tissue to a sheet of paper at the top with a bit of glue slick and print on the lightest possible setting. At coat of matt krylon keeps the colours from running. wingspan: 51 cm weight: ~37g without rubber power: 2 strands of 1/8 inch design: John Cooper built: 2002 -----------------------

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Hawker Hurricane UPDATE Apr 2003: I trimmed each prop blade by about 3 mm. The lower torque gives the plane the ability to make a large stable circle around the gym. A plane with some potential but I haven't got it trimmed that well. The hurricane can make a few nice circles but either goes into a spins or straighten out completely for the glide. The plane is covered with Japanese tissue on the top surfaces and silver domestic tissue, reversed on the bottom. The back side of the silver tissue gives a pretty good shade of light gray that is quite opaque. wingspan: 48 cm weight: ~18g without rubber power: 2 strands of 1/8 inch design: ? built: 2001 -----------------------

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Auster MkIV A nice little flyer, capable of greater than a minute flights from an ROG. The plane is not really to scale and I deviated from the plans by making the wing chord about 20% bigger than the real machine. The plane is covered in green Japaneses tissue with a several very light coats of brown acrylic for the camoflage. wingspan: 40 cm weight: 5.5 g without rubber power: design: ? built: 2001 -----------------------

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Fairey Barracuda UPDATE Apr 2003. I cut 2 blades off of the prop and the plane is much more stable and it can easily reach the ceiling of the gym. Not the best flyer in my fleet. I have had difficulty getting this plane trimmed, possibly due the large 4 blade prop. The plane has done a view nice circles of the gym but often goes astray and hits the wall or dives into the ground. The butt joints on the wings have been reglued about 8 times. wingspan: 51 cm weight: 18.4 without rubber power: 2 strands of 1/8 inch design: Earl Stahl plans built: 2001 -----------------------

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Royal Aircraft Factory BE2c A fairly scale looking model, it has a realistic flight pattern but doesn't get very high. This is probably because of my less than efficient 4 blade prop. Wing covering is on one side of the wings only, but this is not obvious. Rigging on wings was done with a needle and thread, with the model assembled, but before the top wing was covered. wingspan: 51 cm weight: 17.5 without rubber power: design: unknown built: 2001 -----------------------

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Petit Saint Nice light indoor-only models easily capable of flights of several minutes. The clear one is Covered in Ultrafilm and the silver one is covered in mylar. The silver saint, without landing gear, makes an excellent living room model. It can make several circles of the room until it inevitably hits the ceiling and goes off course. wingspan: 20 cm weight: 2.5 / 3.6 g, without rubber power: design: From Saint Competion plans built: 2001 -----------------------

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Morane Saulnier L Parasol A pretty good indoor flyer, although not a very scale looking plane. Covered in domestic tissue; White Light Japanese tissued, dyed in tea, would have been a better choice. wingspan: 51 cm weight: 33 g power: 2 strands of 1/8 inch design: John Cooper built: 2001 -----------------------

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Nieuport 17 The Nieuport 17 is now looking a little battered after some outdoor flying. This is a nice stable plane which can do flights up to 40 sec. It is covered (poorly) with silver domestic tissue. Note that silver tissue is fairly strong and has a realistic appearance of silver doped fabric. It is however very difficult to apply. It doesn't shrink well and doesn't get a good grip on the framework. wingspan: 51 cm weight: 35 g, without rubber power: 2 strands of 1/8 inch design: John Cooper built: 2001 -----------------------

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Fokker DVIII My first indoor flyer, it was much too heavy. I put too much weight into the fuselage; a good part of it the paint for the lozenge pattern. It has, however, flown from one side of the gym to the other and crashed into the wall. Fortunately the wings are held on by rubber bands. wingspan: 61 cm weight: 58 g without rubber power: design: Earl Stahl plan built: 2000 -----------------------