Ted's New Plane

Ted, would you mind posting some info on your new plane?
I am guessing that it is a Trivial Pursuit derivative?
Looks great! Love the old Excitation or Citation looking paint job!

Any more pics!!

Thanks!

Yeah Ted. Looks like you went with a tuned pipe setup. What are the differences between the SE and the TP of '94? BTW the SE looks great! Thanks

I am assuming Aaron saw Ted's new plane in the latest Stunt News.
Pony Express has not reached Central Florida yet. Must be the heat, cant run as hard when it is 99 deg F.
Am I always the last one to receive SN?
Hope it arrives before the "next edition"
R....

Aaron,

I can't tell you about the plane other than it's a Trivial Pursuit. But here are a couple more pictures if that helps.

I'm sure Ted will chime in with details.

I saw pictures in various threads here on the forum.

Looks like he built it with the pipe tunnel enclosed now, to my knowledge even though the plans show this, it really has never been done at least by Ted or David...

I am guessing it has a PA61 with the standard Eather Prop and Pipe that he has used in the past... ??

Looks cool man that is for sure!

While we are waiting for Ted, my recollection of the deal with the models of both Ted and David was that bigger pipes came along well after the models had been built and these would not nestle into existing pipe tunnels. This of course resulted in all the "horny dolphin" jokes and snide comments.

Ted's newest is indeed beautiful.

Aaron,

As far as I know, Ted is using a Ro-Jett 65 BSE engine. I think Dave was too, but I could be wrong. I'm sure Ted will say so when he responds.

>Aaron,
>
>As far as I know, Ted is using a Ro-Jett 65 BSE engine. I
>think Dave was too, but I could be wrong. I'm sure Ted will
>say so when he responds.

Also, what is the prop?

'zilla,

I don't know for sure except it's an Eather 3 blade. I think it's a 13x4 but I could be wrong. I just glanced at it.

Ted's "Special Edition" is beautiful and impressive in quality and detail. None of which is supposed to matter in FAI comps. However, watching it fly, one thing was very obvious, that the color scheme is much more visible in flight than the "Final Edition". It "presents well". I think that can make a big difference...simply due to color choices, maybe worth a few extra points. Yaaaaay, Team USA! Steve

>As far as I know, Ted is using a Ro-Jett 65 BSE engine. I
>think Dave was too, but I could be wrong. I'm sure Ted will
>say so when he responds.

If he had a 65, wouldn't he have to take it out for the Worlds with the 10cc limit?

>Aaron,
>
>As far as I know, Ted is using a Ro-Jett 65 BSE engine. I
>think Dave was too, but I could be wrong. I'm sure Ted will
>say so when he responds.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the interest and the nice words about the new ship. Here are a few pertinent details.

It is, in fact, a further derivative of the Trivial Pursuit design. The basic airplane has done very well by me over the last 12 years with just occassional refinements. Between David and I we've tried a number of things, most of which have improved the breed.

This latest version sports the following changes (which, by the way are supposed to be included in the kit soon to be available from RSM ... although I haven't heard from him since I sent him some pix for the box top).

First, the fuse is quite a bit deeper for two reasons. I've always liked the profile on the plans but when it gets in three dimensions it looks skinny relative to the wing. Coupled with the pipe cowl it now looks better proportioned to me. Second reason is I've flown a few airplanes with greater side area and they seem to have better overhead and vertical performance by a small but noticable amount. Primarily Brett's Infinity which I joke about three billboards in close formation but am really mulishly envious of its performance.

The pipe tunnel is obvious and, as someone suggested, the first time one of us California Kids (KIDS!!!!?????) has actually done what has been shown on the plans all along. This is the result of years of experience with pipes making me comfortable with my ability to make them work without a lot of maintenance and testing. Not visible but important is the way the inside of the cowl and pipe tunnel have been opened up to reduce any impediment to air flow. Someday somebody'll get a picture with the belly open and you'll see that bulkheads have all been relieved until they are just enough to give some support to the tunnel.

Biggest aerodynamic change is the tail which is slightly larger than the original at about 28% of the wing area, is airfoiled with a very sharp leading edge and located 1/2" higher in the fuselage box than were earlier versions. This was an effort to resolve the only significant trim problem we've had with the airplane, a reluctance to track on rails in level flight. This appears to have been a total success since the airplane is very stable right off the board.

The flaps have been returned to slightly less than full span after an experimental increase to full span halfway through the Pond Scum's existence. I didn't see any noticable improvement in the pattern with the full span flaps and I truly missed the adjustable roll trim tab. The response is, of course, a little more aggresssive with less than full span flaps as well and that is also more to my preference.

I've included a ground adjustable rudder as a result of my experience with the Pond Scum which always seemed to cry out for the ability to fine tune the yaw axis. Of course, the new ship with the rudder essentially at zero doesn't seem to have any need for yaw correction. Oh, well, if the earth changes its axis we don't know what adjustments might become necessary.

The airplane is set up to use either the PA or RoJett engines. I am, of course, working only with the .60 versions because of FAI requirements for the World Champs. Thus far the RoJett has been in the front with excellent results. I know the PAs very well after many years of success with them and could drop one in at any time.

I am currently running a Randy Smith three chamber resonator pipe for no better reason than that is what Brett uses and he has done al the local development of the RoJett (he can't get an Eather Pipe in the tunnel of his Infinity. Part of the next months work will be trying the Eather Pipe because I'm very keen on it with the PAs. (My back up plane, believe it or not, is the original Trivial Pursuit which is flying very well still with a stock PA .61).

I am a strong believer in the Eather props and will probably not venture far afield in that area. I know them well and am comfortable in tweaking them for particular purposes ... plus I've got a bunch of them in different pitch configurations. Currently, I'm running a light load, a 12 X 3.75 "green" version with a pipe length of around 17.125". This will get shortened another quarter inch or more this weekend to get the engine deeper into the four stroke at around 10,600 RPM on the ground.

I'm flying on 64' of .018 cables which might surprise some people. The shorter length is a personal preference. Either engine has plenty of power to fly max length lines but, in my opinion, the closer the airplane is to the pilot the more precisely he can fly it assuming appropriate lap times can be maintained. The use of .018 cables is a personal preference. The difference in performance on solids is real but not huge and the potential for problems with the solids and the probable wet conditions during the thunderstorm season in Muncie is too much of a gamble (ask David about his last flight at the team trials last year!) It is true that FAI rules would allow .015 cables which would be lighter and less drag but, the reality is that they stretch enough more than .018s to make the response feel dead with the pull of the big ships.

The S.E. flies 5.2 to 5.3 seconds a lap which, on max length lines would translate to 5.45 to 5.55 or so. Speed is very consistent and wind up control seems to be excellent based on the experience at Albany last week-end.

I'm using Powermaster 10% nitro 18% oil, mostly synthetic, their standard blend. This is at Richard Oliver's suggestion. I've always run the PAs with Sig Champion fuel with the stock blend of 50/50 castor sythetic and usually an ounce of Randy's magic goop.

That's pretty much the story on the new airplane. I've very pleased with the performance to date and look forward to steady improvement right up to the fourth of July when the Red, White and Blue team can start to make a statement in Muncie. (For those that haven't heard, Billy's intention is to fly a red, white and blue USA derivative with piped PA and P-47 aerodynamics. I'm sure you've all seen Paul's exciting new r,w and b Mustang already.)

Thanks for the interest. If anyone has specific questions I haven't answered feel free to post them and when I can make the time I'll try to answer.

Ted, thanks for the reply and the information.

I knew Billy had finished his USA1 but had not heard much about the flying of said plane.

The sharp leading edge on the stab came about for what reason?
Randy or Curt (can't remember) told me that a blunt wing was ok and a blunt stab was ok but together they were not ok, is this the same line of reasoning (thru trial and error of course)

Thanks again, and any pictures you have would be appreciated by me at least, I truly like the "old style" paint job like the planes you had in the 80s with the stars and what not.

As far as the cowl, I just remember from reading the article several times and the plans that there was a cowl that the article had mentioned had not been used but you would like to see it.