ARF Top Flite Flite Streak.

I got mine in last weekend while at Brodaks, picked it up Monday. Had it assembled ready to fly by Wednesday afternoon, about three leasurely hours of assembly. Came in at 21.7 ounces with an OS .25FP, 9X5 top Flite prop. I have made a new landing gear 1 1/2 inches longer, other wise it is as "kitted". Cutting the MonoCote in order to use epoxy can be a little touchy. Easy to go too deep and into the wood. I used Super glue on the canopy. The motor mounts as noted by others, leaves a lot to be desired. I am using them as is to see just how this thing will stay together. I intend to practice the OTS pattern with it and use the Nobler for modern pattern. I notice both are now on sale at Towers. The Nobler for $99.00. Not bad. The aft part of the fuselage has what appears to be three cut outs and the fuselage is planked with 1/16 full length. It is a little taller than an actual Flite Streak in a side by side comparison. I have modified a Flite Streak with a longer nose, so have one to use for comparison. We fly Saturday morning and I will follow up with a flite report.

FLEW MINE TODAY(SAT).RIGHT FROM THE FIRST FLIGHT IT WAS WORTH WHAT I PAID FOR IT. SIX FLIGHTS LATER THE PLANE IS GREAT. THINGS I WOULD CHANGE 1 NEEDS MORE WING TIP WEIGHT 2 PINED HINGES 3 TWO WHEELED LANDING GEAR. I PUT A NORVEL 25 IN MINE WITH 1/8 INCH ENGINE PADS SO I DIDNT HAVE TO DO WOOD WORK ON THE ENGINE MOUNTS. ALSO A SLIGHTLY LARGER TANK WOULD BE NICE,OR A SMALLER ENGINE ,MINE IS VERY FAST BUT IT IS VERY STEADY REALLY A DREAM TO FLY.CANT WAIT FOR YHE NOBLERS IF THE QUALITY IS THE SAME I WILL BE VERY HAPPY WITH THEM. OS FP 25 FOR MINE, CANT WAIT.

I launched a little rich (engine bench run only) but the line tension although light, was there. When the engine leaned out to about 9700 or more, it really had good tension. I have the pushrod in the third hole from the top at the elevator,
and I like the way it flys. Just like all the other Flite Streaks, fast, tight and quick on the maneuvers. Mine has plenty of wing tip weight. I guess it depends who put it together, as it is obvious there must be a team doing it, not an assembly line. The balance came out about 1 1/2 inches from the leading edge and I left it as built. The landing was a dream. Came in on the single wheel, no bounce, no stall or float and wheeled about 15 feet and stopped and leaned over on the outside wing when it stopped. I used 57 1/2 feet lines, .015, and a Tom Morris handle with the lines in the narrowest position on the bar.
It does need a larger tank, and that will allow more than the 2 1/2 minute flights I got. It passed the five foot drop test. I set it on the cover over the pickup bed and a light breeze picked it up and dropped it on the asphalt. No damage. Well worth the money and the wait. Can't wait to get with the ARF Nobler. All in all, my only complaint is the too small tank, but that has always been a problem on stock Flite Streaks. Bigger tanks are available. Being the individuals we are, there will be a lot of little changes in them, most for the better. I would recoomend it to any new comer, or "olde tymer" just looking for a fun plane. Ballon bust, trainer, OTS practice plane, slow combat, etc.

I agree with the above, and will just input my own setup.

OS 25 fp, tongue muffler, 10x4 prop
new tank, 3.25 ounces, homebuilt
twin wheel aluminum gear, homebuilt
required tailweight, all up weight 25.5 ounces
.012 solid x 60 ft lines, homemade handle
Substitued new pinned hinges, t-nuts and locknuts over them on the engine, new tank strap with foam under the tank, longer control horn.

Performance is certainly adequate to be competitve in intermediate and probably most profile 40 events.

Well worth the money. So far about 9 hours work including the hand-built tank.

Last weekend four different dudes flew my Streak ARF. All were happy/surprised at how great the plane flies. Everybody came to the same conclusion, can't beat it for the money! The 25 LA pulls the plane around, might be to fast but it's a ball to fly!

My set-up:

OS 25 LA w/stock muffler
9x6 prop
2 wheel landing gear from a Brodak Galaxy kit

Everything else box stock!

I am waiting for a FS arf.

I was hoping to use an old McCoy 19...it is in great shape, dates to 1963.

Actually, it last flew in a Jr. Flite Streak about 1965, and the Streak was way nose heavy with the Mac...still have the somewhat "distressed" Jr. F/S, but it's not really worth repairing and recovering.

Is an old Mac 19 too far out of the power band to pull this ARF?

If it just does loops and horizontal 8's I would be ok. I can not fly the pattern, and don't expect it to.

I just didn't want to run out and pick up a new OS 25 or equivalent, or over power it with an old Fox 35X or new OS 40 LA I have.

Any thoughts on that Mac 19/Streak combo?

I am slowly resurrecting all my old engines into new planes, and it is a kick to hear them run, see them fly after 38 years.

Well, I just posted my last message on the product reveiw page instead of main forum, oops.

Oh well, message is the same.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-08-03 AT 11:27 PM (CDT)
 
>I am waiting for a FS arf.
>
>I was hoping to use an old McCoy 19...it is in great shape,
>dates to 1963.
>
>Is an old Mac 19 too far out of the power band to pull this
>ARF?
>
If the second batch is similarly light in weight and straight, yes, a RH 19 will be plenty for it, save that you should use 52' by 015 size lines instead of the more usual 60-footers.

>If it just does loops and horizontal 8's I would be ok. I
>can not fly the pattern, and don't expect it to.

The fact is that by some fluke of luck, the careless manner in which Testors would assemble engines didn't result in nearly so many bad 19 size Red Heads as a percentage as was true for the 29's/35's. Maybe there was slightly less varaiation in the 19 parts' variations off of specification. Give 'em enough oil and a reasonable breakin, and they weren't so bad. The price was sure good.

I would imagine that a moderately skilled pilot could do however much of an AMA pattern he wanted to do with an average RH 19 in one of the new Streaks.
>
>I just didn't want to run out and pick up a new OS 25 or
>equivalent, or over power it with an old Fox 35X or new OS
>40 LA I have.
>
>Any thoughts on that Mac 19/Streak combo?
>
I'm currently considering sticking a Conquest 15 in something very similar, if I don't break down & get an ARF FS myself just to see what all the noise is all about. But that 15 has double the RH 19's power.

>I am slowly resurrecting all my old engines into new planes,
>and it is a kick to hear them run, see them fly after 38
>years.
>
I bet it is a blast. I had some bad luck a few years ago (10 or 12, I suppose - no, I guess it was more on the order of 15-to-17) when the house was broken into and one thing that went was an Ammo Box I used to store my oldest engines (and I had about 20-25 stored in it). Then beginning from about five years ago, I've obtained replacements - mostly from eBay, but the new ones aren't really "my own" any more.

There's a more detailed recollection of the situation at:

http://www.flightlines.com/forum/Forum6/HTML/002072.html

I had thought my ammo box had been for 30 Caliber MG ammo; but when I went looking for another one like it, the ones I saw labelled "30 MG" were smaller. I never did get a replacement box.

.
Kiwi

Kiwi,

I stored all my old engines in a 50 caliber ammo box with rubber seal since 1965.

Sorry to hear your loss of early acquistions , as there is a lot of "sentimental" value for most of us in engines acquired as young folks.

My collection is FAR from exotic, 2 Babe Bees, 1 Fox 049, 1 Fox 15x r/c, 1 McCoy 19, 1 Fox 35X, and a Cox PeeWee 020.

They all seem to have survived in the oil soaked environment that a sealed ammo box can provide...it should have invited spontaneous combustion.

So far only the Fox 35X is back in the air, but the McCoy should get up in the light weight FliteStreak ARF.

The only new engine I have is an OS 40 LA, it is earmarked for a Sig Twister that is hanging fire due to endless modifications...

The OS 40 LA, if you can get over gagging on the color, looks, at the imporatant "orifices", to be of higher quality than everything but the Cox's, which on the whole seem to be a really well made bargain of the 60's.

Love this old stuff, always interested in thoughful insights on the old engines and models.

Mine is done and flying. Here's my brief report copied from another email: ""We had an outdoor club meeting tonight, where I flew my Top Flite ARF Flite Streak for the first time. It flies great!!! Corners are incredible: smooth and tight! I'd rate the kit a B+ and the overall experience an A-. Mine has many mods. I beefed the front end considerably, replaced the bellcrank and leadouts, added a robust tail gear (doubles as the stooge release) and used Brodak removable 2-wheel wire gear (vs. the included single wheel gear). It's shown here with some of the tank and prop options ready to try. The Dixon re-timed FP .25 runs well and puts out surprisingly good power. Despite being in the hobby 40++ years, this is the first .25 powered model I've ever owned. Total weight (with an ounce of tail weight) is 31 ounces. Although I didn't use any of the stock hardware, it was good quality except for the leadouts. There is some room for improvement, but overall Top-Flite did a great job on this kit. I could not do a better framing or covering job. My price was under $60, which is a real bargain. I could not build one from a kit, or scratch build it, for less. Next up: the ARF Nobler!!"

Since the initial flying session, I've added an adjustable trim tab to the outboard wing. I used Sig nylon hinges and made the elevators removable. For balance, 3/4 ounce of lead is bolted on the tail, with a brass tube stiffener epoxied between the sides, to prevent crushing the mostly hollow fuselage. With a few mods, I was able to "shoehorn" a Brodak 3 ounce profile uniflow tank in the nose. I got 6 to 7 minute engine runs, depending on the needle setting, which is more than enough to do the pattern. It really scoots along, but is fun to fly and a good reflex tester. Prop is an 8 X 6. A 9 X 4 or 8 X 5 might slow it down some. The FP .25 is mounted to steel plates that bolt to the front end with 4-40 socket head bolts and blind nuts. The nuts are sunk and epoxied to a separate 1/8" ply plate, that I could have glued to the inboard side, but left removeable. The plates help spread the compression loads over a greater surface area, so I don't crush the soft motor mounts (they feel like balsa!). With the steel mount plates I can also run a Fox .35 or DS .40 but the FP .25 is really all the power this plane needs.

The main problem with Flite Streak is lack of space for tank. GRW use to make one that was designed for slow combat. They called a hopper tank. I have not seen these available lately. My last streak had one and it was 31/2 oz. Just right for Fox.35,or good .25 engine. I just like of sound of good 2-4-2 baffle engine. Sounds like stunt instead of hi rev screamer. Let the RC boys play with hi rev engines. Happy,flying,Dan.

The GRW tank is still being made and available from Brodak or RSM. The chicken hopper small size is 3 1/4 oz. It is basically the 3 oz profile tank with a 1/4 oz hopper. Length is 2 1/4 inch.
Steve

I am using GRW 3.25-ounce chicken hopper tanks on both of my ARF Flite Streaks, although they were sourced from SIG Mfg.

The tanks are easily the best I have tried, to the point where I am done looking for the perfect piece. As my latest ARF FS was destined from the first to use the stock muffler, I wanted to move the engine to the rear. With the GRW tank I was able to do this, a rare act with a FS, and still pack along more fuel than is really needed for your average conditions.

That perfect tank? GRW chicken hopper configuration, one in 2.25 ounces, another in 2.75 ounces. Ideally, the smaller capacity would come from making the tanks shorter.