Those of you who were at Sig saw Keith Sandberg's not quite finished Beech 18/C-45 stunter on display. This is a 700+ inch, 74oz, 3-dimensional ship with two O.S. .30 4 strokes for power. Strong shoulders strongly suggested. For the record, he had already pull tested the control system to over 55 lbs.
It made it's first flights last night at our club field. After some teething problems on the ground, Keith had everything correct and both engines running and starting right. With engines creating a lovely and somewhat realistic sound, not to speak of all available cameras and video recorders going, it took of quickly and smoothly.
Both engines ran flawlessly in the air, and the model had no major bad flight habits. Keith was able to do some wingovers and a few careful loops, but it was hunting enough to make pattern altitude level flight a bit tricky.
After adding 2 oz. of nose weight (hey, short moments and a BIG airplane!), the second flight allowed better level flight, some lazy eights, and inverted flight & wingovers.
Following an elevator tweek and moving the leadouts forward, Keith took it up again and DID A FULL PATTERN! There was no hinging or double turning, and it seems to turn very tight, clean square corners with no effort. There was no apparent speed drop in consecutives, and there didn't seem to be any audible change in engine tone during the toughest turns or vertical climbs. While he was cautious and a bit high due to some remaining tail heaviness and slight hunting, combined with a handle that was Way off in neutral, the maneuver quality would still have scored an easy 400 to 450 pts in most contests. That's amazing for the third flight on a scale like, very complex, original design.
For those who haven't seen the model or the posting on it earlier, the fuselage and cowls are 3-D, with the fuselage about 2" wide (true scale would be over 6") and flat sided, and the cowls somewhat oval but rounded and scale like with the engines fully enclosed except for the mufflers and valve covers (which look like an air intake sticking out the bottom). The Main gear is a beautiful set of machined aluminum yokes. The model is very, very scale like both on the ground and in the air, with the twin engine sound adding to the illusion. The finish is fully up to Keith's usual standards.
This doesn't fly like a scale model trying to be a stunter. It gives every indication of potentially being a very competitive expert stunter in at least local and regional competition. Based on what I saw last night, a hundred flights from now, it may well be every bit as good a weapon as Keiths late, great Saito .56 Legacy.
I can't post pix, but will send them to someone who can!
Jeff Welliver
P.S.: for those who still think the location of the bellcrank pivot matters, this model absolutely disproves that idea.
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