Scale Curtiss XP-55 Ascender
- Thread starter Larry B
- Start date
Jetpainter
640cc Uber Pimp
That one looked a great! Glad to see your getting it dialed in.
Larry B
70cc twin V2
Thank you guys for all the kind works and helpful info, it has been a long road with this project. February 2011 is when I first started the plug for this silly project, now 5 years & 2 models later it looks like I may have whipped it.
I don't think this model will be a contest worthy airplane but it does have what my flying buddies call the "cool factor".
I don't think this model will be a contest worthy airplane but it does have what my flying buddies call the "cool factor".
Larry B
70cc twin V2
Earle,
I have had to make several serious mod's to this pig in order to get it this far. The major changes are the enlarged canard area, and the other is the moving of the main gear forward to help in takeoff rotation. the first model had the main gear in the scale location which put much more of the model's weight on the nose gear, this in turn made it really tough to get the nose to lift on takeoff. Another concern is the wing loading, it's over 57oz/sq ft now which makes for a very unforgiving airplane to be competing with.
The Ascender is about the worst possible subject a guy could pick to model, the full scale airplane was not a canard but rather a flying wing with a "floating" elevator out in front which gives it the canard look. I could not think of any way to duplicate this feature in the R/C world so I opted to try and convert my model to a true canard and thus I am having to pay the price of the changes. If things go good I plan on taking this thing to the NAT's in 2017 then we will see if I'm right. It would not stand a chance at Top Gun so I'm not even going to try the Ascender there in 2017.
I have no doubt that the static score will take a beating because of the discrepancies, I just like to model odd subjects and in the long run I end up paying the price.
As long as we are having fun at this silly thats all that really matters, right?
larry B
I have had to make several serious mod's to this pig in order to get it this far. The major changes are the enlarged canard area, and the other is the moving of the main gear forward to help in takeoff rotation. the first model had the main gear in the scale location which put much more of the model's weight on the nose gear, this in turn made it really tough to get the nose to lift on takeoff. Another concern is the wing loading, it's over 57oz/sq ft now which makes for a very unforgiving airplane to be competing with.
The Ascender is about the worst possible subject a guy could pick to model, the full scale airplane was not a canard but rather a flying wing with a "floating" elevator out in front which gives it the canard look. I could not think of any way to duplicate this feature in the R/C world so I opted to try and convert my model to a true canard and thus I am having to pay the price of the changes. If things go good I plan on taking this thing to the NAT's in 2017 then we will see if I'm right. It would not stand a chance at Top Gun so I'm not even going to try the Ascender there in 2017.
I have no doubt that the static score will take a beating because of the discrepancies, I just like to model odd subjects and in the long run I end up paying the price.
As long as we are having fun at this silly thats all that really matters, right?
larry B
Larry B
70cc twin V2
Getting some more done on this thing, the cockpit windows are all cut out but still need some "clean up". The retracts are up and running complete with nose gear doors to cover up the big hole that has been in the bottom of the nose. And also I finally broke down and gave up trying to balance the Chinese carbon fiber spinner and purchased a beautiful Dave Brown Products spinner. I did a ground run out in the shop and it seems to run nice and smooth with just a tiny bit of vibration. I did have to balance the new spinner just a little and it's as good as I can get it.
Larry B
Larry B