This sexy cousin of the Nutball has great control response- fast roll rate, great inverted flat spins, the usual insanely tight loops, inverted flight- as well as very good low speed handling. The 70 watt 16 gram motor has far more power than is necessary- which is just about right! The FLIRT was designed with a full length upper fuselage where the ESC, radio receiver, and servos are all easily installed. The slightly thicker EPP lower fuselage is designed to allow room for carrying the battery within the foam, directly on the center line, and out of the cold winter air. The lower fuselage also provides adequate support for the extremely light weight mono-ski mounting.
It's amazing how aerobaticly this Rudder / Elevator aircraft can fly. The 24 degree dihedral setup allows for this type of agile handling response. She will roll very rapidly, loop in a very small amount of sky-either inside or outside- and does inverted flat spins very nicely. She recovers from any attitude quickly. And with a flying weight of 4-1/8 ounce, and a wing area of 1.55 square feet, the FLIRT has a wing loading of only 2.7 ounces per square foot, so she can slow down beautifully. The underbody and tail skids act as effective vertical stabilization when flying in high-alpha atitudes.
(Elevons are ineffective on a aircraft with this high dihedral layout; there are lots of high performance elevon designs, such as the MANTA OMEGA and ACE designs. The Flirt was designed to be highly aerobatic using only rudder and elevator.)
Oh- the name??? My wife came up with it, and it FITS! The FLIRT is a resilient girl that just Loves to flirt with the dirt- and flirt with the trees- and flirt with the bushes- she can't hardly wait to play in the snow! My kind of girl!! Click on the image above to jump to the FLIRT's page.
This is the VARRKAIN, a 48" wingspan EPP and Coroplast slope combat aircraft. Click on the image below to jump to that page
Above- the newest design in the MANTA Project series, the "ACE". Flying at 7.5 ounces, this is a fine flying addition to the "UFOs OVER SOUTH PARK" series. Click on the image above to visit the Manta Project "ACE" page, with more photos and information.
The SUMO +G is an EPP and Bluecor PP foam high resiliency aerobatic flyer with a well-protected mid-mounted motor; it is my design variant of the SUMO design from the RC Groups discussion thread in the "Foamies: Scratchbuilt" section of EZONE. Click on the image above to go to the new page on this aitrcraft.
(Above): DANCER - the latest design with the highly efficient glider wing using the 'Kline-Fogleman step treatment' on the wing's top surface
The SLIM BEAGLE has a new Kline-Fogleman Airfoiled Glider wing with ailerons! It's now morphed into a lite hotliner!! (Well... a lightweight 'warmliner' at least, anyway!!)
CLICK HERE to jump to the NEW SLIM BEAGLE / DANCER page, for information on three new 46" span, 7" chord aileron wings with Kline-Fogleman airfoil being flown on two new slimmed EPP & Aquarider fuselages. Also added there is information on my new heat-forming techniques for Bluecor and AquarRider foam.
SPINNER III,
This is the latest generation of the SPINNER design series; it features a three layer wing leading edge for the front 30% of chord and a sharp 90 degree 'Kline-Fogleman step'. The wing spar structure consists of a 1mm diameter carbon fiber rod glued to the top & bottom surface just in front of the step at 30% of chord. The result is a very rigid wing which flies much more like a fully symmetrical wing than like a flat plate wing - a major performance improvement over the earlier SPINNER design. CLICK HERE to visit the Spinner page for more photos & information.
CURVACIOUS! II (Above) is the second generation of the 'Curvy' foamies; it's highly aerobatic, with large ailerons, rudder, and a counterbalanced elevator. It's a LOT of fun to fly; rolls cleanly & quickly, flat spins easily, loops tightly... a great lightweight flyer! For more information, click on the photo above to go to the web page.
The CURVACIOUS! - ("CURVY" for short) shown as it is flying on January 1st, 2007. This is a very responsive Rudder-Elevator controlled design. Landing gear is removable, mounted in place with Scotch "Extreme" cross-filament nylon filament tape. With a 2S 800 mAH CSRC LiPoly battery pack, the flying weight is at 7-7/8 ounces. The motor is a GoBrushless GBv kit motor with 23 wraps of 26 gauge wire, Y termination, driven by a Castle Creations Thunderbird 9 ESC. For outdoor flying, I'm using a 9x7 GWS slowflyer prop, which provides almost unlimited vertical, and the ability to do high-alpha maneuvers. Handling is responsive, but very predictable; it'll take off, turn, and land in the same place on the snowpacked road behind me in the photo above! Click here to visit the CURVACIOUS web page.
The MANTA, a foamie scale rendition of John Frost's 1962 'Flying Saucer' aircraft design; click here for more information on this project.
SOARBIRD is a 61" wingspan slowflyer / thermal cruiser built in a stylized soaring hawk shape. It was designed to look a lot like a hawk or eagle from below when it's riding thermals above. (I've wanted to do one something like this for a long time!) There are already a few other bird-like designs of varying complexity; what I wanted to do was to come up with a design that would be relatively easy to build, without complex airfoil shaping or any hot-wire cutting. SOARBIRD II is a 52-1/2" wingspan version with elevator and ailerons / spoilerons, which is far more agile in windy conditions. For more information and the build sequence photos, click here to jump to the SOARBIRD page.
The SNOBOAT is a Canard Flying Boat design made from BlueCor and EPP; the design was first flown in December of 2005. It was modified with several design / control updates on December 2nd, 2006. It now flies GREAT from snow, with improved control response and very good stability! CLICK HERE to jump to the SNOBOAT page.
NEW: Click here to visit the newest page featuring the "WOODSTOK" design, as shown in the photo above. This is another foamy park flyer with a 35-3/4" wingspan, powered by a CD-Rom kit motor in a pusher setup, flying on a two cell 1300 mAH LiPoly battery pack at 8-7/8 ounces.
On December 4th, 2006 WOODSTOCK had his trike floats quickly remounted, and went out for some snow flying!
The BEAGLE has a 33' wingspan, using an undercambered shaped BLUECOR polyhedral wing and BLUECOR tail surfaces for rudder - elevator - throttle control. This 8 ounce airplane uses either a modest amount of power from a GWS LPS power system powered with a 2 cell Li-Poly 1300mAH battery pack for up to 30 minutes of flight time before recharging, or optionally can be powered with a light brushless motor for hotter performance. This is a superb primary trainer design; several aspiring newbie pilots have quickly become capable RC pilots by flying the BEAGLE!
I did a rather extensive kit bashing project on a WILD WING; the photo above shows the results. Click HERE to go to the WILD WING project page.
"THE SPINNER"- a BlueCor Aerobatic Aircraft Fun-Flyer Project
The Spinner is a 30" wingspan, 12-5/8 Oz. flat plate airfoil plane made from BlueCor, set up with a brushless motor system which is producing 16 ounces of thrust; it flat-spins easily & recovers almost instantaneously, and is capable of amazing maneuvers. It's set up "0-0-0", for neutral stability... it's not a plane for novice flyers, but it does performe very well in the hands of an experienced pilot. For details on how this plane is built, visit the SPINNER page.
The 2007 SPARCS Silent Fly was presented at a new location: SPARCS RC Airfield on the north outskirts of Fairplay CO on July 21st, 2007. CLICK HERE to go to the Silent Fly page.
WEATHER INFORMATION LINKS
CONDITIONS FOR FAIRPLAY , SOUTH PARK REGION, COLORADO
CONDITIONS FOR SILVERTHORNE REPORTED FROM PIONEER CREEK RANCH JUST NORTH OF SILVERTHORNE
There are two new EPP foam Slope gliders, a 60" span BD5J and the 48" span "SLOPE CRUISER" now shown in new photos on the "SLOPERS" page; click here
Click on the photo above for a page with photos and information on one of my EPP slope ship designs- the VIKING 60. This is a versatile 'high durability' EPP foam aircraft that is easily switched between a slope soaring configuration, and an E-powered aerobatic flyer configuration. It's hadling in all flying conditions superbly- beyond my expectations!
VIKING 60 Kits are not presently available as of August, 2008 ; jump to the VIKING 60 Page for details on this 60" wingspan EPP Slope ship that's also easily set up for E-Powered aerobatic flight!
INTELLICAST WIND FORCAST
Do you wonder what the flying conditions will be like as far as wind direction & strength for the next couple of days? Here's the place to check to get an idea if you'll be likely to lazily float around the slope with your 'floater', or whether you'll need to tie your hat on & pile in the ballast weight in a sleeker slope ship.
Hello, and welcome to my RC Flying Web Site. My name is Bruce Stenulson. I started flying RC gliders in the Mountains of Colorado (On the face of the Lake Dillon dam ) in January of 1982. I started building electric powered aircraft in 1984, and have designed many planes for E-Power. I first flew a 'wet powered' RC aircraft on January 7th of 1990, when I built my Telemaster with float flying in mind. I've since designed and flown many wet powered aircraft, and continue to design and build both E-Powered and wet-powered planes (although the majority of my aircraft are now E-powered.)
Other Recently Completed RC Aircraft Designs
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THIS PAGE:
(Click on the image above for more info on the E-FOX, A 63" span Electric Powered Sport Aerobatic design for 12 cells, Geared Cobalt 20. It has been mounted on floats in May of 2004, and performs well from water!
June 12th, 2006 is the tenative date for the SPARCS 2006 Float Fly. Here's a photo essay on High Altitude FLOAT FLYING, featuring some more recent photos of high lakes and float planes. There's also a lot of info on float design and setup.
NEW Slope Flying Site for NW to North winds: Click HERE Jump to the SLOPE FLYING SITES page for information on the LOOKOUT POINT site, about 7 miles from the KING slope flying site.
The "E-SPIRIT 100"
An Electric Powered Spirit 100" Sailplane
Click HERE or on the photo above to jump to the page featuring more photos and details of my custom fuselage design project, to end up with a electric powered Spirit 100, using a 20 sized brushed Cobalt motor running on from 10 to 14 cells.
Above is a photo of my KYOSHO VIENTO, a high performance Electric ARF Sailplane design with ailerons, using the RG-15 airfoil. Click on the image above to jump to the page of photos and information on how I set up my own VIENTO.
MOST OF THE NEWER MATERIAL ON THIS WEB SITE IS ON THE ELECTRIC FLIGHT PAGE: For a look at several of my most recent E-Power designs, CLICK HERE to jump to the ELECTRIC FLIGHT main page.
In 1990, The South Park Area Radio Control Society was established as AMA Chartered Club # 2774. Click Here For information on SPARCS, including links into an extensive photo gallery of pilots, aircraft, and flying sites and events, as well as links to other RC flying clubs in the Colorado region.
SLOPE FLYING SITES!
I enjoy slope flying, and have offered a variety of information on slope flying aircraft and flying sites in the central Colorado Rockies. The EPP foam slope ships available today are incredibly durable, and can handle rough landing areas that built up balsa gliders can not. It's revolutionized the opportunities for "Extreme terrain" slope flying.
The SOUTH PARK SLOPE FLYING SITES page has been periodicly updated, with more new photos of some of the EIGHT slope flying sites presently listed on this page. The last addition includes 6 new photos of the Hoosier Pass / North Star Mountain Slope Flying area at 12,230 feet elevation. I think you'll really enjoy these new high resolution photos (and the information about this exceptional slope flying area!)
In the spring of 2004, the NIGHT FLYING page was expanded, featuring information on setting up a newer, higher intensity light weight LED lighting system for night flyers. This is particularly well suited to Park Flyers and Slow Flyers, as the entire setup is in the 1-1/2 ounce weight range, including the separate lighting battery pack I'm using. Click here to go to the "Night Flying" page.
On 1-4-97, I started the page featuring details on the NITEOWL, a giant scale origional RC aircraft, with photos and handling evaluation. Now a newer design is already in the works, the "FLOATMASTER", a giant scale plane designed for a 2 cycle 75 engine, with a deep wing chord, new airfoil, and wide control surfaces. The NITEOWL does fly well at night, as was demonstrated at the SPARCS 1997 Christmas party at Lost Creek International RC Airfield (a private RC flying facility owned by SPARCS member Ron Teke.) , and again at the 1998 SPARCS July Fun-Fly-In.
Here are photos of some of our favorite RC FLYING SITES In The Mountains, for both powered planes and slope gliders, and the planes we fly here.
If you've wondered about setting up a plane for NIGHT FLYING , but weren't sure how best to go about it, here's some usefull information based on my experiences, including recommended materials and methods.
Float Flying is a lot of fun; maybe now is the time to plan and build your float setup! Here's an article on
"DESIGNING FOR WATER FLYING SUCCESS"
10-29-98 Note: This has developed into possibly being the introductory chapters of an entire book on the subject. I realized that the subject couldn't be done justice in a shorter article, so I'm progressing on writing it all... Thanks to those of you who expressed an interest by Email, and have offered encouragment on this project. (Note: I'll either publish the book, or eventually put a bit more of this information here on the web... times get busy, and I haven't heard from too many interested people, so this project has been shuffled to the back burner for a while!)
10-29-98 update; I've added the begining of chapter 2 to this web site; Not much input & feedback has been recieved on this project, so it's on hold for a while longer... While the chapter is unfinished, I've decided to offer what's already done. ENJOY!
Tired of all of the oil on your plane, but you don't want to hurt it's performance by adding an exhaust diverter? Check out this Photo illustrated article on RESONANT EXHAUST DIVERTER SYSTEMS for 2 Cycle engines; your system may even GAIN RPM! (Article added 3-8-97 PM)
The South Park Area Radio Control Society (SPARCS) main page is updated with contact information for the 2006 officers, as well as for the contact individuals in various areas throughout the Central Rocky Mountain Region of Colorado.
Looking for books, music, videos, electronics? Use the search box below to check Amazon.com's current prices on an ever expanding array of items!
AMAZON.COM
Web sight designed and maintained by Bruce Stenulson, Fairplay, Colorado. (c) 1997-2008; All Rights Reserved.
THE NEWEST FROM SKYFOX R/C
