 |
 |
June 2000 The plane was originally built in 1988 or 1989. It flew for several seasons with a direct drive Astro Flight .25 and suffered a serious crash when someone returned the pin, but left their transmitter on. Ken repaired the fuselage from years of hanger rash, including a move to a new house and a new marriage.
|
 |
1998 When building this model, the task was to use an easily available kit and turn it into an electric. The standard liteply fuselage was replaced with a balsa one, and it was changed into a taildragger, which is a personal preference. The wing and tail were used stock from the kit. |
| All up weight is 62.6 oz. with 10 Sanyo 1700SCRC cells. A
Kyosho Magnetic Mayhem turns a 10x6 Rev-up prop through a ModelAir-Tech H-500 belt-drive geared
2.4:1. The radio is an Airtronics Vanguard 6ch FM. It uses the Airtronics 6ch Rx, 270 mAh Rx
pack and three 1 oz. Airtronics servos. The ESC is an Astro Flight 217D. It flies very well, and
required only a couple of clicks of elevator and aileron trim to fly straight, true and easily.
With a wing area of 450 sq.in. it has a cubic wing loading of 11.3 oz./cu.ft. which is typically and advanced sport type. | |
 |
This plane was designed and built the last week of June, 1999. The test flights were on July 3, 1999. It is based on my original design called the Lightning 40 MkII, which I designed in 1983 for an Enya .46 4-stroke. The extra "e" in Lightening, refers to the fact that I lightened the original airframe concept for electric power. Specifications: Wing Span: 35 in. - 889 mm Wing Area: 250 sq.in. - 16.13 sq dm Flying Weight w/6 Sanyo RC-2000: 34 oz. - 964 g Wing Loading: 19.6 oz./sq.ft - 59.8 g/sq dm Cubic Wing Loading: 14.9 oz./cu.ft. (typically expert sport) Length: 29 in. - 737 mm Power: AF035 direct, 7x4 APC, AF215D ESC, 6 Sanyo RC-2000 cells, Sermos connectors Radio: Airtronics Vanguard 4 Tx, Airtronics 4ch Micro Rx, 2-Airtronics Microlite servos (elevator and rudder), 1-Airtronics high speed BB 1oz. servo (ailerons) |
|
1998 When building this model, the task was to use an easily available kit and turn it into an electric. The standard liteply fuselage was replaced with a balsa one, and it was changed into a taildragger, which is a personal preference. The wing and tail were used stock from the kit. |
| All up weight is 62.6 oz. with 10 Sanyo 1700SCRC cells. A
Kyosho Magnetic Mayhem turns a 10x6 Rev-up prop through a ModelAir-Tech H-500 belt-drive geared
2.4:1. The radio is an Airtronics Vanguard 6ch FM. It uses the Airtronics 6ch Rx, 270 mAh Rx
pack and three 1 oz. Airtronics servos. The ESC is an Astro Flight 217D. It flies very well, and
required only a couple of clicks of elevator and aileron trim to fly straight, true and easily.
With a wing area of 450 sq.in. it has a cubic wing loading of 11.3 oz./cu.ft. which is typically and advanced sport type. | |
 | 1997 This plane flies very well. Original power was an AF05G on 10 1700SCRC cells turning a 10x6 prop at 8,300 and 26 amps. It has 482 sq.in. of wing area for a wing loading of 17.8 oz./sq.ft. With a cubic wing loading of 9.7 oz./cu.ft., typically sport, it is my best flying NiCad powered plane. What looks like the eye is actually the "plastic spoon" airscoop with white trim added to the front and black trim for the eyeball. |
| It is now powered by an AF035 with a MA 3.0:1 (2.93:1) gearbox on 10 1700SCRC cells with the 10x6 Rev-up prop. The static amp draw is closer to 30 amps, but the RPM is up to over 9,000 RPM from 8,700 and the vertical is much better, while the horizontal speed is faster at full power. Flight times are "slightly less", but still very acceptable (6-7 minutes), as compared to the 7-8 minutes for the AF05G system. | |
 |
1988 The SortaPT was my first electric design. It gots its name because it reminded me of the Cox PT-19 I had as a very young man. Some stats from the time and flight notes. |
| Radio Req'd: 3-channel (electronic speed controller, elevator, rudder)
Airfoil: Same as on the Olympic 650 2-meter glider, flat bottomed Construction: Built up balsa and ply Comments: An easily built plane with a minimum of parts. Even though it is a low-wing design, it's ease of flight and long flight time make it an excellent trainer for the novice to R/C or the experienced pilot who wants to "try" electric power. The original Sorta PT took flight in March of 1988, but I'll let the story from the May 1988 Ampeer electric flight newsletter tell the story. The Sorta PT: A Flight Report Tuesday April 5, Indian Springs Metro Park After an aborted attempt, late in March, the Sort PT took gracefully to the air at about 8:10A.M. The breezes were 5 to 10 MPH from the southeast. The Sorta PT moved rapidly down the bike path and lifted, wings level, into the wind. The sun gleamed through the yellow Micafilm, as it circled lazily in the sky. Left circle, fine. Right circle, fine. Horizontal figure eight, beautiful. Control response just perfect. Well that's sorta the truth on the Sorta PT. It is how I felt though, but the real facts are as follows. Late in March I tried to do a test flight on too windy of a day. An Electra had already pounded the ground. It should have been a warning. The PT rose from the bike path and the wind got under its wing. I decided to abort then. It flew into some heavy weeds. The damage was; ripped off landing gear and a wing that impolded. I had been leery of the wing from the time that it was built. It was just too light. I made a new, stronger wing which was also lengthened. This added 2 more ounces to the plane, which now weighs 44 oz. The fifth was a much better day. The winds were down and no one was in the park. I changed the 112 watt Top Flite 10 x 6 to a 126 watt, Rev-Up 10 x 8W. This worked well on the first flight. I chose to land on the grass, a small mistake. The grass was moist, long and clumpy. The landing gear stopped, the plane didn't. No real damage was done and the gear was glued back into place. A Rev-Up 10 x 6EW was put on the Astro .05 cobalt to see if I could extend the flight time. A take off was made from the parking lot. A five to seven minute flight was logged and the flight ended with a perfect landing on the parking lot. I did have to carry quite a bit of up trim so I eliminated some of the downthrust. I was thrilled with its performance. It is docile and fun to fly, not a sky burner but a fun plane. I am drawing. up the plans and will be trying to get them published. We'll keep you posted. April 6 She flew four more four more times this morning. Good flights. I tried different props. Everything seems to work. The Kyosho 9x8 and Rev-Up 10x6W seem to give the longest flights. | |
|
The year it was introduced, maybe 1986? This is me with a Carl Goldberg Electra. The photo was taken about a week after the release of the kit. It was flown on 7 1200mAh cells and proved to be an adequate flyer. It was used as a TRAINER by folks at a hobby shop I was co-managing at the time. |
|
Many years ago. Most likely 2000. From the front going clockwise; X-250, E-250, Tigershark, Spickler Q-500, and Cutie.
|