Curtis HP-55 Ascender

[Viper Pilot]

Has anyone built/flown one of these beauties?? I have plans for a 38" version, and am thinking of trying to scratch-build it.

VP

[mrittinger]

Yeah, Curtiss built a few.Theres a resaon they never went into production too :)

Why not try a Black Bullet? Its even more obscure......

[Hal Ray]

The electric Black Bullet is suposed to be realy hard to fly, I have the plans around here somewere. I think it has about a 60" WS and a AF motor maybe a 05 or a 15 with gear drive for the front prop and belt drive to turn the rear prop a little faster.

HRH

[KOMET 44]

vp i say start scratching!!If the plans are anything like chris golds SHINDIN then it shouldn't be to hard.Are thse the plans from turn-key rc? good luck stefanP

[Viper Pilot]

Stefan,

The plans are on Kurt Bengston's website . . . . many good plans (most are rubber-powered) that look like they could be converted to S400s.

Check the site out . . . . Here (http://www.home.earthlink.net/~bengco/plans.htm)

VP

[mrittinger]

Who did an electric Black Bullet?

[Viper Pilot]

Mark,

This thread is over a year old, but contains dialogue pertaining to the Black Bullet.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3057

VP

[Hal Ray]

Bill Young did the Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet in Model Builder Magazine, plan #4851. He also did the Northrop N9M-A same magazine, plan #8831. I think you can still get Model Builder plans. The XP-56 uses a AF 15 and the N9M uses 2 AF 05 motors.
I think the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender is the best looking of the three in the competition, Vultee,s XP-54 Swoose Goose is not mean looking enough to be a fighter.

HRH

[Viper Pilot]

Hal,

I have to agree with you. The Ascender is a mean looking machine. The problem is that the plans I have show no CG, and the wing looks awful difficult to measure the MAC. Any suggestions??

VP

[Hal Ray]

I hope someone can help you with the CG because I sure can't.

HRH

[AndyKunz]

Make a 12" span profile model of it. Use that to find the CG.

Andy

[Megowcoupe]

VP

If you're using the Earl Stahl plans, the cg is on the main spar. IIRC it's about one quarter of the way back from the leading edge of the main wing when measured on the fuse. Believe me, it needs to be this far forward, the gyrations my rubber ships did with it further back were indescribable.

Sam

[Viper Pilot]

Sam,

Thanx, that's what I was guessing. 25% is usually a good place to start, but I wasn't sure if it was 25% at the fuse or the 25% of the MAC.

Andy,

I'll try your suggestion, too, using the above said 25%.

VP

[mrittinger]

you have to remember that in a canard, the canard itself is considered a lifting lifting surface, moving the CG forward on the main wing.....

[Viper Pilot]

I think I'll buy the TurnKeyRC short kit w/plans. Seems to be the simplest solution. Thanks for all the replies to this post.

Check it out here: (http://www.turnKeyRC.com/xp55.htm)

VP