From the Shooter article from Model Airplane News.

Tight Turns,

Claude

Well, I almost got to maiden the Pole Star X Yesterday. Our club was having a fun fly and I took the PSX to at least run up the engine. The wind was blowing pretty good so I didn't really want to maiden on a windy day. Well the engine fired right up and I just really wanted to fly it. I gave it one last blast of full power and when I went to bring her down to idle, she stayed wide open. Long story short....had a bad throttle servo. If I would have had a servo with me, it only took 5 minutes to replace it when I got home. Was going to try again today, but still windy. Wednesday I'll try again. I'm just glad I caught it before it took off. Trying to maiden a plane like this stuck at full throttle would have been a nightmare.

Well, I maiden the Pole Star this afternoon. It was a little to windy, but it flew well. I ran out of up trim just as I got it to fly level, so I'll have to fix that. Also the prop is only about 3/4 inch from the ground, so I mow grass no matter how low it's cut on our grass field.

It was way to windy get a real feel for how she fly’s, but from what I could tell, she flew a lot like my foam delta I flew for years (seen below). My first take off attempt ended in the prop digging into the ground, due to the trim being way to much down. Restarted her, and this time kept some up elevator on takeoff run. She rolled about a hundred and fifty feet and lifted quickly into the air. I noticed immediately that the down elevator trim was way too much and she kept trying to nose dive. Also the aileron trim needed several clicks to the left. After about two laps of knee shaking flight, she was flying level, well almost level. I did run out of elevator up trim, but it only wanted to drop at lower speeds. After the third lap, she started feeling like my old delta, so I poured the coals to her and did some rolls, loops and high bank turns. Just like my delta, put her in a bank and she stays in a bank. I did not want to do too much on the maiden, so I began testing her stall speed and setup for some landing runs. Again, just like my delta, she has a very low stall speed, and with the wind blowing would just almost stop and float in place. Can’t wait to fly her in less wind.

I measured the fuselage and wing.
Fuselage: 42 inches
Wing Span: 48 inches

Looks a lot like a Diamond Dust to me. They fly good, too.

Here are some pictures of my current Simitar biplane flying wing project.

It is loosely based on a flat foamy Ultimate Biplane.

The fuselage nose was extended 2", and the top wing was moved back to be directly on top of the bottom wing.

The center strut is 1/16" plywood sandwiched with 3/8" balsa and plywood inserts for the 10-32 nylon bolts.

The cabane struts will be 1/16" plwood sandwiched with either 1/8" or 1/4" balsa and will attach to plywood togues glued to the cores with 4-40 bolts.

I will be adding fillets to all struts top and bottom made from end grain triangle stock and filler.

I am thinking of calling it Simitar Penultimate? or might change the rudder shape a bit and call it Simitar Bulldog.

The fuselage may or may not have a turtledeck and canopy, it depends on how I feel after I look at it a bit more.

The wingspan is 36 1/2" and the cord will be 10" with the elevons.

The wings have 1/2" sweepback and I am guessing the CG will be arround 1 1/4" back from the leading edge.

Power will be my new OS 46 AX.

What does everybody think about it so far?

Tight turns to all!

Claude

I kept looking at this post thinking I forgot something.

I did, the Simitar Advantage.(the first one I built)

Plans are still available from RCM's website.

http://www.rcmplans.com/

If some one else spots that I've missed any more, let me know!

Tight Turns,

Claude

Finished Simitar Penultimate flying wing biplane ready for test flight.

Power OS 46 AX with 10x8 prop.

Covering: Yellow, Smoke Purple, White, and Black Ultra-Cote

Canopy: Cut down GWS Corsair canopy

Pez Tweety Bird pilot.

I loosely based the design on a flat foam Ultimate Biplane I downloaded from the internet.

I blew the wing up to 36.5" and added 2" to the nose section.

Predicted optimum balance point is at 1.25" back from leading edge, currrent balance point is 1.125" from leading edge.

Six Hitec 81 servos, one for each elevon and throttle and rudder.

600 mAh battery.

Wish me luck!

Tight Turns to All!

Claude

Field conditions: Sunny with winds gusting from the West 15 to 20 mph. (Runway is North to South, why test fly a plane during a 90' crosswind? Its a Simitar!)

First takeoff attempt failed due to wind and nose-over in grass. No Damage.

Second takeoff straight-ish down the runway, climbout uneventfull.

Three clicks of down and plane flying straight and level.

Loops are tight, roll rate is blisteringly fast.

Landing with slight bounce, wind flipped wingtip up, nose dug in and plane flipped on it's back.

No structural damage but rudder servo and right top wing elevon servo gears stripped, ending flight tests.

Tight turns to all!

Claude

I've made a total of 5 more flights on this plane, all 100% successful, no more stripped servos.

The Penultimate is a blast to fly, no further changes to balance or control throws were needed.

It flys, like a Simitar.

Fast passes, low speed landings, knife edge flight is way better than any of my other Simitars.

I can't say enough good about it.

It won't be flying any more this season as it and my Pole Star will be put away and prettied up for my club's mall show next year.

Tight turns to all!

Claude

Looks great, Claude. I think it's amazing that a biplane flying wing will handle so well.

I was originally worried about the HS-81 servos. I have stripped gears out of a lot of them. I had to replace all my nylon gears with metal ones.

The first successful tail-less biplane I see. Congrats !
Stripped Hs81s too ... lame servos, suited for throttle management or very small airframes !

Originally Posted by Strykaas

The first successful tail-less biplane I see. Congrats !
Stripped Hs81s too ... lame servos, suited for throttle management or very small airframes !

Nope

Dunne was probably the first.

http://www.gryffinaero.com/models/ff...ead/dunne.html

Visit this site. You may really enjoy it.

How about the Astron?

Paul

Well, it may not be the first biplane flying wing, but it's still an original design and pretty cool. I don't see any others out there, except the Astron, or very many original flying wings either, now that I think of it.

Claude I have read all of this thread with great interest in Bill's designs and coming back into the hobby after being out for almost 30 years I find the "Simitar" designs very interesting to say the least. I have always been one of the "Odd Ball" types that used to show up at the flying field with something different. In todays age of ARF's I still enjoy the "build it yourself" approach more satisfying and can't wait for the plans I have ordered from RCM to arrive, I think I'll start with the "Simitar 540" and then do the "Pole Star". Would it be possible for you to e-mail me all of the files on Bill's designs so that I may down load them onto a CD for future reference?
If so my e-mail is vdiedric@yahoo.com , thanks for all that you have done on this thread.

Originally Posted by Bill Diedrich

Claude I have read all of this thread with great interest in Bill's designs and coming back into the hobby after being out for almost 30 years I find the "Simitar" designs very interesting to say the least. I have always been one of the "Odd Ball" types that used to show up at the flying field with something different. In todays age of ARF's I still enjoy the "build it yourself" approach more satisfying and can't wait for the plans I have ordered from RCM to arrive, I think I'll start with the "Simitar 540" and then do the "Pole Star". Would it be possible for you to e-mail me all of the files on Bill's designs so that I may down load them onto a CD for future reference?
If so my e-mail is vdiedric@yahoo.com , thanks for all that you have done on this thread.

Let me know if you don't get it in a day or so!

Tight Turns,
Claude