So back many years ago there was a small company producing a really cool little plane. It looked just like this:
I happened to be given one of the original designed Carbon Falcons and have played with it from time to time. More recently Jaron here at the office tracked down a second Carbon Falcon and really went to town updating it with the mods the designer Ken shared on his website. It flew great! Jaron shared the upgrades with me and we got mine flying just as well.
This got me to thinking about the many cool features of these planes and if we might be able to kit them again. After a little searching I was able to contact Ken and shocked when he got back to me super quick. Usually tracking down a designer for an old plane takes months or even years, it is never overnight. The good news is Ken is great to work with and he is excited to bring modern methods to his designs.
Ken developed his planes over a period of years and he just kept making them better and better. Some things worked out great, and others didn't. He wasn't afraid to try new things. The Falcon started off as a weight shift and it didn't take him long to discover that wasn't going to work. Eventually he moved over to wing warping and after many refinements he really was getting great performance.
Looking at the old forums posts you will see nothing but praise for these planes. I have to agree, they look great in the air, they really well. Don't think many planes of this size are going to be able to break down to such a small size for transport, just a 3x3x25" box and that is with the electronics. Takes just 2 or 3 minutes to go from folded to ready to fly.
Flight Performance
Originally the Carbon Falcon was built around brushed IPS motors, gear boxes and chunky batteries. Running our modern brushless outrunner and a tiny 2S800 battery turning a 4.5x4 prop gives very good performance and about a 10 minutes of motor time while we save a ton of weight. This weight savings really converts the Carbon Falcon into a very enjoyable model. Loops, rolls and even inverted flight are all available. Tame enough, tuff enough and predictable enough to be used as a trainer, she is still a hoot for an advanced pilot. Hand catches are easy! She is not a speed wing, she is very rewarding in slow and moderate speed flight.
With the little outrunner and tiny prop she is not going to cut your hand on launch, and she is super quiet. The little Emax motor is super sweet and should be indestructible. Want LONG flight times, a larger 2S battery can be used. We are on the light side of things with the 800mah pack.
I think she will make a great night flyer too as the sail will really light up well.
Perhaps the best thing is she just looks great in the air. Nothing else like it on the market that I know of. Kind of like flying a kite without any string, but a lot more fun.
How tuff are they? Well, in our testing we did stuff her into the ground a few times. Nothing broke. I did manage a couple of tears in my 20 year old sail. The frame is built from carbon fiber tubes and rods. Most stress areas are rubbery to allow for flexing and absorbing those wreck loads, and it works. We had one flight were we lacked control authority and the plane went straight in at speed, it was moving pretty well. That is the crash that damaged my 20 year old sail. No other damage. We will be doing some more distructive testing.
Testing our new frame with 20 year old sail.
I had no plans to produce the Falcon, but was using this as an exercise to get used to these building method before moving onto a more advanced airframe that Ken was working on but never completed. With this said, everything we have designed for the new frame of the Falcon is production ready. So my question to you, would you be interested in this little bird? Should we produce them?
We are building our first sail right now. This is the tricky part of these models.
p.s. How does it fly in glider form? Don't know yet. I test flew the old one at Los Banos in HUGE wind and it did fly, but at the time I did not have the refinements to the airframe and my airfoil ribs had flattened out over 20 years of storage. I suspect with the right wing loading she will be a really fun beach glider and should be able to fly in very light lift. We have caught a number of thermals in the electric version.
I happened to be given one of the original designed Carbon Falcons and have played with it from time to time. More recently Jaron here at the office tracked down a second Carbon Falcon and really went to town updating it with the mods the designer Ken shared on his website. It flew great! Jaron shared the upgrades with me and we got mine flying just as well.
This got me to thinking about the many cool features of these planes and if we might be able to kit them again. After a little searching I was able to contact Ken and shocked when he got back to me super quick. Usually tracking down a designer for an old plane takes months or even years, it is never overnight. The good news is Ken is great to work with and he is excited to bring modern methods to his designs.
Ken developed his planes over a period of years and he just kept making them better and better. Some things worked out great, and others didn't. He wasn't afraid to try new things. The Falcon started off as a weight shift and it didn't take him long to discover that wasn't going to work. Eventually he moved over to wing warping and after many refinements he really was getting great performance.
Looking at the old forums posts you will see nothing but praise for these planes. I have to agree, they look great in the air, they really well. Don't think many planes of this size are going to be able to break down to such a small size for transport, just a 3x3x25" box and that is with the electronics. Takes just 2 or 3 minutes to go from folded to ready to fly.
Flight Performance
Originally the Carbon Falcon was built around brushed IPS motors, gear boxes and chunky batteries. Running our modern brushless outrunner and a tiny 2S800 battery turning a 4.5x4 prop gives very good performance and about a 10 minutes of motor time while we save a ton of weight. This weight savings really converts the Carbon Falcon into a very enjoyable model. Loops, rolls and even inverted flight are all available. Tame enough, tuff enough and predictable enough to be used as a trainer, she is still a hoot for an advanced pilot. Hand catches are easy! She is not a speed wing, she is very rewarding in slow and moderate speed flight.
With the little outrunner and tiny prop she is not going to cut your hand on launch, and she is super quiet. The little Emax motor is super sweet and should be indestructible. Want LONG flight times, a larger 2S battery can be used. We are on the light side of things with the 800mah pack.
I think she will make a great night flyer too as the sail will really light up well.
Perhaps the best thing is she just looks great in the air. Nothing else like it on the market that I know of. Kind of like flying a kite without any string, but a lot more fun.
How tuff are they? Well, in our testing we did stuff her into the ground a few times. Nothing broke. I did manage a couple of tears in my 20 year old sail. The frame is built from carbon fiber tubes and rods. Most stress areas are rubbery to allow for flexing and absorbing those wreck loads, and it works. We had one flight were we lacked control authority and the plane went straight in at speed, it was moving pretty well. That is the crash that damaged my 20 year old sail. No other damage. We will be doing some more distructive testing.
Testing our new frame with 20 year old sail.
I had no plans to produce the Falcon, but was using this as an exercise to get used to these building method before moving onto a more advanced airframe that Ken was working on but never completed. With this said, everything we have designed for the new frame of the Falcon is production ready. So my question to you, would you be interested in this little bird? Should we produce them?
We are building our first sail right now. This is the tricky part of these models.
p.s. How does it fly in glider form? Don't know yet. I test flew the old one at Los Banos in HUGE wind and it did fly, but at the time I did not have the refinements to the airframe and my airfoil ribs had flattened out over 20 years of storage. I suspect with the right wing loading she will be a really fun beach glider and should be able to fly in very light lift. We have caught a number of thermals in the electric version.