Comet Senior Dart

[HappyRCFlyer]

I'm coming out with the Comet Senior Dart as a new kit line and am creating a full division called Comet to cover more of their lines. It's going to be traditional as intended free flight but also will be doing an RC converted version as well. Wingspan is 24" and it was originally designed in 1937. I'm making a couple of minor revisions to make it easier on the builder. It's not going to be too much to convert to RC, it's just the right size for the smaller gear I normally use.

 

[G-man]

Very pretty lines on that design.
Thank you for making it available again.

 

[Wayne]

Agreed - Pretty plane.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

G-man I'm keeping with the original Comet design and protocal along the build, just higher quality balsa and laser cut parts rather then what they were doing back in the day. It's an accomplishment and right of passage in my book along having some old school building under your belt. I'm looking forward to getting started on this and it's RC twin big time.​

​

Wayne, I fell in love with the lines on this plane immediately when I first saw it, the fuse is also a bit longer then normal, helps big time on ease for setting the center of gravity as you know. They had some very artistic people among their talent when they designed it and can also see, thought into it for rubber power for a contest type of model, I wish we had more of this going on today.​

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

More refinement is going to be needed on the parts, cutting it up and starting on the assembly, the lengths are too short, you have to go off plans, to get direct contact and fit, shown both in the mix on the pinned down stock. I'm setting this to the side to get an earlier start project with the Comet free flight, stick/toy plane versions onto the store shelves project. It's also, with this, going into production, I'm running tabs so the stock stays the sheet, removed as needed individually through the build knowing full well many builders are not animals like me and can turn a pile of parts into something viable, just piled up like this. I'm also partially cutting through where the tabs are at so it's easy to guide the blade through and makes it much easier to remove from the sheets.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Apparently there was some printing scale issues going on as to why the parts were not lining up. So, finally onto the build part. This certainly has plenty of space in the fuse to house some RC gear. I'll be likely keeping it free flight for the first build of it.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

I revised the leading edge so the W3 piece spans the full length, will add a little bit of stock on top of it so I can blend that in with the leading edge. The basics are hashed out, now onto figuring out a simpler wing joining system that doesn't require anything fancy on hardware.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

I came up with a very simple and effective wing joining system, this is going to be much easier on the builder. Also, 3d printed out the nose section, will see how it compares with the original balsa format one.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

It's ready for covering.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

The fuselage discinegrated trying to cover it so I built another with denser stock. I also took some creative liberty on the h-stab slot so it blends in with the forward stringers.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

I got the covering done, the fuselage was a challenge using tinted Doculam. I'm showing the parts resting in place, I'll be mounting them and finishing up the rest of the plane shortly.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Just some final details to go, it's technically flyable now.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

It is complete and ready to maiden outside of adding some ballast. I can now offer it as a kit and will be updating my web site shortly to cover it at happyrcflyer.com. The price will be $45.00 with shipping included to the lower 48.