Curtis Jenny, on the drawing board.

[HappyRCFlyer]

What began in 2020 a desire to pick up an ARF I used to own many years ago, just to get something in the air while I scratch built up my fleet again since I wanted to get back more heavy duty to the rc world.... Unfortunatly it was long since ever been produced, so I just opted to grab a Cub kit to bust out and fly while I built up my fleet instead. Still, going back to wanting this scale and style of plane, I was inspired to bust out another, but instead of my usual scratch route, I opted into buying a laser cutter last February. Tackling this is not for the first time laser cutter user, and when I was well enough along my way I realized it would be a good idea to bust out some simpler versions before proceeding forward in order to get my skills more fine tuned and to simply have fun with the gear and system.

The plane is blue I call the Jenny Stick flies very well, 38" wingspan, the smaller one at 21" wingspan is my newest addition, with a photo of that original ARF I longed to have again, now on the drawing table for completion. I've taken my own creative liberty to, but keeping it enough of the same and again at 38" wingspan, it's going to be nice to own this bird again. Now with more skills under my belt, certainly have had to revise much and fine tune things better, digging back into the progress I made before upon, in those early days.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

I designed and built more since Feb, and certainly, since 2020 beyond this, just sharing a few more photo's here and the next post.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

This one was done mostly in cardboard with balsa tactfully added as needed. 36" wingspan.

 

[Wayne]

Sweet looking planes. I was studying them on your website yesterday.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Sweet looking planes. I was studying them on your website yesterday.

Thanks, it's mainly useful for support information for the kit buyers but will become something substantial eventually and so much I want to share along building tips in general. I sent a response to your response when I reached out to you through your web site requesting a sample of stock before placing a larger order, let me know if you can accommodate. It should be a mutually beneficial element since I designed everything around the heavier, tougher stock, and that happens to be stock that's harder for you to sell since people tend to always want contest grade, so rather taking your rejects.

This will be the next one onto the drawing table, I'll be converting it to balsa and covering, a bit larger scale, and I might make the second ring sit on a pivot so it can replace the need for ailerons. I may end up VTOL/tail landing format since there isn't a whole lot of options for regular landing gear to be added. I have another that's even more out of the box that came to me in a dream that I have under development which will not get a pre-launch, nor sharing the design until it's complete that I can't talk too much about specifics.

 

[Wayne]

Sounds good - Worse comes to worse we can special order heavier balsa. We have done so for folks in the past for special applications.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

I just sent off a couple of samples in the mail to you today. After google mapping up your area, you aren't going to have easy access to Midwest brand balsa, which is what I've been using so should make it more convenient for you along what I'm looking for. I found that the design element can more then make up for the weight difference with the heavier stock, so gives the best of both worlds along that element, ie. it's being more durable models can take quite the beating without breaking. It certainly does help using a laser cutter on it though, cutting this up by hand is much more work then the lighter stuff.

Sharing a p47 scratch build I started on earlier this year, it's on temp hold for completion since it's going on a diet via. dremell big time before covering then converting the vector files I did for it, into cad/laser files. 32" wingspan this time. Perhaps we could combine efforts on some other planes, sharing the painful amount of time on the design for a laser cutter world.

 

[Wayne]

Looks great.

I hate the Midwest wood, it is very low quality. It is available from a number of local stores, but would not use it.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

You should have received my samples by now. Can you accommodate?

 

[Wayne]

Did you get the sample from us?

Best we discuss via email.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Progress.

 

[Red]

Looking really good. I like the "vintage" covering.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Thanks, It's 1.5 mil, "not mm" Doculam lightly misted on the adhesive side with a specialty crafts paint that was recommended to use with it. It's transparent stock and I can put on a heavier coat to make it opaque. It takes some getting used to working with, but if you are used to Monocoat you won't have any problems, just get used to turning up the heat to much higher settings on the iron and heat gun. I have been including it with most of my kits since regular covering is so expensive. The antique look wasn't exactly planned, but I'm happy it came out that way. The only drawback to Doculam is that even the absolute best of us still wind up with a few minor wrinkles, using Ultracoat I'm normally able to have flawless coverings but I should learn to lighten up I suppose about it and allow for some "personality" to shine through, flaws and all.

Latest challenge was designing up some new strut mounts and struts, wow, that took some effort to do. Being a biplane you have to dial in some downwards incidence on the upper wing, this is at .5 degrees. The strut mounts are dual purpose, I've included holes at the base for piano wire to feel through and mount to eliminate the requirement to add rigging unless one is just doing it for more scale of a look. I did end up designing a system to make this part of the build painless for the builder, it's an intimidating task and why many builders sway away from this type of plane. I still have the center struts to do, but the results so far are working well on their own, even just pressed into place like this without gluing anything together yet.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Stuffing the motor into this was pretty painless and I took some creative liberty with the nose plate giving it some extra detail and faux meticulous effort upon that area to assemble. It took a little trial and error to get the proper design element on the nose plate to line up with the down/right thrust angle of the prop/shaft, the exit hole obviously is not centered for that reason but it's barely noticeable with the final creation.

Also, latest order of balsa came in, there were only a couple that were on the lighter then I prefer element, I'll be ordering in larger volume next.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

 

[Georgeoxype]

I recently came across the Impulse IF-1 and was immediately intrigued by its sleek design and performance capabilities. I have seen some incredible videos of this aircraft in action, and I am considering adding it to my collection. However, I wanted to reach out to the community to get some feedback from those who have experience flying the IF-1. What are your thoughts on its flight characteristics, build quality, and overall performance? Any tips or recommendations for someone looking to dive into the world of the Impulse IF-1? I would love to hear your insights and experiences with this exciting aircraft. Let's discuss!

 

[Wayne]

Not to many people have flown that one as they are pretty darn rare. It is based on one of our local pilots that designed and is building the full scale model. The video footage I have seen from the kit designer looks pretty good.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4110889-Impulse-IF1/page2 is a good build log of that plane. I happened to have been thinking about and was going to post something to social media about using the shape of a falling rain drop and incorporating it into a plane design. This just so happens to be rather incorporating this very concept when it comes down to it for a performance version of it.

Getting back on topic with the Jenny. It's one thing to merely build something for yourself, one can scratch and bash out a range of things from just common stuff hanging around any home, doing it so others can easily repeat the process on their own without anything special required is another matter. I came up with a canopy pattern and utilized some .030 Midwest brand clear sheeting. I've opted to go free hand applying heat tactfully to create the bends. The thickness is good along depth and substance, also stronger then the all to typical thin plastic vac formed parts. It's forgiving, allowing you to reheat it and rework with it should you need to. It's not going to be perfect, but it's going to be just fine and gives the modeler new to this additional skills and insight for this and other forms for that matter on other planes.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Getting this geared up, just enough room for it all with little wiggle room.

I knew going in this would be a challenge, glad to see my design work pay off.

Also, for the record, most of the balsa used on this is Bud Nosen, purchased here at Aloft.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Getting onto the final stages of this, still some design work to do with the center struts, landing gear, aligning the wing's for proper forward slant, etc.,

Total weight so far, 450 grams, or .92 pounds. which is great for a 38" wingspan plane in general. The thrust to weight from testing propped up can handle a 4-5 pound plane technically, so good ratio on that end, it means I only need to baby the throttle on the sticks which gives much longer run time in the air. Or... if one want's to show off with unlimited vertical.

I'm sharing more progress at happyrcflyer.com as well.