Materials/Kits

[bernard]

Looks like Volare products has some Ikara props that match this year's specs: http://volareproducts.com/BUY/index.php ... h=56_42_97

[bernard]

I've confirmed with Dave Zeigler the procedure for ordering this season's kits, while we wait for the site to be updated: purchase last season's kit from his website (http://www.freedomflightmodels.com/paypal.htm) and he will send this year's kit, since the prices haven't changed. For Wright Stuff, the new model is a complete redesign, and will look substantially different from last year's model, so here's a picture of what to expect:

[Less_Incidence]

Wow, that looks like some really interesting variation from last year's design. The minimal tip plates replaced with huge dihedral, and an offset stab, probably due to the torque rolling problem that many of us have been experiencing. Looks like the airfoil thickness has gone up, and that rudder design is... intriguing. I'm not sure I like the idea of that strange aspect ratio on the rudder, but I'll leave it at that.

[TSOlympian]

Wow the new kit looks really different! Is it just me or did they choose thicker/heavier wood in some places? (like on the leading/trailing spars)
How does it fly?

[bjt4888]

Less_Incidence and TSOlympian,

My four teams have built eight of these Freedom Flight kit airplanes so far and, just like last year, the kit contains quality wood and excellent instructions with pictures and diagrams. Everything (including three thicknesses of rubber and a small sanding block for the dihedral angle work) is included except glue and paint. I can attest that it flies great. The wing and stabilizer spar wood is exactly the same as last year. It just looks thicker relative to the small wing chord. The airfoil is thicker, which makes sense for a payload airplane. Even at the 7.0 gram weight, wing loading is quite a bit heavier this year as the wing area is greatly reduced over the 2015 rules. The 1.5" of tip dihedral may look like a lot for those of you that are used to a tip plate/winglet configuration, but this is actually a quite shallow dihedral angle of 20.7 degrees which matches well with the moderately large tip area.

Good luck and do lots of testing and data analysis,

Brian T.
AMA since 1972 (off and on)

[rigor_boi]

How many business days does it typically take for orders of individual parts (especially the Ikara prop and rubber) to ship? I'm kinda living on the edge here.

[DoctaDave]

How many business days does it typically take for orders of individual parts (especially the Ikara prop and rubber) to ship? I'm kinda living on the edge here.

Probably 1 day for Dave to ship the order out, and then 3-5 business days for the order to get to you depending on where you live.

[kateak]

What kinds of times have the Freedom Flight kit planes been getting?

[DoctaDave]

What kinds of times have the Freedom Flight kit planes been getting?

The planes probably have the potential to get 3+ minutes but their performance is limited to how well they are built and trimmed.