Westfield F86 Sabre 43" wing span, powered by a .40 (recommended .20 to .32) all up weight 4.1 lb.. Having no undercarriage the kite is supposed to be hand launched, which was achieved with the original 0.32 engine recommended but I found this method inconvenient not to mention the sometimes heart stopping near misses with the ground. So a dolly was constructed but the power of the 32 wasn't quite powerful enough to guarantee a successful takeoff every time. The .40 was then squeezed in to ensure it gets air born safely, but then the fun starts, take a deep breath or a vallium 'cos it goes like stink. Take your eye off it for just one second and its gone. The covering is Solarfilm for the top sections and Glosstex for under surfaces, a little extra weight, but it withstands the wear and tear of belly flop landings.

New Problems

Our current field is a little bumpy causing the craft to quite often jump off the dolly (breaking a prop every time it does so). So a new dolly is being designed incorporating steering and a plane to dolly locking system. This will ensure the dolly is never released from the craft until elevator "up" triggers a "mouse trap" release mechanism. If it works, details will be included here.

N.B. The wings on the original (41" wing span) were profiled from soft 3/8" single sheet balsa and proved a little "bendy" using the 40 when pulling out of a power dive (guestimated level flight speed +80 mph), so they were modified, triple laminated 1/8" balsa for strength. An inch was added to each tip to compensate for the extra weight of the 8 ozs tank, engine and other mods. The fin was modified to include a rudder, to help steer the dolly, driven by a mini servo mounted under the fin. It's now a very strong airframe and a pleasure to fly, very predictable, obedient and glides on much further than you would expect under dead stick.

Field Trials and Test Flight