Not CL-Scouts Delta Darts

[mike londke]

We did pack build last month and flew our planes today. 16 boys participated. Longest flight was 67 seconds by none other than Sam Londke.  The averages were about 45 seconds. All the boys were thrilled, the parents were pretty amazed too, most of them have never seen any kind of model plane. After the summer break we are going to fly CL trainers. The pack leader is all for it.

[Gerald Arana]

Hooray for you!   We need all the young blood we can get into this hobby!

Good luck, Jerry

[Dan McEntee]

     Hey Mike;
     Aren't those a ton of fun!!! Keep those in mind this winter when you can't get outside to fly. Find a gym that you can access and fly those indoors. Use smaller, long rubber motors. Make copies of the kit plan/covering and scratch build them using lighter balsa, I like the AMA racer version the best. SIG sells both. The AMA Racer is a bit larger, and it's the original "Delta Dart." It was published in American Aircraft Modeler in 1967, I think. If you want I can scan and email plans. Uses the same prop. These are tons of fun to fly under a street light or parking lot light when the air is dead still. Great practice for sizing motors for longer runs and trimming to fly in circles. I keep a dozen or so kits on the shelf at all times! I can be found out under the street light in warmer weather at night putting up a few flights! These things are the biggest bang for your buck, and everything you learn from building trimming and flying them is useful in flying C/L models, or any type of model really. Maybe we'll bring some to Paducah!  Congrats to Sam for high time. Now he needs t practice finding lift and see if he can hook a thermal for an out of sight flight!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[mike londke]

    Hey Mike;
     Aren't those a ton of fun!!! Keep those in mind this winter when you can't get outside to fly. Find a gym that you can access and fly those indoors. Use smaller, long rubber motors. Make copies of the kit plan/covering and scratch build them using lighter balsa, I like the AMA racer version the best. SIG sells both. The AMA Racer is a bit larger, and it's the original "Delta Dart." It was published in American Aircraft Modeler in 1967, I think. If you want I can scan and email plans. Uses the same prop. These are tons of fun to fly under a street light or parking lot light when the air is dead still. Great practice for sizing motors for longer runs and trimming to fly in circles. I keep a dozen or so kits on the shelf at all times! I can be found out under the street light in warmer weather at night putting up a few flights! These things are the biggest bang for your buck, and everything you learn from building trimming and flying them is useful in flying C/L models, or any type of model really. Maybe we'll bring some to Paducah!  Congrats to Sam for high time. Now he needs t practice finding lift and see if he can hook a thermal for an out of sight flight!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

I had 2 AMA Racers and the big Sig Thermal Dart out there today. I put a ton of rubber on it and got an 81 second flight. It probably went over 150ft high. It was dead calm and everything was circling nicely and landing close to the launch point. The kids went nuts.

[Shug Emery]

That is a right goodie Mike and Sam.
Shug

[john e. holliday]

That is great.  Do as Dan says for year round fun.   May get more than just scouts, they have sisters that like models.

[Scott Richlen]

Mike:

Great job!  Not enough of us work with the kids!  If we don't teach them, who will?

Try a Lasercutplanes Mountain Lion.  Our Junior High group used to do a Delta Dart as a first build, but we now build a Montain Lion as a first build.  It is easier as a first build and flies better.  Also, you can build it using thinned aliphatic, not CA.  Buy them in bulk of 20 and they are very reasonable.  Also, the Delta Dart teaches the kids to glue balsa to paper, which they have to unlearn as soon as they go to any other kit.  So we started scratch-building Delta Darts as our second build.  They build the balsa frame over saran wrap covered plans and then use glue-stik to apply paper.  Also use the Midwest jigs to glue the wings to the motor stick.  Our third build is the Z-15 followed by the Yard Ranger, and then a Paul Bradley No-Cal (this year the F6F).

Here's one of our flying sessions:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kZ_dn53uL4&feature=youtu.be

Scott

[mike londke]

Mike:

Great job!  Not enough of us work with the kids!  If we don't teach them, who will?

Try a Lasercutplanes Mountain Lion.  Our Junior High group used to do a Delta Dart as a first build, but we now build a Montain Lion as a first build.  It is easier as a first build and flies better.  Also, you can build it using thinned aliphatic, not CA.  Buy them in bulk of 20 and they are very reasonable.  Also, the Delta Dart teaches the kids to glue balsa to paper, which they have to unlearn as soon as they go to any other kit.  So we started scratch-building Delta Darts as our second build.  They build the balsa frame over saran wrap covered plans and then use glue-stik to apply paper.  Also use the Midwest jigs to glue the wings to the motor stick.  Our third build is the Z-15 followed by the Yard Ranger, and then a Paul Bradley No-Cal (this year the F6F).

Here's one of our flying sessions:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kZ_dn53uL4&feature=youtu.be  

Scott

   Good stuff, Thanks for sharing.