I suspect that other planes would be better if I had known then what I know now about getting non C*x engines to run right, but the very best flying 1/2A I have had is the Hunter Stunter from RSM.  I am currently working on a model called the Sky Sport, and it has been accepted for publication in Flying Models.  It hasn't reached its potential yet, due to more prop and engine combination experimentation.

Others that have been contenders are the Brodak Baby Clown, my own Skyfire .05 (Model Aviation, Feb 2002), and Baby Magician, as published in Flying Models, Jan 2000.

Other probable winners are the RSM Pinto, the Brodak Baby Flite Streak, Minnesota Modeler's Lil Axe and Snapper.

Built right, with the correct engine/prop/lines, all of the above can do a respectable competition pattern.

My Goldberg Lil Wizard may not have been the best performer, even in its day, but it sure has lots of laps on it.

Heh!
 Bill!
Guess what I just became the proud owner of?

Look familiar?

Robert

It also flies good with an electric motor powering it.
Clancy

         My son feels his skyray with Black Widow is the all time favorite. He owned two of them and loved both equally. He's been a happy flyer for six years. He's now the pilot of a Brodak p-40 arf. Even though the larger planes captured his eyes the Skyray captured his heart. He still insists on building more Skyrays with some slight mods. We seemed to find this plane flew better after repetitive crashes. It seems the plane is tail heavy at first until you snap the nose off about a dozen times.  The cg comes in right about then. He has a Brodak baby clown which is currently using the Skyray powerplant. We have a terrific flying Top FLite Mustang which is a close runner up to our all time favorite.  My favorite is the Brodak F-82 though. I built mine pictured just like the box. I later learned my Black Widows were flawed by failing plastic back plates. These engines drove me crazy  . Once I discovered this problem I was out to the field the next day. This thing was amazing  . It only had a lifespan of about 4 more hours that afternoon before it met a gravity surge .

Goldberg Lil' Jumping Bean was a good flyer, Little Satan was a blast, and the Baby Ringmaster ( built up wing) was fun.

Some of the best fliers for the money are the Dick Sarpolus semi-scale profiles he had published in Flying Models, TeeDee powered they flew great.

Bill,
The Blue one in district 5 is mine.
As stated in reply #2, this thread, I have not flown it enough to rate it against my 1/2A Pathfinder's which have over 300 flights.
My initial reason was lack of experience for a repeatable bladder (the plane's    ) performance. Obviously, you dont have this problem!
We have the bladder performance worked out to be repeatable, now need some good weather.
Roger

Robert
Please forgive the delay, I missed your post until now.  The Cox Foam wing FW-190 Electric is powered by a 12 Volt tape recorder motor.  I used a 24 Volt nicad battery pack on my belt and used a Slot Car controller for throttle control feeding the power through the flying lines.  I used #28 magnet wire for flying lines.  Magnet wire is copper wire coated with varnish and used to wind transformers.  Jack Sheeks and I were experimenting back in the 1980's with it for indoor CL.  A second plane we were flying was a rubber band kit of a Cessna 170 which had a Womp Slot Car motor geared down 4 to 1 and driving a rubber band prop at up to 5000 rpm.  The FW-190 also used a rubber band model prop.  If you are wondering about the 24 volt battery tied to the 12 volt motor, no problem, the extra voltage is required to make up for the line loss in the 25 foot flying lines.  For safety, we had a 5 Amp fuse in the positive lead at the battery.  For pictures and additional information refer to the April 1985 issue of Model Aviation and look at Bil Boss' column on CL Scale, on page 66. 

A final comment, if you go back and read the article, it mentions that a rule change was proposed to allow for electric CL Scale.  The rule Change proposal was turned over to the Electric RC committee which immediately trash canned it because in their opinion it could not be done as we had demonstrated.  AMA at work!

Clancy

I imagine the fins are not the weak point, but the center section of the wing is... just from looking at the picture. 

--Ray

the one I saw break took off the nose but he had placed a tank in the nose ahead of the leading edge. the bladder tube is part of the strength and I'm not sure he had one. and the added weight and tight turn tore it out, from the bell crank forward. I had to reinforce mine for the electric conversion. The rib that the tail feathers connects too was too flexible where it was cut out for the leadouts and it would bend in the turns. BUT I had added 7 ounces of mass so it had a good reason.

Take a look at my Cheap Thrill, Dec 1998 Model Aviation.  I saw the original Barecat fly at the '80 Nats.  Very impressive.  There was 1/2A stunt that year.  I had to leave before it was over, was in 5th place.  Never heard how it turned out.

Not available as a kit.
Plans available from AMA.
Ref 6/99 issue of Model Aviation, Ref No. 360-98
Roger

I think the most fun I had with a 1/2A was in the mid fifties with a plane I built several of from magazine plans. It was the "Blue Tail Fly", designed by Vern Clements. Perhaps I remember it best because of all the fond memories as a youth.

I would like to think the best flying one is the next one I build. 

George

july 1985 Model Aviation.
this is suppost to fly nice, but looks like alot of work.