The Pinto is one I rescued from a friend who would probably never have finished it.  I had to re-do the hinging and deal with the engine and tank.  Structure is sound, if kind of rough.  The wing is straight and all the alignments seem good.  Now I need to get a decent engine run, which is MY problem, not his.  In those brief moments where the engine was on song, the plane seems to be outstanding.  I live in hope of getting it all sorted out, then building the kit of the model that I have.

The Skyraywas my first attempt at finding out what sort of model we need for Kwikee stunt.  It was hopeless with the Cox reed engines on integral tanks.  Golden Bee, not enough power, Black Widow, not enough duration.  And noseheavy to the point of needing 1/2oz of tailweight.  So, refit with a universal mount that takes anything from the Cub .049X as shown through the Holland Wasp, Atwood Shriek or even the Holland Hornet (All fit the same mounting holes   )  The tank is an APS film cannister set up as a uniflo clunk tank.  It is working great.

The Cub has been tweaked rather a bit.  The crank web was ground to remove weight near the crankpin.  The crankpin was center drilled for lightness.  The crankshaft entry was smoothed with a diamond bit in my Dremel.  The bypass port entries have all been smoothed and rounded.  The plug is a Fireball Hot long with 3 gaskets to set it in the right position in the head for optimum performance.  The needle valve on the stock Cub is a disaster, the one on this engine is a Texas Timers fine thread unit.  With 30% Nitro, the engine performs well.

I also have the Blackhawk Bullet with the Holland Hornet on it as a parallel development project.  Antone Kephart just built a couple of interesting sheet wing models, first, a Baby Magician clone, and Second a SIG (?) Fokker D-7 scale down.  He has flown the Magician and it is looking very good.  There was a warp in one wing of the Fokker (not a Messerschmitt), and he was last reported as lolling on a beach at the "river", so I don't know the status of that model.

Larry,
Perhaps a Texas Timer backplate mount for a Norvel will fit your copy from Hobby People.
The advantage is obvious as it will suck that engine right back to the firewall. Oh and of course it's infinitely positionable,

http://www.texastimers.com/

Dennis

This model was the prototype for the laser cut version.  It was assembled, and roughly covered and painted but never flown.  As I have never seen a Pinto fly, I snagged it, and so far have no regrets!  I have a kit, and if this one continues to show its potential, I'll build one of my own.

The engine is an AP Wasp with a Cox Tee Dee venturi, Kirn Kraft needle and Norvel pressure backplate.  I am running a 5.5x2.5 APC prop and it is rather fast on 48' solid .008 lines.  Cornering ability is WOW.  Still haven't got a solid engine run, so I replaced the Galbreath/Nelson setup with the Merlin plug that is working well on my other Wasps.  Maybe more info tomorrow.

Sadly, the Skyray is toast.  I tried it with a Cub as noted above, and then switched to my Atwood Shriek.  Way better, but a wind gust hit the plane and it is in shreds.  The engine is OK, and that is what I really care about.  What I did learn is that you could probably build a Skyray with a good RTF Cox engine and separate tank and do a clean Kwikee pattern with it.

Mine weighs just over 10 ounces, quite light for the size, actually.  It is not twitchy since I use the "Ultimater" 1/2A handle from RSM.  It has line width adjustments down to 1" if needed and provides "exponential" control for more smoothness in level flight and kick for squares.  Addition of a 3" bellcrank would be a very good thing.