I've decided that I'm tired of the landing gear ripping off every time I fly it so I have decided to disassemble my Flite Streak and make it a proper 1/2" balsa fuse. I drew an outline of the original fuse from the ARF that I can copy if I need to but it occurs to me that if I tweak it a little I might get some advantage. I was thinking that if I stretch the nose a bit I could fit a tank in there a little easier. Of course I would have to stretch the tail a little to counter the extra nose weight, also with proper landing gear that would effect the weight as well. I know I'm not the first to do this so what do you think? BTW I am using an OS LA25.

Thanks,
John

That's exactly what I did plus I increased the stab/elevator thickness to 3/16" ( less flex and to me, more positive
response - I included 1 degree positive incidence )

 Geno

What do you call a stretched out Flight Streak? A SKYRAY! Has anyone besides me noticed that the Skyray has a Flight Streak airfoil? OK, probably everybody knows already, but I was amused when I figured it out...

We trimmed the Streak out the other weekend. (Guess I warped the wing right.) Flies very well now. Probably humming along at 85 plus. Definitely perking. The Fp40 rung out. Might have been over lean actually. Left it that way for two flights. A Streak should shriek. Right. Lots of fun. Seemed slower handling than a stock Streak. Did many of the tricks in the pattern. Corners looked like corners. At least to me. As much fun as my Jr Streak with an FP15 screaming in the nose. The small Streak one of my favorite fast sport birds. Nice thing about the new Streak running lean with a decent sized tank, (3.75 ounces, possible with the extended nose), is the over long engine run. Hogging circle time always a hoot. My friends waiting for me to screw myself in the ground and topple over. Their disappointment when I make it through to landing (as apposed to crashing), worth a laugh.

The solid fues and extended moments make a nice knock around sport plane. Should be durable. If flown at a lower speed, I imagine the extended Streak would work learning the shapes. I'll slow the plane down, run it with a rich needle, next time out. Possible to sneak the plane into Classic. Always wanted to fly my fp 40 powered Buster in Classic. Flew that plane for years. Felt very comfortable. The short Buster nose meant I couldn't pack enough fuel to do the pattern. The long nose Streak should be o.k.

Is the Skyray wing the same length? Always thought the Streak wing was a bit shorter. Also, am I wrong, but I thought the Skyray didn't have the glue on fixed flaps. Just curious. Also the stabilizer, is it similar in area? The Streak has that small effective elevator. The Skyray is of course dorky looking whereas Streaks are among the coolest shapes ever. (Joke!)

Increasing the moments does slow things down, makes the plane feel more point it where you want it. Plywood ribs. Definitely dorky. Why's they do that?

I guess so. (I never saw a 542!) Dorky, of course, has its appeal. Actually, the improved stability of the extended Streak is interesting. It almost grooves. We're a stubborn bunch on the East Coast. Our enlighten discussions go something like, I'm from the East Coast who the heck do you think you are giving me advice, followed by, I'll tell you who the heck I think I am... Eventually information gets passed. Took me two years of folks yelling at me before I built my first Twister. Three years of people yelling at me before I showed up with a full fues plane. Dunno why it works that way. (I am laughing!) But it seems to.

So many factors come into play when talking about stuff as opposed to seeing and flying the actual planes discussed. For instance, I don't know of a Skyray on the East Coast set up like the one you have described many times. Every FP20 we've tried with the stock muffler has also been power challenged. Were they worn out. Didn't seem that way. Could have been. The winds at our home field are almost always tricky, big time inconsistent. Changeable during the flight. Blowing differently at level, 45 degrees and up top. In order to cope most of our planes are probably overpowered. Even when the wind blows hard at the NATs it's pretty straight, the soy bean fields, of course, not disrupting anything. Unlike the trees too close to our circles in the state park that is the Philly Flyers home field. We continue to fly where we fly because the setting is quite beautiful. Also, the temperatures are moderated by the Delaware River nearby. Shade under the trees. Garden State Circle Burners home field is also full of weird turbulence. Also frequently flooded.

Recently a new flier showed up with a Skyray powered by an FP25. Flew quite well. But the engine was not tuned for a break. Definitely a useful stunt trainer, until it went splat. It'll be back. Not a 500 plus pattern plane tho, far as I can tell. Dan Banjok's new lightened every which way Ringmaster, powered by beautifully breaking Fox35 is a grooving plane. Flies where you point it. Lovely. Dan won Classic with it at Huntersville, I believe. I understand other accomplished folks were also impressed with the quality of flight.

Many different variables to consider with any flying combo. Then there is, of course, the pilot.

Recently a new flier showed up with a Skyray powered by an FP25. Flew quite well. But the engine was not tuned for a break. Definitely a useful stunt trainer, until it went splat. It'll be back. Not a 500 plus pattern plane tho, far as I can tell. Dan Banjok's new lightened every which way Ringmaster, powered by beautifully breaking Fox35 is a grooving plane. Flies where you point it. Lovely. Dan won Classic with it at Huntersville, I believe. I understand other accomplished folks were also impressed with the quality of flight.

My FP-25 runs a constant two and flew my Veco Tomahawk to quite a number of trophies, the model only being retired due to wing failures.  If you guys don't like the 20 or 25 FP runs maybe trade those motors for our FP 40s or LA-46s 

I flew Dan's "new" Ringmaster at Huntersville, and it runs in a *howling mad* 2 stroke on relatively low pitch, not a "beautifully breaking" 4-2-4 run.  Having said that, Dan's flying skills are not in question, and watching him get what he gets out of that Ringmaster is a real treat if you can stand the shriek of the tortured Fox up front.
Last Huntersville he won OTS and got a third in profile with the little Ringmaster, which is a good outing considering the planes he was up against.

Wait, was this the last Huntersville. Dan's previous Ringmaster did have a howling Fox. It was stock, Sterling heavy, with a bad profile vibe.

I was thinking about this last October.  He had his "new" Ringmaster with him.

Steve, I've run LA25s the way you describe running the FPs. It was no muss no fuss. I set the needle once and flew an LA25 on an ARF Flite Streak for a season and a half. (That's how I remember it, anyway.) Constant speed, no break. Excellent combo until, one day, the nose fell off.

It's often not the engine. This is especially the case on profiles. At least that has been my experience. When the nose fell off the ARF Streak as they do if left stock, I epoxied it back on using carbon fiber arrow shafts, even JB weld to fill in the hollow areas around the arrow shafts. Nose appeared absolutely solid. Couldn't get an engine to run consistently after that. Put the LA25 back on, inconsistent run, same with an FP25 and an FP20. Figured it was a bad profile harmonic. Went on to other planes. Dan, Mike , myself and other folks in our club have run into many profiles that set up a bad vibe which causes inconsistency and runaways. Many different solutions have been tried. No one solution fits every bird/engine combo. These days I build the noses of profiles as rigid as possible using the common methods. 5 ply 1/8", motor mounts back near to the leading edge, asymmetrical in length. Aluminum pads under the engine mounts. I've even used an aluminum plate on the inside of profiles, full engine width, engine bolts going through and cinching at the corners. Danny went to steel engine pads on his Foxberg. Bolts are cinched down tight as possible. FPs like rigid mountings, sometimes FOX 35s work better with a bit of flex, short engine bearers, thinner ply, the old time Sterling construction.

Then of course there is the issue of getting enough fuel to flow through an FP40 or 35 to keep it cool. This often means a tongue muffler with a lot of holes and a big venturi. At times the stock muffler can work once the back pressure is relieved by opening the exit hole as much as possible. Then there is the plug, the fuel, the prop, head gaskets and so on. We run FP25s like this too. A few new folks are into the 25 profiles like the Skyray. These engines have worked out well. I know this differs from the Brett Buck idea. I think the key tho is a low pitch prop, 9x4, something like that.

So many variables. Each plane/engine combo tuning differently.

In our experience LA25s are one of the easier engines to get to work. Usually we swap in a stock FP needle and aluminum back plate. Many times we only swap in the needle valve. The back plates are pricey or hard to find. The plastic stock back plate can benefit from silicon seal. Don't over tighten the screws. Low pitch prop of course.

Lately I've been overpowering Flite Streak size birds with FP40s and Towers. Have a lot of those engines. Like flying sport planes fast as I can do it. So. I haven't done much with FP25s or 20s. My reliable LA25 also has been ignored. Sometime in the future I plan to do one of those 25 Brett style stunters. Just for the heck of it. I have a few pristine examples of the 20/25 FP engines. I certainly will experiment with the West Coast idea. Curious to do so.

For Beginners we aim for engine consistency. Are not concerned about break. Often we tell folks to forget about the break when first getting into doing the figures. That's not to say that an FP25,20 or LA25 cannot be tuned to break by varying head gaskets, prop, fuel and other factors. We  think that fliers new to stunt benefit from the simplification of approach.

Bravo Brett....you're 100% right!
Also painful is seeing folks try to fly perfectly good "new" motors with 6 pitch props, seeking 4-2-4 breaks....maybe it can be done in the winter, but as soon as it heats up, efforts are gone.
Have fun!