Hi Score flyer's,

1. What is the weight of your Score? Are they coming out at the TF est. of 60 to 70 oz. ?

2. Is everyone using the wing and tail take apart feature? Or are you gluing the wing and tail on?   

3. Are you finding that the CG comes out per plans, or do you have to add wt. somewhere to balance the CG?     TIA for your help.

Regards, 

Hi Geoffrey,

Very complete, and helpful answer. Thank you.

Regards, 

Thanks Jim,

Good points all.

On my 1st three CL ARFs, FS, Nobler and P-40, I sealed all the edges, and ironed down the covering. I also put in CF push rods and ball links in all of them. They have held up OK. The P-40 now has 150 ECL flights on it with no problems.

BUT ..... I plan on taking off ALL the covering on any ARFs in the future (when I can't get the plane in an ARC) After finding out how REALLY EASY it is to take off the "chinakote" from an ARF, it is a NO brainer. It's scary how easy the chinakote FALLS off the plane, a little heat helps it come off with NO problems at all. .......  I think I can almost take off the chinakote and recover the plane with MK faster than I can iron down and seal (clear nail polish) all the seems in the original chinakote.    So now I can have my cake and eat it too: any plane turned into an ARC form so I can have my own color scheme that will stay there for the life of the plane. 

I admire your adventuresome journey into the past. I have not used dope in many years, decades actually! 

I think the Strega ARF/ARC experience will be the future of CL ARF/ARCs. It was a brilliant idea for John to go right to using the excellent Morris control systems. This was the MAIN problem with the CL ARF/ARCs. I think in the near future we will see a move in this direction. In the mean time it is not really much trouble for us to fix the problem ourselves. And fortunately, thanks to Sparky's great forum, the word has been spread to almost everyone. .... Now, if we can just find a use for the bags full of "questionable" parts we are all accumulating??

I know I'm still preaching to the choir here, but hopefully it helps some new retread reading this post:

The only other problem is the "CA hinges". These work OK (sorta) in Dark Arts sport planes and trainers because of the servo always having the ability to overcome the initial force needed to bend the hinge, then bend the control surface. .... In CL we don't always have any "extra" force available (overhead turbulence, etc., etc, ;-) so the stiff hinges use up that last CRITICAL amount of force our slack lines have, just when we need it most! Sooooo, I hope the word gets out on these hinges like it has on the poor push rods, horns, BCs,.  The Robart hinges are excellent for our CL use. Maybe John will start supplying these someday too. 

Do you have an est. on the weight of your ST .51 and Muff? I would like to compare it to the Wt. of a Saito .62 (14.7 oz) or my ECL power system. .... TIA

Again, thanks for your input. Your's and Geoffrey's info. has been very helpful. 

Regards, 

         SCORE  weight  67 oz.    Stalker .66   RE  ,take apart mode, over a year now no problem. New bellcrank 4",

carbon fiber pushrods,ball links,  Klett hinges. I modified mine to look like a Cobra,  new wingtips, new, rudder,

 basecoat clearcoat on fuse.  monokote on wings and stab/elevators.   

Hi Walter,

Thanks. Sounds like the 65 to 70 oz est. by TF for the Score is correct.

Does your tail come off easily by just removing the two bolts? Or did you do some mods to the removable tail? ....  The wing looks like a standard "Dark Arts" reliable system.

Regards, 

Rudy,

   Tail does not come off  on mine , however I have seen some that modified the Score to have this feature.

Thanks Walter,

This is good news. I am trying to find a compition CL plane that will fit in a box that I can take on a plane to go to contests beyond normal driving distances, but one that does not cost $4,000  I found with my Dark Arts planes that even large planes become manageable if you can take off the wings, horizontal stab/El, and the LG.

Regards, 

Hi Mike,

Thank you for the great info. All good news! :-)

Do you have any photos and/or dimensions of your shipping box? Sounds like it is just what I need.

Do you have the name or any info on the person that has the ECL Score?  TIA

Regards, 

Hi Mike,

Thank you for the details. The Sport Tube looks like the perfect solution for transporting our "take apart" models:

      http://www.sportube.com/pages/snowboards.html

At 7 7/8" x 14" x 72" it should haul most of our CL planes. At 14 lbs. + a 5 lbs plane, this makes for a very light transport package. At $169 it is a very good deal, and saves a lot of time and effort by having a RTT unit rather than a BOB unit. ;-) It can go on almost all airlines as one of our bags, but I like the idea that they recommend shipping by UPS/FedEx. This would save a lot of hassales at the AP. This has worked well for me in the past.

I enjoyed seeing your cool take apart plane at the CA state champs several weeks ago. Your KIS method of taking apart the wing, LG, and tail was perfect. 

I will contact Jim, and Larry. They may know how to contact Eric. It would be interesting to see what he is using in his ECL Score.

Thanks again for all your help. I hope you get a chance to come down to our SoCal KOTRC contests in 2008.

Regards, 

Hi Walter,

That is a great looking plane, and by making it an ARC 1st you can get full _ _ _  rule points too! Others have said it is a great flying plane, and that it is competitive. Do you agree?  TIA