Copy an establised design, change the wingtips,vertical tail and canopy position and you are in the class with most of the stunt design authors of the past.
Still’s Stuka Stunt is rumored to have been built from a Barnstormer kit. The Pinto was, I am told, originally designed. and built by Dee Rice, borrowed, then published by Dick Mathis. Similarly, the Chisler, Olympic and numerous others were tweaked Noblers. Don’t hold me to these, they are rumors.
To quote Tom Lehrer, “Let no one else’s work evade your eyes. Plagurize, plagurize, plagurize!”
Basically, stunt design has evolved toward things that work. Who needs the pain of finding out how to make something different work well. (Actually, I do, as witness my published designs, but that’s my problem)
A local flyer stunts with a modified RC 3-D airframe. It is slow and it is really difficult to judge the actual path of the model compared to what the airplane orientation is showing. Definitely disorientating.
There have been several other radical approaches like the Barecat and the Doodle Bug. And most definitely Rich Porter’s “Outrageous”.
Sadly, no matter how well these flew, they didn’t win. Judges see what they expect to see. As a judge myself, I suffer from the same problem.