With apologies to Matt Damon and Ed Norton...

A Rounder, according to my research, is a poker term meaning "An expert player who travels from town to town seeking high stakes games." I thought that was a perfect name for a stunt model... especially one with many "round" features!

This airplane just sort of accidentally happened. The wing for this ship is made using what I call "reverse composite construction." I'll be writing up that process in a future how to for Stunt News. The wing was completed and then set aside as there was no model designed for it. It was made only as a research project, but it came out extremely light and very strong, and it just sort of beckoned me to use it in something.

Over the past several years my son, Robby and I have been developing a new fuselage/molded shell construction method that has reached fruition and is the simplest and most accurate method I've ever used to construct a fuselage. All who have visited my shop, and have seen this technique, have incorporated it into the models that they have and/or are now building here. They suggested that I work up a how-to on that entire system.

One day, while chatting on the phone with a friend, I began sketching a new classic-styled model on a pad (haven't we all done that often?). The model that took shape in profile on the pad was appealing to me, so I took the sketch to my local digital services store and had it enlarged to a size that would accept that Reverse Composite wing. Then I started taking photos of the fuselage build process. I'm now at 470 photos and counting and have already started making an instruction manual on the process. No, I won't be using all 400 plus photos, but there will be a ton of pictures in the manual to go along with the text. I'll let everyone know when that manual is complete...

Anyway, last night I finished installing the tail block and made a fin and installed that also. I just thought you might like to see where the Rounder is at this point. It still needs landing gear and very sleek wheel pants, and I'll take advantage of that to produce a manual on how I bend landing gear in sets and how I make and install wheel pants using a simple but foolproof fixture to insure exact alignment of the pants to the plane.

Okay, now I have three models nearing completion. I'll soon be spending all my spare time in the paint shop...

Plans for the Rounder will be made available at some point for those who might wish to build one.

The Rounder has a 53 1/2 inch wing span and approximately 560 square inches of area. I plan to use an E-Flite Power 25 motor and a 4S 2700 mAh Hyperion pack in this plane. That's a rather large motor for this package, but it may just produce a plane with great penetration properties in rough East Coast air.  

Later - Bob Hunt  

  

Very nice Bob.

Rounders is on my all time favorite movie list. The plane is cool, too.

I wondered when that wing was gonna' come off the wall. 

Regards, All ...
           Dean

Bob,

Very sleek, very cool.

James

Another great one Bob!

Very nice.  The shape goes well with the name.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments about this new design!

Dan:  Yes, there will be a full canopy over the cockpit section. In fact I'm taking the opportunity to make a how-to manual on carving a plug, making a mold and vacuum pulling a canopy.

Derek: Yup! This is the wing I was telling you about; it's the "Reverse Composite" construction on which Buddy Wieder and I have been working.

Bob Hudak: You can have one of those spinners! Call Randy Smith and ask for a 2-inch needle.

Curare: Be patient for just a little longer and I'll have the fuselage/molded shell manual done and available.

Bill Little: Yup! There is more than a little Caprice in this one, only deeper and rounder in the fuselage.

Thanks again to all... I'll have more photos of the progress on this one soon.

Later - Bob Hunt 

Bob, Nice departure from your more recent designs. It just looks right. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the "rest of the story."

Bob

Hi Ty:

Thanks for the smooooth...    No kits will be forthcoming, but I do intend to make plans available as well as wing cores/covered wings, tail cores/covered tails and Hardnose motor mounts.

The Crossfire name predates Stevie's catchy 1 - 4 - 5 blues number by a bunch. The first Crossfire was produced in 1984 and it was an RC version!  (The first CL Crossfire came into being in 1987) The name comes from the time I spent flying RC pattern, the things that I learned there, and the things that I brought with me from control line. It stands for the "Crossfire of technology" between the two events. A photo of that ship is attached here.

Later - Bob

Hi Bob,

Nice plane.
Also a nice spinner. But be aware that the minimal radius of a spinner must be 5mm.

Greetings Robert-Jan

Only in FAI

Here are some pictures of the Rounder. We have put about 15 flights on it and it is a very good flying plane. It has Scorpion 3026 in it now, we started with a Cobra 2826 and it was good, but ran very hot. The Scorpion is a little big for this plane, so I am going to go to a Cobra 3515. The plane is an excellent design.

Nice design Bob!
Thanks
Joe

Wow! That looks great, Joe. You did a fabulous job with it. Can't wait to see it fly.

On cooling: Did you make provisions for the heated air to get out of the cowling? How about an air diverter to force cooling air into the slots at the front of the motor. I did that on one plane and the temperature of the motor after flight fell by more than 50 degrees. See the attached photo for an example.

Later - Bob

Bob,
Thanks
For the cooling, yes I put a exit duct on the bottom of the battery compartment. I need to add a air defector to force air onto the motor. The Cobra 2826 seem to run hot. The last time out I switched to the scorpion motor and it ran much cooler. I do want to try a cobra 3515, it is lighter the scorpion plus I have one too!

Thanks
Joe