Banshee Short Kit - REVISED

[Mike Griffin]

Fellas, I have asked Eric Rule at RSM to cut me a Banshee short kit with a nose modification for my personal fleet and I just wanted to check with you all to see if you might want one too since I am having him fire up the laser for this one.

What I am having him do is move the wing forward by 1 1/2"  The Banshee was designed to use a FOX 35 which was lighter than todays more more modern engines, hence the longer nose.  With todays .40 size engines (which is what I am going to use) it will perform better with the shorter nose moment.  Just FYI, the original nose moment of the Bashee was 9 .75" and this will shorten it to 8.25".  The tail moment will now be longer at 15 3/4"  The wingspan of the Banshee is 48" and the wing area is 505 sq.  I really like those numbers.

Here is what I am having Eric cut for me in the short Kit:  ALL CONTEST BALSA

Wing Ribs
Wing Tips
Flaps
Fuselage
Plywood fuselage doublers
Maple Motor Mounts
Stab, Elevators and Verical Fin members

(ALLS SHEETING AND STICKS AND HARDWARE HAS TO BE FURNISHED BY THE BUILDER)

If anyone wants one besides me, Let me know.  Just e mail me or send me a personal message.   The price is $74.95.
I Have attached a PDF of the revised wing location.  Still looks like a Banshee.
Mike

[Randy Cuberly]

Hi Mike,
Since you're modifying the Fuselage, it wouldn't hurt to stretch the tail a bit also...maybe an inch and a half or even two inches.

I did one like that a long time ago with a OS FP40 and it worked pretty well.

Randy Cuberly

[Allan Perret]

Mike I agree with what Randy said.  If fact I am building one that is ready for final assy and finish, and that's what I did to it. 
Left the fuse exactly per the plans, just slide the wing forward 1.5".  This shortens the nose and adds the same amount to the tail moment.
If you do that I'm in for a kit.

[Motorman]

It would be nice if the airfoil was a little thicker too and make the stab/elevator slightly bigger.

MM

[Allan Perret]

It would be nice if the airfoil was a little thicker too and make the stab/elevator slightly bigger.

MM

Now that's starting to sound like a modern day competitive profile stunter..

[Tim Wescott]

It would be nice if the airfoil was a little thicker too and make the stab/elevator slightly bigger.

MM

And while you're at it, change to a higher aspect ratio wing with square tips -- and change the name to "Wimpact".

(I concur with the guys that are suggesting you move the wing forward in the fuse instead just lopping off the nose.  But it's your plane, so do what you want and have fun.)

[Dave_Trible]

A clean sheet of paper? 

Dave

[Mike Griffin]

OK Guys, yall come up with a good suggesstion every once in a while.  LOL...I just talked to Eric and here is how we are going to do it.  We are NOT going to cut off the nose, we are going to scoot the wing forward by 1 1/2" and what you will end up with will be the same nose moment of 8 1/4" but a longer tail moment of 15 3/4".   This will give us the Banshee everybody wanted.

Mike

[Perry Rose]

Here's what I did to a Banshee kit. The plane is in Slaughter,LA now and should be out at the Baton Rouge contest.
Damien! Hi! I kept track of the changes I made I'll try and get them all on here.
3 ' stretched fuselage--tapered cut on the fuselage top,front to back to get a smooth line after putting in the fuselage plug.--cut 1 1/2" off the nose--1/2" balsa nose tripler.--extend the motor mounts back to the wing--cut out for recessed fuel tank between the motor mounts--wing mounted landing gear--increased wing span by two bays--new larger flaps--cap strips on ribs. thicker trailing edge sheeting--one piece landing gear block--larger span and chord stab/elev--suspended bell crank--bell crank post sticks out of wing and is pulled against the fuselage for strength--aluminum flap horn--4-40 bolt and aileron connector for elevator horn--carbon tube with steel clevis for flap to elev. push rod--ball link and threaded rod and clevis for bell crank to flap push rod-- weight pocket in fuselage under tail wheel-- wing tip weight box-- adjustable lead out slider--shear webs between the spars--shear webs between the trailing edge sheeting--brass bushings in the bell crank--larger opening in the fuselage for the larger cap striped wing--equal span wing panel--hinge gaps sealed with 'gap flaps'--wing center sheeting extended to cover 6 ribs instead of 4--aluminum landing gear attached to the, what was designed to be bent wire gear, mounting block--hidden trim tab on the outboard flap--molded leading edges--spats on the landing gear legs. The only kit part I used without modifying it or not using it at all is the fin and rudder. Some weight could be saved by making new ribs as the kit balsa was end grain oak. Except for the fuselage.
The bottom line on the plane is it balances a half inch ahead of the plans location and on the plans location with a tongue muffler instead of the stock muffler. both locations fly real well. It's covered with Monokote on the wing and stab/elev.,fuselage is Dupli-Color and Rustoleum and Dupli-Color high performance wheel coating.
Wing span is 53 inches, 570 square inches, counting the wing tips, OAL is 38 1/2 inches with out the spinner and40 3/4 with the spinner, weight as shown in the picture is 46 ounces. engine is a OS .40LA and will be changed to the .46LA now that it is flying right. I had a warp in the wing that was a bear to get out. Also I had major problems getting the aluminum gear bent so it would stick forward and have the axles pointed in the right direction.
I'm looking forward to the contests next summer.
I came up with a super fast and super cheap(hey, I resemble that remark) balsa soaking devise. no spills and assembles and disassembles in seconds. And uses room temperature water and stores flat anywhere. And the wood is ready to mold in less than 3 hours. I think I need Billy Mayes here. Well maybe somebody that's not departed.

[Mike Griffin]

All of these changes that yall have done I am sure are just fine but when you start drasticlly changing the basic look and size of a design, it is no longer that design, and that is not what I wanted to do.  What I wanted to do with the Banshee was to maintain the look of the model but maybe make it fly just a little bit better with the newer engines.  All Eric and I did, and more importantly, ALL WE ARE GOING TO DO ON THIS SHORT KIT, is move the wing forward 1 1/2".  That is it.  

When you start changing the wingspan and  the size of the stab and elevator and the airfoil of the wing, then you have bashed the Banshee into some entirely different.  That was not the purpose of this.  Basically I wanted a Banshee to fly and if anyone else wanted one of these short kits, I was going to have Eric cut a few more.  

Mike

[Allan Perret]

Here's what I did to a Banshee kit. The plane is in Slaughter,LA now and should be out at the Baton Rouge contest.
Damien! Hi! I kept track of the changes I made I'll try and get them all on here.
3 ' stretched fuselage--tapered cut on the fuselage top,front to back to get a smooth line after putting in the fuselage plug.--cut 1 1/2" off the nose--1/2" balsa nose tripler.--extend the motor mounts back to the wing--cut out for recessed fuel tank between the motor mounts--wing mounted landing gear--increased wing span by two bays--new larger flaps--cap strips on ribs. thicker trailing edge sheeting--one piece landing gear block--larger span and chord stab/elev--suspended bell crank--bell crank post sticks out of wing and is pulled against the fuselage for strength--aluminum flap horn--4-40 bolt and aileron connector for elevator horn--carbon tube with steel clevis for flap to elev. push rod--ball link and threaded rod and clevis for bell crank to flap push rod-- weight pocket in fuselage under tail wheel-- wing tip weight box-- adjustable lead out slider--shear webs between the spars--shear webs between the trailing edge sheeting--brass bushings in the bell crank--larger opening in the fuselage for the larger cap striped wing--equal span wing panel--hinge gaps sealed with 'gap flaps'--wing center sheeting extended to cover 6 ribs instead of 4--aluminum landing gear attached to the, what was designed to be bent wire gear, mounting block--hidden trim tab on the outboard flap--molded leading edges--spats on the landing gear legs. The only kit part I used without modifying it or not using it at all is the fin and rudder. Some weight could be saved by making new ribs as the kit balsa was end grain oak. Except for the fuselage.
The bottom line on the plane is it balances a half inch ahead of the plans location and on the plans location with a tongue muffler instead of the stock muffler. both locations fly real well. It's covered with Monokote on the wing and stab/elev.,fuselage is Dupli-Color and Rustoleum and Dupli-Color high performance wheel coating.
Wing span is 53 inches, 570 square inches, counting the wing tips, OAL is 38 1/2 inches with out the spinner and40 3/4 with the spinner, weight as shown in the picture is 46 ounces. engine is a OS .40LA and will be changed to the .46LA now that it is flying right. I had a warp in the wing that was a bear to get out. Also I had major problems getting the aluminum gear bent so it would stick forward and have the axles pointed in the right direction.
I'm looking forward to the contests next summer.
I came up with a super fast and super cheap(hey, I resemble that remark) balsa soaking devise. no spills and assembles and disassembles in seconds. And uses room temperature water and stores flat anywhere. And the wood is ready to mold in less than 3 hours. I think I need Billy Mayes here. Well maybe somebody that's not departed.

Hey Perry:  Not only is it amazing that you did all that to a Banshee, but you actually documented it..  Don't see the picture you referred to ?
Damien, is that your son in Slaughter that has this plane.  We will be at the field Sunday if weather's OK, why don't you get him to bring it out to the field so we can check it out.  Can help him if he needs anything to get it in the air, or can bring a trainer type if he just wants to fly something.  Let me know..