Alan,
Yes, Jester is my design. I have a brief history of the lineage as posted elsewhere....The discussion was about Merlin, father of Jester.
My esteemed collegues have related much about my stunt antics but not much about Merlin. The story began with a foam wing one piece Impact, then a Geo wing take apart Impact, (58oz's too BTW) then Legend, the first variation on the Impact, then Merlin the variation on Legend. As Duck eluded to, the next ship is Jester, a variation on Merlin.
The design changes from Impact were based on my flying techniques and abilities. Paul has a finely tuned machine that he can fly to the very highest levels. I cannot. I get 200 flights a year tops with long winters and seemingly short summers. I decided to make some changes I reasoned would be good for me. (caveat emptor)
Merlin still has the basic Impact take apart system. This is all that remains from Paul's design. The airfoil was changed to have higher lift sections at the tip, I felt my earlier versions were occasionally tip stalling. I like the stationary tip where the flap ends before the end of the wing. I believe the vortices are happier with a stable place to attach. The flaps are made of solid wood and are very rigid. I was never able to get the built up ones stable enough. The fuselage on Merlin has molded top and bottom blocks and cowling. It uses multi piece formers to ensure perfect fit in the jig. The former sides are laid out in a geodetic fashion aft of the wing. This aids in the formation of the pipe tunnel later. The fuse sides are 3/32 c-grain with 1/32 ply doublers. They are molded to fit the motor mount curves at the nose. The Tail moment is longish at 19.5 inches. Nose moment is 10.75. The side area is dramatically larger than my other planes as Merlin has quite a deep fuse. Monster pipes are no problem. The tail area has been increased substantially too. I'm not sure of the area off the top but side by side with most stunters, Merlin has a big rear end. The vertical fin, was where a bunch more side area was added. Merlin carries 1 to 1.5 oz of tail weight in fighting trim. Depending on weather and judges. I used Winship controls throughout with rod ends at every connection except the stab where I use the Sullivan golden clevis. (YIKES) I have never had this style fail. I also inspect it regularly and can change it easily if necessary.
The result? I really enjoy flying the airplane, Merlin is powerful through the corners with a very positive stop. It's easy for me to fly and I feel comfortable with it. I am a proponent of PA's as I don't have time to develop new systems. I have used 51's, 61's, and 65's in the plane. All worked great, my personal favourite is the 65 so far. The challenges I faced with Merlin were; the geo-wing, I used 1/16" 6# and I should have sourced some .077 per Bobby, the model was not fuel proofed adequately and it is now very oil soaked. Not a fault of take apart construction, but an optimistic builder. The landing gear is unique per Howard's post. It is the humpty gear, originally from Howard himself. I made the gear on Merlin per Windy's article in FM. I have the new gear in Jester as seen on Dan Winships site. The downside is the gear requires some home fabrication as no one makes any for sale. Including me... Although I'll help you with how-to.
Jester, the new plane, addresses some of the faults from Merlin. Jester has a foam wing that I cut and vacuum bagged then cored. Very light and very strong. Not Geo light but likely to put up with more ham fisted handling. The fuse is stretched to 20" and reduced to 10 1/8. The styling is quite different with a clear canopy and very swoopy V-fin. The basic construction is the same with mostly cosmetic changes. I did reduce the side area slightly in profile as I extended the fuse again. Brett hounded me about the straight bottom fuse ending in a point.
So, the summary, I liked what Merlin did for Me and the way I fly. I really want to point out that I believe the best plane is the one you like and you feel comfortable with. I would never say there is one plane for everyone. If that were true we would have it by now.
I'm sure that there are some out there that will dispute the reasoning I have put here and that's fine. Point is it works for me. I don't have detailed plans for Merlin although the working drawing is on velum (SP?). I also have my building notes. If anyone is interested. At the WC's Merlin was 65oz's, PA 61, 715ish sq ins. He seemed right at home in the wind, Warren told me after I landed it had gusted to 26mph twice during my flight.
Jester is already in CAD and I'm working with Jack Pitcher to have a plan available should someone be interested. Currently, it's a great working drawing with some detail yet to be explained. I'll have the construction notes with Jester too as well as the finished weights.
The evolution continues, so far without flying Jester, I have really enjoyed Merlin the most. (Probably why it took four years for Jester to appear...) Merlin has been in the stunt wars for four years and was successful by my measure. The biggest compliments I recieved were from other pilots that flew it. Merlin now hangs proudly in my basement with a "hat pin Hatch" on the inboard wing. If you would like more information feel free to contact me directly. I am in the Pampa directory for last year and will not appear in this years edition.
Thank you for your interest.
Bruce Perry
The final installment would be that Jester(s) fly on PA 75's and I'm totally in love with the way they fly. J2 has reached further into the performance envelope than J1 could simply because it's 4 oz's lighter. That said, J1 can turn an excellent corner too. They balance perfectly with the 75 and do not need the additional tail weight Merlin carried. They use a clunk tank and are otherwise as related above.
Topic: concours winner for 2011 (Read 9749 times)