Does Sig Banshee fly like Sig Chipmunk?

[Joe Ed Pederson]

On the box of the Sig Banshee it says it was designed to fly like the Sig Chipmunk.  A couple of years ago I bought a box stock Banshee with a Fox .35 from a club member who no longer flies CL.  I recovered the wings with polyspan and dope (41 ounce without fuel).  I recently started flying it.  After adding tail weight to get the CG close to that on the plans, I love the way it flies.  It will make as tight a loop as the Primary Force ARF I destroyed (or as I suspect, the bellcrank light ply mounts let go causing the crash).  The ability to make really tight loops gives me confidence I can get out of a jam since I'm a beginner who still cannot fly all the maneuvers in the beginner pattern.  I was really surprised by how well the Fox. 35 and RSM 10 x 6 prop pulls it through even the really tight loops.

Anyway, I was wondering if the Super Chipmunk flies as nimbly as my Banshee.

I've researched the Stunthanger threads on both models, but nobody I've read affirmed that the Super Chipmunk flies as well as the Banshee or vice versa.  I recently was given a Banshee kit (the wood is pretty good) by a friend and I think I'll make it a Bansheek either with another Fox .35 or and FP .25  I've got a Banshee wing kit and I may build the Banshee with the wing moved forward to compare which of the three I like the best.

I just wish the Banshee fuselage wasn't so ugly (to me anyway), although that low fin/rudder is advantageous in inadvertent inverted landings/crashes.

Joe Ed Pederson

[Tim Wescott]

If you're still crashing all the time, stick with the Banshee - build a Chipmunk when you're not going to prang it.

Profiles are easier to replace, and the wing construction of a Banshee is designed to be much more repairable after a crash than the wing of a Chipmunk.

I think you'll like a Banshee with the wing slid forward.

[john e. holliday]

Do as Tim says.

[Dan McEntee]

    Jim Van Loo designed the original Chipmunk and it's story has been presented here by Mike Gretz before. He used to have a web page dedicated to the Chipmunk and it's history and it may still be accessible out there some where.  Van Loo sold the design to SIG, and the first kits were so rushed to market that they did not even have a kit number. Glenn wasn't so sure about how well it would sell, but after the first run was sold out, the repackaged it and gave it Kit #CL-3. The sales continued to do  well, and along the way Mike Stott came to work for SIG and he redesigned the model into what most are familiar with as the current SIG Super Chipmunk. Glenn was satisfied by this time and tasked Mike with designing a profile model that would fly like the Chipmunk, and the Banshee was born. It was designed around the Fox .35 and the weight of that engine and no muffler is what gave the Banshee it's moment dimensions. As time went by and more engines came on the market that were more powerful and heavier, the standard treatment for the fuselage became to shorten the nose about 1 1\2"  to make it balance better. Today some just recut the opening for the wing and move the wing forward the same amount. It is a very adaptable design and as you have found out, if built stock and powered by the Fox .35 it performs as it was designed to do.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Joe Ed Pederson]

Thanks for the input.  Tim, I don't plan on building the Chipmunk or any built up fuselage until I stop crashing, but I have this urge to buy the Super Chipmunk kit before it becomes $300.00 if it flies as well as the Banshee.  On Sig's website it's already gone from $112 to $134 or so.

But nobody has answered my question.  Does the Sig Super Chipmunk fly as well as the Banshee?

Thanks,
Joe Ed

[James Lee]

Joe Ed
Built to the same quality as the Banshee, the Chipmunk should fly better.....   With the full fuselage, the motor will run better, and the stiffer fuselage will maintain wing and tail alignment much better.   
Plus, in general, the Chipmunk has better aerodynamics.
The Sig Akrobat uses the same wing with different shaped wing tips and tail outline....   The plastic cowl on both is a real handicap....       
Jim 

[Dwayne Donnelly]

Thanks for the input.  Tim, I don't plan on building the Chipmunk or any built up fuselage until I stop crashing, but I have this urge to buy the Super Chipmunk kit before it becomes $300.00 if it flies as well as the Banshee.  On Sig's website it's already gone from $112 to $134 or so.

But nobody has answered my question.  Does the Sig Super Chipmunk fly as well as the Banshee?

Thanks,
Joe Ed

Both planes built properly that is light and straight,  the Chipmunk will fly better but the Banshee is a fine flying profile. 

[Gary Dowler]

I hope the answer is the Super Chipmunk, because I am building one....lol.   Modified according to suggestions by Dave Fitzgerald, and powered by a Thunder Tiger 36 Pro.  It out powers the 40FP (1.1 hp to 1.0 hp) and weighs about 2 oz less.  Just got the first clear on the fuselage. 

Gary

[M Spencer]

Cobblers . 

https://stunthanger.com/smf/gettin-all-amp'ed-up!/big-jim-banshee-build/msg493672/#msg493672

" Let me tell you about the pink Banshee.
1)   54” span equal panels
2)   Half ribs to spar with vertical webbing between spars
3)   Adjustable Tip weight box and movable leadouts
4)   Flat wing tips
5)   8 1/4” nose
6)   ¼” stab and elevator tapered to tips 261/2” span
7)   Diamond shaped Fuselage with the top and bottom end 1/8” thick
   Barn door flaps 2 ½” to 1 ¾”
9)   Motor Fox 35 running on missile mist fuel no muffler
10)    Custom landing gear 1/8” music wire eighth banner racing wheels
11)    Custom Big jim Tank
12)    Leading edge radius (NOT TO BLUNT JIM DID NOT LIKE TO BLUNT LEADING EDGE.)
 NOTE : you had to hear that Fox run it sounded like a formula one motor with about 10 different gears.  In the Horizontal square eight this motor changed speed for every leg.
 Big Jim first flight on the Banshee.(BTW the other flyer was Big Jims close friend RAY MOORE.) Big Jim firers up the Fox and proceeds to fly a very impressive pattern that looks like Gene Schafer. I had never seen a profile fly like a full bogie stunt plane. The engine quits and proceeds to wind fly. Lazy eights, inside loops ,outside loops, inside square and one triangle. Milton and I had seen Bob and Gene wind fly but not like this.

Jose Modesto "