Doodlebug

[dave siegler]

New airplane, Doodlebug, set up for OS 25.  Ultracote and Rustoleum

First flights will wait till spring

Dave

[John Stiles]

Aw man.....that's a little dandy right there! Can I borrow your plan

[john e. holliday]

That looks good.  Hope it flies as well as the 40 size Doodle Bug I fly once in awhile.  Don't fly it in competition around hear as every body says it looks too strange.

[Paul Taylor]

Dave,
Go grab Joe and Chris and go try it out. Don't let that white stuff stop you. Get the run way rolled out and "Just do it"!

[Bryan Higgins]

Looks like FUN....Great Color

[Larry Renger]

I believe it is available as an RSM kit.  Plans, laser cut parts, hardware, what's not to like?

[don Burke]

I see the Fierce Arrow at RSM no Doodlebug. Somebody a while ago kitted the D-Bug, but I don't remember who.  Found this review, but no current web site for the manuf.

http://www.airfieldmodels.com/gallery_of_models/control_line/doodlebug_580f/index.htm

[David Shad]

John Lowry did some various sized Doodlebugs about three years ago...I
still have a 1/2 A kit in the garage and plans for all of them I think.

[Dennis Moritz]

John provided that kit and a few other Alan Brickhaus designs. I emailed him a while back about the Doodlebugs, but got no reply. At one time he had a website that feature his kits. Long gone. About a year ago I bought some control line from him that was advertised in the classified at SSW. Don't remember if I asked about the kits again.

How do the Doodlebugs fly? Are they competitive stunt planes? I believe they were designed for competition. I've always been curious about these oddities. As well as other Wild Bill designs. At different times, I read Will Bill's description of how these planes flew. No impressions, however, by a neutral party. Will Bill seemed to be obsessed with the radius of corners, but didn't talk much about other essential flying characteristics useful in stunt.

[Serge_Krauss]

My lasting(?) impression from reading the "Doodlebug" articles was that the "Doodlebug" design was intended as a de-tuned version of the "Humbug", in reaction to the latter's lack of acceptance by the stunt community.

Oh, let me look it up...

Yeah, he opens the first article, "The Doodlebug design goal was to achieve Bi-Slob/Grandpa's Bipe performance with a profile monoplane and flap-free wing. The strategy was to let the excessive induced drag of a 2.6 to 1 aspect ratio wing hold down the speed during post-stall loops and somersaults...Since the flight envelope wasn't going to be judged officially, the stabilizer as adequate..." He goes on to say that despite 15-degree offset, 75-degree elevator throw, and other gestures in this direction, performance didn't meet his expectations. So he took out the offset, added nose length, doubled the stab area, and arrived at what he termed a "competitive stunt machine." He writes that, after he'd crashed the first version, the Judges were "kind enough to state that the flight characteristics were adequate to compete in the intermediate class." I think he sees it as better than that, but he hasn't written anything that indicates to me that he sees it as a world beater, either in his articles, at VSC, or via e-mails. He just says it's "comfortable" with good line tension, rounds, and corners.

I'm pretty sure though that I did read something or perhaps heard from Bill that this one was NOT intended to challenge in the cornering department. Maybe that was a latter Bare-Cat design. Hmmm...

I thought I could find my VSC Doddlebug picture(s), but I couldn't find them either.

SK

[dave siegler]

Dave,
Go grab Joe and Chris and go try it out. Don't let that white stuff stop you. Get the run way rolled out and "Just do it"!

I'll pass, I am too busy keeping warm.  The prop hurts a lot then it is this cold. 

By the time I get the lines rolled out and hte engine started, it is dark already..

Naw as a kid we had skis.  And we flew on a lake.  I did try it a few years ago, but I need some help.  Stooges don't work in the snow.

It is a John Lowery kit.  It has been sitting around for a few years.  Green ultrakote and Navy blue rustolem.
 
Dave

[Dennis Moritz]

Oh. A sport plane. Compete in Intermediate? Very funny remark of course. Almost anything can compete in Intermediate. ARF flite Streaks, overweight Twisters, Galaxies,  and untrimmed (untrimmable actually) ARF Cardinals, also compete in Intermediate where they can finish mid pack. I have personally flown all those birds in Intermediate where I have achieved the dubious. Even when yanking the handle on a very doggy Cardinal.

Well, anyway, nothing else looks like a Doodlebug. Humbugs, I thought, were designed to be WORLD BEATERS. Baron, the designated Humbug Flier (am I right about this?) did win a NATs. Not flying a Humbug tho. He flew a Patternmaster. Right.

Guess designing a plane to be a sort of BiSlob in performance makes it a very doubtful performer as a serious Stunt War Wagon.

Anyway, has anyone seen these planes fly? The Doodlebug or the Humbug. I'm curious about their impressions.

[Harleyman]

Very nice Dave!
Can't wait to see that baby fly.   

[john e. holliday]

Dennis, I think I got the last of the Lowrey DoodleBugs while at a Tulsa contest.  I still have it as I used it to copy the parts to build the one I have.  To all, I beleive in the right hands after trimming it could be very competitive.  If you take off the landing gear it is hard to tell which is up or down.  Looks like a spear head from the center of the circle.  But, I think the judges would down grade it because of its looks going thru the pattern.  My flying partner says the squares look like it pivots instead of flying thru the turn.  May have to fly this year in competition this year and see if my score go down as I am more confortable flying it.

[Russell Shaffer]

Mount your stooge on a 2X4 foot piece of thin plywood or suitable substitute.  It also gives a good working area when the grass is tall or the snow is deep.