Introducing DOINK, world's ugliest airplane

[Steven Kientz]

This is a mish mash of parts that were laying around this winter. I needed something to fly this spring that is expendable( there is 5 of us still trying to keep a plane in the air. I didn't want to sacrifice a Twister or Tutor II, so I built DOINK. OS LAS 25 mounted on a reinforcedhardwood fuselage with a 42" Skyray 35 airfoil. Don't have a clue if it will fly,CG is about 3/4" behind the LE.
Anyone else have a skeleton in their closet, that they would like to share?

Steve

[Steven Kientz]

Sorry,I forgot to post the pictures. went to work @ 4;30 am just got home before my 1st post

[Chris Edinger]

Ugly??.... Lets just say it has Character

[Steven Kientz]

    I'll be happy if it makes more than one trip to the flying field. I was going to weigh it but I'd be afraid to look.

[Clint Ormosen]

Well I wouldn't exactly call it ugly. I'd call it....ummm......"functional".

[Garf]

He obviously hasn't seen "fronkensteen", or the "bamboo bomber". I'd post pics, but I don't want to scare anyone.

[Wynn Robins]

I have seen worse!!

but on the flying side of it - you would be far better off putting together a Tutor II or spmething similar and getting it set up right - you will learn to fly a whole lot easier on a "proper" airplane.

trying to tell learners/newbies that - is always a problem, big planes are easier to fly and are a LOT easier to learn on

[Elwyn Aud]

I looks like it ought to be a decent trainer.  With the top mounted bellcrank it might require a trim tab on the outside wing.

[Garf]

but on the flying side of it - you would be far better off putting together a Tutor II or spmething similar and getting it set up right - you will learn to fly a whole lot easier on a "proper" airplane.

Tutor II is out of production.

[George]

I like the Skyray 35 airfoil. When I built my Skyray 35 I used Brett Buck's suggestion of using balsa ribs in all positions instead of the ply ribs and half-ribs, so I have a *load of templates. 

I like the word "functional". Let's see how she flies.

George

[Steven Kientz]

I weighed it last night, 25 oz. ready to fly. This is more of a early season plane,get use to turning in a circle, up and down control. I have a Tutor II that flies very well. I also have a Twister with 0 flights. I just hate to tear up something I've built, let alone someone else crash it.My nephew and his( soon to be ? ) half brothers are all teenagers. They have asked my brother in law all winter about flying. I needed something that I had very little connection to,this is what I came up with.
I'm have 4 other projects at various stages: blackhawk demon and corehouse psycho( my fathers planes) pattern bat conversion( my mentors plane) and a Fun 51 conversion( mine). My mentor and I are going to build pat king's enlarged Flite Streak, FS 45, after I get somewhat caught up.
Sorry I rambled on,I just love to build planes.

Steve

[Paul Taylor]

If you want a good trainer that will take a pounding they say a U-Key is the way to go. Butt ugly, but if you take 5 min expoxy to field you can fly all day.
I never owned one but seen a few guys that did. Crash and fix right at the field. (If it needed repairing)
Foam wing and hard wood fuse. Some people beef up the fuse a little.

If I was starting over I think I would get one. Hind sight is 20/20.
Paul 

[billbyles]

Sorry,I forgot to post the pictures. went to work @ 4;30 am just got home before my 1st post

Ugly?  That's not ugly...the Ringmaster that Bart Klapinsky had at VSC 1997 was definitely the world's ugliest airplane!  Wish I had a photo of that one, but it broke my camera when I tried to get one.

[john e. holliday]

Ughly is like beauty,  it is in the the eyes of the beholder.   Someone needing an airplane to fly would call that one gorgeous airplane.  If it does what it is supposed to do, you're further ahead.   Now if you have the kit plans  for a Skyray you need to build a half dozen of them.  With control cut down and rich needle they make terrific trainers.  DOC Holliday

[Garf]

Try this one.

[Steven Kientz]

That plane is very "functional".

Steve

[Will Hinton]

Thanks a lot, Phil - ya just cashed my computer!

[Keith Spriggs]

He said. you know I am going to make a fuselage that looks like the first thing I see, as he glanced at the long neck Bud setting on the work bench. Suddenly his mind went back to that broken ball bat that he had been saving.

[minnesotamodeler]

Try this one.

Hard to believe that thing is still around...you'd think it would just disintegrate from ugliness overload.

--Ray

[Garf]

Hard to believe that thing is still around...you'd think it would just disintegrate from ugliness overload.

--Ray

My flying partner tore the gear off of it last time out. I have to see if its worth fixing, of if i'll go ahead with "son of bamboo bomber".

[Steven Kientz]

Doink put in its first flight yesterday. A club member was goaded into flying it. He had not flown C/L for quite some time. They told him we wouldn't be able to tell if his flying was ugly or if it was just the plane. Plane flew level and did several inside loops. I believe I will change the tank to muffler pressure from suction, hopefully it will run a little better. Maybe change the LG so I can use my stooge. Hope to fly again this weekend, maybe try my first loops.

I plan on being at the NATS on 7/16 to watch,everyone flying GOOD LUCK.

Steve

[Guy B Jr]

Rootbeard,
You mentioned the UKEY. The fuselage on the DOINK looks like it is from a UKEY, probably the 35 size. I have a UKEY 15 and 40 and love them. Fly great and are forgiving.

[Steven Kientz]

Doinks fuselage is a piece of hardwood with maple engine bearers, any resemblance to anything was pure luck!!

Steve

[Kim Mortimore]

25 ozs. is great!  Especially with a hardwood fuselage.  My last Skyray weighed 34 ozs with a light balsa fuze, $kote on the wings, and not much paint.  The lite ply ribs and spruce spars weigh a ton.  Brett Buck said he dropped 5 ounces when he rebuilt his Skyray after a crash substituting balsa for the ply/spruce, but he also said it didn't make a big difference in how the plane flew.  Interesting, since he is a master of fine-tuning flight trim. 

Did the wings stay straight in level flight, or was the outboard tip high?

Doink is a cool name.  I like funny plane names better than serious ones.  Names I've had in mind are Gadzooks, Mojo, Bazooka, Splat, Zit, Miss Steak, Uvula, Zsa Zsa, and Ding Dong Daddy.

Kim Mortimore

[Steven Kientz]

Wings were level in flight. Next step is to add some pitch to the prop,currently using a 9x4. Our site is pretty windy,thinking a 9x6. Reason being, I stuffed a Twister last weekend, stalled 1/4 lap after takeoff. To much UP, not enough airspeed. If we weren't 10" above avg. on rainfall I'd be rebuilding,replaced a prop and bent the LG, back in business. Wasn't so lucky with my Tutor II. Cracked a doubler when the LG pulled out of the fuse. This crash was my fault, didn't check muffler bolts before this flight. Muffler fell off during takeoff, I panicked, plane went inverted( my1st time) flew 2 laps then stuffed it  fuel tank deep. One of the club members thought someone else was flying the plane, until he saw that member walking toward him. They said that was when it got real quite on the C/L circle.
By the way,DOINK is the sound most of my planes seem to make when they hit the ground.

Steve

[Steve Helmick]

"Next step is to add some pitch to the prop,currently using a 9x4. Our site is pretty windy,thinking a 9x6. Reason being, I stuffed a Twister last weekend, stalled 1/4 lap after takeoff. To much UP, not enough airspeed."

The one event has nothing to do with the other plane...don't do it! Keeping the plane flying at a constant speed that's fast enough is what's important. Higher pitch will probably make it less constant, give you less thrust when you need it most. Sounds like the Twister needs a bigger engine!

I've tried a lot of props on my .25LA-S powered box-stock Skyray 35. From 9-4 APC and Graupner to 10-4's of various sorts, none made a whole lot of difference, but I think the 9.5 x 4.5 APC would be a good one...so far, haven't tried it. I haven't looked for a Thunder Tiger prop that's suitable, but if they have one, there's a good chance it'd work well. Opening up the exhaust spout on the muffler is another thing to try, and I've resisted, because the engine is so quiet...very PC. It's the only thing I like that is PC...  Steve

[Steven Kientz]

The engine on the Twister is on the small side(GMS .25). I have a GMS .32 for it ,but it isn't broken in yet.
I figured the 9x6 on Doink would help penetrate the wind better. I built it as a slow combat trainer( used dimensions from several old slow combat planes).My father flew fast combat years ago, trying to work him back up to that.Not looking to compete just see if he can still do it. I have a Corehouse Pyscho waiting on the new Evo .36, another one will have a TT Pro 36(with appropriate adj. for engine wt.). Nearing 70, I hope these wil be fast enough, surely 75MPH now will feel like 110MPH then. My luck, probably not,then he'll talk me into building him a rat or jet.

Steve

[Kim Mortimore]

Streamer chase is great fun, and a happy medium between all-out combat and just flying combat planes around for sport.  We tried it as a casual contest event at our 4th of July BBQ in Alameda, CA.  One plane is a target drone with a long string and streamer.  This plane flies straight and level, and the chase plane tries to get as many cuts as possible.  It's harder than it looks--especially when it comes to getting the handle position right to line up the prop and the streamer.  The winner had 3 cuts, and no one else got more than 1 each (and these were active contest combat pilots).  We discovered that streamer chase involves a LOT of physical effort.  In real combat, there isn't so much rotation.  The pilots stop, face the same direction, and duke it out.  SC is more like racing with complicated maneuvers thrown in.  Not tripping over each other is part of the challenge.

A more advanced version of SC might be to have the target drone do shallow climbs and dives. 

It seems to work best if the chase plane flies a little faster than the drone, giving it more time to munch away at the streamer before overtaking the drone. 

The plane I used for the target drone is called "Space Junk", built by Jim Goss based on a Corehouse Psycho foam wing with a hardwood fuze, and that sucker is U G L Y as homemade sin,    so ugly that people have written rude things on the wings in magic marker.   Previously, guys in our club used it to fly stunt when the wind was too high to risk a "real" stunt plane, and it has won Intermediate stunt a few times.  Girls don't have to be pretty to dance good. 

Kim Mortimore

[Steven Kientz]

My father might be interested in the streamer chasing. Only problem I see is he'd want to fly both planes.

Steve

[Mike Griffin]

I agree with Wynn's post.  I learned to fly on a Tutor 2 with a ST 51 and once I got over the intimidation, it was a pleasure to fly and learn the pattern with.  I had it for two years and crashed it doing something stupid and immediately found another one and bought it for future use.  A really good flying ARF.

Mike

[Steven Kientz]

I'm currently flying a Tutor II with a OS 46 LAS. Doink comes out when the RC guys cajole one another into flying C/L. If they haven't been paying attention they think they are going to fly my Tutor, imagine  their suprise when I hook up Doink. They think it will be too fast, but they all say it flies much better than it looks.

Steve

[Jerry Reider]

What's the matter with ugly planes?  My ugly planes seem to last forever.  No matter what I do to them they seem to survive.

[Garf]

Didn't work that way with the Bamboo Bomber. May it rest in pieces.

[minnesotamodeler]

It's gone?  REALLY???!!  The world is a more beautiful place...

[steven yampolsky]

This is a mish mash of parts that were laying around this winter. I needed something to fly this spring that is expendable( there is 5 of us still trying to keep a plane in the air. I didn't want to sacrifice a Twister or Tutor II, so I built DOINK. OS LAS 25 mounted on a reinforcedhardwood fuselage with a 42" Skyray 35 airfoil. Don't have a clue if it will fly,CG is about 3/4" behind the LE.
Anyone else have a skeleton in their closet, that they would like to share?

This is not ugly. To qualify for ugly, it needs:

1) be covered in 3 different, very ugly colors. some of the covering is monkey coat, some in paper.
2) have the motor so gunked up, it should be unrecognizable
3) have at least 2 major fuse break seams with epoxy oozing out of the seams
4) no round corners!
5) at least one tear in covering taped over with duck tape

Did I miss anything?

[Tom Niebuhr]

Phil,

In a distorted way I liked the Bamboo Bomber. Unlike many airplanes, it was original!

You gotta build another one.

[Phil Hawkins]

This is not ugly. To qualify for ugly, it needs:

1) be covered in 3 different, very ugly colors. some of the covering is monkey coat, some in paper.
2) have the motor so gunked up, it should be unrecognizable
3) have at least 2 major fuse break seams with epoxy oozing out of the seams
4) no round corners!
5) at least one tear in covering taped over with duck tape

Did I miss anything?

6) Landing gear bent at odd angles with wheels so gunked up they no longer are recognizable as wheels.
7) suspicious divots in wing where ribs should be.
hinge material hastily glued over where barrel hinges once were.

Wow, we just described my "loaner" Ringmaster S-1A!

[Garf]

The Bamboo Bomber was made from leftover wood paneling from a home improvement prodject done a long time ago. I recently went to Home Depot to get some more to do the front room, but they don't stock it any more. It would seem it has gotten too expensive for the cubans to buy, so they quit selling it. I would have to find something else to use. Maybe some reject door skins.

[GGeezer]

Its not any uglier than my original design "Rubber Duck" coroplast and drain-pipe trainer. The photo shows it disassembled. The motor/tank module slips into the drain pipe fuse and is secured by the bolts holding the landing gear in place. The coroplast wing is strapped to the fuse with rubber bands. It flies but is too heavy to stunt well, but sure is ugly!

Orv.