My scratch built and modified Banshee, based on the SIG Kit plan, weighs in at about 45 ounces. The clear is still gassing off so that could drop a wee bit. The model was started back in 1986 when I was working out of Montreal's CYUL Dorval (I REFUSE to call it Trudeau 
) Airport, flying the night freight. I got the idea for the colors used on the Banshee, from the old Swearingen Merlin I was flying way back then. 5 moves later and I am back in Winnipeg(Home) where the project got going again with Saturday Building Bees in Dennis Saydak's shop, pre-covid. Mods included a 1 inch shorter nose moment, ribs all like the fully sheeted center section ribs with Cap Strips now on the open bays and the leading edge sheeted with 1/16TH balsa back to the now 3/16TH's square Spruce Spars. Pushrod exit inboard to avoid exhaust, Adjustable tip weight box and adjustable lead outs. Wider root for the flaps and slightly short of full span flaps. Adjustable tin hinged fixed 'flap' tip outboard. Enlarged and thicker 3/8TH's stab/elevator. Balsa nose fillet on the inboard side from the added nose ring to the wing's high point, all sanded and blended in and then glassed. Power is a nice old Fox .36 that I first had in a stock kit built SIG Twister. Had it re-worked by Lew Woolard some years ago. Friend and fellow C/L Club Member Kevin King does truly amazing finishes as I'm sure you'll all agree from his other postings.
Hi Paul;
I agree that is is a really nice looking model! A lot of guys get a little too fussy about the weight thing, but yours isn't remotely what I would call heavy. I built a SIG Twister years ago, and kit bashed it into a profile version of the Shark.45 that I had, painted the same colors, trim and everything. I even did the leading edge sheeting and cap strip like you did, added the round wing tips that actually used the same ones as the Shark .45 did, and added the thick doubler on the nose. Tail moment was stretched out as per the Fancher modifications, added two inches to the span of the tail and reshaped it like the Shark, then silk span and dope for the finish. I used all the kit wood, and the ribs were so hard that I had to cut them with a band saw!! All of that and the weight came in between 45 and 50 ounces. I won a lot of contests in profile, Intermediate and Advanced with that model. I started out with a OS FP-.40, then transferred over to a Brodak .40 when those came out. Flew great with both engines. It's still hanging on the wall and I'll have to get it down this summer as part of my retirement plan, which is to fly everything that I have in house here that is ready to fly. It needs some covering touch up and some other TLC but I have lines and handle for it at the ready so shouldn't take too much to get it in the air. The wings on the Twister and the Banshee are pretty much the same, I think, just different tips, and they carry weight well. We had a friend here that had actually built a Twister entirely from pine, just to see how it would do. Finished weight on that one was 60 ounces or more I think, and would do the pattern!! FP-.40 for power cranking pout all it could, but I'm pretty sure he trophied in one of our contests with in Intermediate class!! I trade emails back and forth with Kevin so I'll be looking for a flight report on it from him. Keep us posted on here also , please.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
Topic: Pauls Scratch built Buffed out Banshee (Read 1588 times)