It looped!!

[Gary Dowler]

My enlarged Flying fool looped!!  Got out today and got two flights up. Upped weight on the tail to3.5 oz, which seems to be just a little too much. Level flight got just a little unstable and corrections were a little imprecise, unlike all previous flights.
But I decided on flight two to go for it. It looped!!  Wingovers were  snappy so I thought well, it's now or it dies trying.  First one was way too tight, but it worked. Second two were much nicer. Didn't try anything further, but it looped.
Second landing was another flip over resulting in, yet again, damage to the tail. Getting tired of fixing that!  Used the lightest wood (1/4") on the tail I could. Apparently this was a false economy. Light wood breaks easily.

Got exactly 4 minutes on each flight with exactly 5oz of 10%.

[Gordon Van Tighem]

So, if you need tail weight and your light rudder keeps breaking, perhaps you might prepare a stronger, (heavier), rudder as a replacement for after the next nose over. Sort of two birds with one stone?
G

[Gary Dowler]

Already underway. Going to rebuild the tail assembly with the heaviest balsa I can get my hands on. Should be a lot tougher.

[Target]

A vertical with a 1/16" ply center and balsa laminated to the outside would be easy to shape and pretty robust. It'll weight a bit more and be stronger than a heavy balsa one.
The trailing edge will be quite thin yet strong this way though.