David's Thundergazer is an outstanding stunt ship. I should know I watched it beat me this year in the Top5 at the nats. Correct me if I am wrong but i am pretty sure I read where he took the geo bolt airfoil, thinner than the others he was using yet still blunted along the LE, and worked it up to be 630 or so square inches. Then matched up an airfoiled stab and elevator and pretty much inside the envelope numbers for tail moment and nose moment. The wing (in my opinion), along with the loafing large motor and very good trimming skills, was key to getting that rig to fly very solid in the winds in France and it paid off. He also incorporated the take apart design from the Impact article that PW developed. Now where else have I seen that wing really perform wonders........hmmmmmm, OH YEAH IN MY PLANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAAHHA!! I just a tad more span and larger flaps, couple that with a larger stab to match % wise and POW POW you have another monster on your hands. David's plane was very specific in its design and its task, winning, and completed it very well.
How many of you, who buy arfs, would have bought one without it ever being flown in a contest?
Brad's design was different in many ways. You see, having been exposed to many planes built from China and the process it takes to complete a final design I can tell you now large planes have the tendency to get heavy fast. Just check out a Score and you will see what I mean. I remember looking over the first Saturn to come over and it was nice and well built but it stood no chance of being a competitive weight. While the little G Nobler was coming in at a perfect weight. hmmmmmm. Well, bigger planes just weigh more and it goes up exponentially. The Impact will be light. They have to be careful in wood selection and several changes to their construction methods were made along the way insure this. Brad has taken it to the next level. He looked around many different areas of modeling and specifically in stunt and came up with his OWN design that is not only different in appearance but VASTLY different in construction methods as well. It is not a single drive train specific design either. It has every engine choice in mind. Thus leaving it open to owner as to what road he wants to take. Not only that once you go one route you are not committed to that route forever. You can make power train changes along the way. It makes no difference. But I dont think this is the real design key that makes it different. It is my personal opinion that coming up with a design method that fits the current building supplies available to the manufacturer while still yielding a solid light weight competent stunt plane is the REAL design element here that is NEW. This was, I believe, one of the major tasks this model was designed to complete. And I feel it has done just that. This has been done in other facets of modeling and now it has been brought to CLPA. This can only help bring more and more competitive designs to the market while keeping the affordable. Unlike the Sharks and Akrobats the more these are refined and designed and more designs offered the more affordable they become. Check one out for yourself before you pass judgment.
I have seen one fly several times. I think it flew great, light on the lines, no funny wiggles or what looked to be trim issues anywhere. I think I could kick some ass with one.
Topic: The T-Rex is here (Read 27992 times)
