That's my plane. It is of unknown design origin and name. It has a cool El Vira figurine under the canopy, so that's what I call it.
Here's my long winded report on its details.
As far as the design, it uses a sheeted foam wing with a forward high point airfoil and a nicely blunt leading edge. The rib areas are cut out and capstripped. Monokote covering. The twin rudders on the high aspect ratio tail (6.2:1) probably keep it from being a dog, as the tail volume of 17.5% (105 sq.in.) is really quite low for the wing area (~600+ sq.in.). Tail Volume Coefficient ends up quite low at only around .33 TVC or less. I fly it with one of my hardpoint Fancher handle kits and a pretty narrow, 3" line spacing as the controls in the plane are quite fast.
I think it is a owner designed plane and not any one particular plane in general. It has a lot of design cues which make me think the original builder was looking at some of the popular 70's designs that used the high aspect ratio tail concept, Stilletto, Cobra, Brickhaus stuff, ect. Despite the small TVC, it still turns pretty well for its weight (56oz). It just doesn't like to be hammered in a turn, you definitely have to fly it through the turns and make it start and stop turning. It hunts a little bit in level flight and I wouldn't say that it's turn and lock is going to set any records. It has its idiosyncratic quirks that I mostly try to ignore and just fly around them instead. But, with all that said, it's still a lot of fun!
10.75" nose length, (rear of prop to wing leading edge)
Stab/Elevator - 3" tip, 5.25" root, 25.5 width. 50/50 split. 105 sq. 17.5% of wing
Wing: 12.375 root chord total, (9.75" + 2.625" flap) 9.625 tip (8" + 1.625" flap) - ~ approx. 19% flaps average (17% tip flap, 21% root flap)
55" span -- 5.04:1 aspect ratio -- 600 sq.
16" hinge to hinge
~21" tail moment arm - .33 Tail Volume Coefficient
56oz.
Stock LA46 with a .257" LA25 venturi and OS needle valve.
TT-11x4.5 or a Master Airscrew 10x7 3 blade depending on my mood.
10/22 fuel or 15/22 for more punch.
62.75ft .015" lines (handle to center of plane)
It started its life down in California somewhere probably in the late 1980's or early 1990's. I don't know the name of the original builder, but I have heard that he was very tall. It made its way up here to northern Utah where it was flown by Jim Morrison using a K&B .40. It was around the scene up here in the mid 90's when I was a teenager hanging around with Gordan Delaney, Pete Peterson, Del Smith and Burton Brokaw. My brother Curtis remembers seeing it fly in the mid 90's. At some point it had to be cut into for some trimming repairs and the fuselage was partially stripped down. It changed hands and ended up with Gordan Delaney, where it sat in a corner, quite unloved, for many years. I got busy with life in mid 1997 and didn't fly again until I returned to the hobby around mid 2014 with 1/2a stuff. In early 2015 Gordan asked me if I wanted to take it home, finish the repairs to the fuselage and start getting more serious about learning the pattern....or rather "when are you going to be ready to quit screwing around and to start learning to fly the pattern already...?!"
In early 2017 I painted the fuselage with satin black Rustoleum + enamel hardener which seemed fitting for the planes rat-rod style persona. The brass inserts failed to stay put in the oil soaked maple so I installed a new firewall and bolted the engine to a plastic RC mount. The combo of the plastic engine mount and sealing around the needle valve with some fuel tubing transformed the LA46 into a consistent performer.
The plane has been a good gift for which I am grateful. I really enjoyed flying it during the 2017 season and it made me a better flier. I don't baby it at all and I try to fly to the extent of my abilities when I fly. I burned several gallons of fuel and thankfully, didn't crash it once during 2017. That plane, warts and all, has been a great learning tool. I have flown about 20 flights on it so far this year, which is a pretty good start for the 2018 season.
As an aside, it would be interesting to see how it would perform with less weight, a traditional rudder and a low aspect ratio tail (3.75:1 or so) sized at around 25% of the wing area. If it ever crashes and the wing is salvageable, I will experiment with those things. Not now though, as it flies ok and I have some other good planes in the pipeline this year that should be fun. I have one of Norm Whittle's electric converted Sultans that is nearly ready for action, a Gieseke Nobler, my Skyray 520 and a few foam wing Pathfinders should be on deck this year. Fun stuff!
Topic: What is this airplane (Read 1180 times)
