My son and I were out at the field the other day. He recently picked up a swap meet plane with a Supertigre.29. This kind of plane is new to me to fly. I wasn't quite sure of line length for starters. I happened to have a set of .018's that were 58' long. I figured this would suit the plane. First question is, can this size plane be flown on 015's? I started the plane and tilted the outboard tip to the ground and slightly outboard of the circle. I launched typically like a one wheel Flite Streak. My son signalled and off it went. The plane instantly uprighted and turned into the circle. He tried to snatch it quickly in which he almost did. The gear is configured in a manner that its bent to accomodate the outboard wing being on the ground. I'm aware that the torque can roll it inboard, I just didn't expect it. My next question is, how do I address this problem? In the event this size plane could use 015's did the 018's extra weight weigh the inboard side down? I was just trying to figure out exactly what happened. I don't know exactly how much tip weight in oz's there are on it but would adding more assist it? I even thought of a wire skid on the inboard side just under the leadout guide. No damage was done to the plane it just kinda ate the lines which stopped the engine. Luckily it was the last 2 feet before the plane. I was wondering if my line length was a bit much as well. I can now shorten them a bit. I recently launched a .40 size ship of this style in which it didn't roll in as violently. At least the plane is still good besides a prop. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Ken and Shawn

      John, counterclockwise is the rotation of the plane in question. There is or was a 8x8 prop on the engine. This is what was on the plane when we bought it. Would a raised arm help with the take off? I assume that I was correct going with the 018's for this plane as well. I thought of an inboard wire skid, but I reconsidered this due to the possibility of it snagging on the ground and doing a lefty into the circle. Ken

Hate to bring up an old thread but I may have the answer.

First a question
Does the .29airplane sit at a steeper angle than the .40?
If the P factor is winning.

Many years ago as a Jr George Cleveland was trying to talk me into flying a quicky type rat in rat race.
The airplane belonged to a 3rd party and had a reputation of doing what you describe.

George insisted I was capable of flying it.

The trick he said was to hold some down elevator at release until the wheel cleared the ground.
Well sure enough it worked!

I refused to fly it again in the contest.
Imagine a 90-100lb boy hanging on to a ST 40 powered Rat!
That thing scared me you know what less!

This trick came in handy years later when me and 2 friends started 1/2A rat racing for fun on the weekends.
Jim Ong took and developed the idea and now its called mouse racing I think.

Hope this helps out!

David
51336

Shouldn't have to snatch it off the ground
what is the weight and wing area?

Seriously--hold slight down from neutral elevator to get the tail up, this way it is out of "P' factor quick enough.

You can go to neutral or even a little up as soon as the tail is up(you want the tail up immediately on release)
It should be in the air flying in feet or possibly inches

Hold the lines relaxed--not tight or that will help 'spring it in'
The person launching holds  the airplane from moving forward, do not hold it down!


At steep ground angle and the airplane moving forward has the out board prop pitch  way up in pitch numbers relative to direction of travel and the inboard blade can be reversed pitch-to the direction of movement.(P factor)
IT IS GOING TO TURN LEFT upon release.

If it is Quickie Rat or short pan type it probably has this problem.
If it is a Pan Pat type with proto length pan or longer than normal quickie it may not have it.
Pan Rats were usually good with about 2 inches between rear of fuselage and ground.

Part cure is long tail skid--and may still need down on take off. Tip skid needs to almost hold airplane level left to right.
10deg tilt to outside?

This effect exist on all tail draggers--C/L race/speed planes probably have it the worst.


Hope this helps get it right.
Then take out 1/2 the out thrust and see what happens--and remove some of that tip weight--in stages.
Trying to turn right in a left hand circle will slow you down!

Heck-- post a couple of pics worth a 1000 words


David
51336