From another thread, I had promised some more pic's of Wayne & Jim Smiths Tracer designs. I hope they will chime in here. I believe they are based on a Stiletto 660 wing? The rest is of their own design.

Wayne let me fly his, and it flies as good as anything I have had a handle on. Jim's is the same, except he went with the split cowl inlet, and a different paint scheme. Both have PA61 on pipe. Previous Tracers I seem to remember having Discovery Retro 60's, and 4-Strokes as well. Jim has an older one with a Saito 72 even. I don't know if they ever drew up full size plans...

Here's a few pic's of the different Tracers from over the past few years I've seen them build, Starting with the new one's, going back to the 2005 Rebel Rally.

EricV

Hello everyone,
The original Tracer I, as most models are, was the blending of ideas from Jim, myself, and aircraft that we were familiar with since we were just returning to the control line world.  Bob Gialdini's Stingray was scaled up to a .60 size version and this wing was utilized with the addition of elliptical wingtips.  The fuselage moments were retained/adjusted to follow the current standards.  The fuselage profile came from an r/c airplane design called the Flying Machine that had a distinctive style and because of the side area flew knife edge extremely well.  Jim & I felt this side area would serve us well in the stunt circle.  This plane cornered extremely well and was very stable with good pull everywhere once we found the powerplant that performed well - in this instance a Saito .56. Tracer I was covered with monocote and weighed 59 ounces with the Saito .56.  Tracer II 's remained the same regarding the fuselage but the wings were changed.  Jim used a foam Impact wing and I used a Tempest foam wing and elliptical tips were added.  Jim's Tracer II weighed 78 oz and used the Saito .72. The plane flew extremely well at this weight with the .72 pulling through everything.  My Tracer II weighed 64 oz and used a Saito .56 and also flew extremely well.  The biggest reason for the weight difference was the foam wings.  Jim & I had cut the foam wings for Tracer I and my Tracer II but Jim purchased the Impact foam wing from a commercial source and it was twice as heavy as our cut foam wings.
Wayne






 

Thanks for the info Wayne,

If you ever make plans available for the latest versions with the deepened fuses I would like to get a set. I'm not ready for a piped plane but I like the looks. What is the wing area of this version?

And please don't be shy about posting pics and info of the electric Tracer. That should be very interesting.

Thanks,
Mike