DuPage Free Flyer - Indoor Beginner Classes

Comet Phantom Flash

Details: Category: Indoor Beginner Classes Indoor Beginner Classes; Published: 09 December 2020 09 December 2020

The Comet Phantom Flash is a simple rubber powered plane which may be flown indoors or out, at least on calm days. It was originally designed by Comet, but is now available from many sources as a kit or plans. A kit with laser cut main parts is available from retrorc.us.com. An indoor flight lasting over 1.5 min was posted on YouTube by sandfac of Glastonbury CT on 1/10/2016. Decorations were inspired by the popular Phantom comic strip. Wing span is 16 inches. In one memorable flight in Racine’s Memorial Hall, I lost a contest to the designer’s brother, Ed Konofes, even though my Flash flew for 83 seconds, circling near the 40 foot ceiling. Outdoors, on a sunny day you can easily lose a Flash.

Markos Double Whammy

Details: Category: Indoor Beginner Classes Indoor Beginner Classes; Published: 16 December 2020 16 December 2020

rubber power

The Double Whammy was designed by Chuck Markos, who published plans in AMA's Model Aviation magazine in November 1999. It is so-called because it may be converted to a more competitive plane with simple modifications.

The original version has a flat plate wing, and was used in the Bong Eagles in a best of three rounds contest called the "Cash Bash". I've made it out of the first round a few times with flights of over a minute, reaching the 40 foot ceiling, but I've never won. Winners get flight times of nearly 2 minutes with this simple plane. They would get longer flights with a better propeller. For the contest, the one that comes with the AMA Cub, a 5 3/8 inch diameter plastic one, is required. Wingspan is 17 inches and wing area is 64 square inches.

Science Olympiad Plane

Details: Category: Indoor Beginner Classes Indoor Beginner Classes; Published: 02 December 2020 02 December 2020

The Science Olympiad Plane was built according to rules for "Wright Stuff" competition in 2015. Wing span must not exceed 50 cm (19.7 inches), with a wing chord of 8.0 cm (3.15 inches) or less. Wing area must be under 400 sq cm, or 62 square inches. Total airframe mass, without the rubber motor, must be more than 8 grams. The maximum weight of the rubber motor is 2.0 grams, about the weight of a 12 inch loop of 1/8 inch wide FAI Tan rubber. The maximum propeller diameter was 240 mm ( 9.45 inches ), and may be home-made or commercially sourced. I tried to proportion my plane like the Chuck Markos Double Whammy, as far as moments and wing offset were concerned. Unlike my Whammy, the wing ribs in this plane are cut to a simplex camber, like those in the Limited Penny Plane version. I used polyethylene film for the covering.