
The Helio Courier that I built from a Herr Engineering kit (HRRK112) in 2013 is a model of an STOL aircraft with both civil and military versions. There is a good article on the prototype in Wikipedia. The Herr line was taken over by Sig, but lately this particular kit may be hard to find. I used the pattern for markings in the kit box, rather than any particular full-sized aircraft. The Model has a 30 inch Wing Span, roughly 1/16 Scale. The flight in the picture was at the AMA Field in Muncie during the 2019 Flying Aces Outdoor Champs Meet.
My Helio Courier weighed 114 grams with a motor of 4 loops (8 strands) of 1/8 inch wide FAI Tan rubber 20.5 inches long weighing 14 grams and turning a 9.5 inch Peck plastic prop usually for P-30 class planes.
Thrust line was set with a Gizmo Geezer adjustable nose button. Winding to 875 turns gave good climb and one flight lasting 51 seconds. I flew this plane with the same setup at the 2017 Outdoor Champs, but the best flight was cut short when the nose block fell out at altitude. Bigger nose block magnets and a better way of securing the motor to the hook fixed this for 2019. Wing area is 122 square inches, and wing loading is 4.8 ounces per square foot. Cube loading is 5.2 ounces per cubic foot.
