I'm very insterested in your planes. Do you have video of plane doing loop or rolls (something other then circles).

From : Don Stackhouse

I don't have anything in a format I can post on a website or e-mail. However, I do have several hours of VHS tape, mostly indoors in either a basketball court or at the golf dome at Ft. Wayne, IN. Some of the footage shows the Corsair and the P-38 rolling and looping.

Basically any of the RK models will loop and roll. The biggest thing is ceiling height. Joe has looped and rolled the P-38 under a 30' ceiling in demos, but it's really tight. Outdoors it's not an issue. Some of the models are better at some things than others; for example, the P-38 has gobs of reserve power which helps the loops, but all that mass out on the P-38's wings make the single-motor warbirds a little better at rolls. Energy retention is another issue, the models with lower span^2 loadings seem to do better at aerobatics than the others because of this. Reynolds numbers and the effect that has on max lift coefficient also comes into play. In general and to slightly varying degrees, all of them do fine at inside (positive "G") maneuvers, but none of them do well at outside maneuvers. The ones with plenty of reserve power will fly inverted, but the undercabered airfoil we need to give them low enough minimum speeds for indoor flight severely restricts their inverted performance.

In that regard, the model that seems to have the best combination of all of those parameters, and therefore the best combination of energy retention and reserve power, is the Lockheed Electra. It also has the best dynamic stability, with extremely smooth handling about all control axes. It also does well at weight-lifting chores, such as hauling up a 4" plastic skydiver, released by a third servo (one of Joe's new tricks with his Electra). Another RK model with excellent energy retention, and my personal favorite for sheer nimbleness, is the A6M2 (long-wing) Zero. This one is especially good in more confined spaces. Joe's favorite in this regard is the Corsair, a bit faster in cruise than the Zero, but also extremely nimble and aerobatic.

The WW I models are also aerobatic, but with two or three of everything to drag through the air they don't have quite as much reserve power. Of the Camel, the Triplane and the Jenny, the Camel is probably the best in reserve power. For turning radius and roll rate, the Triplane probably has the edge. For slower, "floaty", scale-like performance and aerobatics, plus sheer good looks on display, on the ground, and in flight, I'd pick the Jenny. They are all quite maneuverable, but you need to plan ahead and manage your energy just a hair better than with the WW II models.

BTW, the sessions at Ft. Wayne have been every third Wednesday from 8-11pm EST (Indiana doesn't do daylight savings time). The next session will be next week. I'm not sure where you're located, but that's a great place to see our planes in action if it's at all possible for you to get there. We're also planning to be at the indoor demo at the convention center in Muncie during the Nats, and we're going to try to be at the NEAT Fair in NY in September.

Don Stackhouse
DJ Aerotech