Stinger (Velkom Model) EPP Slope Combat (31/1/00)
Stinger is the kit responsible for the slope combat boom in the Czech Republic in 1999. For some time, before those flying wings (Tomahawk, Tornado) appeared, it was the most common slope plane on the slopes I´ve been to. I built one as part of the test for the RC Modely magazine 8/99, where Stinger actually made it to the cover. I´ve also turned one into something quite different, about which I will tell you some other day.
our friends from Bratislava created a 3D model of Stinger for their Top Gun logo
The box contains mostly everything needed for the completion of the model, except for the filament tape, double sided tape, 3M77 spray glue, the covering tape and the RC parts.
The wing halves and the fuse are cut out from a black EPP foam, in reasonable quality. The airfoil is E205. The tail is cut from white Coroplast. Wing spar sticks are glued into the upper surface of the wing by epoxy or thick CA. The balsa sub-trailing edges of the wing are glued with epoxy or thick CA, too. Wing halves are joined by a piece of ply. The fuse edges are rounded by a knife and sanded. Now the cavities for the RC parts are cut by an X-acto and dug out by a flat screwdriver.I glued the servos and the battery in place with epoxy, according to the manual..
The elevator pushrod is laid in a groove cut in the fuse. This is one of the weaker parts of the kit, since after some crashes the pushrod tends to bend and the elevator does not center any more. This results in a flight path that usually seems funny to everybody but the pilot. The solution is to use a thicker pushrod, just taped on the side of the fuse.
After a light coat of 3M77 (I used also Power UHU spray with good results) the strained or exposed parts of the model are covered in filament tape. Finally I covered the plane using ordinary plastic tape. I prefer the Manuli or Aero brands, since they tend to have their sticky layer in white colour, so they are not too transparent and they simply make the plane look better..
I made the mistake of using too much black tape. Sun can make the surface of the model incredibly hot and it can result in some wrinkles.
The model is assembled using TESA heavy duty double-sided tape. I used 700 mAh AA battery pack, Hitec HFS 04MI receiver and two standard Hitec servos. I recommend using standard size servos (any old servo will do), since you are almost sure to destroy the gearbox or horn of micro servos in combat.
The weight of the model was 550g, just like predicted by the manual. I had to adjust the CG by taping 15 g of lead to the tail of the plane. The wingspan of the model is 120 cm.
I test flew the model on the Divci Hrady slope in Prague. There was almost no wind, but I managed to throw it right into some reasonable thermals (it was July) and I made several decent flights. Stinger feels at home in weak to moderate wind, yet still flies well in strong winds (over 10 m/s). You should not exceed 550 g of weight by much, though.
In stronger conditions the plane is quite manoeuvrable, with good aerobatic potential. It can fly inverted, the roll rate is very high if you use high control throws (like I do). The plane is a bit slower than those flying wings, but I know few pilots whose Stingers can give hard time to any other combat plane on the slope. If the elevator pushrod is installed the right way (see above) and the fuse is well reinforced with filament tape, Stinger can survive the most terribly looking crashes.