Pierre's Planes: CGT-01

Building:

The is my first 'jet-like' plane. CGT stands for Cut, Glue and Tape. It's made of 3/16" thick foamboard, with the paper backing still on it. Simply cut the wing, build a box under it, put the fin and profile canopy on, all with a hot glue gun. I used strapping tape on all edges and for hinges. Light plywood is used for the motor mount, and 1" wide balsa trailing edge stock for the elevons, mounted 'upside down' to the usual orientation, to create some reflex. I also added some clear packing tape to reinforce the wing and fin some more.

First few flights were quite tricky, as stability was marginal. I added some 'NASA drooping leading edge' extensions on the outer 25% of the wing (per side), which effectively created washout at the tips. It's now a lot more predictable in it's behavior, and doesn't detract from the orginal look in the pictures.

Flying:

It took a few tries (and props) to figure out where the CG is (about 45%). It's quite a handful to fly because of it's small size. It's also tricky as it tends to bleed off a lot of speed in turns, and can easily loose a lot of altitude. It glides like a brick, so it needs full power all the time. It would barely fly with 7 cells, and only last a few minutes with 8, but it moves like a speeding bullet with its small size with a fresh pack. Not bad for a quick build and low cost, but not a beginner plane by any means.

Pierre Audette
pfaudet (a) videotron.ca
03/16/2002