In a effort to literally push his talent for building and flying model aircraft into new territory, longtime MMAC member and Chief Instructor, Bill Lloyd, tackled a somewhat unusual project this fall...a Nitro Models Long EZ Voyager, a semi-scale model of the popular Burt Rutan homebuilt aircraft.
This
46-sized ARF utilizes a pusher engine configuration and, like several
of Rutan's designs, a canard-type stabilizer mounted near the nose. It
has a 57" span and has an advertised weight of a bit over 5 pounds.
"I'm usually not inclined to build ARFs as they don't present much
of a creative challenge for me." Bill noted, "But this model
looked intriguing and came with a bit of a handicap...only half of the
instruction manual!"
In spite of the missing instruction pages, Bill reported that the plane went together well. The biggest challenge was mounting the engine and getting all the radio equipment tucked into the nose. He also needed to add a heavy bar of supplied steel and an additional 4 ounces of lead for correct balance. Bill powers the model with a Saito .56 with an 11x8 pusher prop. The fuel tank is mounted in front of the engine with the fuel and vent tubes coming out the front with long lines wrapping back to the engine. "Without the instructions," he said, "I had to set up the control throws by the TLAR (That Looks About Right) system. At the point I had it all set to fly, I still had not received the instruction book."
Initial test flights were a little rocky as the engine did not seem to come up to full power. After some adjustments, however, Bill was finally able to get some time in the air. "Besides the usual trimming, the hardest thing to get used to was the way it looked in the air," Bill reported. "At first, it appeared to be flying backwards...only it wasn't!"
Other than needing a lot of speed to get the plane to rotate on takeoff, the only other unusual flight characteristic was a tendency to fall off at the top of a loop...both of which Bill chalks up to the canard design. "Because it's a pusher, there's no propwash flowing over the control surfaces like in a traditional aircraft."
Bill's last flight in November ended with a cracked stabilizer and some other minor damage due to an engine flameout after takeoff. "In addition to the required repairs, I think I'm going to swap out the engine over the winter," Bill said. "I think this bird could use some more power."
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