Peanut HiMax – Complete and Flying

As I mentioned elsewhere, the T.E.A.M. HiMax homebuilt ultralight has been a favorite subject of mine. So much so, that I have heard these words from my son Jack’s mouth: “not another HiMax – ugh!” I initially did a Peanut in the late 80’s, based on an article in Radio Control Modeler. That article and plan had the proportions all wrong and over the years, I have corrected all my various versions. I even went to the trouble of downloading the full-size plans when they were free. This version is my most-scale version, although the final short kit (in the near future) will have one more tweak to even more scale accuracy.

Even though I had the plan re-drawn and parts laid out and ready to cut very early this year (2018), I didn’t decide to build it until after the passing of modeling friend, Jim Miller. Jim and I shared an affinity for this plane and he recently asked me for documentation on this particular full-scale aircraft because of its simplicity. As a homebuilt, the builders often put their own modifications on the plane – this one is most simple, with only a curved upper front cowl added, a single body color, and the very minimum of lettering. I dedicate this plan and model to my friend, Jim.

The model came out at 10.4 grams without rubber; more than I had hoped.  It did need 0.7g added to the tail.  I used a Gizmo Geezer nose button; they are a little heavy (and indispensable!)  While I would have preferred less, I am satisfied.  The prop is a 6″x9P stacked prop, cut down to 5.5″.  This is a high pitch for a small prop and requires a loop of 3/32″ rubber to drive it.  I think a 5″ lower pitch prop would have let me fly it on a loop 1/16″ – well, if I had been able to keep the weight down to 6 or 7 grams.

Below you will find:

• build photos
• a test flight video
• full scale documentation photos

Oh, I built this from 01 July through 07 July – a small personal challenge to see if I could build a model quickly for the FAC Nats – still over a week away (I guess I still have time to build another model!)  It would have been done a couple days earlier, had I left off some of the scale details and skipped a few more real-life duties and chores.