My Elmendorf Special Racer – video below.
After I lost my Caudron, I remembered I have a nearly-new Elmendorf Special to fly. I had built this light-weight for Indoor Flying, but that never really worked out. So, maybe I could get it to fly for the Greve Races in Geneseo.
The Elmendorf Special was the Keith Rider R-5 in its original livery. Later, this plane would be more famously known as the Jackrabbit.
I developed a kit for the Elmendorf immediately after I created the Jackrabbit kit from the Tom Nallen plans. There were only minor changes from one to the other, so why not create the two versions of the same plane/plan?
I am really liking these props that Archie and I are printing. I decided to try my “embryo” prop on this model. Basically, it is a 7″ diameter, 9″ pitch, 1″ wide blade printed prop with a Larrabee profile. I “guessed” at the blade cross section where the spinner would fit and put those cutouts in the printed spinner. It all looks good, at least.
So, last evening, after recovering from our son’s wedding the night before, I got the 16″ span racer out, complete with its “indoor” motor – a loop of 1/8″ rubber. After a few test glides/flights, I had added a lump of clay to the tail to balance the heavier prop and changed the thrust in the Gizmo Geezer nose button and had some success.
Here is a test flight on about 700 turns. I am still pondering if I need to go up in power (it landed with a significant amount of turns) – or if this size motor will be good, once torqued up. It just might be ok. Next stop: Geneseo.