This falls under “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”. Winn Moore convinced me to produce a Canberra kit. The Canberra is a popular JetCat. The first-generation jet bomber had a generous wing and good proportions – and all versions seem to fly well. So, Winn came up with a size (13″ span) and wing structure (Jedelsky-style) and asked me to cut a kit.
He built a couple prototypes which have flown well. I built one and struggled with it. Together, we decided to add a touch more incidence and I built a second prototype. Whereas most of my JetCats “show potential”, this one skipped that phase and went right to “it flies”!
As you might recall, my backyard is “large” for a yard, but small for a testing field. And it is surrounded by trees. Because of this limited area and dangerous boundaries, I am restricted to low-power testing. Yes, there were some tweaks – gurney flaps, nose weight, etc. – but I was getting very promising flights right off the board. And, maybe most importantly, I was getting repeatable transitions from power to glide. Yes, I got into the trees a few times, but I was able to position myself in the yard to accommodate the launch to the right and the glide to the left and keep the model inside trees. I stopped testing when I got two LOW POWER flights of just over 20 seconds.
Yesterday, the Cloudbusters had a contest at our field. The weather forecast wasn’t great, but I was surprised by a calm morning with the only downside being a wet field due to overnight rains. Under full power, I had many flights in the 25-30 second range. And that is with no lift at all and heavy, wet air. This model is ready for some good air, but we might have to wait until next year.
I’ve put together a kit package and you can find it here, if you’re interested.
Canberra Jet Cat Laser Cut FULL Kit
