by Ron Fikes at srfikes@earthlink.net

I built one LiteStik, modified it, enjoyed it, sold it. Was talking to a mate about flying a LiteStik in the street in front of the house - he said his was too fast for that. I replied that he should make a larger, single surface wing to slow it down. I got home, thought about that suggestion, went to the hobby shop and bought two more kits (I had sold all the wings and tails to mates for spares). My thought was to set up a challenge for myself: use the motor/gearbox, landing gear assembly and the motor stick and see what could be built.

Picture 1 - "Spot" was my first design. It came in at 6 ozs with a 6x280 mAh NiHM pack. 30" span, 9" base chord, and it uses a 8x4.7 GWS prop. It flies very slowly and a long time.

Picture 2 - "Spot" with a V-tail. I hate to leave anything alone so I cut off the conventional tail and built the V which flies even better.

Picture 3 - (yet un-named) I was tired of flying around 'slowly' with the nose up and the fuse stick hanging down, SO ... I designed this one to fly with the motor stick UP, just like a scorpion (need that angle to keep the inverted V-tail off the ground, too). Same size wing and tail but the wing is a slightly different shape. I re-bent the LG for wider tread and more stability on landing. There is a wire skid at the center of the trailing edge. Same 6 cell battery pack and prop. This last design has yet to fly (rain and wind won't stop).

Both planes are covered with "StretchTite" saran wrap from Costco, put on with gluestick. The bare frames were first painted with Pactra "Racing Finish" RC284 Flourescent Racing Yellow, then covered - shows up well in the sky.

Enjoying the small, slow stuff and they sure take less space on the work bench...

Ron Fikes at srfikes@earthlink.net offers scale "Spot" plan for $6.00.