Have you ever wanted a plane and could not afford to purchase the kit for one? I have... more than once. I saw the "Cuda" from Laine Stahr and decided I needed one. His are built with Balsa and Lite Ply and all I have is foam. Well after looking at some photos posted from Laine for his Cuda I used the "TLAR" method of measuring and laying out plans for mine. A bit bigger was what I had in mind... Well after some doing this is what I came up with... The "Cuda wanna Bee"
Taking the design from a Flite Test "Arrow" wing and reversing the airfoil around I was able to mate it to the fuselage similar to how the arrow does. The wing has a Carbon arrow shaft going from wingtip to wingtip for strength. Plans were for power a 8x5 to 9x6 size prop on a four cell power system with later updates to a more powerful system.
Would it fly? Will it hold together? What would Laine think of it? Well all was going to be found out at the "Crash in Fly in" in Saranac Mi. over the July 4th weekend in 2015 at the Walter RC Park in Saranac. I let Laine Stahr fly it first... and the video tells the story...
Well it flew... and quite well! Laine made one lap and immediately started doing tricks with it. Next it was my turn to try it and with it starting to get dark...
A bit of a sketchy take off... but it was flying! Man it felt good! Not real fast but it flew like it was on rails. The next day I flew it several more times...
What a Riot! But now I knew it needed to be faster... maybe not as fast as Laines Little Cuda but definitely faster! So we jump ahead to 2017... What does it have in store for the "Cuda wanna Bee"??? After watching a video with a Fun Jet with a Turnigy 3648 1450Kva motor pushing the 150 mph mark I knew what power system the "Cuda wanna Bee" needed. The motor turning a 7x5 APC, 100 amp ESC and a 5000mah 6 cell lipo should do the trick...
Power..? Yes it has the Power!!! Now to find someone Brave enough to launch it for me... Well the story comes to a end for the Cuda wanna Bee... It now hangs on the wall in my Build Shed in a place of Honor. It has the Signatures of all who attended the 2015 "Crash in Fly in" including Laine Stahr's and Michael "Crash" Hanncock's.So ends the Story for the "Cuda wanna Bee... or does it? Rumors are Laine has a EPP Large Foam Cuda in the works... Hmmmm...?
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