"CURVACIOUS! II" - [or "CURVY2" for short] is a distant cousin of my SPINNER design of a couple of years ago, but with some pleasing curvy lines... She's also a cousin of the CURVACIOUS! Rudder-Elevator model, but is set up 0-0-0 for aerobatics, with a flat built wing with fair-sized ailerons, and a large counter-balanced elevator.
CURVACIOUS! II has an EPP underbody, and a bluecor wing (that's 23-1/2" span) which extends into the horizontal stabilizer surface in a continuous piece of material.
Power is provided by a HexTronik blue 24 gram Brushless motor, running on a 2S 800 mAH LiPoly battery pack.
CURVACIOUS! II sits high on the landing gear for good prop clearance above snow.
The EPP fuselage has the tail skid incorporated into it for all-terrain handling durability. The battery compartment has clear plastic covers for the remainder of the winter flying season; for warm weather flying, the solid covers will be replaces with vented 'needlepoint mesh' plastic covers for effective battery cooling.
The landing gear was bent from 1/16" music wire, formed to fit the forward underbelly of the EPP foam fuselage, then taped in place with Scotch "Extreme" cross-filament nylon filament tape. Once the wire was shaped, a cross-brace spreader was placed across the legs just above the wheels about an inch; it was wrapped in place with kevlar fly tying thread, then coated with CyA glue.
The wheels are about 2" light weight foam wheels; the keepers are sections of rubber wire insulation stripped off 18 gauge test lead wire, which is a snug friction fit on the 1/16" music wire.
[Update on January 14th, 2006]: CURVACIOUS! II is in the air! CURVY2 is set up with large ailerons, a large counterbalanced elevator, and has added wing tip plates for enhanced low speed handling. Wingspan is 23-1/2"; overall length, not counting the motor, is 26-3/4". This curvy lady was designed for nimble aerobatic outdoor flying, so she's not built out as a lightweight indoor flyer might be built.... strength and resiliency, coupled with a fairly powerful drive system for her weight, are all part of this design.
The motor is one of the HexTronik '24 gram' motors, turning a GWS 8x6 slowflyer porp on a 3S 640 mAH battery pack. Flying weight with this 2 ounce battery pack in place is at 9 ounces.
This is a 0-0-0 setup aircraft, with neutral stability- not a novice pilot's aircraft, but quite aerobatic, capable of fast axial rolls.
The wing spar structure consists of four 20" sections of 1mm solid C.F. rod, 2 on top & 2 on the bottom directly below the top ones, glued into the wing core with foam safe thin CyA glue after 'woodpeckering' the shallow depression into which they are placed to produce a very stiff wing at minimal weight. (Each 1 meter length of 1mm solid C.F. rod weighs only about .04 ounces... very reasonable.)
The lower fuselage / body is solid EPP foam. A battery compartment is cut into this foam, with clear plastic covers on either side. This protects the battery well from the cold winter flying temperatures, too. Since the battery connectors are also inside, out of the airstream, the drag is also minimized in this way.
The 1/16" music wire landing gear is bent to shape, then simply taped to the lower surface of the EPP foam belly. A 1.5mm C.F. rod is used as a cross-brace / spreader, lashed in place with kevlar thread. An EPP tail skid section is integral to the underbody, and is overlaid with Scotch 'Extreme' cross-filament nylon filament tape, (as is the forward fuselage.)
With the high winds and snow storms we've been experiencing up here, high in the Colorado Rockies, I've not had a chance to fly CURVY2 more than a half dozen flights so far. I'll report further on the aerobatic capabilities before long.
[Posting as VIKING60 on RCGroups]