John Sinclair and I just traded a few emails yesterday getting him started on a scratch build of Frank Zaic's vintage Thermic 100. I asked him what he was up to with his replica of the Bowlus BS-100 Super Albatross and his responses where informing and interesting. Thanks for the stories John!
JJ with N64JJ at Sky Haven Gliderport Tehachapi, CA.
Hi Tom,
That was a well written article in Soaring mag, you have loads of good looking stuff. I'm getting back into R/C after a 40 year hideous (sp?), last ship I flew was the Thermic 100 on rudder only with a single channel transistor reciever which had just enough poop to trip a Babcock escapement driven by rubber band........man have things changed!
I put about 50 hours on my Super Albatross and then donated it to the South West Soaring Museum. It was a delight to fly in light soaring conditions, but was downright terrifying in a 10 knot thermal. The light wing would roll me 90 degrees away from a strong thermal, then the lift would hit that big stab and pitch it up, so...in order to make it enter a strong thermal I would have to kick full opposite rudder & aileron while pulling way back on the stick, all from a 50 knot entry. I flew it at Minden, Tehachapi, Montague and Williams Gliderport, but reluctently decided it just wasn't much fun. I was told by a guy that flew the original Super that it took him a year to learn how to fly it. I know what he was talking about. I could make it enter a strong thermal, but sooner or later I would be slamming in full controls with a strong tail gust.....spin city!
Tom,
Yeah, I made several changes to my super although the overall dimensions are close to the original which is Earl Menefee's. I made a mock-up of the original pod and found it difficult to see over the nose, so I lowered the top of the pod forward of the pilot by 2" which allowed for a slight layed-back seating position. Other than that my pod is original.
All the information available said the Super used the Baby tail feathers, so I used them which was a mistake. Found out by examining Earl's Super that the rudder had been reduced by 4" in cord and the sub fin was 4" shorter also to give the ship a positive angle on takeoff and landing. I made these changes after the first few flights because I had to force the ship to lift off and I was touching down quite fast because the sub fin would contact the runway while I was trying to slow the ship down.....reducing the sub fin solved this problem and I was able to touch down at 35ish.
My ailerons were the same as original. I intended to use the ship in Sports class and needed better cross country performance, so I removed the under-camber from the airfoil and reduced the cord at the fuselage by 4". My Super is not a replica of the Super Albatross, but it is a licensed (N64JJ) flying aircraft and therefore could be a legitimate subject to model.
I spent many enjoyable hours building the ship and scratched an itch that had been wondering around in my head ever since I flew the Thermic 100 in the early 60's. I met Howley Bowlus's widow at a Tehachapi gathering and told her that several times, as I tried to solve a problem late at night in the shop, I asked myself; Howley must have faced the same problem, what did he do? I told her that I felt real close to Howley at moments like that. She teared up and gave me a big hug.
Feel free to share this on your Blog, but please don't ask for plans because I don't have anything more than Baby prints and a rough side view of the pod & boom and wing rib layout. The ship is on display at the Southwest Soaring Museum, http://www.swsoaringmuseum.org.
Cheers,
JJ
Note: Here is a link to Johns article on his dream to build the Super http://www.pacificsoaring.org/westwind/2000_04_WestWind.pdf.
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