Rallymodeller
Charter Member
Picked it up on sale, and I really want to like it. Airborne it's a sparkling performer, really eats up the miles at a good pace. Pretty too, like a grown-up JMB. It'd make a great tourer for events like the Cannonball, but...
It's near uncontrollable on the ground, between nosing over under even moderate braking and the maddening acceleration it undergoes at ground idle. The POH says to use beta for taxi, but the beta range is so narrow that you're either into the high accel zone (and braking to stop it, and the subsequent nose-over) or in full reverse and backing up at some speed.
Landing is similarly difficult. It stalls out at ~50 kts with full flaps (necessary for slowing down, see above), and the landing gear is so stiff it just bounces down the runway.
Takeoff is very familiar if you've flown any high-performance taildragger like the Corsair, Mustang or Spitfire. Trim is your friend and ease on the power or you'll be yaw-rolling off the left of the runway before you can correct it.
As I said, I really want to like it. Even went out and bought SoftBrake to see if I could get the braking under control but that only works when the tailwheel is on the ground and you push forward for braking, which is less than optimal for a taildragger.
So just a heads-up. Gonna make some noise on the official forums, but if they can get the beta situation dealt with it will be well worth the price.
(Official pic, it's better than anything I could get)
It's near uncontrollable on the ground, between nosing over under even moderate braking and the maddening acceleration it undergoes at ground idle. The POH says to use beta for taxi, but the beta range is so narrow that you're either into the high accel zone (and braking to stop it, and the subsequent nose-over) or in full reverse and backing up at some speed.
Landing is similarly difficult. It stalls out at ~50 kts with full flaps (necessary for slowing down, see above), and the landing gear is so stiff it just bounces down the runway.
Takeoff is very familiar if you've flown any high-performance taildragger like the Corsair, Mustang or Spitfire. Trim is your friend and ease on the power or you'll be yaw-rolling off the left of the runway before you can correct it.
As I said, I really want to like it. Even went out and bought SoftBrake to see if I could get the braking under control but that only works when the tailwheel is on the ground and you push forward for braking, which is less than optimal for a taildragger.
So just a heads-up. Gonna make some noise on the official forums, but if they can get the beta situation dealt with it will be well worth the price.
(Official pic, it's better than anything I could get)