This is a very basic 'foamy' with excellent performance and lots of scope for development. It was designed by Michael Bohm and named 'Und_Nu?'. Plans for this version can be found on the Klaustrophobia site. David Theunissen did some redesigning and cleaning up and produced a plan for 'And Now?' which can be found on his Fly Electric site.

The model is built almost entirely of 3 mm Depron with a spruce (3/16" square) motor stick. I started with one built exactly as per the plan fitted with a 3.5:1 geared GWS IPS unit and a 7 x 6 prop. Power was provided by 6 x 300 mAh NiMH cells giving a flight time of around 11 minutes. All-up weight was 5.25 ounces (148 g).

My one dislike about the model was it's marked pitch down during rolls. I originally used a rudder which was coupled to the ailerons, which didn't help. Removing this and moving the CG back produced some improvement, but I still wasn't happy. I convinced myself that the cambered wing was not helping and produced a new wing with no camber. The rolls and general performance was much improved but the flight time dropped to around 8 - 9 minutes because it needed more power to fly.

A 7 cell pack of the same 300 mAh cells produced a power gain for only about the first 30 seconds of the flight and really wasn't worth it.

I'm currently flying with a GWS IPSD (dual motor) drive unit of 4.1:1 ratio and a 9 x 7 prop. This has needed an increase in cell size and I am using 6 x 750 mAh NiMh cells. The all-up weight is now 7.4 ounces (208 g) and the performance is spectacular. The degree of bending of the wings when pulling a lot of 'G' is alarming, but they seem to be able to take it. I started to produce a double skinned thick symmetrical wing from thinner Depron, but the first attempt was far too heavy. I've shelved the idea and intend to add just a little more carbon to the existing wing.

And now, something smaller ('nd 'ow)

David's above site has details of many variations, including scaled down versions. Encouraged by this, I produced a 60% version, using 2 mm Depron and to be powered by the DC1717 motor and gearbox that I had discarded from my 'Tiny'. The finished weight came to 3.25 ounces (93 g). This with a GWS 'Pico' receiver, 2 x HS-50 servos, JMP 7 ESC and 8 x 50 mAh nicads.

Flight performance was poor and I tried a variety of props. The best performance came from the GWS 9 x 7 cut down to 7" dia that I had used on the Tiny. However, the flight time was only just a little over 2 minutes and the model landed under power with lots of charge left. There were other complications too, because a 7" prop on a 16" aeroplane produces some strange gyroscopic effects.

Fortunately, there was a fairly easy answer. I had seen a 2/3 size 'And Now?' performing well with a GWS EDP50 unit. This is the same motor that is used in the GWS geared units, but driving a 3 x 2 prop directly. These are very cheap and weigh just 1/2 ounce. With 6 x 250 mAh nicads in place of the 8 x 50 mAh the weight was exactly the same at 3.4 ounces. The performance is now very good and the model is fully aerobatic. Flight time is around 4-1/2 minutes. I'm wondering just how well a 'Tiny' might fly with this unit.

I've now flown the smaller version outdoors on a typical early spring day (i.e. windy) and it handles the wind surprisingly well. The problem is that it disappears downwind at an alarming rate, not helped by the small size and leaden sky. I think that a slightly larger version (say 75%) with the same equipment might work very well. I may be tempted to try the idea but I think I would like something just a little better looking.