"Pardon me Boy"...

roddie on Sun Apr 29, 2018 7:25 pm

"Is that the cat that chewed your new stooge"?.. (I'm goofing..) It had been on my mind that I needed to redesign/modify my launch-stooge. I'd been wanting to make the hinged "U-shape" that I've seen some of you guys use.

I started with a piece of 1/4" plywood. Making the "U" was the easy part..

I had to buy a pair of small hinges.. Rolling Eyes

(that irked me.. because I'm frugal..) I utilized a previously-built stooge for its pin-release.. and used the remaining piece of 1/4" plywood as a base.

Here's the finished-product. The two aluminum "spikes" come from roof-gutters. They fit into holes in the rear-plate that are drilled-through at a 45 degree angle and anchor the stooge when used on a grass circle.

There was a bit of trial and error shimming involved.. to get the "gate" to drop smoothly.

The stooge should now work with just about any conventional 1/2A C/L airplane that has landing gear.

even the fork-tailed P-38..

batjac on Sun Apr 29, 2018 10:28 pm

Hmmmm.... Looking at how the red plane fits in there, and how close the top of the stooge looks like hitting the trailing edge of the wing, I get an idea. Have a piece of piano wire that goes through both hinges that can be pulled out from the side to separate the hinges. Have one large U-shaped plate for larger planes, and a second smaller U-shaped plate for 1/2A planes.

The Un-Hinged Mark

NEW222 on Sun Apr 29, 2018 10:33 pm

Nice stooge ya made yourself there. I also like how it accommodates your P-38! I always wanted a stooge for my 1/2a planes but only one has gear, and even with gear, it is rough where I fly.

roddie on Mon Apr 30, 2018 8:40 am

batjac wrote:Hmmmm.... Looking at how the red plane fits in there, and how close the top of the stooge looks like hitting the trailing edge of the wing.

Mark

If the model "stood still".. then yes; the gate would contact the wing's leading-edge. The model will move forward as soon as the gate drops.. and the wing's trailing-edge will clear it with inches to spare.

The little red airplane is an extreme example. It may be too small for a stooge-launch. I have a "rail" which attaches to the base-plate of the stooge and acts as a "curbing" for the inboard main-wheel on the model to ride-against. I needed it with the F8F-2 Bearcat to keep the nose from "skidding-inward" on smooth pavement when checking the controls from the handle.

roddie on Mon Apr 30, 2018 10:03 am

NEW222 wrote:Nice stooge ya made yourself there. I also like how it accommodates your P-38! I always wanted a stooge for my 1/2a planes but only one has gear, and even with gear, it is rough where I fly.

Thanks Chancey! Years ago.. I seldom had a helper or flying-buddy.. so making a stooge was the only way I was able to fly at a moments-notice. I also kept a small roll of tar-paper (maybe 2-3 meters length) and laid it out on the grass for a take-off runway. The lightweight balsa models didn't need much distance before becoming airborne.

I'm still wrestling with a take-off dolly design for gear-less models which would release via a pin-stooge.. and launch the model from an inclined-cradle as soon as enough lift was generated. It would have to be lightweight.. and have large balloon-type tires.. (maybe something like a small pair of Styrofoam-rings Huh...

) and a bamboo frame/cradle? Shocked

I started building a dolly.. but it got complicated and too heavy to use on grass.

Surely you'd like the option of being able to fly without a helper.. Small Cox Logo

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