*** Andy Steere's Top Flite Contender ***

NEW 05/04/2002 - Video Clip (see below)

This is my Top Flite Contender. Built from a kit, or should i say over-built from a kit. Originally intended to put a 91FX in it, so I built it very strong. Put carbon fiber cloth between the layers of the firewall, put carbon-fiber tow on the wing-spars, and beefed up the stick-built structure of the tail-feathers. Installed a 61FX in it instead, after hearing bad things about the 91FX, and flew it all of 2001. Flies fine. Didn't realize how heavy it was till I weighed it that fall... 8 pounds dry! Should be more like 6 to 6.5 pounds. Oh well... still flies ok.

The finish is Chrome (never again!) Ultracote, with pearl-yellow and black Ultracote trim. The black squares on the tail were applied over the chrome by hand. I wish I could claim credit for the black squares on the bottom... which is covered in Ultracote 1" Black&Yellow. Radio gear includes a JR R600 receiver, Hitec 605 servos for Rudder and Elevator, Hitec 225's for the wings, and Hitec 425's for the throttle and flap. It even has landing lights in the wingtips (RAM #123 super-brights), powered from its own 9v battery, that is triggered by the flap servo arm hitting a microswitch at the end of its travel. Flap down... lights come on. Easily visible in the evening... barely visible during the bright daylight. I like late evening flying and use the lights for wing orientation during landing.

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MOVIE CLIPS (new 05/04/02)

(Choose a format to view by clicking on one of the two links provided. The native format for the video camera (Olympus C-700UZ) is Apple Quicktime MOV. This version will produce the best picture and sound possible, but the file sizes are large. The Microsoft AVI files were converted using Lead Multimedia Converter and while much smaller... their image quality suffers (a lot on some movies, very little on others). If you have trouble viewing these by directly clicking on the link, try right-clicking on the link, choose save to disk, and play the video ouside the browser. The MOV files require Apple Quicktime player or plugin, and the AVI files require Microsoft Windows Media Player or similar. The AVI files are converted using an Indeo video codec, if you have trouble viewing the video.)

It is May 4th, 2002 and a nice day at the field. Flew my Contender while my son manned the camera. Its a bit blurry, but this is the landing. Somebody is running up their engine close to my son, so I recommend muting the sound on this clip.
320x240 - 15 seconds - (AVI 2.3MB) (MOV 4.0MB)

©COPYRIGHT NOTICE: You are granted permission to view these images and movies while accessing these web pages, but I retain all rights to the images and they may not be used for any other purpose without my permission.

Copyright 2001-2002 - Andy Steere

Last modified on 07/15/2002

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since July 15, 2002.