I love my SPAD's! I love the idea that I can sketch out a basic design, run a few numbers through an Excel spreadhseet and can have it in the air in around a week - depending on how complex the design.

That is how my first original design came to be. I thought I would start with a trainer. Having gone through several trainers, I feel that these plastic planes are perfect for the beginner pilot.

This design has about a 66" wing span and is powered by yet another GMS .47 engine (love these GMS engines). Take off was straight and uneventful. It flies like it lighter balsa counterpart, but will take more abuse. Landings were as gentle and smooth as you could ever hope for. It glides quite nice and with a little breeze, it actually floats rather nicely.

This particular design is as a tail dragger (I personally think tail draggers are much easier to control on the ground than the trike-type). It uses standard servo's - I have all Hitec in it - with a standard 4.8V, 700mAh RX battery pack. For my first design, the outcome really suprised me. Now that I am happy with the design and is a very tame flyer, I think I will donate it to my club.