Built and flown 1/2004 - 5/2004.

Why "helicopter" skids? Because ground handling isn't needed, but the guts do need protection. This saves 5 oz over similar-capacity aluminum or carbon landing gear (never mind wheels).

Dimensions:
  2 m span. 1040 mm long. 1034 g (36 oz) and 7.7 oz/sqft dry. Payload about 450 g.
  Excluding the wing, this is half the weight of a stock Spectra.
  Tail moment is about 50% more too: 635 mm TE-to-TE.
  Stall estimate of 3.7x sqrt(wing loading (oz/sqft)) = 10 mph with max payload.

Power:
  2s2p 3270mAh Kokam LiPo battery
  Plettenberg Freestyle-L brushless direct-drive
  Aeronaut 9.5x5 folding prop, −2.5° hub making it about 9.5x3.8.
  Thrust-to-weight ratio 45% dry, 33% loaded.
  Full throttle: 86% efficient, 19 oz thrust, 9.5 A, 7000 RPM, 41 minutes, 32 mph prop speed.
  Either full throttle climb or glide, nothing in between: efficiency drops greatly.

Control:
  Deans base-loaded antenna
  FMA Quantum 8 rx
  Two Cirrus CS-5.4 servos and Dubro ball links for V-tail.
  Shims above the wing saddle adjust wing incidence.

Materials: Carbon cloth, tow, tubes; aluminum sleeves (drilled-out circuit board standoffs); music wire; aramid cloth and thread; various foams and epoxies; CA, aliphatic, Shoe Goo, 2-sided tape; Teflon tubing; Oracover Lite and custom shiny film from Air Dynamics. Other bits of balsa and aluminum. And even some oak if you look closely!

Lessons learned:
• JB-Weld, though easily sanded, is weaker than unadulterated epoxy. Many of epoxy's properties can be improved with additives, but strength isn't one of them.
• Aramid thread (technically, yarn) isn't unobtanium. As rigging wire it snaps under shock loads. Stronger: multiple yarns braided or twisted together, wetted out and then some with epoxy. Or ice-fishing line. (But this thread excels at lashing.)
• On even slightly long grass, the skids dig in: the curved tips do nothing.
• Skids this tall encourage nose-over landings since the CG is high.
• One large-radius tube is stiffer and stronger than two smaller tubes.