April 2005, Rolf Christophersen,Wiesbaden, Germany

Hi Darcy,

I saw your Squirrel on Bill Kuhl’s site and liked the video. I downloaded the instructions and built one with a few little mods. I used two orthodontic rubber bands to hook the wing to the stick body; as you can see, the top of the wing has a center guide. I got this idea from the Denny Dart II which I’ve built several of. I took it up the hill and tried 3/32s rubber but it was sluggish. I changed to 1/8 (it weighed 6g without rubber) and after a few trimming flights, I cranked in 700 turns and gave it a toss. It specked out after six minutes. I live in Wiesbaden, Germany, and hope someone will call me to say where it came down. Our son was visiting when I gave it a toss. He ran under it for a while but it slipped into a thermal and kept going up. The flight was so stable, a gentle left turn after the initial torque ran down; then it would seek the breeze and head-up into it until it made the next circle. This picture is of the second one. I’m going to introduce it to my Model Airplane Club next week. We are learning about model aviation Why is it so stable? Those winglets look like something from Hollywood instead of dihedral.

Rolf Christophersen
Wiesbaden, Germany