Limbo Dancer Alternatives

[GrumpyGnome]

2 hours ago, Engine Doctor said:

Surprised nobody has mentioned the Cougar 2000 by Weston UK ? It's a fun fly  it cones ARTF .Very light and agile. Only ever had IC versions but electric are available. 

 

They don't seem available...... I may be wrong as their website is pretty poor......

[SIMON CRAGG]

There is always the Avicraft Panic, Evolution Fusion 2, HOTS from plans, Magic V2, Ripmax Jive etc. etc.

[Engine Doctor]

1 hour ago, SIMON CRAGG said:

There is always the Avicraft Panic, Evolution Fusion 2, HOTS from plans, Magic V2, Ripmax Jive etc. etc.

Avicraft also made the Moronic fun fly. A modern version is now on their website called "The fun 'E' 52 fun fly "

[Nigel Heather]

15 hours ago, Engine Doctor said:

Avicraft also made the Moronic fun fly. A modern version is now on their website called "The fun 'E' 52 fun fly "

 

They've ceased selling it because of balsa supply issues.  I noticed that SLEC stopped the Limbo Dancer a few months ago - it was £82 then - it is now back, and the new price is a shocking £146 (a 78% increase).

Edited October 21, 2022 by Nigel Heather

[Engine Doctor]

4 hours ago, Nigel Heather said:

 

They've ceased selling it because of balsa supply issues.  I noticed that SLEC stopped the Limbo Dancer a few months ago - it was £82 then - it is now back, and the new price is a shocking £146 (a 78% increase).

Shocking maybe but not their fault .  Re the Avicraft Fun Fly its worth giving Rob A call as balsa stocks  have  sort of eased and rob cuts the kits in the shop I believe .

Edited October 21, 2022 by Engine Doctor

[David Davis 2]

7 hours ago, Nigel Heather said:

 

They've ceased selling it because of balsa supply issues.  I noticed that SLEC stopped the Limbo Dancer a few months ago - it was £82 then - it is now back, and the new price is a shocking £146 (a 78% increase).

 

Balsa is extremely expensive today.

 

I am building DB Sport & Scale Sky Rider short-kit. The Sky Rider is a 58" wingspan shoulder wing sports model. I am keeping track of the cost of building it. On the plan it states that the strip ailerons should be built from 1" x 1/4" trailing edge stock. These are available from SLEC at £3.14 each, £3.43 from The Balsa Cabin.  Fortunately I had some 1/4" sheet in stock. I simply cut two pieces of wood from the sheet and will use those as ailerons.

 

No wonder so many modellers are using depron these days.

[Keith Billinge]

On 18/10/2022 at 10:52, GrumpyGnome said:

There is a thread (think it's 'Bills Kits anyone") about just that... 🙂

I think the Touch 'n' go is available at the balsa cabin.

 

HERE

 

KB

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Keith Billinge

[Nigel Heather]

On 21/10/2022 at 14:27, Engine Doctor said:

Shocking maybe but not their fault .  Re the Avicraft Fun Fly its worth giving Rob A call as balsa stocks  have  sort of eased and rob cuts the kits in the shop I believe .

 

I wasn't saying it was their fault, just shocked at the state of the world.

 

Anyway, ordered a 'Bills Kits' Big Fun today.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[Engine Doctor]

11 hours ago, Nigel Heather said:

 

I wasn't saying it was their fault, just shocked at the state of the world.

 

Anyway, ordered a 'Bills Kits' Big Fun today.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

Hi Nigel I wasn't accusing you of saying it was their fault , sorry if it read like that. 

[SIMON CRAGG]

There are several Limbo Dancers on Facebook Market place starting @ £50.

 

Might be worth a look.

[GrumpyGnome]

Think I've missed the boat....

 

• Limbo Dancer kit - stupidly expensive
• Fusion 2 - out of stock
• Moronic - production suspended
• Touch n Go - available and cheap
• Cougar - no longer made
• Jive - no longer made
• Magic - no longer made
• Big Fun is available but some of the aesthetics disagree with ne (I know, on a FunFly!)

Suppose I could build from Aerofred's Limbo Dancer plan..... or another plan, or short kit.

 

Anyone know of any other, available kits? I don't want another biplane, and want to to use my ASP 46 two soke......

Edited October 28, 2022 by GrumpyGnome

[Don Fry]

Grumpy. Down load a Limbo dancer plan from outer zone or wherever. 

Have a good look. Cut ribs from 3 mm Depron , note all the same, so a sandwich, or any locally available foams. Small cost. Any rib like load spreaders, Ditto. Firewall, thin ply, foam sandwich. All formers behind wing, foam with a hint of balsa stiffening. Between the firewall and wing root, balsa, or light ply and foam sandwiches. Not much balsa mind. If you like, LE sheet, foam. 
Balsa is expensive, use something else. Balsa is a good wood for us, but in 2022, other materials exist. And a limbo dancer is not high end technology. 
A bit of planning. Cut the stuff. £40?. Use Doculam, that’s covered for £40.

300 grams lighter? Ballistic on a 40.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Don Fry

[Keith Billinge]

2 hours ago, GrumpyGnome said:

Think I've missed the boat....

 

• Limbo Dancer kit - stupidly expensive
• Fusion 2 - out of stock
• Moronic - production suspended
• Touch n Go - available and cheap
• Cougar - no longer made
• Jive - no longer made
• Magic - no longer made
• Big Fun is available but some of the aesthetics disagree with ne (I know, on a FunFly!)

Suppose I could build from Aerofred's Limbo Dancer plan..... or another plan, or short kit.

 

Anyone know of any other, available kits? I don't want another biplane, and want to to use my ASP 46 two soke......

Why not the Swizzle Stick! It's an easy build and it's pretty cheap?

KB

[GrumpyGnome]

8 hours ago, Keith Billinge said:

Why not the Swizzle Stick! It's an easy build and it's pretty cheap?

KB

Think my engine is too big..... I know it has a throttle but it'd mean extra weight, shorter flight times, and a faster flying plane...... I could enlarge it slightly I guess. 

[GrumpyGnome]

9 hours ago, Don Fry said:

Grumpy. Down load a Limbo dancer plan from outer zone or wherever. 

Have a good look. Cut ribs from 3 mm Depron , note all the same, so a sandwich, or any locally available foams. Small cost. Any rib like load spreaders, Ditto. Firewall, thin ply, foam sandwich. All formers behind wing, foam with a hint of balsa stiffening. Between the firewall and wing root, balsa, or light ply and foam sandwiches. Not much balsa mind. If you like, LE sheet, foam. 
Balsa is expensive, use something else. Balsa is a good wood for us, but in 2022, other materials exist. And a limbo dancer is not high end technology. 
A bit of planning. Cut the stuff. £40?. Use Doculam, that’s covered for £40.

300 grams lighter? Ballistic on a 40.

 

That's an idea. I already have the plan off Aerofred - it's VERY simple.

 

 I have enough ply for firewall and the single fuselage former - the servo tray. I have foam for ribs. I have a whacking great roll of doculam. I have a fuel tank. I have a box full of wheels. Think I'll make a list of what I'd actually need to buy. Could be my first plan build for over a decade.......

 

Thanks gents.

[GrumpyGnome]

I priced it up.......

 

Wood - excluding ply for the one former and firewall - £65 (probably a bit over-ordering involved)

Accessories (closed loops, wire, fuel tank, saddle clamps, hinges etc) - £25 (I probably have some of the cheaper items in my box of sundries, certainly have lots of wheels).

So, around £90 ready to cover.

(I've not included the cost of printing a one piece plan, as it's so simple that 'tiled' sheets from my A4 printer would be fine - as a guide, Aerofred would charge about £20 for a plan).

 

Insert adjective for current price of kit......

 

The Balsa Cabin Touch 'n Go is in stock at £96.

 

So unless the Fusion or Fun E 52 comes back in stock, It's a toss up between the hassle of cutting a dozen or so ribs and 2 bits of ply, versus buying a box of bits 🙂

 

Thanks for the suggestion of a used model - I have a few that came my way, and the amount of time it'd take to get them to a level I'd be happy with would probably exceed the time they took to build in the first place.  I've vowed not to acquire any more used models unless they are a 'must have' at a silly price - e.g. a Flair SE5 for under £100.

 

I'll keep pondering. And try not to get distracted by other planes......

[GrumpyGnome]

Decision postponed. At yesterday's indoor session, I decided that I need something a little more relaxing to fly than my Mini Pitts, so I'm looking to augment my fleet in that area.

 

Cheers for all the comments and input.

 

GG

[Steven Hurd]

On 28/10/2022 at 20:23, Don Fry said:

Grumpy. Down load a Limbo dancer plan from outer zone or wherever. 

Have a good look. Cut ribs from 3 mm Depron , note all the same, so a sandwich, or any locally available foams. Small cost. Any rib like load spreaders, Ditto. Firewall, thin ply, foam sandwich. All formers behind wing, foam with a hint of balsa stiffening. Between the firewall and wing root, balsa, or light ply and foam sandwiches. Not much balsa mind. If you like, LE sheet, foam. 
Balsa is expensive, use something else. Balsa is a good wood for us, but in 2022, other materials exist. And a limbo dancer is not high end technology. 
A bit of planning. Cut the stuff. £40?. Use Doculam, that’s covered for £40.

300 grams lighter? Ballistic on a 40.

Don. 
 

Have  you any further breakdowns on this type of construction. I’m really interested in using alternative materials, and would like to have a go. 
But I would like to see a few flying examples to give me the confidence to try it out. Like what do you use for the fuselage sides, and what is used for sheeting the wing areas, wing spars etc. Balsa is king here in my book, but I’m open to trying new ideas and suggestions. 
 

thanks for your help 

 

 

 

Steve 

[Don Fry]

First I’d say, a Limbo Dance is so simple, that modifications are minimal, no point making it complicated or it looses the point.

First look for load bearing structures.
That is the firewall. Leave alone, as plan if IC. If electric, very thin ply, foam sandwich. Glued together. Stiff enough. No stress loads on electric starting them up. Undercarriage bearers,  leave alone. Tailskid, sandwich of foam, faced with ply, or carbon.

You can mess with the spar. 6mm by 1 mm carbon, top and bottom, spaced with 6 mm depron, with vertical load bearers in balsa, each side of each rib. That works, it only has to take bending loads, and this forms a truss, loads are in tension and compression on the carbon and the other bits keep them apart and in place. Your choice for this aircraft. I would, I have the materials. Glue, foam safe cyno.

Fus sides, tailplane, rudder, ailerons, wing tips. All 3/16, or 5 mm. Here we need some directional stiffness. And we form a truss.
I would construct sheets first, either light weight 1/16, 1/32, or 1mm, 36 by 3/4 inch balsa sheets top and bottom, sandwiched between 3 mm depron, glue something foam safe. The sheets need to be sandwiched flat, left to dry. Then cut the parts. 
Mind, fusalage sides, I think I would just make with depron, it’s the triangular inner pieces of balsa takes the load.
No loads on ribs, 3 mm depron, straight replacement. Ditto leading edge sheet. Trailing edge sheet, the leading edge, leave alone. It adds stiffness to the wing
Loose all the 3001 servos at 46 Grams each. Replace with 10 to 20 g HV units. The 20g one are direct power replacements, 10 g one will do for ailerons. Then you get a small light LiPo to power it all. I use doculam film, light cheap.

 

we are talking about removing 300, 375 grams from the AUW.
 

I haven’t got any foam balsa jobbies at the moment, they tend to be Limbo Dancer sort of things, and I hooligan them 20 meters out, and a quarter mistake high.

I have never broken one in the air. Be aware, if you hit the ground, sometimes a balsa one just gets glued back together, not pretty but works. These are more akin to ARTF, they don’t go back together well. 

[Graham Davies 3]

4 hours ago, Steven Hurd said:

Don. 
 

Have  you any further breakdowns on this type of construction. I’m really interested in using alternative materials, and would like to have a go. 
But I would like to see a few flying examples to give me the confidence to try it out. Like what do you use for the fuselage sides, and what is used for sheeting the wing areas, wing spars etc. Balsa is king here in my book, but I’m open to trying new ideas and suggestions. 
 

thanks for your help 

 

 

 

Steve 

Steve, there's a load of us making good, viable sports and scale models with greater or lesser amounts of foamboard. If you look in the foam models section, you'll find various builds. FWIW, I am currently flying a Regianne RE2005 at 55" span with full retracts and flaps built entirely from foamboard, and a Ki45 twin which has a tiny amount of balsa. Both fly really well. I have a CAP232 at 56" ready to maiden. Eric Robson and Martin Collins have both built some amazing models, and it really shows what is possible. Some have quite different structures to conventional models, my CAP232 would be very easy for a traditional modeller to digest.

 

Drop me a line if you want to chat about this; we're all quite enthusiastic about the possibilities.

 

Graham

 

[Steven Hurd]

Don and Graham 

 

Thanks for the info and the heads up. I will spend a while reading up on the techniques and I will probably give it a go over the winter period. 
 

I enjoy trying different building techniques and this is one I can try on the dark evenings. I may well have a go at a well known model and try and adapt the build to suit. 
 

Cheers 

 

Steve

[Graham Davies 3]

That's where I started Steve. Swapping out balsa for foamboard in obvious places such as those Don mentioned. 

 

Take a shufty at Flite Test's videos on Youtube. They have a certain load of techniques that are a good starting point. Personally, I think we can do a little better as many of their designs are a bit 'angular'. The lobster tail fuselages don't do it for me! BUT; they do make it incredibly accessible, and it inspired me to have a go.

 

I find it reasonably easy to build from a 3-view now, and whilst we lose in some areas such as stiffness, we really gain in others. Look at the fuselage on the Reggie and imagine making that from balsa! And the cost is so low we can afford to experiment.

 

Good luck Steve, you're about to open a whole toy chest!

 

Graham