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PRINCETON JET RALLY
Paul Dries of Coquitlam, B.C. was flying this Composite ARF T-27 Tucano. It is powered by Kingtech K60TP turbine.
Wil’s Picks Alan Blore’s Tucano Alan Blore is from Calgary, Alberta Canada. He has been flying RC aircraft for 38 plus years and turbinepowered jets for about 13 years. He tells me that his lovely wife Jean is very supportive of his hobby, such that he now is the Chairperson of MAAC Jet Committee. As Alan explained, I saw the full-scale Tucano perform at the Abbotsford, B.C. air show a few decades ago. The Brazilian Formation Smoke Squadron flew it. Their performance reminded me so much of our Canadian Snowbirds in its smoothness of flight that as far as I was concerned the Tucano was the Tutor aircraft only with propellers. Ever since that show, it has been my favorite. His beautiful Tucano is turboprop-powered. It captured my attention from the moment I saw it coming out of Alan’s trailer until it was in the air and carving holes in the sky. Alan’s Tucano was assembled
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RC FLYER NEWS • Sept/Oct 2018
from Composite ARF almostready-to-fly kit. It is a quarter-scale version of the Tucano. It had a paint scheme that was representative of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Anniversary. The model sports a 110-in. wingspan and has an 89-in. long fuselage. It tips the scales at 40 pounds. Alan powers his airplane with Jetcat SPT5 turboprop system that turns a Biela 24 x 12 three-blade propeller. The model’s fuel tank carries about 3.8 liters of Jet A fuel, which provides about 10 minutes of flying time. The model is also fitted with a Sullivan smoke system, with a 1.4-liter tank. Power management is by a PowerBox system married to two Duralite 3000-mAh 7.4-volt Magnum batteries. The electronic control unit (ESC) gets power from 4500-mAh 7.4-volt LiIon pack, with another 3000-mAh battery for the lighting system. There is a 7.4volt 1800-mAh LiPo that powers the retractable gear and brakes. A small air tank and valve provide pneumatics for the gear doors. The
Tucano’s uses the Unilight lighting system too. So it has lights and flashing strobes in the wing tips and rudder. Plus there are mid-wing landing lights and one on the nose wheel. The aircraft has typical flight control surfaces, plus flaps, retractable landing gear, and brakes. Alan told me, the model is beautiful to fly and that it goes exactly where the pilot flies it. It has no bad flight characteristics, which makes it very fun to fly. Further, the takeoffs are very predictable, with it performing just like any propeller driven aircraft—just little right rudder and a bit of elevator tweak at the rotation, the aircraft does the rest. He says it even makes the pilot look reasonably well qualified, which is undoubtedly him being humble. I can assure the turboprop-powered Tucano presents exceptionally well in the air. Jack Price Jack’s Skymaster A-10 is 1/6.25-scale, with a 109.6-in. (2552 mm) wingspan. The model is 101.3twitter.com/rcflyernews
