Multiplex Fun Ray

Brian wrote: The Force Four wouldn't win a beauty contest, but its a Chris Foss design, and his stuff always seems to "fly right".

If you were particularly fond of the Force Four I'd say go for it. But you admit that it's no beauty, and don't forget that it was designed when servos, receivers and batteries were huge and heavy. Aerofoil sections also tended to be hand drawn and the one of the FF looks like a generic 'flat bottomed' TLAR section. Yes, it will fly, but I'm sure that must be better candidates if all you wanted was a 2-channel glider.

Thanks for your comments Mike. I never gave the wing section a second thought, I assumed it was suitable, although on reflection, performance has improved tremendously in the many years that the design has been around. So far I've only idled around with the prospect of building the model. I've watched videos of slope soaring, and I've seen that a good breeze that would keep conventional models grounded, is welcomed by the flyers on the hills. I assumed that the Force Four wouldn't be too fussy about the aerodynamics and the finished weight, as long as the C of G is in the right place and the model ended up heavy enough to "penetrate" without needing too much down trim to achieve it. The fact that I have a lot of balsa sheet left from abandoned projects, would make the build a cheap one. It could be easy to plot some more ribs, although I've no idea what section to use, I expect good old Google will be able to suggest something suitable, although I do have an airfoil program called "Profili" that probably has something suitable in it.

Hi

As you are not a beginner, I think you would be fairly disappointed with a rudder/elevator only model, they are extremely limited in performance and steering by rudder will not be as crisp as with ailerons.

I would be looking for a 3 channel model if i were you.

Brian,
I built this Mijet many years ago, 5ft span, it would take very little TLC to get it in the air. As you can see from the image it lost it's balsa canopy in a house move but is otherwise intact.
Come over and have a look at it if it's the sort of thing you're looking for you'd be welcome to it to make a bit of room in my rather crowded hangar.

Hello David,

Is that a Mijet I or Mijet II? I might have been googling while I'm eating my lunch

And what was the difference between them?

Hello Chris,

Good question, dunno the answer, it was a long time ago! I'm guessing that, as in the case of the Chris Foss Phase 6, the difference between the two versions was that one had a fully symmetrical section while the other was a bit more forgiving (other than when inverted anyway) being less speedy than it's slimmer brother as the section tended towards being a bit thicker and flat bottomed (unlike most people after a Christmas and New Year of overindulgence in the dining room. I speak from experience being also a little more bow fronted than usual).
Happy days!