Spectra (oz10262)

About this Plan

Spectra. Dolphin III. Radio control semi-scale amphibian model.

Quote: "Stand-off Scale and Aerobatic type model of a most imaginative seaplane. A small one-piece 23-40 powered plane. Spectra, by Jim Sunday.

Some time ago several airplane magazines in this country and Europe featured articles on an unusual amphibian - the Spectra, designed and built by Leroy Lopresti of Island Aircraft Corp, Merritt Island, Florida. Spectra has various unique design features such as a retractable step, great visibility, wing tip floats that add to the lift and prevent water-looping, and, of course, the Loprestee tail with the engine and sta-bilizer mounted together high on a pylon at the rear. Its wing also acts as a very effective spray guard for the engine and prop.

At this writing the real plane has not been flown, but another model has. That model has only been flown off land and it performed well.

I have been a seaplane nut for awhile and only held out for something that was both a stunt plane and a seaplane - I just don't like flying around in big circles. The Spectra in Air Progress caught my fancy, so I drew the first sketches and decided to build one. It built up very fast, and with a foam wing it was ready to fly in a couple of weeks. Now that's another story...

With the plane finished, I installed the gear and balanced it at about a third with a nine-in, cord. At the pond I fueled up the Spectra and proceeded to taxi test. It looked great in the water, floated well, and taxied just as smoothly and easily as could be. Next, I tried a run across the pond. The plane got up nicely and was real easy on the water - just straight, clean runs and no water loops... "

Spectra, American Aircraft Modeler, August 1973.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

Corrections?

Did we get something wrong with these details about this plan (especially the datafile)? That happens sometimes. You can help us fix it.
Add a correction