Cutie (oz15359)

 

Cutie (oz15359) by Larry Sribnick 2001 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

SR Cutie. Radio control sport parasol model. Wingspan 46 in, wing area 360 sq in, for electric power with geared Speed 400 motor. 3 channel RC.

Note the original Lee Renaud Q-Tee (oz1350) design first appeared in RCM, Jan 1976. This here is the SR Cutie, an enlarged and modified version for electric power, supplied as a laser-cut kit in 2001. The Cutie incorporated many detail changes and new methods of construction, not least the use of carbon fibre tubing for both the wing spar and the LE, along with jigs for assembly, etc.

Note the SR Cutie was a laser cut kit. The USP was that it was beautifully engineered to fit together perfectly, so for example the fuselage was not built over the plan but just slotted together 'in the hand' then glued. The kit plan, accordingly, does not show all the detailed parts and formers.

Note an incomplete set of the kit instructions (see supplement file) are available as a download from the (now defunct) SR Batteries site, see http://web.archive.org/web/200302... but only as a 28 page teaser. The complete instructions were 104 pages in total.

Note see old Ezone kit review from 2001 of the SR Cutie (written by Paul Bradley) online at: http://web.archive.org/web/20030227...

See also AcroPro (oz15357) for a 4 channel aerobatic version with ailerons.

Note the original Cutie release notes of Feb 2001 on the (now defunct) SR Batteries site are available at: http://web.archive.org/web/2001022322...

Quote: "Let me tell you why our new Cutie is called the Cutie and some of its background. Back in the mid 1970's, Lee Renaud, founder of Airtronics, designed a great little 1/2A ship called the Q-Tee. Actually, his wife Barbara named the ship. When Lee put the prototype on the kitchen table, Barbara said, "Isn't that a cutie!" and so the ship became the Q-Tee.

RCM published the Q-Tee in 1976 and Airtronics came out with the Q-Tee in kit form that same year. It had a wing span of 36" and a wing area of about 200 square inches. It became a very popular kit.

When I started thinking about SR going into the kit business, I thought an updated version of the Q-Tee would be a natural for electric power. Lee has passed away, but his wife Barbara and his two sons, Tim and Bob are good friends of mine so I contacted them and asked how they would feel about my re-doing the Q-Tee. They thought it was a great idea and gave me their permission to literally copy the Cutie line for line and even use the Q-Tee name.

As I started thinking about how I would approach the Q-Tee, I found that just like every other modeler, there were a lot of things I would change. Remember, it's now 25 years later and we have materials, glues, and manufacturing techniques today that Lee couldn't have even dreamed of. I like to think that my version of the Q-Tee is what Lee would do today if he was still with us.

Why the name change from Q-Tee to Cutie? Well, although the Cutie is based on the Q-Tee, there isn't very much I haven't changed so I thought a name change would be appropriate too. The wing construction, span, chord, aspect ratio, tips, and airfoil have all been changed. The shapes and sizes of both the horizontal and vertical stabilizers are completely different. The nose moment, tail moment, cross section, and construction of the fuselage are completely different. I guess the amazing thing is that you can change this much about an aircraft and yet there's no mistaking what the origins of the Cutie are.

The wing span of the Cutie is 46" and the wing area is about 350 square inches. Power is a 7.2V Speed 400 motor with a 2.33:1 gearbox and a 9x5 prop. The battery pack is a 10 cell SR 500 Max Series battery pack. Actually, this is the same power system that we use with the X250. The only major change I'm going to make between this prototype and the final design is that I'm going to make the the top of the Cutie's nose a removable hatch to completely open up the nose area for access to the battery pack and the rest of the power system. Originally, I thought that the pack would be able to be accessed through the area under the wing, but I decided it was just too much of a hassle and I wanted to make it easier and quicker to get at everything. The basic design and construction techniques I've used in the Cutie are identical to those in the X250 so if you've built an X250, for all intents and purposes, you've already built a Cutie.

There's so much room in the Cutie and the wing is so strongly built that I wouldn't have any trouble at all with powering the Cutie with anything up to and including an Astro geared FAI 05 motor, but I don't see any point in so doing. With the Speed 400 system, flight times are a leisurely 10 minutes of fun flying. Sure the Cutie will do some basic aerobatics, but that isn't the point of the Cutie. I designed it as a ship you can taxi out with, start a takeoff roll, lift the tail, and do a smooth climb out with. Play with the breeze and the clouds, do touch and goes, and nice smooth landings. Help someone to learn how to fly or just sit back and watch the silhouette of the Cutie against the sky. This is what flying is all about..."

Supplementary file notes

Instructions (incomplete).

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Cutie (oz15359) by Larry Sribnick 2001 - model pic

Datafile:
  • (oz15359)
    Cutie
    by Larry Sribnick
    from SR Batteries
    2001 
    46in span
    Electric R/C Parasol
    clean :)
    formers unchecked
  • Submitted: 14/05/2024
    Filesize: 302KB
    Format: • PDFbitmap
    Credit*: Pilgrim
    Downloads: 794

Cutie (oz15359) by Larry Sribnick 2001 - pic 003.jpg
003.jpg

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