Taurismo (oz9153)

About this Plan

Taurismo. Conversion (kit-bash) of the Top Flite Tauri (oz5162) from shoulder-wing to low-wing layout, along with a few other changes, including bubble canopy changed to turtle-deck.

Note this is not a full plan showing how to build a complete airplane. No wing parts are shown. This here is a plan that shows how to modify another (complete) donor plan.

Quote: "A New Look For An Old Favorite - Taurismo : Modifying the Top Flite Tauri kit, by George G Hahn... Ever go down to the field and see a real sharp looking bomb that makes you wish you had one like it? Trouble is, it's usually a scratch-built, 72in span, gas guzzler, that does 90 mph on half throttle. You're a kit builder, though, and are usually afraid to deviate from the plans because it might not fly the way the plans say it will, and you're not a 'hot' contest type flyer anyhow. Now is your chance to catch up; build a Taurisimo. Here is a good stable airplane from a kit available just about anywhere. The Top Flite Tauri (oz5162) is only one of many ships anyone can modify and still end up with a ship that performs like it's suppose to; as a matter of fact, this particular modifi-cation makes the ship perform far better than the Tauri kit was designed for because the basic design is for the old 6 channel reed .19-.35 powered class of intermediate flying.
The modifications involved are relatively simple. All we do is drop the shoulder wing to make it a low winger removing most of the dihedral; put the stabilizer permanently on the top (instead of rubber banding it to the bottom) and hang a .40 size engine up front... Further stylizing is accomplished by addition of a turtle deck, wing tip tanks, and wheel pants. The last two you can leave off, but then your finished product looks like your buddies plane, doesn't it?
With all the goodies added and an older and heavier Kraft (KP7) system, the plane comes out to 6lb on the nose. Speaking of noses, you may find the plane does not exactly balance where you expected it to; don't worry, mine is so nose heavy I've decided not to try to figure it out. It does not detract from the performance in the least and the glide angle is perfect. With dead stick and proper up-trim you can float around on a calm day for one awful long time before touchdown!
Since flying this modification, I decided that the straight wing was too touchy for very windy weather and it had a tendency to 'do a dance.' A second wing was built, this one having a 5 degree sweep with 1/2in anhedral and tip tanks flowing upward, a la a Cessna 310. This has worked very well, especially in the windy and gusty weather. Might be better, though, to leave off the tips, although inverted flying is excellent."

Here is an article describing a modification of the Top Flite Tauri (OZ ID 5162), by Ed Kazmirski from a shoulder wing to a low wing aircraft.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages.

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