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Dinner plate, Tea plate, Sugar Bowl... the Super Scorpion. As mentor of the nation's youth, I often argued that love at first sight was a dangerous fiction. But one day, when picking the bits of JT's Scorpion out of a ploughed field, (he'll tell you the story) I became as guilty an an empty-headed teen. Just to see a Scorpion in flight is to want to build one.
Colin Buckle makes a good kit, and the anticipated problems in fuselage and wing construction evaporated during the build. The only item of note was the undercamber of the wing. The mainspar is a healthy piece of (tapered) spruce which was clearly non-negotiable as far as sanding was concerned, but the undersurface of the ribs did not always match. Now, since I intended to cap-strip the upper surface, the 1/16th pieces cut from the tops of the ribs fitted neatly to the undersides of the offending parties and it all worked. This is the first time, in one of my electric conversions, that I have done away completely with the engine bearers and fitted the motor onto the rear of a ply noseblock with some 1/8 x 1/2 hardwood to reinforce the side cheeks. Simple, and lots of space.
The battery is inserted, rather indecently, up between the undercarriage legs. No lead was needed (Vide et Crede, Ted!) There seems to be a design weakness at the front of the cabin, whose structure is susceptible to sideways impact. I have spruced this up a bit. It'll doubtless be tested when I get to fly it; with luck, views of the undersurface should be available in the Spring.
Oh, and the curious list of crockery at the beginning? The templates used to cut the scallops, compulsory on this design. John Ashmole
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