I never had a Todi, but did have a Maestro Caliente which was claimed could do outside loops. This was a very big thing back then and yes it would do them. Unfortunately on the third or fourth OL I blew the wing off the Maestro destroying the plane. Maybe I didnt build it right or maybe the Dodgson planes werent quite ready for that type of flying back then. I really liked the Maestro though, very advanced for its time. Walter --- GG
On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 08:20:17 Russ Young wrote: >Find # 1 > >Two weeks ago my wife and I got it in our heads to clean out "under the stairs" and >make a dump run. One of the things I found was a box of old trophies that I saved >from when I was in my first phase (1973 - 1976) of RC Soaring (started again in >1998). Amonsgt the dust was a 6" silver cup that I won 3rd place in the Precision >Duration event at the 1974 SOAR Nats in Chicago. I was flying a Dogson Designs >Todi. For those of you that do not know the Todi, it was the first kit designed and >sold by Bob Dodgson of Seattle. Here's a short description of the Todi and what >it did with a 3 channel, non-computer radio with no electronic mixing: > >- 3 Control surfaces >- Rudder and Ailerons coupled on one servo - Ailerons achieved differential due to >the geometry of the shape of the control horn >- Flaperons on the throttle stick. The flaperon surfaces (ailerons) were controlled >on a separate servo that allowed you to apply positive or negative flaps to the >ailerons. >- elevator on a separate servo. The Elevator was hooked to the "Dodgson Coupler" >that provided a small amount of down elevator as the flaperons moved in the downward >position and a small amount of up elevator when they moved in the reflex position. > >The kit came with the following: >- Fiberglass fuse that ended at the trailing edge of the wings. The tailboom was a >conical shaped tube of rolled balsa which provided a scale-like overall appearance. > Without radio gear, the fuse weighed in at about 10 ounces and was very strong. >-Two sets of wings. 100" for thermal, and 76" for Slope. The 100" set was D-tube >construction. The 76" set was fully sheeted semi-symetrical. >All this for under $100.00 > >What all this means was that in 1974 when litterally everyone in the country was >flying gas bags, the Todi was doing sustained inverted flight, outside loops, snap >rolls, and changing the camber when in lift and putting the wing in reflex to >penetrate. A very fun plane for the time. > >Find # 2 > >Last week I got a call from a former Seattle Area Soaring Society member whose wife >was after him to clean out his model shop after 20 years of inactivity. He looked up >the SASS site and my name was the only one he remembered. He wanted a place to get >rid of all his old planes...he couldn't bear to just throw them away. Among the dust >was a Todi with the 2 sets of wings and a Dodgson Designs Maestro! > >I'm in the process of reconditioning the Todi and should have it flying again in a >week or two. However, I'm in need of either a set of the aluminum wing joiners, or >ideas for what to substitue. > >The wings joining system consisted of 3/16" by 5/16" rectangular aluminum "box" in >the wings and the fuse. The "rods" consisted of 2 pieces of vertical aluminum that >slid side-by-side thru the fuse and into the wings. I know that Bob used a special >kind of aluminum for these joiners and I don't have the tools that it would take to >make new ones. I'm looking for ideas on what to use as a replacement. I've >considered using several carbon fiber rods in a epoxied bundle, but that would not >give me the small amount of dihedral that should be there. > >Any ideas? > >Thanks, >Russ Young >Seattle Area Soaring Society > > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
