[RCSE] Topaz

[Hank Schorz]

I finished my Topaz and flew it this past weekend. Very impressive. Mine cam out at 36.2 oz and neede no nose weight. For skegs, I used a Tim McCann “V” skeg on the rear, and I made a nose skeg from G10 for the nose (although a friend used a Tim McCann nose skeg for his and it worked great). I hooked up the spoiler by putting an HS-85 below the wing on the outside, with the linkage up through the precut hole. The HS-85 jus barely fit, and an HS-81 might work better for this. I also removed the silicon hinge and replaced it with tape and also removed the spoiler control arm, drilled a new hole just over the rectangular precut hole, and replace the spoiler control arm with one made from brass with a longer moment. I then used a standard klevise with a very short “z” bend rod. One can get a full 90 degrees (although not needed) of easy travel with plenty of servo push.   The Topaz flys very well and the wing looks a bit like the old Mirage with plenty of dihedral. It turns well and behaves. IWe all launched on a full 12 volt winch with no problems although pedaling. Good zoomies presented no problems, and there was no flexing on the way up. All in all I think it’s much like the highly touted AVA (I have one of these as well). It was pretty breezy on Sunday, and the Topaz handled the wind just fine with more penetration that you might expect for 36 ounces. Wing loading around 5.5 oz/sq ft.   Hank Schorz