Capiche 50

The Capiche 50 Saga started late in 2002, but I had nothing at all to do with it until early in 2003. During the winter months, a group of fliers designed a new 3D aerobatic plane for a 50 size engine, built to be light, strong and very manoeuvrable. This group of people involved Chief designer Malcolm Corbin, Pete Rondel, Dave Stephens and a couple of others too. Their plan was to design this plane and to kit the aircraft in time for the 2003 Sandown Model Symposium at the start of May. Around the end of January, Pete phoned me to see if I had any plans to go to Sandown. I said 'not as yet, why?' He replied that he was involved in a project and would I be interested in getting a pre-production example to build then fly it at Sandown. Of course I said yes and it kicked off from there. I was kept updated by Pete on the development of the plane from the original prototype, which by the end of February had been unveiled as the Capiche 50, to the MK2 , which eventually became the kit version released by Island Hobbies at the Sandown show. The main differences on the MK2 were a slightly different wing sections, slightly smaller ailerons, and the fuselage was a little longer.

My kit arrived around mid-march, and I didn't waste any time in building it. But it wasn't rushed. I knew how important it was that this plane was built properly, but that I had a deadline to meet too.

The build was very good. The kit consisted of over 100 CNC machined parts, all designed to slot together like a jigsaw. The quality of the parts was very good. Hardly any of the parts needed trimming to make them fit properly, a real credit to work Malcolm did designing it, especially when considering that this was still a pre-production example. The fuselage structure consisted of 2 side frames, one longer than the other to give the necessary side-thrust and featuring considerable cut-outs to reduce weight, with upright formers, horizontal formers, and the 2 wing bolt plates between them. On the top half of the formers there were slots for some stringers over which balsa sheet was laid to give the rounded top section, with full length 1/4" balsa strips along the length of the bottom corners. The tailplane and fin were made of Balsa sheet, with the huge elevators and rudder built from balsa strip. The wing and ailerons were traditional built up efforts, with CNC ribs again with cut-outs to reduce the weight without sacrificing strength. The whole airframe only took 2 to 3 weeks before being ready for covering...surely one of the quickest-building fully built up planes money can buy?

It is at this point that I have to mention Shane Browning. Once I had built the airframe, Shane did pretty much most of the aesthetics on my Capiche 50 from the covering to cutting out the engine cowling. I really have to thank him a lot as he did a fantastic job over the space of a week of evenings in getting it covered. Once it was covered I took it away again to fit the engine and radio gear and set everything up. Then it was just a case of fitting the engine cowl, canopy, undercarriage, prop and spinner.

These pictures here show it before the U/C, prop and spinner were fitted, and up until now I was still awaiting the official sticker set and U/C for it. The stickers were coming from Pete, and the undercarriage was a sparkly blue fibreglass item courtesy of Carbon Copy. As you can see, the engine I chose to fit, going on Pete's recommendation was the just-released West Eurotech 50 T1 with mini-pipe, a new high-torque version of the V1, the high revving engine released in 2002. With this motor I chose to run an APC 12.25x3.75, which up until now I had only used on a Magnum 46 in my Cougar and Limbo Dancer Fun-fly's.

The next picture below shows the plane ready for test flying. Still with no stickers, and with a make-shift undercarriage from under the bench in the shed with a bit of polish on it, it was still good enough to give it a go. The Sunday afternoon 2 weeks for before Sandown was when I chose to try it. As the motor was new, I put a couple of tanks through on the ground first, then decided to give it a fly. I think only Thomas and I were at the site at the time, and he seemed very keen to see how it would go. I was quite anxious as there was the constant thought of having to keep it tidy for the big show, whereas Thomas just wanted to see all out 3D. His way, or my way?....My way!! It took it fairly easy, doing only basic aerobatics to get a feel for it. The first thing I noticed was how easy knife edge was. I managed quite a high-alpha knife edge at the first time of asking, very good to say I'd never really flown a plane of this type before. The radio set-up I had gone for consisted of 148's on throttle, ailerons, and twin elevator servo's, with a 9001 on rudder, 6 servo's in all. Afterwards this seemed a bit overkill, but I had never tried twin elevator servo's before, and only really did it with the possibility of trying Ailvator mixing (elevators acting like ailerons) in the future. But the plane really doesn't need it. The aileron authority was excellent, giving fast, crisp roll rates. It had 3 flights that afternoon, then I put it away until the next day, which happened to be a bank holiday.

It was on it's fifth flight when things started going pear-shaped. I was trying fast rolls fairly low, with a low-to-medium flying speed. On completing a roll, I seemed to lose control, and it came down in the gorse, hard enough to crack the fuselage side frame. I thought it was interference at first, but then after consultation put it down to being over aggressive on the controls with too little airspeed. But after an afternoons work, it was pretty much sorted and ready to go again. But after one very close call, I chose not to fly it again until we were in England. Some said this was a good idea, other said that it worth giving it a quick flight to check it was ok, but it stayed grounded for nearly 2 weeks.

At the start of the week leading up to the show, there was still no sign of the stickers, which was a pity as I was going to be doing a press interview with a photo as well. The weather for this couldn't have been worse...force 7 winds and heavy drizzle...and 3 of us in a muddy car park. Still, the interview went Ok, and each day afterwards, I checked the Guernsey Press to see if the interview was in it. As it happened, the interview didn't appear until the Friday, the day after we left.

The sticker set arriving was a close call too. They didn't arrive in the post until the day before we going, So Shane and I spent Wednesday evening putting them on, and making it look the part. The photo below shows it on the Thursday morning, our day of departure, but we weren't going till 6pm, so we had plenty of time to pack the car and check everything was Ok. As you can see, it now has the Carbon Copy undercarriage, but we hadn't fitted the matching spats to prevent damage in the car, as it was all going to be packed quite tightly.

I won't go into details of the Sandown weekend, for this you can check out the write up on the club events page of this site. On Friday morning, in between the showers, we flew at Kempton Racecourse, which is where the next photo was taken. I flew it twice here, for the first time since my 'mishap'. Conditions were not ideal, but it was interesting flying a completely different site to Chouet.

The photo below is of another Capiche 50, Malcolm Corbin's Prototype electric Capiche, which was also being given it's first flight with it's own wing...it had previously been flown with Malcolm's IC wing. Electric's really have come a long way. The plane weighed around a pound more than the average IC Capiche 50 weighing in at about 6 lbs. But it was still able to fly 'the book' even able to pull vertical from a standstill...amazing!

The next couple of shots show Capiche 50's lined up on the Grandstand steps at Sandown Park. The first photo shows my Capiche 50 next to the Capiche 50 as featured in RCM&E. With top quality servos and a YS 63 4-stroke, it flew really well. Over the course of the weekend, this was the plane that Christophe Paysant le Roux would be flying in the Capiche slots, and he certainly showed what they were capable of, doing full 3D routines as he did with his Synergy 90, Synergy 140 and the Majestic. The second photo shows a line of 7 Capiche's, and Pete's Cougar 2000, just fitted with a West Eurotech 36.

Up until now, I had only 7 flights in total with my Capiche, and I also had to carry out a test flight to enable me to fly in the show. I have never flown a plane in such bad conditions before. The conditions were pretty similar to when I had my press interview, but I managed to get a few minutes out of it, and tried a few aerobatics to get used to it in case weather conditions for the show were no better. Almost as soon as I landed, the wind eased, the rain stopped and the sun came out...typical.

During the course of Saturday, I became more confident with it, throwing it about a bit more, whilst flying alongside guys like Paul Skinner, Phil Vandries, Dave Stephens, Mike Williams, Paul Carr and, of course, Christophe. My last flight on Saturday ended with a heavy landing, pulling out the undercarriage plate, so we spent the early part of the evening fixing it, which was fairly easy as it was a clean break, the kind of job 5-minute epoxy was made for.

It was on the Sunday morning when it all went wrong. Flying along fairly high, there was a loud bang, and the wing and fuselage separated. None of the Capiche team could understand why, and I was left feeling gutted that my Capiche had been written off...nearly. The wing didn't have a scratch on it, but the fuselage was smashed beyond repair. During the next Capiche slot, one of them was doing a knife edge pass when the same thing happened again. We then traced it to the Wing bolt plates not being filled out with balsa to meet the wing seat...as the bolts were tightened, the plates were bending, and eventually were bound to give way as happened to mine. All of the others were then checked and modified as necessary so prevent any more failures. And I was promised a new fuselage to boot! Despite losing my plane, it was an amazing experience to be a part of one of the greatest model flying show teams ever.

A couple of weeks later my fuselage kit arrived from Island Hobbies, and over the course of 6 weeks got it built, covered and test flown in time for the Jersey International Model Air Display 2003. The build was just as good as the first time, again with a perfect wood selection. I test flew it the week before the show, and flew it again the day before we left for Jersey when Dave Wiltshire was over. Dave was also test flying his own Capiche 50 at the time, but had a troubled landing when it came down on one of the perilous fences surrounding our site, putting it out for the weekend. But I still took mine over to Jersey, even though the Capiche slot on Sunday was cancelled and it did not fly.

The photos below show my Capiche 50 in all its post-Sandown glory. The red is a different shade, it has stickers in different places, and now I can throw it around a bit without worrying about it so damn much. Infact, I have been throwing it about so much I am really learning more about what it was designed for...balls-out 3D!! On our club's 2003 fun day, Thomas and I did a duet freestyle slot, with my Capiche 50 and his Synergy 90. The two planes really do compliment each other quite well in the air, with the Synergy appearing smooth but lively, and my Capiche appearing to be much more aggressive. Having flown the Synergy I can confirm this. The controls were smooth and powerful, but it did not seem particularly aggressive. My Capiche on the other hand is totally different. Maybe it is due to being a bit smaller than the Synergy, maybe it is to do with weight, wing area or C of G, I'm not sure. But one thing is for sure...I Fly Capiche!!!

Now available is also the Capiche 50 Fun Fly wing. A totally different kettle of fish.

Flying characteristics of this wing are not as you might expect.  Okay, it prop hangs, tumbles and generally flies like a fun fly, but there are a few oddities too.  Ever flown a plane where you don't have to use elevator to land?  Thought not.  Well, here is one.  Get it lined up for landing, throttle back and watch it land itself.  Very strange!?!  Maybe it's tail heavy, after all, the weight of the wing is further back than before.  Maybe that's a puzzle for the aerodynamicists (can't believe I spelt that right first time) out there.

And here it is doing what it should,  3Ding about all over the runway.

The Capiche 50 is distributed by Island Hobbies and Carbon Copy UK. There are various options available at time of purchase. Check out the 3 links below to find out more about Cloud Capiche Land.

Island Hobbies
Fly Capiche
Carbon Copy UK (Capiche page)