12-foot Lanzo Racer Old Timer- electric

Started by ssk320, December 29, 2018, 04:54:20 PM

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ssk320

This is a 12-foot span Lanzo Racer I fly regularly. It is an old design from the late 1930s by the legendary designer, Chet Lanzo. The name "Racer" is tongue-in-cheek: this plane floats along at walking speed and flies on nothing more than a 3 cell lipo, and a 40-size brushless motor. Barely fits in the car, but not too bad to put together on the field...about 5 minutes. 3 piece wing. Take off weight about 7 lb.Flies majestically, but climb is slow. A typical flight on a 3000mah battery is 20 minutes. Can replace with larger capacity battery: it has 8 oz of lead in the nose.

Chet Lanzo's designs are my recommendation for any beginner: total hands-off stability, slow flight. Look up Lanzo Bomber, Record Breaker, Airborne, and Racer: a bit odd looking, but the most capable (a Lanzo Bomber can climb out of sight in 15 sec) and relaxing planes to fly.

Suman

sanjayrai55

Nice  :thumbsup:. That's a really low wing loading - how does it fly when it's windy?

Where are the Lanzo plans available?

BTW - that's a Dream Flying Field! I'm jealous  ;)

ssk320

How does it fly when it's windy? It doesn't, and nor do I !

Lanzo Racer plans are hard to come by since Chet Lanzo did not publish them. A good approximation is a Lanzo Record Breaker blown up to 144", and the pylon removed from the fuse. Some more pics and vids here: http://www.thebuildingboard.com/2014/09/lanzo-racers-at-2014-sam-champs.html?m=1

The flying field is the Jayhawk Model Masters in Lawrence Kansas USA.

ssk320


kamalsahai


K K Iyer

#5
@kamalsahai
See history of this design. It may be older than you!
Regards and Happy New Year.

ssk320

Different folks have different viewpoints on planes. Some like fast, some like slow. I happen to like slow. In fact, REALLY slow. I would rather not control the plane: I would prefer the plane fly itself, with inherent stability. Which is why I love old freeflight designs from the 1930s and 1940s. I can set the transmitter down and watch a plane putter at altitude, self-correcting itself, flying in circles. I have flown regularly for 25 years, and I still dislike planes with ailerons. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: so all my planes have bent wings and curves.

And they all tend to be big ! I routinely fly a 108" span Dallaire Sportster, a 108" and a 98" Record Breaker, a 98" Lanzo Bomber, an 84" Miss America...the list is practically endless. My 72" Lanzo Bomber resides in the car, ready to fly at a moment's notice. I estimate it has flown close to 1000 sorties, each about 30 minutes in the last 10 years. Climbs to altitude in 5-10 sec, and glides for about 5-8 minutes depending on weather conditions. Repeat over and over. Several kids have flown this plane under my instruction too. Another old design called the Long Cabin also flew about 1000 sorties, and wore out 2 OS 40 FP engines.

If you are looking for a good trainer, get an old Chet Lanzo design: NEVER FAILS. In fact, for work, we have a 115" carbon/balsa Lanzo-based design. It hovers like a quad and flies on 15-20W/lb ! Crazy ! And fun !

K K Iyer

@ssk320,
I fear you'll be disappointed on this forum.
Unless some of the veterans respond.
Happy New Year though!