Model: Essence XL Type: Superfloater Status: Active Weight: Not much Controls: R/E/Sp Wing Span: 118" Wing Area: Lots Airfoil: Flat-bottom to S7037 Wing Loading: Really low

This guy is the "homesick angel" in my fleet. After breaking the wing joiner (twice) on a featherlight Midwest Essence that I flew last year, I decided to rebuild the aircraft into an open-class floater. Why? I have no idea. It seems that my urge to tinker and modify reponds inversely to the popularity of a model at my field and proportionally to the amount of spare balsa in my workshop. So, armed with the wing from the Essence and an old Airtronics Whisper fuselage that I had occupying space, I designed and built the airplane that you see here. The wing has polypolyhedral, with three angled bends in each wing and a flat center panel. I added Hohner (sp?) upswept tips simply because they look good, and covered the model in opaque white and transparent green and blue Monokote. I only bring it out on days when there is little to no wind, because it really doesn't handle the wind very well. On those special windless, sunny days, however, there's nothing more satisfying than drifting along on the smallest thermal puffs, admiring the sun filtering through the transparent covering. I've finally trimmed the plane to the point where I can comfortably climb out from a 100 ft high-start launch, but it's the plane - not me :)

Unfortunately, this is the airplane that I always look to when I just need to "borrow" a couple of micro servos (there's one in each wing driving a spoiler). Consquently, there have been three occasions that I can remember where I've had to put the plane into an inverted spin just to get it down from pin-prick heights! I should just glue a couple of micros into the wing and be done with it, but I never seem to learn... Back?