The KnightStar 6 Radio Controlled Rocket Glider plans have been uploaded to sunsite.unc.edu ftp site. It is different from KnightStar 5 in that the design and construction have been simplified. If properly built, this simple glider, in the hands of an experienced thermal soaring pilot, would easily be competitive at the national and world levels. The KnightStar 6 files are compressed using the "compress" command in UNIX. To uncompress them simply use the "uncompress" command. After uncompressing them, you will have postscript files. If you are just interested in looking at the overview, download ks6_1.ps.Z. The remaining 5 files are just full-size views of various parts of the airplane needed for construction. The should be sufficient for an experience modeler to build KnightStar VI (KS6). It is not intended for a novice mainly because I do not have the time to devote to creating the required instruction manual. If you are a novice, I advise you to get help building and flying KS6. Note that the wing is removable. It is attached with a spruce dowel at the leading edge (inserted into a bulkhead in the pod) and a 6-32 nylon screw at the trailing edge. There is also a towhook designed into the model which attaches below the wing mount. This addition allows you to get stick time with a highstart before flying with a rocket motor. The wing construction is typical balsa over foam. The key to a light weight airplane is the choice of light balsa for the wing skins. Use absolutely the lightest 1/16" balsa or very light to medium 1/32" balsa for the wing skins. An source of excellent balsa is Bob Beardon (Bear Enterprises) 28305 S. Yates, Beecher, IL 60401, 708-946-6130. Two dihedral options are also shown. Unless you really want a cool 6 panel wing, save yourself time and weight; build the V dihedral. The wing is joined in the center with a 4" strip of 1.5 ounce fiberglass cloth. Cover the wing with dope and tissue or a low temperature film covering such as Econokote. Foam cutting equipment, vacuum bagging equipment, fiberglass and laminating epoxy is available from Aerospace Composite Products, 14210 Doolittle Dr., San Leandro, CA 94577. If you don't have access to foam cutting and bagging equipment and don't want to buy your own, I am willing to provide you a set of foam wing cores for $25 plus $5 shipping or a set of cores sheeted with contest grade 1/32" balsa for $75 plus $5 shipping. You can also sheet the cores by using 3M77 spray adhesive and stacking weight on the wing cores while in the foam "beds". But use the 3M77 spray sparingly. It is heavy. The tail should be made from very light 1/8" C-grain balsa. Note the grain direction on the plans. The elevator and leading edge and tip of the fin should be made from hard C-grain. The tips of the stabilizer should be made from medium C-grain. Note that the fin is mounted on the side of the boom. This is for added strength and easier linkage hookup. I typically make strip hinges by sandwiching a piece of fiberglass/kevlar/mica film/Monokote between two strips of 1/16" hard balsa and then gluing the sandwich to the stab/fin to make a strong tight hinge. A typical Monokote hinge is also ok, but is not as strong. Control horns are made from a piece of fiberglass printed circuit board (available at Radio Shack). Push rods are either 1/32" music wire in a Golden Rods sleeve or you can use the Sullivan Golden Rod very flexible cables #507 (available at most hobby shops). I coat my cables with solder and then sand them smooth to make them a bit more rigid. The boom can be made from a fiberglass pushrod or from a carbon fiber arrow shaft. The arrow shafts are lighter and stronger. If you cannot obtain them locally, they are available very economically from Taylor Falcon Archery, Rt 4 Box 75C, Jonesboro, AR 72401 (501) 931-5272. Build the pod sides from light 1/16" balsa backed with 1/64" aircraft plywood. The top and bottom are made from medium C-grain 1/8" balsa. Study the internal structure carefully. There are two servo rails, a 1/16" plywood bulkhead (for the wing hold-down), and collar that slips around the end of the boom. The top of the pod is designed to be held in place by two screws which are caught/captured by two slotted pieces of 1/32" plywood attached to the pod top hatch. The top hatch then is attached and released by sliding it forward and backward. There is also a small hatch in the bottom of the pod which is used for adjusting the linkages. Once the linkages are adjusted, it can be taped shut since is only necessary to open again if adjustment is needed. The nose block is shaped from medium balsa. The radio gear is readily available from Tower Hobbies, P.O. Box 9078 Champaign, IL 61826-9078 (800)637-4989 or through your local hobby shop. The servos are Futaba S133s. The receiver is the Futaba R112JE. The battery should be between 80 and 110 mah. A 110 mah battery will typically give about 1 hour of flying time. The 80 mah battery will be good for about 45 minutes. This assumes that they are fully charged and the outside temperature is above 70 degrees. The flight time is significantly reduced as the temperature drops. So be sure to check the batteries often. If your radio gear is a little bigger than that which is shown, you can adjust the size of the pod accordingly. The motor tube is a piece of BT-50 model rocket body tube. It may be available from your local hobby shop. If not, you can obtain it from Estes Industries, 1295 H. Street, Penrose, CO 81240 (800) 525-7563. The tube is positioned to give the motor 3 degrees of downthrust. There is almost no loss in altitude (about 0.2%) and it keeps the tail out of the high speed rocket exhaust. Take care in assembly to balance the model between the limits identified for the CG. It will be quite sensitive at the rear limit and significantly easier to fly balanced at the front limit. The pod can be moved forward/rearward a bit to make adjustments and the motor tube can be lengthened/shortened as well. Just be sure to leave plenty of boom sticking out in front so you can do the final trimming after you have located the CG. I would suggest you trim the model by doing some hand tosses over high grass. Once you have it flying flat and fast, you are ready to launch it. The first time, leave the trims alone and launch it about 70 degrees above the horizon with an Estes D12-3 (with the ejection charge removed). It should either fly straight up and away from you or arc up a bit when the motor quits. Make adjustments in small increments after each flight until you have it boosting the way you want. For a real kick (and contest flying) I use Aerotech E6-P motors. They are low thrust and long burn motors (about 8 seconds). If you have built the model light (about 225g glide weight), you should get nearly 1000 feet of altitude on an E6 motor and nearly 10 minutes of dead air duration. By the way, you should get between 300 and 400 feet on a D12 and about 3 minutes in dead air duration. E6-P motors are available from Apogee Components, 19828 N. 43rd Dr., Glendale, AZ 85308. There is also a reloadable motor made for this class of glider. It is available from AeroTech, 1955 South Palm St, Suite 15, Las Vegas, NV 89104. (702) 641-2301. Good luck and have fun flying KS6. If you have questions, call me. I don't mind answering questions (as long as it's your nickel ). One final note; you are free to copy the plans and give them to a friend or use them in your club newsletter. If you want to use them for a commercial venture, give me a call and we can work something out. Kevin McKiou 6 S. 211 Cohasset Rd. Naperville, IL 60540 (708) 717-5830 Internet: kwm@ihlpm.att.com