Bob Fisher's Eclipse


	Bob Fisher's Eclipse - by Neil Holden

		The Eclipse Slow Combat Model
		Bob Fisher of the Central Coast Flying Club & an associate member of KMFC has been developing this plane over the past 50 years. Generally, he has learnt the following, through quite a number of planes: Wing area – Larger the better, the less work the motor has to do The leading edge is to be blunt as possible. Helps the model turn & doesn’t slow it down Keep the fuselage long. This gives more stability through the turns Try & get as much movement as possible into the bellcrank to slow down the controls as much as possible Keep it light.
		I have built a few models myself based on Bob’s criteria & each model, along with Bob’s has seems to get better each time. I’ve yet to see a slow combat model out turn these.As an experiment, I have developed two other types of eclipses models based on Bob’s design with the only changes being the construction method.
		We have now flown all three & now advise the following:
		Mk1 – Foam Leading Edge
		Maneuverability – Excellent Strength – Reasonable. Did break on impact but easily repaired Reparability – Excellent Line tension – Pulls like a brick Assembly – Reasonable. Require foam leading edges, otherwise plane quite straight forward. Click for plan

		Mk2 – Balsa Capped leading edge
		Maneuverability – Reasonable to Excellent. Very quick on turns. May need to slow down the controls a bit Strength – Excellent.. Since built, has had quite a few hard prangs & still flies great. Reparability – Excellent. Yet to break the wing Line tension – Pulls like a brick Assembly – Very straight forward & easily constructed following Bob’s procedure for making the wing. Click for plan

		Mk3 – Standard Construction
		Maneuverability – Reasonable to Excellent. Very quick on turns. May need to slow down the controls a bit Strength – Not yet known. Haven’t been in combat with this yet, but it is fitted with a carbon fibre trailing edge. Reparability – As per the above Line tension – Pulls like a brick Assembly – Very straight forward & easily constructed. Carbon fibre was a bit of a nuisance compared with Balsa This model is extremely light compared to the MK1 & 2 and was rocked around by the wind a bit, however, it was fun to fly & requires a bit more experimentation In all, all 3 models were great to fly. My personnel favorite is the MK2 version, but again, it basically comes down to the preferred method of construction. Motors used in Planes are the 2.5 OS on an 8x4 prop. Click for plan

		Gallery
		Click for photos of the Eclipses