Andy Hat Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 I have a Ben Buckle Super Scorpion kit ready to start. I'm keen to get the battery as far forward as possible, to minimise any nose weight, although it looks like I'll probably need to add some, going by the short nose and my experience with the other vintage models I've built. I'm looking at using a common 2200mah 3S battery and could possibly have it slide in horizontally under the motor, or slide in from underneath the model, vertically behind the motor. I'd be grateful to hear of any suggestions regarding making it electric powered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 I have an electric powered Super Scorpion. I use 2200 3S batteries and slide them in from the front under the motor. The model is a dream to fly. I have a Mobious camera in the cabin looking out the side and have some stunning video. I have a hatch behind the motor to make connecting the battery easier. It is turning an 12" propeller I will check exactly what size motor I have...I just phone George at 4-Max an ask "What do I need?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 I have an electric powered Super Scorpion. I use 2200 3S batteries and slide them in from the front under the motor. The model is a dream to fly. I have a Mobious camera in the cabin looking out the side and have some stunning video. I have a hatch behind the motor to make connecting the battery easier. It is turning an 12" propeller I will check exactly what size motor I have...I just phone George at 4-Max an ask "What do I need?" The motor is a 4-Max3535 870 Shot is our 100 yard sq flying field as a screenshot Edited By Peter Miller on 24/12/2019 12:02:03 Edited By Peter Miller on 24/12/2019 12:04:51 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Hat Posted December 24, 2019 Author Share Posted December 24, 2019 Fantastic info Peter - many thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Kremen Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 In my electric 'Super Scorpion', (and other short nose vintage types too), I insert the LiPo vertically, usually parallel next to 'F1' bulkhead. In many cases this negates the need for 'church roofing' material to achieve an R/C C of G. (I appreciate Free Flight i.e. as the original types usually were, often had very rear locations). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 Posted by Capt Kremen on 24/12/2019 13:34:12: In my electric 'Super Scorpion', (and other short nose vintage types too), I insert the LiPo vertically, usually parallel next to 'F1' bulkhead. In many cases this negates the need for 'church roofing' material to achieve an R/C C of G. (I appreciate Free Flight i.e. as the original types usually were, often had very rear locations). In my description above the lipo is half under the motor. the end is flush with thje front of the fuselage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted December 25, 2019 Share Posted December 25, 2019 I also have an electric Super Scorpion! In its latest guise it has an EFlite15 outrunner, spinning an 11x7 prop, powered by a 4S 4000mAh battery as far forwards as it can go under the motor. There's also 3oz of ballast there too. It's grossly over-powered, but flies and glides beautifully. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engine Doctor Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 The Super scorpion is a lovely graceful aircraft . I don't know about the Ben Buckle version but the original KK model have a very weak dihedral brace . This was fine for free flight but often failed when converted to RC causing the wing to fold . Do please check the wing joiner and make stronger if needed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatMc Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 Posted by Engine Doctor on 26/12/2019 11:13:05: The Super scorpion is a lovely graceful aircraft . I don't know about the Ben Buckle version but the original KK model have a very weak dihedral brace . This was fine for free flight but often failed when converted to RC causing the wing to fold . Do please check the wing joiner and make stronger if needed Errm... I'm pretty certain that KK only made the 44" Scorpion & there never was a KK Super Scorpion. Edited By PatMc on 26/12/2019 23:14:27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 Posted by PatMc on 26/12/2019 23:13:44: Posted by Engine Doctor on 26/12/2019 11:13:05: The Super scorpion is a lovely graceful aircraft . I don't know about the Ben Buckle version but the original KK model have a very weak dihedral brace . This was fine for free flight but often failed when converted to RC causing the wing to fold . Do please check the wing joiner and make stronger if needed Errm... I'm pretty certain that KK only made the 44" Scorpion & there never was a KK Super Scorpion. Edited By PatMc on 26/12/2019 23:14:27 I agree. I have never heard of a KK Super Scorpion and I have been an aeromodeller since 1953 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokenenglish Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 Clearly there never was a KK Super Scorpion. I suppose ED must be referring to the KK Scorpion, but even this was a "rare" kit until BB revived it. It was only produced for a relatively short time, and I've never seen or even heard of a KK original being flown RC. Confusion somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 In discussing whether Keil Kraft ever made the enlarged ( = Super ) Scorpion we seem to have ignored the comment about weak wing joiners. A look at the Super Scorpion plan on Outerzone shows the joiners are 1/16 ply of different lengths on both sides of the 1/4 hard balsa main spar (presumably full depth and notched for the ribs ) So the question is do the people who have built the Super Scorpion think this is sufficient or did they increase the joiner thickness or length? I have always avoided these notched full depth spars as they seem to me to have a potential failure point built in at each notch. I did consider using a notched spar for a Boddington design once and thought it might be better to make the unnotched part of spruce with a balsa bit laminated on to have the notches cut in. In other words leave the spruce uncut and just cut balsa top part away. What do you think of that idea? Edited By kc on 27/12/2019 17:29:56 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokenenglish Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 A few more comments are required. The OP concerned a BB Super Scorpion kit. The plan on Outerzone isn't the BB plan, it's Ben's plan redrawn and slightly modified by some Eastern European intellectual (Slovakian or Slovenian I think) a few years ago. In fact, the redrawn plan is excellent technically, but the guy who redrew it saw fit to add a KK Kits logo, thus presenting it as a KK plan, which he probably thought it was. The Eastern European source submitted this redrawn plan to the SAM US plans library, and I believe Steve (Oz) got the plan through SAM US. Anyway, the unfortunate end result is that there are now people around, who think that the SS was a KK kit! There is even another version around on the web, produced by an American, which is simply the 44" KK Scorpion kit plan enlarged by 50%. IMO, the wing joiners as drawn are perfectly OK for anyone flying the plane as it was meant to be flown. Finally, this Super Scorpion plan has always made me a bit cross, because someone simply lifted Ben's design and drawing, and presented it as a KK kit plan (no doubt through ignorance), carefully avoiding any reference to Ben! Edited By brokenenglish on 27/12/2019 18:28:08 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murat Kece 1 Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 I got a 44" Scorpion short kit from Belair Kits which also has a KK plan. In my search for information I came across this which confirms that there was a KK Scorpion. In line with above discussions I intend to add some carbon strips to the spar and the wing dihedral joint for added strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokenenglish Posted June 23, 2021 Share Posted June 23, 2021 Maybe you didn't read my post properly. Of course there was a KK Scorpion (44" span), but there was never a KK Super Scorpion. The Super Scorpion (66" span) is Ben Buckle's 50% enlargement of the original KK model. They are both super models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Johnston Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 Planning on building one of these beautiful planes next. Is there any difference between the Super Scorpion kits being sold by Belair, Ben-Buckle and SMC ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Johnston Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 24/12/2019 at 11:07, Andy Hat said: Andy Hat, I've just bought a Super Scorpion kit, from BelAir. Did you yourself do, or did you ever find, a build-log for this plane? Would love to follow what somebody else has done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 (edited) If you look at Outerzone you can find an old review of the Ben Buckle kit which might help. Edited December 17, 2021 by kc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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