I made this plane from Dave Robelen plans in the November 2001RC Microflight. I started buiding it in January 2002 and flew it the first time in February. Dave's original plane used 50x4 NiMH cells and had an AUW of 48g. With those cells, mine came in at 56g. With either the 50x4 NiCd or 120x4 NiMH pack the best mine could do was one lap around a gym at full throttle, barely maintining level flight.
Since July I have been flying the Punkin with a 2-Cell Kokam 140 mAh LiPoly pack. This is roughly equivalent to a 120x7 NiMH pack, but with less weight than with the 120x4 pack. AUW is now 52 grams, still heavier than the 48g of Dave Robelen's original. But what a difference. Now it has power to spare and cruises around for very long flights (I don't really know how long). I fly, land, let someone else fly, switch it back on, and fly some more. After about three of these I land and change the battery pack, but it's still got power to fly, just not as much pep. This is a great combination and I plan to use it in similar sized planes in the future.
Equipment used:
Relevant specs are: wingspan = 16.8 in, wing area = 84 sq.in., length=12.75 in.
I discovered it's better to trace the fuselage sides on the 1/32 balsa and glue the reinforcing strips on, AND THEN cut the openings out and around the outside edges. Otherwise the thin areas will break. This is shown in the second picture.