Piaggio-Pegna PC7
Click on an image to see it in high resolution
About the model:
A peanut scale model by Sven Pontan. It has a duration of 60-70 seconds, and took first place in the peanut class at the 1993 Swedish indoor championships.
The model has a rather large turning radius, and does not like small halls. Pontan writes:
When I first saw the February 89 edition of "Le Modele réduit d'avion", I couldn't resist. This failed Italian Schneider Cup
racer simply had to be built as a peanut. At first I tried moulding the fuselage, but it proved difficult to get the proper shape, so
a traditional balsa framework structure was used. For its weight of 12 grams it flies remarkably slow.
About the origial:
This Italian aeroplane from 1929 was intended for the Schneider Trophy seaplane race. Instead of drag inducing floats, it was
equipped with hydrofoils. As the propeller could not be started until the plane had risen on its hydrofoils, a water propeller under
the fin had to be used to get the speed up during take-off. The PC7 did however never become airborne. During tests, the water propeller
got starved of oil and seized, and as there were also serious problem with stability when hydroplaning, the design was abandoned.
