Holverson Swinger
 

I guess this should go in the Free-For-All since it isn’t a current kit nor a project, though maybe vintage at this stage. It was brought to mind recently by a listing in the For Sale section.

Back when Holverson Design kits had gone out of production but could still be found in hobby shops I happened upon several kits hanging on pegs and purchased the lot. I still have an unbuilt Silver Hawk and a Tangent. I think there's a Wicked Winnie in the box too.

The Swinger looked like a pretty fun kit to build and fly so I decided to build rather than save it. When finished and covered in red and yellow Japanese tissue it looked magnificent. It also weighed a ton. So heavy in fact that I never even gave it a test glide. It’s one of two rockets that I’ve made in about four decades of building and launching that head-sim said, “Nope!”

So it sits among the rocket garden, not even a bridesmaid.

There have been, over the years, a few rockets that flew poorly and therefore rarely see air-time (or never again). The most notable of those is an Estes Tomcat; also a swing-wing design employing an ingenious deployment technique but with a flight characteristic that’s so erratic that I’m afraid to launch it.

Don’t know about everyone else, but I loved Holverson’s designs and built and flew most of them. The Zoomie was a terrific flier (too good in fact and was lost). The Silver Hawk is a terrific flier and glides beautifully, though as with most flying wings it needs a check and some tweaking every time out. I may take a crack at scratch building another Swinger, this time using the lightest contest grade balsa I can get my hands on for the wings and tail. Someday when there’s a clear spot on the building board. Maybe.

It appears that one of the wings has taken on a pretty bad warp over the years. I normally print on rockets what they are, when they are made, and sometimes the recommended engines. This one has no ink so I'm not certain when it was made but I think it must have been early 2000's.