It has been forever since my last Blog Update. I am not sure if anyone is even following this!

But I thought it would be good to update everyone on what I have been working on.

First up is my new designs:

Klingon D7 Battle Cruiser! This one was done by request from an actual Klingon (Cosplayer) that saw my stuff at the Toledo RC Show. It flies great so I decided to turn it into a kit. My friend Rasterize designed 2 different skins that are amazing for it. One is the traditional Klingon paint scheme the other is a Romulan Scheme. I built my first kit with the Romulan scheme because i love the screaming chicken on the bottom. Check out the thread here - https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1634224

Next is the Final Kit version of the Battlestar Galactica Viper. Rasterize really outdid himself with the skins on this one. They look amazing! He even put my face inside the helmet - https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=907472

Somewhere in the last couple years, one of the members here posted a thread about making a Lunar Lander model. I missed it when it happened but a few weeks ago, someone revived the thread so I got inspired to put together a design for one. My friend Rasterize is pretty geeked about it so he is already working on skins for it! It will be a tail sitter VTOL so it should be cool! - https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=2158909


Kit Sales have been great. I am shipping 15-30 kits a month even more around Christmas...Continue Reading

Been a busy spring for me already!

My flying buddies Mike, Don, and Ken started their new company www.modelplanefoam.com and are now selling some awesome foam. It is pure white, no skin, no perforations and no waves. But it is the same material as FFF.

As a matter of fact, their first production run sold out in a week! So they have more on the way.

Anyhow, the new foam inspired me to build some planes.. that and it has been so long since i built a plane that i was missing it.

SO first up was the Buck Rogers Starfighter. Flies very nice. I am still getting used to it but it is very stable. It tends to roll fast when it gets upside down, like it really wants to be upside down! But it comes out of it with no problem. It looks really cool in the air too! The white foam means i didn't have to paint the dang thing so it came out really light.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1493902

This will be a kit soon!

Here is the first flight video.

RC Buck Rogers Starfighter.wmv (5 min 17 sec)

Second build of the season is my Enterprise-A! A lot of people have been working on A's. Not many have been successful. I don't know if any have been successful with a truly scale look to them. Well mine flies GREAT! I still need to do a little tweaking. It doesn't have great elevator authority... well i should say there is a delay when i give it elevator. It makes it a little scary when you are pointing at the ground and it doesn't respond right away! But...Continue Reading

Been a while since i made a Blog Update and a lot has happened in thge past several months.

Of course i have designed a lot of new planes. Some are ready to show off, some aren't.

Sales of my kits has been moving along. I have shipped over 200 kits now. A big thanks to my friends Ken and Stephen for helping me make that happen.

My buddy Ken along with my other flying buddies, Don and Mike have started a new company geared towards supplying FFF style foam with no skin, waves, or blue dye! Their new company is www.modelplanefoam.com. and they should be selling foam very soon.

This of course means that i will no longer be offering the pink or blue kits. I know you guys are going to be disappointed with only having white foam, but i think we will be able to muddle through.

I am now selling the Enterprise-D, Voyager, Harrier, Cylon, and the New version of the Imperial Star Destroyer.

The Star Destroyer and Cylon look amazing with the skins. I really like what I did to fix up the Star Destroyer design. Solved a lot of the things i didn't like about the original.

Cylon - https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1484774
ISD - https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=887870

A couple of new designs i have been working on.

The Buck Rogers Starfighter from the 80's TV series. I am pretty excited about this one. I think it is going to be a great flyer.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1493902

The next one i have been working on...Continue Reading

Been a while since i made a blog update but i have not been resting on my Laurels! (Whatever that means)

I have been pretty busy with my "non-Hobby" stuff so i have been a little behind on my build schedule. I had about 6 planes on my "Build Table" for a long time!!

It has been nice selling my Enterprise kits. Making a little bit of money so i can afford to keep building. I finally got enough saved up to buy a new 2.4ghz radio so i picked up a used Dx7. Man has that been nice!!! HK sells some nice cheap recievers so i am honestly spending about the same amount as i was when i did FM radios.

First one was my P-38 Profile - https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1303764

I finally got it finished and ready to fly. It took a while to get the mixes right for the 2 motors. Just waiting for my hay field to grow a bit more because I think this thing might be a bit too small for the weight. Next version will have to be bigger... if i do a next version. I was trying to get it to fit on a single piece of Foam and use Blue Wonders for the motors. Weight is about 10oz... So we will see.

Next one i worked on was a few designs for our much talked about but never realized WW1 Combat Foamies. I did a Neiuport 17 and an Albatros - Things got a little crazy on the combat thread and it became a "scale foamie" thread instead of a "combat foamie" one. I haven't built one yet, but they are going to be soon!

The Thread is - https://...Continue Reading

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to get a quick update out there that i have started a website to sell my kits!

www.sg-ideas.com

Kits have been selling really well too. Apparently the Enteprise-D is the hot gift for Christmas this year! Not quite a Tickle-Me-Elmo but better than Coal!

I have my next kit getting prepped now. The Voyager is fully flight ready and I hope to have it up on the website early in January.

I have a new picture for the Enterprise-D too

Things have gone very well with the Enterprise kits. I have sold about 15 of them now including 5 ARF kits. It has been great! Totally paid for my hobby for this season which keeps my lovely wife happy!

I discovered that building kits for other people is WORK!! And that work takes away from what i really love about this hobby: Designing and building new planes. I just love designing stuff and making it work.

Anyways, i have some new pics i can show of the Enteprise kits. A new friend of mine Steve (Bruchlandungen) has put a lot of time making really nice skin graphics that i am going to see if i can incorporate into the kits.

I had a bunch of requests to do a Voyager so i started playing around with the design and it turned out really well. I got pretty excited about it and decided to just build it. The gorilla glue is drying right now on it and i hope to get a maiden flight in this weekend.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1295747

Another design i worked on in the past couple months was an Enterprise-A. I noticed a few people had been trying to get one to fly and were having trouble. Well i love a challenge so i spent a couple hours working out a design that i think will work for an "A".

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1273822

In between building and shipping Enterprise Kits i put some more time in on my Thunderbird Formation. The build turned out really nice but the maiden flight DIDN'T!! I normally don't do...Continue Reading

I have built a ton of Trainer Ones from GPW's plans. They are alright but when i tried to give them to a friend to build his own he didn't understand them so i put together a nice Cad plan of it that has everything seperated nicely and all that.

Any how, here it is.

Been a while since i made a Blog update.

I haven't done much in the way of new designs. I did work on several planes from other people.

I have been getting a LOT of non-flying friends into the hobby. Built 7 GPW Trainer 1's in the last year or so. It stuck on several of them too! Love the T1 for a trainer.

The new designs i have worked on are a cool Thunderbirds Formation. I am going to need to build this one soon!!!

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1103153

And then my Space Ship One and White Knight!!! Got SS1 built but not flying yet.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1089445

Then the really big news!!!

I am finally offering kits on the Enterprise!

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...=881739&pp=100

Kits for the Enterprise are going to be $35 Plus Shipping (less than $10)

I am also going to offer various levels of RTF. Anything from an assembled ARF to a fully flight ready fully painted RTF with radio!

The new design is a lot more scale looking and it flies great! My brother in law helped me out with a great airbrush job too.

Anyone that is interested in a kit send me a PM!

I am also taking suggestions for the next kit!

It has been a while since i actually made a blog post. I have not been sitting around doing nothing!

It has been much slower than this summer for sure. I got a little burned out on the space thing so i started working on some other designs.

I have been thinking about building a small plane for a long time. I even bought a small motor and some 3mm foam a while back (before the Summer of Space) Well i finally got around to building something. I re-designed the Micro3DX design that is popular here. Here is the thread

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=936681

24" span or so. It turns out that my small motor isn't all that small. The AUW ended up being 6.5 oz. Too heavy for that small of a plane. I need to drop at least another ounce. SO i am looking for another motor.

SO i figured that i needed more wing area. I designed a 3DBatix FoameIIx biplane was next. 24" span again but 2 wings this time! Well since i built it the winds here in Detroit have been 20+ mph!!! GRRR 4 weeks now that the weather has been bad for flying!

IN between i designed a really cool plane. The German Wespe. WWII secret project from the Germans. Man was it cool! I actually started cutting foam on it this weekend. Pretty awesome design:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=950807

Then i got inspired by this cool company called Falx. www.falxair.com

They have a plan for a Hybrid drive- Brushless Motors, Lipo Batteries, Turbine generator Tilt wing plane! It is really cool! So i designed my own version of it. See if i can make it fly.

I actually put the plans for the Wespe and the Falx on the same page when i printed to save time. So i have the parts cut for both planes now!

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=960584

Not sure what i will do next. I am thinking of doing another Star Wars design. Or maybe i will just build out some of these designs i already have. Not sure yet. I hate cutting foam. It is the designing that i love!

Today i spent some time collecting all of my plans and posting them in the Free Plans Sticky in the Scratchbuilt forum.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=851608

I included all the pictures and links for all my designs, the finished ones and the ones still in development.

It is really cool to have so many people interested in my designs and wanting to build them. So i thought i would make them a little more accessible.

I got the maiden in for the Imperial Star Destroyer and made a video. It is a decent flyer. I still need to tweak the CG a bit. I think once i have it nailed down that it will be a great flier!

Next up is the Defiant. I can't wait to get this one up. It looks like it will be a great aerobat and a lot of fun to fly.

On a funny side note. My wife and daughter went to a parade over Labor Day and there were a couple of Storm Troopers escorting the Peach Festival Queen. On their way out my Daughter got to get her picture with them holding their Blaster!!

RC Imperial Star Destroyer Maiden (3 min 25 sec)

So it has been a great summer. I have designed 16 planes/spacecraft. Built 7 so far 3 more to go for sure.

My Designs so far.

Star Trek Reliant
Star Trek Romulan Warbird
Star Trek Klingon Bird of Prey
Star Trek Klingon Bird of Prey - Design 2
Star Trek Enterprise-D
Star Trek Defiant
Star Trek - Secret design (not unveiled yet)

Star Wars Tie Interceptor
Star Wars Millenium Falcon
Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Wars B-Wing Fighter

Babylon 5 Star Fury

Battlestar Galactica Viper
Battlestar Galactica - Galactica

And now my Last 2

JetPack https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=915424

Star Wars Land Speeder https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=916241

My building has fallen way behind. I am almost done with my Star Destroyer. Next up is the Defiant.

After that i am not sure what i am going to build. Going to have to look through them.

There have been a couple people that have built my designs. A few before i even released prints!!! Overall i have had a great time designing and sharing all these ship with you guys. It is nice to see that some of my thread are Bolded now because of how many views. My Imp SD has over 5000 views and almost 100 replies and the Enterprise has 4600 views and 70 replies. That is great in my book.

I am starting to feel the need to do some non-space designs now too. My Jetpack would probably be considered questionable for a "space vehicle"


Anyhow. I can't wait to get the rest of these built and flown. I hope to see a bunch of you guys building my designs. And i still need to get all my designs put into the Scratchbuilt Plans thread.

Anyhow. Take a gander and enjoy!

It has been a while since i had a blog post. Been very busy with work then I took the Family to Orlando for vacation and to see the "hurricane" What a bunch of HYPE!!!!!

All week all they did every 5 minutes is talk about the hurricane! IT was not much worse than a decent thunderstorm. I will admit that it lasted a lot longer than a regular storm, but as to what you normally think of as a hurricane it was rather uneventful.

But I did get some time to design a new ship. Decided to go with the Battlestar Galactica series. Did a Viper before i went on vacation and a Battlestar! Looks like they will both fly really well.

I finally got a chance to start working on some building too. The B5 Fury was a total disappointment. It was too heavy and the control surfaces were totally ineffective. So i put it on the back burner. I will probably build another one over the winter out of Blue foam instead of the crappy pink stuff. I already know what i am looking to do for design changes.

I found out that the Pink Fanfold is about 1.5x the weight of Dow Protection board. One 2 foot by 4 foot piece of pink is 6.5 oz. a blue is only 4 oz. that is a HUGE difference.

I got my Imperial Star Destroyer started building too. It is going to be a great flyer. Then i will be working on the DS9 Defiant =)

Anyhow, some details on the BSG ships.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...1#post10413422
The BSG is 45" Long, 19" Span, same motor i use on all my...Continue Reading

So I have been having a lot of people in my normal life (not online) asking me why i am not selling these things.

I have been talking to some people about kitting these out. They are definitely unique! I can't think of a single kit out there that is a Star Trek or Star Wars ship.

I may have to really look into doing this and distributing them somehow. What do you guys think? Would you guys be willing to pay money for a complete SGTalon Summer of Space Kit?

Maybe buy the whole set!

I remember seeing some of the early 3D kits in the local hobby shops. They were selling for $20-$30 or so with everything except electronics.

Anyways...

I had some extra time today Check this out!

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...4#post10210574

BTW... How do you get your Blog to be "Featured"?

So i think the Summer of Space is catching on. There are several people building my designs now. Kwinters is building an Enterprise-D and the Bird of Prey 2 to take to Oshkosh this year www.eaa.org

At least one person is building a Tie Interceptor. And Someone went and built my Imperial Star Destroyer before I did!!!!

Of course now i have some catching up to do... Can't let someone else be the only one to build my designs!!! But man does that SD looks awesome.

So my latest project besides flying the Enterprise D is the Babylon 5 Star Fury. I have it all assembled now and i will be putting on the electronics tonight. Probably fly tonight or tomorrow. It just looks great though.

I have to say I am really unhappy with the Pink FanFold though. Turns out that it is much heavier than the Blue Protection Board.

I weighed a sheet of each last night. The Blue was a bit over 4 oz the pink was 6.5 oz!!! that is more than 50% heavier!

It looks like my flying weight for the Fury is going to be around 20 oz.... I am not happy about that. I really wanted to have a 1.5:1 or better thrust ratio and i am going to be just a bit over 1:1 now.

I think i am going to peel the skin off the whole thing and see how it does that way.

So the Summer of Space has taken a very nice turn to success!

I finally got the Enterprise D all built, tested and flying! Only took 2 tries to make it fly =)

I had a bit of trouble with my control throws on the first flight. I had Dual rates off and i NEEDED it!

After a few days in Space Dock it was ready to fly again and it was great!

This thing is a total floater! WAAAAAAYYYY better than the Reliant (my previous best floater)

Anyhow I revised the design a bit to add a bunch of reinforcement to the main fuse. You can see in the video that it is a bit wobbly but man does it fly nice!

It floats so well that i don't doubt that in a slight wind it will look like it is hovering. Excellent landings are easy with this thing! Heck i don't even need my hay field... good thing too. The farmer cut it all down!

Anyhow here is the thread for the Enterprise

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...39#post9984716

Video
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...4#post10181221

And the Youtube version... if i can get the darn thing to upload!!!

RC Foam Enterprise D Maiden (4 min 0 sec)

I have not had a lot of time for building lately. My company sells equipment to the car companies and we are in our busiest time during the July shutdowns. I am spending a lot of time in the plant but my project is going so well that I had a bit of extra time the last few days.

So i started up my 3D design program and whipped out some new designs.

Introducing....
The Millenium Falcon, https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...8#post10116191 <----More pics there

B-Wing Fighter,
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...0#post10116233 <--- More pics and details there

and Babylon 5 Fury!!! I have to say that the Fury is exceptionally cool.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...9#post10116293

Pics and details on the thread.



I have the Enterprise-D just about done. Will glue the main saucer on tonight and be ready for CG testing tomorrow.

The Summer of Space continues!!!

I got my Enterprise D cut out and started putting it together tonight. Man does it look cool. I think it may be the best flyer yet. Can't wait to get it in the air.

I have an order on the way from United Hobbies with some new batteries and servos so i can keep more spacecraft in the air.

I was working in the plant today waiting for the electrician to run the conduit to a conveyor panel and decided to put together a new design. Of course it is a spacecraft. I refuse to build anything this summer that is not a spaceship of some type.

So here it is. The Imperial Star Destroyer. 4' long 30" wide. Same 23oz thrust motor i am using on all the others. I think it may be the coolest one yet.

Check it out!

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=887870

So i have been a member here on RCGroups for 3 years or so. I stumbled across the site when i was looking for some information on electric planes.

I saw the stuff on scratchbuilt foamies and was totally shocked at the coolness i found.

So my first plane was a Steve Shumate Saab Gripen. https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=505535

It was quite ambitious for a first project but it turned out great.

From there i built a Cool Turbo Raven 3D plane. Had lots of fun with it. Then i built a 3DBatix Extra 330... Holy crap is that a great plane design. I put over 300 flights on that plane before i had to retire it and build another one.

Over the past 3 years i have built about 30 planes about 20 of them were Designs from other people and i learned a lot about how to build them right. I have been working on my own designs from way back, before i knew what i was doing.

My first design was a Star Trek USS Reliant
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=507126

It was a VERY scale design and rather small. WHat can i say i didn't know. Many people (like GPW and Gene Bond) told me to start with a Profile and see if i could make it fly. I scoffed at such negativity and went on. Hahaha i was such a fool! Needless to say it never flew. I could never get a decent glide out of it.

Then i did a 3D design of my own. It stunk. Terrible design, too heavy, flimsy, etc. So i started working on some other designs.

Over the years i have designed a...Continue Reading