I picked this model up at a decent price as a project. Hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. I credit Capt Easy here on RCG for the inspiration and I hope to copy many of his well engineered upgrades. I have decided to take it a step further however and replace the gear (Standard mechanical retracts) with rotaters and struts from the FMS P-40. They are a little different than what the hawk had but close since the hawk was the predecessor of the P-40.

This may take a while!...Continue Reading

Well this old bird flew away awhile back due to signal loss. (crappy Rx) Went down in the woods and all things considered very minor damage. Left wing broken off midway. Tail broken off, spinner smashed up. Again, going down in the wood sight unseen pretty moderate damage.

Let it stew for a few months but finally began the renovation and decided it needed a total overhaul yet again. Mostly just cosmetic this time with a new livery keeping with my penchant for N Afrika schemes. Will glass the wings with WBPU (thanks Microlyn) and reshape the spinner.

Going to repaint Black 8 desert scheme.

http://www.markstyling.com/bf109es6.htm...Continue Reading

Dynam Bf-110 done up in ZG-26 North Afrika scheme. I used the stock decals so the numbers are wrong. Real happy with how my first airbrush attempt turned out.

Only flown s few times so far but I like it. Surprised more people aren't interested in these 110's.

I originally altered the plane by trimming the rudder length, switching the F model air intake for a fabricated balsa E model type intake. Put a Power 46 clone in it and the plane was such a good flyer I decided to finally do the painful upgrade to newer more scale gear placement and struts with the FMS F model gear. Here are the before, after and a few in progress shots. Still a few items to do but its mostly complete. Hope I did not destroy the flight characteristics of this sweet flying plane.

Alan

FMS Bf-109E with Mr RC Sound 4.1 (0 min 30 sec)

...Continue Reading

Could not resist this one at half the price of the FMS. Not as scale as the FMS but good enough for me if it flies well. Broke all of my personal rules by repainting this one before flying it. Still needs exhausts and gun stains and squadron numbers.

Regards,
Alan

Well the peeps of Lambeth will not be happy with Wing Commander Goofy-Smythe's handling of the shiny new Spitfire they handed him. On sorty 20 or so Goofy-Smythe spilled hot tea on is lap shortly after takeoff and lost control of the aircraft resulting in a unwelcome nasty little spin. Goofy-Smythe was thrown clear of the wreckage but did apparently lose his lower torso and legs. Fortunately by being thrown clear of the wreckage, Goofy-Smythe survived the ensuing conflagration and is in hospital recovering from having his lower half surgically reattached. No mention was made of the tea in the after action report and Goofy-Smythe was officially listed as "shot down" by marauding Bf-109's which were conveniently in the area. He is expected to be awarded the Victoria Cross and be promoted to Air Vice Marshall. Meanwhile back in Lambeth (my shop) Goofy-Smythe's ride will be getting a retrofit of flaps and the correct dihedral when the repairs are commenced, hopefully making the plane into a better flier tha even Goofy-Smythe can handle!

This is the plane that did not sell well and was scoffed at as a "toy" by many. (aren't they all?) Anyway it certainly was not the most accurate scale model of a 109 E but also much much better than some of the "stand off" scale planes of the past. I incorporated some minor mods; Trimmed the rudder, modified the stock spinner, fabricated a more scale intake, Gave the goofy pilot a minor makeover and fabbed some exhaust covers. I could not bring myself to attempt to move the gear inboard. Too much work for a flawed plane IMO. Flew her twice so far and I absolutely love the way this thing flies. Required virtually no trim adjustments.

Regards,
...Continue Reading

Finally finished my Spit makeover and got a few in flights. Tally Ho!

Regards,
...Continue Reading

This is the first balsa build I've done since I was a kid and the first plane I've ever covered with monokote. Took me a long time because I'm slow but it was a lot of fun and the plane is a great relaxing flyer. Covering it was tedious and I made a lot of mistakes but I'm happy with it since its my first covering job. Still needs struts, wing numbers and the black swoop down the side but at last my demoted Airfield goofy finally is airborne again!

Regards,
Alan

Doinked the Spit a month or two back and needed a new cowl, spinner etc so I decided to go ahead and convert to a BoB scheme Spit. To all the scale purists I apologize in advance since I am sure there are things on and things missing from this plane that the BoB Mk whatevers had. I do not know the differences between the Mk's. Obviously with this one the dihedral is wrong but beyond that, the cannon had to go even though I saw where these were tested in the BoB. Anyhoo here she is.

Got this one on sale to go along with JMAH's so maybe if he can get his flying, we can do some formations. Not planning to do too much to this one right off the bat. Only minor mods so far including:
-slight rake of gear with a spacer
-Removed ugly gap in spinner and balanced it
-Painted cockpit, exhaust covers, cannon tips and gave goofy a makeover.
-Added UBEC

Hope to maiden today.

Flew the P-51 for the first time since rebuild and it flew awesome. Once I got it trimmed out it was a pussycat. Tried the flaps and as expected it slowed to a crawl. Retracts with slight forward rake handled the freshly mown bermuda soccer field with no problem and no nose overs. Before it nosed over every time.

Regards,
Alan

Got this about a year ago as an ARF. Flew it less than 15 times and had problems with the retracts and then the ESC smoked. I was fortunate to have it pancake in w/ no airframe damage. Went to the rebuild/project line which is kind of like the Bermuda Triangle at my house! I incorporated some much needed mods in the rebuild and also gave it a more realistic "Marie" paint scheme. Bottom line is these planes are in need of more upgrades than the typical ARF/RTF require. They are excellent flyers though. Remaiden this week I hope weather permitting.

This was an el-cheapo kit from Banana Hobby but fitted out with cheap outrunners and ESC's. It is a tough EPO airframe that flies very nice once you get rid of the brushed garbage. Hand launches easily even with the pusher and slows real nicely to stall/flop in the grass. Real nice park flier that I'm surprised more people are not flying. Here are a few shots in action with JMAH's P-40 kittyhawk.

Got out to the local field w/ JMAH and DoubleH tody for some fun. Did a few loose formation attempts with P-38's. Shane showed up with his nicely detailed PZ Corsair (which I failed to get a pic of) and a nicely weathered Wildcat which I did get a shot or two of.

Regards,
Alan

GWS P-40 x2
J-Power P-38
GWS FW-190
PZ Spitfire

These are some shots from my disastrous hyperion stuka maiden and subsequent re-build. light poles and planes do not mix well!...Continue Reading

Never been a huge Corsair fan but after flying my nephew's (HH) Art Tech
F4U I was converted. picked up this unpainted NPS Corsair and put it on the slo go construction line but finally finished it up. Went with dual aileron servos and a 450 motor so it should cook since it is still quite light. On to the maiden flight!...Continue Reading

Luftwaffe had the upper hand this day as two allied planes went down including my much loved L-4 wannabe. It is repairable but its going to sit awhile until I build up the resolve to rebuild it.

Alan

My Arbor and first year Hops. They are just for looks and shade hopefully. If they do produce enough I will certainly throw them in a batch of home brew. Three are Cascades and one is a Willamette (US Fuggle)