At the start of this post my original 100% Polaris (Pushlaris) had clocked up 173 flights, Vectaris had 39 flights and my Mini Polaris (Toruk) had 23 flights. While I love them all I am accumulating too many airframes so...........

I am going to replace them all with one 133% Polaris.

This Polaris will have the following major features:

1. Removable wings for transportability.
2. Night flyer capability.
3. 4S power plant producing 1KG (35oz) of thrust.

There will be many minor features but I will cover those in posts as I build.

So where to begin...........?

Go to the end of this post and click on 'Comments' to see more.

Welcome to Vectaris, an adaption to the Steve Shumate Polaris.

In hindsight I should not have incorporated more than one change to the original design at a time, but that's hindsight I guess.

Vectaris incorporates three things, namely:

1. Vectored thrust in pitch,
2. Transportability, and
3. Increased wingtip buoyancy.

I will post on each in this blog, including pic's and video and expand further as questions are asked.

Go to the end of this post and click on 'Comments' to see more.

The test flight video here

Introducing VECTARIS (4 min 15 sec)

This one is almost finished, just need to do some tidying up of Rx wiring and make an Aussie decal set for her.

This Super Hornet has the exact same power plant in her as the Polaris. Noting that the Polaris is quite spirited and this aircraft is about 50g lighter, I expect exciting performance.

The motor mount area in the back per the plans required two pieces of depron sandwiched together. Because I wanted to fit Tailerons and I also wanted to keep things very neat, I made this area using three pieces. The middle piece helped to make channels for the motor wires to pass through and also made mounting the Taileron servo's easier. The servo wires also had a channel to run through and make there way forward.

The ESC is mounted in the centre barrel section and is attached to a heatsink which protudes into the left intake duct area for cooling. If you look down the intakes you will only see Taileron servo arms, aileron servo arms and a heatsink. You will not see any wiring at all.

This one is a crowd pleaser and allot of fun.

The build only calls for Tailerons, but of course I went a bit further as others have done and ganged ailerons to the tailerons. I have also fitted this aircraft with rudders and it does help in keeping the aircraft locked-in especially in high alpha. I do have a gyro in the rudder channel but it is dialed down real low currently.

AUW is 450g using a 1300 3S 20C Zippy pack and a 30A Turnigy Plush ESC. I used HS-55s all round. WOT on the Superscreamer motor draws 21A max in flight.

If you are interested in this build go here http://rc.tomhe.net/fa-18 and here https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=723890

If you are looking for decal artwork for your F22 go here http://www.6mmflyrc.com/decals/

The next one I tackled was the Steve Shumate Polaris. In fact I have built 4 of them now. The Polaris pictured is number one (mine) and still going strong since 10 Apr 09. The other three Polarii were built for others and I believe only one is still unscathed.

This aircraft always gets a fly every time I'm at the field and is the only aircraft I would currently fly in high winds with confidence. You just cannot have enough fun with this aircraft.

If you are interested in this build go here https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...hlight=polaris

Some video's of my Polarii:

Polaris 100% (6 min 6 sec)

Mini Polaris - Toruk (5 min 46 sec)

...Continue Reading

My next build I decided to make a Tomhe Super Hornet Quick Build. These designs are soooo easy to make and are soooooooo much fun to fly.

I decided to paint this one up in the Australian 25 years of Hornet flying colour scheme. One aircraft in the Australian fleet was painted up in this scheme and stayed that way for approx a year. This aircraft had rudders as well as ganged Tailerons and Ailerons. Dream to fly.

If you are interested in this build go here http://rc.tomhe.net/fa-18

Not having learnt from my first build I blindly stormed ahead with Steve Shumate's SU37. Once again this build couldn't be classified as an easy build, but damn it's a beautiful thing to behold.

If you are interested in this build go here https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=666686

One of my first builds was Steve Shumates F22. A silly first build really as this aircraft is a little challenging with all the heat bending and shaping. In the end it turned out alright and flies great.