I have been collecting kits and engines for many years, and while I love building I feel like my larger airplanes are less practical than I would like. I really enjoy small glow power models with tiny four strokes... I'm weird... so I'm looking at this shelf of engines and thinking about how I miss driving a 5 speed car... and I kind of had this hair brained idea I should sell the whole shelf and buy a beater.. something I can fix up and work on with my son. something with a 5 speed and rear wheel drive... dare I say all wheel drive?

I was heavily impacted by watching the drift bible when I was a teenager... if you have never watched it I feel like it made me a much safer driver as I've been able to handle sliding conditions in emergencies over the years where my car ended up drifting suddenly on ice. I have never crashed a car and I feel like mastering these skills are a zen like experience akin to flying helicopters and building with balsawood...

The Drift Bible (How to drift for starters/pro's) with the Drift King (FULL HQ) (1 hr 9 min 25 sec)

I miss having a 5 speed.. I feel kinda gutted not having a 5 speed. I got to drive perhaps the zenith of manual car technology this summer... my friend let me drive his 1991 Acura NSX with a supercharger and numerous other performance upgrades... holy moly! the connected, visceral feel of that mid engine v6 with the screaming supercharger, no power steering, stability control, just 3 pedals and pure bliss...

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Since Zephyr was born in 2012 he has been my little flying buddy. As soon as he was old enough to walk and move around he wanted to touch my models. He has been using a flight simulator since he was two, but for years there was no connection, just pure passion. About two years ago he started to pull it together on the sim. He flies the sim a lot, every type of model, and when he showed me he could take off, fly a circuit, and land without crashing, I started to work with him on a buddy box. That was probably last summer. By this summer he has been flying almost all of my models on the buddy box, getting time in on classics like a Goldberg Chipmunk and a 1/4 scale Cub. About a month ago he convinced me he was ready to start taking off and landing, and I let him do that with a little foam Champ. He blew me away with his level of control and how smooth he flew, I was so proud!

My son flying solo RC at 6 years old! (1 min 24 sec)

After that I set him free on his parkflyer Corsair. He has about a dozen flights under his belt now with that and is flying very well!

6 year old Zephyr flies his Corsair solo! (1 min 10 sec)

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I decided to dig out another article from my old long-defunt website, BaronsHobbies.com
This is almost a decade old, from Dec 3, 2008
...

Model helicopters have come a long way, and today’s modern machines are capable of astounding performance. Models differ from their full sized counterparts in many ways, and one of the biggest differences is the rotor head design itself. A mechanical stability system called a flybar is employed in most instances to add a degree of stability and make control response more predictable. Although considered by many to be black magic, all flybar equipped model helicopter rotor head designs take advantage of concepts invented in the early days of helicopter technology by Arthur Young of Bell Helicopters, and Stanley Hiller Jr. of Hiller Helicopters. Understanding exactly how these systems work can be a mind boggling quest into the mathematical world of aerodynamics, processional forces, and trigonometry (to begin with). How then can the average hobbyist gain a functional understanding of how these systems work? The answers are buried in the history books. Taking a look at the Hiller and Bell concepts can be very beneficial in understanding how the flybar equipped model helicopter head does what it does so well.

The Bell Stabilizer Bar

Arthur Young (1905-1995) was a remarkable man whose true passion was philosophy. But, after running into a frustrating roadblock on his comprehensive theory of the universe, he chose to go after a more...Continue Reading

I've adopted a CG Super Chipmunk, and I'm learning about the late, great Art Scholl. From what I can find Art learned about aviation with models, and got into full sized aviation with a determination to learn aerobatics. His classic Super Chipmunk is really a different aircraft than the DHC-1 Chipmunk it was based on. Art clipped the wings and enlarged and changed the shape of the tail. He shortened the fuse and made it a one place instead of two, with a custom bubble canopy. He eventually changed to a different engine layout and added retractable landing gear. There were so many changes to the aircraft it was essentially a ground-up redesign. Few would argue Art's place in aerobatic aircraft design history. How did he get there? Did he just whip out his changes on a full size Chippy and go for it?

We know he licensed his design to numerous model manufacturers, such as mine from Carl Goldberg. I came across a video from 1966 where Art was using a model of his Chipmunk in his aviation class. Whats interesting is its apparent the model is flyable based on details like control horns on the control surfaces, and this version of his design was a very early iteration before he changed to a flat 6 engine. So, I was imagining if I were Art. If I had extensive hobby experience and I wanted to design an aerobatic airplane I was going to fly, it makes perfect sense to build a model and wring it out first.

Perhaps I'm out in left field, but we know Art had a very early version (likely) flyable model around 1966, and he later sold design rights (and plans?) to multiple hobby companies. I'm thinking about taking on my CG Chippy, but I may take a closer look and see if I can build a replica of this early version model.

F-0079 Aerobatic: Ballet in Blue (10 min 19 sec)

I wanted to post a mini review of the model. I enjoyed the build, my son and I completed it on a rainy sunday in about 4 hours. I've flown it a few times now, and I'm completely comfortable throwing it around. I am a heavy right hand piro flyer, I guess I just watched too much of Curtis Youngblood in my early days to figure out how to go left! The good thing about that though is a push a heli hard in aerobatics pirouetting against torque, and I can find a helis tail limits quicker than others because I go hard left. Going hard right just unloads the heli, so it works a lot harder going left. The Blade Fusion 480 has no problem pulling through when I really ask a lot of it. Big sideways loops transitioning into a hard left piro flip, hard backwards into a hard piro flipping reversal, tight funnels and pulling out with a left piro thrown in, these are the kind of loading maneuvers I do that often find those limits on a machine, where the tail will let go and just give and cry for mercy and flail around. Not the 480, its a well balanced machine, its big enough to have good presense and use standard size servos, but its small enought to be practical on 6s and cost a little less for blades etc. Its fast and aggressive, but stable and planted. Its powerful but still gives me over 5 minutes of flight time (yet to see how much I will get with full pitch range and working into my comfort zone, that may come down)

I'm running the Scorpion 4020 1350Kv motor with a 6 year old 6s...Continue Reading

I wanted to share these images with someone who would appreciate them, so I figured this was a good place! My friend Bob Dutton passed away 13 years ago now. I met Bob when I was 13 at the Canby Dusters in Oregon. I heard he lived in my town, so I walked up to him and introduced myself and asked if he would be willing to let me tag along to the flying field, and we became long time friends. Bob was a retired air force guy, and he loved everything that flew.

At some point he had attended Air Force reunions events or similar, and they had speakers including Pappy Boyington one year, and another year Kawato Masajiro, who shot Pappy down. Bob was able to get signed paintings from both pilots. I was happy his daughter wanted to keep them when I was moving hobby stuff out of his old shop this summer, so these are not in my possession, but they are so awesome I wanted to share.

Happy Landings Bob, I'm going to commit all kinds of aviation with your stuff in your memory, starting with your almost complete House Of Balsa FW 190, that is gonna be a great flyer!

So I've got a lot of projects, I need to focus. I also just got a bunch of stuff from an old friend I have to work into my hobby workflow. I am finishing up his HOB FW-190 first, cutting so much weight going to modern radio gear and a tiny 300mAh LiFe pack for the rx!!

Here is my priority list for building, subject to editing! now, where to dive in? I've listed the engine I have tentatively planned to use,

- Double Ender scratch build- wings and landing gear from 15cc carbon cub- plans drawn (2- Saito FA91) (kind of considering delaying this project using 1 FA 91 on the 15cc Carbon Cub and one on the CG Chipmunk)
- Scratch design FPV STOL plane (Norvel .074)
- Super Cub 25e glow conversion, nearly complete (Saito 56)
- Carl Goldberg Super Chipmunk
- Herr 1/2a Mustang (Norvel .074)
- GP Patriot (Rossi .53 or OS .46 SF)
- Carl Goldberg Anniversary Cub (OS 60 four stroke)
- GP 20 sized Cub (OS .26 four stroke)
- HOB AT-6 (Saito 40a or OS .25 FP)
- Andy Kunz Blitzer (Norvel .074)
- Ultra Sport Plus
- Super Sportster 60
- Marks Models 60 sized P-51 (Saito 65)
- Hobby Hangar Mini Sukhoi
- Scratch scaled up sig hummer- sort of (OS .32f)- wing complete with retracts
- RCM Trainer 5

what have I left out?...

I have flown all up and down the west coast, and I miss living there terribly, but Illinois is where my career is! Fortunately I have enough vacation time I try to make a trip home to Portland a priority at least once a year. This year I will be in Oregon from July 13th to July 24th. I will be bringing a quad and perhaps an FPV wing, and I always try to get a good trip to the beach in. If anybody wants to plan a trip to Tierra Del Mar (Pacific City), or other areas for an FPV adventure, please send me a PM. I prefer to hit up those kinds of spots on early week days when nobody is on the beach. If you want to do some slope soaring, I won't have a sailplane with me, but I would LOVE to get get some lift. Living on flat ground in a windy area makes a sloper itchy. It makes me want to slope soar every highway overpass, tree line and building, but I've pretty much given up on micro urban sloping, although I think there is still promise there. I will be staying in West Linn at the 'rents, and there is a great little float flying spot on the Willamette.

Also... I will be helping a dear friend's widow make some space, he passed 13 years ago now and his entire basement is still filled with models. Its time to give them new homes and give her some closure. A lot of it may be old half finished projects or swap meet finds from an eon ago... I will be posting on here in the classifieds when I figure out what's what, but if you want a beater for a trainer or a project for a rainy day I...Continue Reading

another archive from my old website, great day. FPV on Mt. Hood in 2011

I have always wanted to fly on Mt. Hood ever since I got into FPV, and with my new Custom Widebody Stryker proving to be a great platform for the GoPro HD camera I headed up to the mountain with my Wife on a clear windless winter day. This Stryker was cut in half and widened 5 inches to make room for equipment and carry the GoPro. I am using an Eagle Tree OSD Pro, an FY-20 stability device, a 300 mw 1.28 gHz video transmitter with a V antenna built into the vertical stabilizer, and a 72 mHz PCM receiver. My motor of choice is a Mega 16/15/7 for its efficiency, and I’m spinning an 8×6 propeller. The max current draw is 19 amps at sea level with this setup, but I was under-propped on the mountain and could only draw 15 amps. I would go to a 9×6 if I fly on the mountain again. Everything on the Airplane is powered by a single 2200 mAh 3 cell Lipo, and I’ve built a power filter and 5v regulator system to power the video transmitter and GoPro. My ground station uses an Eagle Eyes system for diversity from two cheap “12 channel” receivers with stock DiPole antennas, and I’m flying with a hacked pair of Trimersion goggles. My Transmitter is 72mHz. Somehow I managed to even cross my landing marks in the snow with nearly identical landings. A special thank you to my Wife Dustine for helping me make this day possible and taking pictures. Sit Back and enjoy the ride! (Please forgive the half finished covering, I couldn’t pass up the chance to fly in this weather!)

Northwest Adventure Flying on Mt Hood (5 min 37 sec)

Another waybackmachine archive, this one kind of painful from 2009- trying to keep the hobby shop going as an online info resource...

We thought we’d include you in the latest things going on around here at Baron’s Hobbies. If you’ve been following us from the start you’ve seen our transition from an RC hobby supplier to an information source. Well, we’re not through changing yet and for the better. For us to really help bring the sort of information you’re interested in, we’d love to hear your requests or questions you may have for our expert staff. If you are an RC aviation enthusiast we are looking for people interested in contributing their stories and experiences.

Looking For Reader Feedback

As you may have seen we’re not fair weather flyers and the snow is not going to stop us from getting out there and enjoying the skies. We’d love to hear about what others do in the off season and the die-hards that get out there in rain or snow. Tell us about how you cope with the off season. Do you fly in the rain, snow and cold?

Stay tuned here to Baron’s Hobbies for upcoming improvements. In the coming weeks we will be covering the AMA convention in Ontario, California, and doing several interviews with well known pilots. In addition, we are excitied to be introducing a highly skilled modeler to our readers as a new contributing author. For automatic updates on our latest articles, please click on the RSS feed in the upper right corner of the page and subscribe.

I dug this up from my old website- long gone but I found it on the waybackmachine -this one from 2009

This second installment will cover my middle school and high school years, ending with my graduation from high school at the turn of the century. When I left off in the first part, I was writing about my trusty Gentle Lady glider. Shortly after starting middle school, my Gentle Lady met its fate when the radio was shut off in flight while flying at Mary S. Young State park. I had the switch mounted on the hatch, just below the propeller for the pod-mounted .049. My little Cox engine had the really old sping starter which hooked around the prop, newer versions used a plastic cam, but mine actually grabbed the prop itself. I had so many flights on it the spring cut through the prop, and the loose blade hit the switch, damaging it and shutting off power to the glider in the middle of a nose down turn. My Gentle Lady hit the ground and just crumpled after all the repairs I had done.

Stepping Up

Early in middle school I received another model from my cousin Leon, scratch built from a pull out plan construction article in Model Airplane News. The low wing Be-Tween (plan number X07912, still available from Model Airplane News!) was typical of Leon’s builds. It was built straight, strong, and lightweight, and I felt mine was even better looking than the one in the magazine! Although the Be-Tween was a great little plane, it wasn’t until a year later when he sent me a...Continue Reading

I dug this up from my old website- long gone but I found it on the waybackmachine

Wednesday June 25, 2008 West Linn, Oregon- Welcome to Baron’s Hobbies. This is Aaron Shell’s autobiography, Aaron is the publisher of Baron’s Hobbies. Baron’s Hobbies is the culmination of a lifelong pursuit of all things that fly by radio control. Watch for posts in the Aaron’s Biography category for the next chapter in my diverse exposure to the world of RC. Let me take this opportunity to introduce myself and tell my story. This first chapter covers the time I was 5 -12 years old.

MY STORY

Aviation triggered something inside me at a very early age. My first word may well have been “airplane,” and most of my firsts indicated I had flying on the brain. My first lego models, drawings and stories written in grade school, were all about airplanes. I have been a participant in the fascinating world of radio control flying since I was in the second grade. Sitting on my cousin Leon’s knee during a family event when I was about 5 years old, he told me stories of radio control gliders circling in bubbles of warm air and climbing without power with the birds. Images of those majestic lumbering floaters traversed across my minds eye and continue to drift across my sub-conscience to this day.

I began flying when Leon sent me an electric Cox EZ Bee Trainer in 1988. The model was actually pretty advanced for its day; with a foam airframe, a polyhedral glider type wing, a geared electric motor...Continue Reading

Two of the best years of my life were poured into RC Heli Magazine’s early years; I spent 2006 to 2008 living in southern California working as the Editor of RC Heli Magazine. After moving back to Oregon in 2008 I wrote a few articles a month for them as a contributing author. Unfortunately the Magazine is no more, it was decided to shut it down for good at the end of November 2011. I greatly value the friends and experiences I gained from working at the magazine. One of the pinnacles of my career was interviewing Chuck Aaron for the magazine and going for a ride in the Red Bull BO 105. While the magazine had its ups and downs, I’m proud of the work I completed for the magazine, and I will miss being a part of the RC Heli Magazine team.


Video of my ride in the RedBull Heli

going for a ride in the Red Bull Helicopter (14 min 33 sec)