Whenever I see Buzz Waltz's incredible work, it's little wonder that he used to work closely with Soar Birdy and Big Birdy designer and champion R/C pilot, Joe Bridi. They still stay in touch, in fact.

When Buzz first gave me what he called The Sparrow, I was speechless. I'd seen this three-channel beauty fly and its resemblance to a Fokker Eindecker makes it that much more spectacular in the air.

Of course, when young Anakin Skywalker is in the cockpit ready for the big Boonta Eve Classic Podrace, how can I lose?

This was a model he banged out on his workbench one day and was later very tempted to produce it as a kit. It never made it to the kit stage, so I now own the one and only example with extra rudder area added to prevent the steering problem which may have resulted in a crash and less the semicircular decorative panels on either side of the motor. I have them; Buzz simply forgot to add them before he recovered the fuselage.

I haven't yet flown it. Buzz added an additional balsa bulkhead in front of the Anakin bust which may have to come out before I can fit a 1300mAh 3S battery. I have to remove the motor and drill out the hole in the firewall through which the motor shaft retainer passes.

The original Tower Pro 9g servos flew that model well and still work well, but they're very basic and I don't know how well they'll hold up to the extra rudder area. I have two brand new Tower Pro 9g metal-geared analogs which I will swap in once I get some...Continue Reading

...and revisit a damaged model at a later date. Works every time.

After doing precisely that regarding the damaged little Harbor Freight P-51, the damage isn't all that bad. The canopy suffered a couple of wrinkles and the underside of the cowl area is little more than a "scraped chin," easily repaired. I thought for sure that I had destroyed the model. It hit asphalt, but I might have been able to pull back the elevator far enough to avoid little bits of EPO scattered all over.

Instead, I do believe I can fix it.

First things first and that will be the removal of the wing spar and restoring the dihedral. Once I attach a new prop and collet, I'll try again.

I was going to take it apart last night and now I'm glad I didn't.

As for the crash damaged homebuilt "Sparrow," I'm told that I should have it back by Saturday, repaired and with additional rudder area. I also have a bit more info on the glider in the photo below.

It was built by a gentleman named Arlo Larson, an engineer whose most recent work includes the development of both fiberglass and carbon fiber blades for wind turbines. My friend Buzz who gave it to me never flew it; he saw it cleaned up and flown for the first time this past Saturday. I solved the sticky folding prop blade problem easily enough by hogging out the mounting holes with a hobby knife.

I also have two gliders by Mr. Larson, one of which is an incomplete "Bird of Time." I can say with confidence that Mr. Larson is a top notch builder! A canopy for that multicolored model is being whittled out by Buzz.

What goes up must come down.

The little Harbor Freight P-51 project went up for a test flight last week and it didn't end too well.

It acted tail heavy even though it wasn't and kept rolling on the ailerons. One thing for sure is that adding the carbon fiber spar to the wing took out a lot of dihedral. My guess is that's what caused it to crash.

Interestingly, it remained in one piece for the most part. The cowl is a loss and I'm not sure from whence it came. It might be an E-flite part.

It's battered and beaten, but I'm thinking of removing the spar, restoring the dihedral and giving it another whirl just for laughs. I mean, what could happen?

Stay tuned since this might be interesting.