Look, I am obsessive. I am addicted to planes. Over my 4 short years in this hobby I have built and flown quite a number of planes. I try to fly all the ones I like fairly often so they don't feel lonely or neglected. But I have two favorites, and at least one usually comes to the field on every trip.

The Primo 40 has been my all time favorite going onto its third year. It had a serious mishap last summer, but is all rebuilt, this time with my own removeable wing design. While I don't remove the wings, I think removeable wings make profiles much easier to repair. I also think they are much stronger, because they have an aluminum wing spar in addition to the balsa spar. The other mod I have made is to adapt MOJO 60 landing gear. It gets the nose up so air gets under the wing right now! The Primo can go from a standing start to a vertical takeoff in about 10 feet. My Primo has the super nice Saito 82a for an engine. It has to be the nicest engine I have ever flown so the Primo deserves it. It swings a Xoar 14x4 prop.

I have owned and flown quite a few profiles, but the Primo is really special. I makes everything easy. Despite its wild control throws, it is the most relaxing plane I have ever flown. It can fly circuits around the field with the nose in any position from horizontal to vertical with nary any wing rock. With a small headwind it can descend almost vertically. It hovers itself. Truly an amazing plane. Primo is a fitting name for this plane.

My MOJO is...Continue Reading

I was always a "two stroke guy". I loved the concept of a simple engine without a valve train that gave twice as many power strokes per rev as a four stroke. I thought the old 2S Saab was a cool car, though I never had one. I loved the toughness of my chainsaws. I dropped one in the brook when I was cutting a tree, and pulled it out, pulled the cord to pump the water out, and then it started and ran fine. And all of my snowmobiles have been 2S engines that make gobs of power.

So when I got back into this hobby I naturally gravitated toward 2S engines. I put them on all of my first nitro planes, which were all profiles.
I knew they made a lot of power. I'd read things about 4S engines having better torque and better throttle response but I really didn't believe it. But finally I decided I swap out the OS 55AX on my Primo 40 with a Saito 82, running the same Xoar 14 x 4 prop just to convince myself once and for all that all the fuss was much about nothing.

Boy was I surprised. It is hard to describe how much better I liked flying the Primo. First, there was the incredible slow idle and low speed performance, where one click of the throttle would make a noticeable difference. Second, there was the smooth transition and quick throttle response in the midrange where I do most of my flying. And then there was the cool sound and little puffs of smoke when I hit the throttle. Plus, there was the always easy start, and the lack of issues with the engine...Continue Reading