I have been one who seeks out a challenge. I may have made at least one model for the categories - A6, LPP, Scale, Jumbo Scale, Legal Eagle, and a lot of self designed airplanes. It seems as if every new build just has to be different, and better than the last. When I was in my early years as a member of the RCGroups I thought two planes in advance of the one I was working on at the moment. It is a real thrill when they fly. One of my first designs was for RC. I worked hard on a self designed model with help from the well known book by the late Andy Lennon. I pretty much have given up on RC. Instead of building my design for RC I thought I would make it for rubber power instead. My girlfriend talked me into changing my plans back to building an RC model, "You have enough rubber powered airplanes." And so I changed my mind. But, I changed it back. I built the 54" wing-span design for RC including full span flaps which were pretty darn well made. I have heard from most everyone learning how to fly requires crashing. I did not want to crash. I changed it back to rubber power, and with each change the wing incidence had to be set properly...3 degrees positive incidence for rubber power, and 0 degrees incidence for RC with a stabilizer at negative 1 degree incidence. I glued the flaps in place, and made it for rubber power. With three loops of 1/4" rubber ( if I remember correctly ) the total weight was 1 lbs. Too heavy in my estimation. One of the staff, and a friend, as well here where I live ( apartment ) came by, and asked for me to tell the story of the airplane I was calling "The Monster". I said, "Do you want it?" The epic is hanging in his working garage at home which BTW is new complete with a lift, and all for $30,000.

I am building an Easy Built Models Royal Aircraft SE5 with a 50" wing-span. This will satisfy my desire to build a really big airplane for rubber power. I just need to.

Kevin

There was a post on the Free Flight forum where someone provided a video of a Guillow's Model that flew for over 30 seconds and he asked " How can I make a plane that flys like that?" I've built five Guillow's small WWII fighter planes. I got started with the Guillow's planes because that's all the local Hobby Lobby carried. I learned from another post the building technique of cutting the heavy Guillow's wood down to save weight. Actually, that's the only way these planes have a chance of flying. With my second to last build I used that method which produced an airplane that flew pretty well. I'm going to try again to build the ultimate 500 Series scale fighter plane. The only things from the kit I'll end up using are the plans, cowl and the canopy. For the rest I'll build with the lightest wood available which I'll get from Easy Built Models and as thin as will be strong enough, which will for the most part be a guess. I've modified the plan some in order to make it as light as possible without drastically changing the form of the Hellcat. The stabilizer is going to be around 20% larger and the structure of the plane will be more sparse. I want to break the 30 second mark. I still haven't used a winder with a long loop(s) of rubber but I do have a winder and I want to learn how. That is something else I wanted to mention - I'm learning.

Kevin

There are several great guys I've come to know on the Free Flight forum. Applehoney, who always steers me in the right direction with simple, short answers and is always ready with praise. BMatthews who is more of an academic in his posts and who volunteers information even though he knows someday we might be competing against each other. Gossie, who extended his friendship. JWFinn, who turned out to be someone I could confide in and with gentle pushes helped me to strive for better quality airplanes. dcloin, who showed me that being thorough and not cutting corners is a very good thing. And there are others who have been very nice by supplying information and who have tried to help solve problems, thank you.

I've been interested in model airplane design, building and flight for a long time. I got serious about it around three years ago, in 2005. I started by trying to design my own free flight plane and build it from scratch. I made around five of them. They flew, a little bit. I discovered RC Groups and the noble hobby went into high gear for me. I learned a lot in a short time and I'm still learning. I've designed and built a few planes, free flight, and built a few kits. Right now I have about 21 planes. I've had a lot of failures that wound up in the trash but I have had a lot of succeses. I've made indoor as well as outdoor designs, duration planes and scale models. Some of my self designed planes have done well. In particular a plane I made to compete in the Legal Eagle class.

Recently my Dad gave me a Hobby Zone Super Cub RC airplane. I'm learning how to fly it.

It's a thrill when one of my planes, self designed, built from a kit or from a plan downloaded from the Web, flys. There is something wonderfull when a hunk of wood defies gravity for an extended moment and then you start to think "When is this thing going to land?"