This past year has been 'challenging' to say the least. At least the entire world is united on, at least, one thing, even if it is a pandemic.

I indeed to try this new year to finish as many of my unfinished or unrepaired projects as possible. With this in mind, I wish all of you in the RC Groups world a very

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tony

TONY

I've been debating about whether to start a build log on this airplane so I thought that I would start it here and then if all goes well, then I may move it to the appropriate forum

The plane is a P-51 Mustang. Just what the model world needs right? Another P-51!

This one started out back in the early 70's designed for the old FAI pylon racing circuit. It was designed by Tony Dowdeswell in England and the plans were published in the April '73 issue of RC Modeler Magazine. It is assuredly not scale but close enough that no one should have any difficulty recognizing it. It is approximately 1/7 (1/6.79 based on wing span) scale with a 57 inch wing span. It can be built as either the D version or as a B/C version. I prefer the looks of the B/C version but am leery of being able to find a suitable canopy for it. D Model canopies seem to be readily available. I have no confidence in my ability to produce a canopy on my own.

I downloaded the plans in PDF format and tile printed them. After assembling the plans, I discovered that the two sheets (fuselage on one sheet, wing and stab on another) did not match up. So now I had to resize the plans and make them fit to each other. I had to make the wing plans so a 57 inch span and them get the wing root chord to match the wing saddle opening on the fuselage. Thanks to GIMP, I was able to fairly easily (once I figured out how to do it) able to do it . Then it was back to reprinting the plans in the correct size.

Now...Continue Reading

Apparently, I still can't get finished with any of my existing projects so I have again resorted to an (ugh) ARF. While not fond of ARF's, I have liked the flyability (is that a word) of the Ugly Stik line of models. I have owned several over the years including Little Stiks, Middle Stiks, 40 sized, 60 sized and several scratch built from kit plans and some from plans that I drew up. Its just a good flying airplane.

So I decided to try the Great Planes ElectoStik, and a quick order to Tower Hobbies and a 2 day wait and I had one in my hands. I bought the ARF airframe only. I still prefer to provide my own 'innards'.

My Stik is as follows:

Heads Up RC Power 15 motor
FMS 50 Amp ESC
Turnigy 3.6 Amp 3s battery
Hitec Aurora 9 transmitter
Hitec Optima 7 receiver
4 Emax 3103 17 gram servos
11 x 5.5 APC prop
AUW is 3.7 lbs

I had to buy the motor and the servos, everything else I already had on hand. I could have gone with servos on hand but I only had 9 gram servos and I figured something a little bigger would be appropriate., The Emax 17 gram servos are a perfect fit in the precut servo mounting holes. I did not have a 15 sized motor. Everything I had was either too small or too big.

I was concerned about the motor since Tower was recommending a 25 sized motor but according to their weight specs the Power 15 would provide at least 100 watts or more per pound so I thought that I would try it. I have not tested the power setup but Heads Up rates their...Continue Reading

Just trying to bring some things up to date;...Continue Reading

Well, for what its worth, I am now an officially registered FAA model airplane pilot. What a load of crap!

Tony

This past Saturday, I was vacationing with my wife and some of her family in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They took me to see the aviation museum at the Hamilton Int'l Airport. It is a very nice museum and I was really enjoying myself when I saw this Lancaster being started up. I asked one of the museum staff and was informed that it was currently the only flyable Lancaster in the world (there is another one in England but at this time is not flyable due to being in repair for a recent engine fire. Unfortunately I was unable to see the runway and subsequent takeoff but here is part of the startup and taxiout.

This particular aircraft was manufactured in 1945 and uses the Packard V-12 engines instead of the Merlins. Still, you got to love the sound of 4 V-12 running up.

Lancaster (2 min 26 sec)

Tony

I'm posting this in hopes of doing a little reminiscing about old times. I learned to fly RC in 1971 in North Las Vegas while stationed at Nellis AFB. I ran across these old slides and managed to scan them into my computer. I'm posting them here thinking maybe someone will recognize someone that they know or remember.

If you look closely, there are two Top Flite P-51B's in these photos. Both showed up at field on the same day. The one in green is covered with OD Monocote and was really a gorgeous airplane.. Seems like the owner's first name was Larry but I wouldn't stake my life on that. The radio was an EK Logitrol. I don't remember what engine he had on it. The airplane flew beautifully and tracked like an arrow. Unfortunately, on the second flight (I think), he did a split S with full throttle and when he tried to pull out, she did a high speed stall and snap roll right into the ground from about 10' altitude. There was not much left but balsa splinters. As he walked back to the pit area carrying little red servos and his engine, he said "It was almost worth it, it was almost worth it!"

The second P-51, in silver livery, was painted with automobile paint and didn't fly as well. But it did go home all in one piece.

The transparent yellow and metallic green Goldberg Falcon 56 was mine. It was powered originally with an Enya .15 and would just barely fly with that engine. It was constantly on the verge of a stall. I traded the .15 for an Enya ....Continue Reading

Latest build. This is the current status of my Sperry Messenger. I'm pretty far along. Just finished soldering up the landing gear struts and put it all together and get a feel for how it will look. Bottoms of wings and both sides of the stab are covered with polyspan using thinned (50/50) Mod Podge Matte. I am also using thinned M-P for a filler on the Poly. So far it seems to be working just fine.

Mar 18, 2014: Update. Coming along veerrrryyyy ssslllooooowwwlllyyy! Still needs nose job and lots of little fiddly bits. Graphics by CallieGraphics....Continue Reading

I can't believe that I haven't posted about this airplane yet. I love flying it. 42" span, about 18 1/2 oz. AUW, HURC 400 Slo-Fly motor, 11x5.5 APCe prop, 1300 3s 25c GFORCE battery. I just came in from a 9 1/2 minute flight and the battery is not even warm. Right now the batt is recharging. I'll post the consumption as soon as the recharge is finished. (Finished charging - 732 maH put back in!) Take off is generally at one half throttle with about a 15 foot take off roll. If I do a full throttle takeoff, there is no take off roll, just instant catapult into the air. Half throttle loops from level flight, just pull back on the stick. Stall turns, just pull up, when vertical, hit the rudder, turn around and pull out of the dive. Couple stall turns with low slow passes and I'm a crop duster.

She is not pretty (my fault, not the airplanes). I didn't bother with the radial engine and the paint job looks like crap, but, boy does she fly. And at the power settings that I use, she flys on her wings, not the motor. Love it. Most of the flying is at 1/3 to 1/2 power. About the only time that I will use full power is to gain a lot of altitude fast for a leisurely spin back down stairs. BTW, she doesn't roll worth a crap. Get up high, apply a little up, full aileron, some down while inverted, and be prepared to pull out of a dive when she comes back upright. Don't even think about inverted. I suspect that the full scale had similar flight characteristics.

I remember this model being published many years ago in RC Modeler magazine. It thought then that it was a neat looking little airplane but I wasn't into micro stuff then (mainly because there wasn't much 'micro' gear back then. Originally it was for single channel magnetic actuator control; I didn't have one, and couldn't see buying one for one airplane. Especially when proportional equipment was much easier to maintain and fly.

After RCM published it, Ace RC kitted it with a set of their foam wings in the kit

A few months ago, I ran across the plans on the internet available for download and I downloaded a set for use 'someday'. The same site has several of the old Ace plans. Well, someday has finally arrived and I have decided to try out the Dick's Dream. As usual, I can't leave well enough alone and so will be doing some modifications. Mainly, I will try to keep the weight down a bit from the original kit design. The first thing that I have done is to build the fuselage out of 1/16 sheet balsa instead of 3/32 sheet. I intend to build the vertical and horizontal stabs as framed up structures using 1/8 square balsa instead of 3/32 sheet. The wing will be framed up using 1/16 sheet ribs and 4 1/8 inch square balsa spars with a 1/4 x 3/8 inch leading edge and a trailing edge of 3/16 x 3/4 balsa sanded to shape. I think that I will built the wing as a two piece with plug-in panels. Since I am not using the plan wing, I have designed the new wing mostly using Profili 2. The new wing will have a NACA 2414 airfoil at the root progressing to a Clark Y airfoil at the tip.

OH, also, it will be a taildragger iinstead of have tricycle gear.

A few pix to follow:

Tony

About a month ago, I looked around and I had over seven uncompleted projects going. Talk about ADD. I couldn't seem to finish anything and seemingly continuously finding something new to start. Long story short, I decided to get some of my projects into flying condition at least even if not completely finished. A mohth ago I think I had one airplane in fllying condition, my foam 1.4 meter FMS T-28. Today, I have the T-28, Fleet Bipe, Aerodrome SE5, Hobby Lobby Stinson 105, Ace All Star Bipe, a foamy SBD5 and a F-86 EDF. My scratch built Vigilante is moving along slowly with an F-14 pusher and an F-22 still in the wings waiting.

I'm also getting some flying in. This morning I got two good flights in on the T-28. I'm not overly fond of foamiy ARF's but I've got to admit the T-28 is a great flying airplane. This evening I got two more flights in on the Fleet Bipe. This Pat Tritle design is another really nice little airplane. Really nostalgic. Looks so realistic when you see the silhouette of the old biplane against the summer thunderclouds and the setting sun. It is really relaxing. Unfortunately even with my grass cut as short as I can cut it, it is still difficult to get in good touch and goes. So 4 flights today. Congratulations to me.

While I'm on the subject of flying, I'll make a couple of quick comments on the SE5. I'm not nearly as happy with this airplane as I am with the Fleet. I had thought that the flight characteristics would be somewhat...Continue Reading

Basic wing construction

This is my third All-Star. My first was in 1973 when it was first kitted. I scratch built another in late '80's or early '90's. The second one never flew. Both were glow powered.

The first one had an Enya .19 and was HEAVY and over powered but the Enya was the only engine that I had with me in Thailand. It flew well but when the power was pulled back to land, you had better duck because it was definitely coming down. It had the glide ratio of a brick. The second had an HB .12 and as I said before, I never flew it.

I recently saw a thread about another conversion for the All Star and it has inspired me to do another one. https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1598332...Continue Reading

This is a complete change of pace from what I have been doing for a couple of years.

I stole this idea (1919 Emmaselle) from Dag214 except his is giant sized.. I call mine the EmmaLita (my granddaughter and my wife).

Mine is parkflyer sized.
37" wingspan
13 oz all up weight
2s1p 1300 lipo
motor: Hextronic 24gram 1300 kv
pull/pull cables on rudder and elevator, separate servos on ailerons
10% flat bottom airfoil (eyeball)
flying wires on top and bottom of wing.

Simulated motor is from Keith Sparks (Sparky) at www.parkflyerplastics.com. I probably should have used a 'rotary' instead of a 'radial'.

With the 7.4 lipo, I can get about 40-50 watts and that should be plenty for nice slow flying around in my yard.

I think it is ready for maiden except for double checking the CG.

Tony

My SR-22, which has been on backorder since early September, finally arrived today. I had been tempted several times to cancel my order and move on but I waited and I think that I will be glad that I did.

The box arrived via UPS in excellent condition. It was double boxed with standard brown cardboard external and the regular kit box. Everything was well taped together.

Upon opening the boxes, I found everything to be well packed, wrapped in clear plastic and taped into place to prevent unnecessary movement in the box.

The fuselage is a very well made fiberglass construction with all the necessary wood parts already installed. The tubing for the rudder and elevator pushrods is already mounted and looks very good. The nose wheel mount is already installed and ready for the nose wheel gear leg and steering arm.

The vertical stab is an integral part of the fuselage. The horizontal stab will have to be installed and then the rudder and elevator will need to be installed.

The main landing gear are a simple bolt on job to the bottom of the wing.

The wing construction is a built up, open framework of balsa. The leading edge is sheeted from the spar forward. The ailerons are already attached.

Based on the videos I have seen of the airplane flying, it appears that it would benefit from having flaps. This might be an area for modification. Also the outer leading edge is not as per the full scale airplane and this also might be an area for experimentation....Continue Reading

I received my new Aurora 9 today. It took me a while to decide to pull the trigger on this one but Len Sabato at Advantage Hobby put a price on it that I just couldn't refuse. Thanks Advantage.

I have flown Hitec equipment for years (this is my 4th Hitec radio). It really looks nice. So far, all I've done is browse through the manual. Everything looks fine so far. Lord knows when I'll get to fly it. I've found that as I get older, I don't tolerate cold very well. And old man winter has set in here.

Tony

This is a project that I started a couple of years ago and had set aside for some reason. I dug it out this winter with the idea of finishing it and it has been moving slowing along. It will be a pusher and I've set it up for a single motor but I am seriously considering changing that for a twin pusher setup. I've been thinking about 2212-06's turning 5 inch props or maybe a little less hot setup with a pair of 2212-10's swinging 6 inch props. I have a couple of -10's laying around needing a job. I don't want terrific speed, just something that looks fairly realistic as it flys by. I really like doing touch and goes so I may also go back to my original plans of adding retracts. I also have a pair of micro air retracts available.

Tony

I've been playing around with an idea lately. I have long wanted an SE5A but have just never gotten around to building one. I finally started building using a set of Cleveland plans as a basis for construction. Quite frankly, I think the plans are pretty much useless for actually building from. They have been blown up and copied too many times and the lines are very blurry. But they do very well for the use to which I am putting them.

I am building from depron with the idea of giving the airplane the appearance of being a built up structure (at least from some distance).

The wings are cut from 9mm depron and then sanded to a rough airfoil shape. After shaping, 1/32 x 1/16 strips of balsa are glued on to simulate ribs. The wings are then covered with sheer polyester fabric that I picked up from Wal-Mart. I have tried two methods of attachment. The quickest and probably the best is to use thin CA but be ready to pick a lot of glue from your finger tips. The other is WBPU. It cleans up easier but cures much more slowly. Once the polyester is attached, it shrinks easily and quite well with a Monocote iron or your wifes iron. Just don't tell her what you're using it for.

After the fabric has been shrunk tight, paint with several coats of WBPU as necessary to fill and completely seal the fabric. I have used rattle can spray WBPU and also 'brush on'. The 'brush on' is probably more effective.

The tail surfaces are done the same way but with 6mm depron...Continue Reading

I ran across this today and thought it was cool enough to post. It is an idea from Lockheed Martin for a "sonic boomless" supersonic airliner. One of you super EDF guys need to take this one on as a special project!!!!

Tony

Wow!! Finally, after 6 days, I've got my electric service back. Fortunately we have a gas fireplace. We cooked and kept warm with that fireplace. It's amazing what you can cook with just a small gas fire. Bless her heart, my wife kept us in hot food and drink for 6 days after the Kentucky Ice Storm of '09. We were extremely fortunate. Also, we were never totally out of water, although the city water tower was empty. Thank God, there were no fires. Fire protection was practically non-existent. It got down to just a trickle and we had stockpiled some water. I'm afraid that others were not so fortunate. From what I have seen in our area, many folks, especially out in the rural areas, may have weeks, not days, before their service is restored.

Tony