I continue my quest for suitable warbird models to add to the collection at our local airport museum. A fellow club member had this beautiful Legends model Grumman F8F Bearcat for sale, and I knew that it would be a great addition to donate to our little museum. I bought it bare bones, and had to add servos for the control surfaces, and a motor to support a prop. I liked that it has a 80" wingspan, and would be a perfect display model. The fellows that are the curators at the museum always welcome me bringing another model for display, and are pleased with the nice variety of Allied & Axis aircraft. I have quite a few more to assemble, a P47, FW190, Detwoitine, Mig 3, Yak9, as well as some Golden Age planes, and WW1 aircraft. Here are a couple pics of the Bearcat-- Dean

As usual, I'm still looking for suitable warbirds, Axis and Allied to keep adding to our local airport museum. I was at the Lebanon Swap shop in Lebanon , Pa this past spring, and found a really nice ESM ME109. I pondered about it for several hours, but managed to strike up a deal with the owner, and bought it, complete with motor and servos. I didn't need the rcvr that was in it, as it was really BNF, and had an electric motor in it. I decided to just leave it that way, and take it to the museum. I did go thru my stuff trying to find the correct 3 blade spinner and prop, but came up short, so I just left the 2 blade prop and spinner that was on it. I'll search for a correct spinner and 3 blade prop later. I loaded it up in my van, and took it over to the museum, and they were extremely happy to add it to the collection. The curators at the museum told me that when people come there for a visit, they are very excited to see the nice display of WW2 aircraft. I still have at least 8 more to assemble and get ready to donate. I'll keep u updated on more progress as i continue-- Dean

This is an addition to my previous blog entry about the planes I'm donating to our local airport museum. I wrote about the refurbish of the AT6 Texan, and am now including some info about the P51B Mustang. Since we already had a P51D model, it took me quite a while to find a P51B model. I was lucky enough to find a "For Sale" ad here on RC Groups for a P51B from Upsmandan in Ohio. After a phone call, we agreed to find a mutual meeting place in Ohio, and I drove there to meet him. He built this plane from a Top Flite kit, and did a beautiful job on the build, and the superb covering and detail work on it. He mentioned that he never flew it because he didn't want to take a chance on crashing it, and I told him that it was never going to be flown, but will be displayed in a museum. He was extremely pleased with that, and asked if I would send him pics when I got it delivered to the museum.
I bought it less engine, as I had plenty of old worn out motors that I could install for display. I brought it home, and found an old OS 120 4 stroke parts motor that fit in the fuselage just right, installed a motor mount, and bolted it in. I dug thru all my misc stuff, and found a 4 blade aluminum spinner that was the right size, and a 4 blade prop that was just right. I gave it a nice wax job, and loaded the AT6, and the P51B up in the van, and took them over to the museum. The curator and fellows at the museum were very thrilled to get them, ad we got them set up. Attached are a few pics.
I still have more to assemble to donate as I'm trying to get as many Allied, and Axis planes for display. I'll try to update as I progress-- Dean

KLBE Museum
Project AT 6 & P51B
I am still acquiring suitable, and pretty scale airplanes for the museum at the airport. I was lucky enough to pick up a pretty nice North American AT6 at an auction and Swap Shop. It is a Seagull model ARF, and was in good condition. I saw that it needed some more scale detailing, some wrinkles ironed out of the covering, and I decided to order a new uncut cowl, and canopy.
The cockpit was bare, so I Googled AT6 cockpit, and found all of the pictures to help me construct the details. The previous owner had epoxied in 2 hardwood rails into the forward cockpit to mount inverted servos for the elevators. I had to cut them out, and patch the floor area. After I got it patched, I painted the whole cockpit dark gray. Looking at the pictures, I saw that there was a cage type structure between the front and rear pilot. I took a 1/2" X 1/2" balsa block, and some wooden dowel rods, and constructed the cage. The next step was to cut out 2 seats from 3/16" balsa. I also saw that the rear pilot had an instrument panel in front of him, and attached to the cage. I cut and shaped the panel from a 1/2" balsa block, painted it black, made up an instrument panel, and painted the seats black. I glued the instruments to the block, and painted the cage with the cockpit gray. I went through my pilot stash, and found 2 Marine pilots, and got the cockpit laid out. I didn't...Continue Reading

In my quest to find suitable warbird models for our local museum, I wanted to add a few more Axis type aircraft to the collection, so that there would be a nice representation from Axis and other countries. I went to the Lebanon, Pa swap meet on Mar 9 and I found a pretty decent Top Flite kit built .60 size Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero W 63" wingspan. I prefer the .60 size planes because they aren't too large or too small, and represent nicely. I also found a ESM ME 109, and a Hangar 9 P47 that I'll assemble and take there later. These planes are in the 1/5- 1/6 scale, and represent nicely.
I decided to start on the Zero 1st as it is fairly old, and had been flown, and had it's share of hangar rash. The covering needed a little ironing, a lot of cleaning, a few patches, and some finishing touches. The cockpit was completely open and unfinished, the landing gear legs were all rusty, and the old K&B 65 was a greasy mess. After getting everything cleaned, I added a balsa floor to the cockpit area, fabbed a pilot seat, and found a suitable pilot. I sanded and wire wheeled the rusty L/G legs, primered and painted them, and reattached the leg covers. The cowl was full of old fuel and oil residue, so I scrubbed it out, and got it ready to install a really nice scale 9 cyl radial into it. I decided to leave the old K&B motor in it, but had to recess it farther back in the motor mount so that the radial motor would fit in the cowl. I cut a piece of threaded rod to extend...Continue Reading

I am the committee chairman for our local clubs participation for the small air museum at our local airport. I am trying to add to the planes that they have on display, and am donating models to cover a period from the Wright bros to WW2, to include the Golden Age of the 20's & 30's. So far we have a Fokker DV11, Eindecker, Fairchild F24, Waco YMF, Art Chester Jeep, P51D Mustang, Corsair, Spitfire, DC3, J3 Cub, Ford Flivver, PT17. I'm trying to find a few Axis planes to add to the collection, like a Zero, FW190, Me109, Mig 3, something Italian, French, and anything interesting. I just picked up a Great Planes Junker JU87D1 Stuka, used, and did a refurbish on it. It had a Webra Speed .91 in it, and the cowl was cut up a little, so I was lucky enough to find a RCG member who had a new one that I purchased. The cockpit left a lot to be desired from the factory, so i decided to at least make it at least a little more presentable.
I found the plane that it was semi scaled after, and got a set of decals from Callie Graphics in 1/7th scale which was perfect. I dug out 2 pilots from my stash, copied an instrument panel, and fabricated the machine guns from scrap balsa, dowel rods, and brass tubing. I mounted an old worn out S/T 61 inverted in it, and had a 3 blade prop that was just right for it. It came out pretty decent for a display at the museum, and will present itself as an Axis warplane. A few pics:...Continue Reading

I picked up this plane at a local swap shop, and liked the basic lines. It kinda reminded me of the old 30's-40's Cessna Airmasters, but the wing configuration isn't tapered like the Airmaster. This was scratch built from plans, so i don't know what the builder had in mind. I was looking for a lazy day flyer to just lumber around on a nice summer day. I did a lot of mods to clean it up, did a lot of work to restore the dinged up fibreglass radial cowl, installed a nice instrument panel, pilot, cut out the N numbers, and cut out the fuselage trim, reminiscent of a 30's style. I made new aluminum landing gear, and still have to paint the wheel pants yet. I took out the old OS 50FSR that was in it, and installed a new HB 61PDP, with pitts muffler. See "My Hangar" for the refurbish & changes i made. I hope to maiden it this spring. Dean

I just picked up another "Orphan" from a club member-- lotsa dirt, and wrinkles on it, BUT- Just my kind of project. Cute little Sig Smith Mini Bipe. Starting the "Refurbish". After a good scrubbing, I made a new set of struts, installed servo rails, and got radio gear installed and tested, made new landing gear, changed motor mount, and got HB 40PDP installed. Finally spent 2 days building, fitting, and drilling the 2 pc plastic cowl(PIA!!). I added a few sunrays to the wing and stab. Paint misc parts, and ready for maiden....Continue Reading

Just a few pics of the fleet im my hangar. I have almost always been stuck on .60 size planes, but am moving to a little larger to see if I'll like it....Continue Reading