got my son to take pics of these 1/48 static plastic mustangs that he made for my birthday, with his Nikon Coolpix L120 camera....Continue Reading

Snowstang 18" with micron 1015 brushless geared. same basic model as shown before. at the beginning i tested the brush8 motor but there was not enough pull-the gear ratio was too high (5.66;1) , so decided to go for this that is 4:1. better response now. plane is doing fine now, but too fast compared to larger planes.
i used it for testing air slots on an effort to reduce speed.
gws 6/3, 90 sq in, 50 grams auw with 1x240 hyperion. amazing cells!
i was not satisfied with stability nor maneurability, then began experimenting with separating the 2 layers and letting air flow but it became more critical so i closed the slot. the thickness went up and control became more critical. finally ended up replacing the wing with thin flat foam and now the plane flies great. so, no thick airfoil. will show pics.
some videos here: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1560140...Continue Reading

chapter 6: mustangs!
i have always been fascinated with the mustang. from my early days, when newspapers and magazines showed all kind of pics (it was ww2 then), and i did drawings of all of them: spitfires, hurricanes, p38-39-40-47-you name it. and then 1 day i saw in a magazine the most magnificent plane, shinning like a star, in polished aluminum. it was called na 73x. i couldn't stop thinking of it. later it was named apache-that changed to mustang-the p51. years later i discovered a kit at a gifts store and purchased it-that was the first model that i built. but never had the chance to see 1 in real life. when i was a youngster, i became aquainted with a pilot from the air force, and 1 day he told me that there were some mustangs at the airport and if would like to see them! he brought me and we were allowed to see them closely (no touch, please). there were a dozen of them, p51d, all in natural aluminum. i still see them in my imagination. nothing in my life stands as bright and clear as those planes. i have seen more through the years; dayton, hall of fame, you name it. many years later i saw 9 of them at oshkosh, and then... columbus ohio 2007: over 100 of them!
perhaps that's why some of my designs have some lines that resemble it.
i have so many books, magazines, about it; and my son, who is into plastic models, has put together some for me to admire, several in 1/72 and 1/48, from the prototype to the 'precious metal', with a griffon engine and contra-rotating props. i just can't have enough of it.

chapter 5- my first powered plane
at the beginning there were big engines (all ignition), around .60 cu in. then began to shrink: .49, .29, .19, .09. so the classes were made: a, b, c, and d. but they still kept shrinking: anderson developed a .045 baby spitfire (then the 1/2a class was created). and by then , glow plug was invented, so it came with glow plug-and the price was more affordable, so i saved money and got 1. learning to start it meant that i broke it in by chance, and the engine was easier to start for that. but there were no airplanes for that size yet! eventually i found 1 that was intended for the co2 motors: a berkeley korda powerhouse, that i eagerly adapted for my engine. by then i had learned about thermals, and the risk of loosing a plane into 1 of them, and also that for small airplanes we could use a fuse instead of a timer to activate the dethermalizer, so i made my plane with it. problem was, people lighted the fuse with a cigarette, and as didn't smoke (never in my life!), just did not use the fuse. all went well, until 1 day my plane catched a strong thermal, and away she went, to never be seen again! later i found a solution to the fuse thing and lighted a long fuse and kept it in a can, with just a short lenght out, so i could light the fuse in my plane every flight. it took me 6 months to save enough money to buy another motor, and by then i had learned enough to design and build my own plane-no more kits-and saved money too. so that was my launching into the fascinating world of designing planes-which i enjoy to this day