I arrived at Hodges Hobbies on Wednesday the 25th about 1:00 p.m. Pulling up to the Flight line in the Park flyers section I had my choice of spots with 30 yards on either side of me being nothing but open space. I immediately took out a table and some chairs and set them up on what appeared to be the flight line. Not more than a few minutes later a very helpful group of event staffers came by..explained how they wanted the flight line to look, helped me get my stuff in a space that should have been 2 spaces, and even sprayed some white lines they measured out and put my name in the middle.. but I told them I was saving a spot for my buddy Warreagle who was to arrive that night. Since I had been in Bi-hourly communication with Hippo and Vyceroy, who were coming from Charlotte in an RV that we rented..(from a place that will remain nameless,,,, since we have'nt decided how much we like that place or not....since the RV was rented to us in less than mint condition, however useable and not too smelly...and the lady who helped me rent it was like many of us... over-worked and underpaid..I know she did her best.. we'll see after Vyceroy and Hippo turn the R.V. back in to them tommorow.. Ha ha..)
The skies were partly cloudy... the cloudy part being very dark and foreboding.. rain seemed imminent, and I think we did get a spot of it Wednesday night or Thursday at some point, but that was all. It was the wind that was the killer. Our poor, well used, Rented R.V. Lost it's...Continue Reading

The ME 262 is a flyer!... Man what a cool plane. It comes in at 1 lb 14 oz with 4S 1800 mah battery. Landing was a little rough, but it was rather windy. Part of me does'nt want to fly it again until SEFF, but the other part of me wants to fly it again before dark. One side will definately win. Anyway, here's the only good picture I have of it so far. It does'nt look any different after the maiden flight because I did'nt crash it. Thank God. If I had to guess, I'd say it was easily doing 60+ mph on some of it's faster passes. Looks great too.

Bo

The photo's don't really do it justice, but I'm doing the ME262 in the paint scheme of a Russian post war captured plane. The front is a yellowish, greenish tan and it turns darker green towards the tail with little mottlings of dark green here and there and the obligatory red star on the tail etc...
I just bought an air brush and paint to give it a whirl and low and behold, it came out better than I thought it would. I have used an airbrush on cars with scratched bumpers before, but this is my first model to paint this way. As I said, the picture does not do it justice... it looks like a tan / camo base coat which is exactly what I wanted. So here's a pic or two for progress. Oh, and Vyceroy...here's a picture of the stuff I used to thin it. It did'nt melt anything and seemed to be soft to the touch even after about 10 - 20 minutes, but it went on smooth and blended well with the paint. .... So, air brush god or just beginners luck... probably more of the latter.

Update: 4/15/07 Finished. Pictures coming. Winds are 20-40 mph today here and it's only going to get to 53 for a high. No maiden, but taking pics outside would be nice when it calms down a bit. This is the best looking plane I've ever built from plain foam. Air brushing is the bomb for sure. I hope it flys as good as I think it looks. I'm going to post the pictures and build in the electric warbirds section and theGWS vendors section. Happy flying to all.

Bo

Trying to finish the F-18 and the ME262. Both should maiden this weekend. The F-18, although the pictures don't show it because the rear fuse is covered in light spackle prior to sanding... is coming out really good. Should have an AUW of 20 - 22 oz. it was at 19 prior to paint and installation of servo extensions. The fan unit is a 70mm from BP hobbies and I cant remember the name, but it's designation is DF70.. it kicks butt. Its run by a Mega 16/15/3 and should come close to putting out 23 oz. of thrust on a 4S 1800 Hyperion 20C pack. Static testing is awesome...well beyond my expectations.

The 262 is powered by 2 GWS brushless inrunners,... I believe they are the 3100 kv inrunners that I found on E-Bay. It also runs on a 4S 1800 pack and estimates that each nacelle is putting out close to 2lbs of thrust... I don't believe it, but people who have been doing this much longer than me tell me it's true. Here's a few pics of each.

See ya'll at SEFF... I'll be with Vyceroy, Hippo, and others in an RV with a sign on it that says "In a Van Down by The River".

Bo