I finished my latest project last night-- a fun-fly airplane called a "Stik Munk", from the Air Flair kit. Maiden flight happened today. FUN to FLY is right!! Can't wait for our club Fun-Fly event this summer-- bring it on!

OS40LA on APC 10x6 prop, 65oz AUW, covered in Hobby King film (white), Monokote red, and Towerkote orange.

SUNP0003 (1 min 25 sec)

This winter, I built a 3-times-size Bill Dean Cadet glider, from 1950. The original 30" size was kitted by Keil Kraft for many years. This one has a 90" span, and weighs 55 oz. It flies like a blimp, as you might expect! Build thread here.

Ready for the local pond!

A2212 1000kv outrunner
30A ESC
1300mah 3s lipo pack
Tower Pro 9gm servos
Hobbyzone (Super Cub) floats
Econokote covering
...still need to add water rudder...

Here is my newest addition to my fleet-- a Ken Willard "Breathless", from the August 1957 issue of Model Airplane News. Build thread here.

My newest toy is this Foote Westerner C, with a wingspan of 85". Originally built and flown by Dave Acker as an electric, I did a refurb with new covering and installed my Thunder Tiger GP10 glow engine in the nose, along with a Fuji film canister for a fuel tank.

The tank provides enough fuel for a full power climb to well over 1500 feet. I usually motor on up to around 800-900 feet or so and shut it down, and its all thermals from there. Man, this thing sure does love to climb in lift! It's as ugly as a turkey vulture, in my opinion, but it thermals so well, crawling around at all of one mile an hour and floating upward on the slightest hint of rising air, that it becomes beautiful in my eyes. Funny how that works. Gotta love them funky old timers!

Here is my new 72" Comet Clipper, which I got on a trade in complete but unflown condition. It is covered in Micafilm and clear dope, and whoever built it (back in '88) did an exceptional job on it. I put my Rimfire 3536-1200 outrunner in the nose, and powered it with a 1300mah 3s lipo pack. AUW is 51oz, and at that paltry weight, the Rimfire motor provides plenty of surplus power on an 11x5 APCe. First flight was this afternoon. What a wonderful machine! It will be a good complement to my 120" Clipper, for those days when I don't want to mess with glow (and I do get in those moods sometimes).

Now that I have two Clippers in my fleet, I'm tempted to build the little 36" RN Models Comet Clipper, just to have the full spectrum of sizes! What a hoot it would be to bring all three of 'em out to the field and set them down next to each other. "Clipper Central Station..."!

I built two gliders this month, which is a direct result of being smack in the middle of building season, with short, soggy days and long nights. I don't watch TV or go to clubs, so I am able to squeeze in just enough free time after long hours at work to jam together some wood every evening.

This time, it was a couple of kits acquired right here from fellow RCG members, in the classifieds. The first one is an Astro Flight ASW15, which came to me in pristine, factory-new condition. All I had to build was the wings and tails, as the fuselage is a roto-molded polyethylene one-piece structure. The wings attach with joiner wires, and the tails bolt on, so couldn't be much easier! Popular back in the late '70s, these kits are getting really hard to find now, so I feel lucky to finally have one. It is a real sweetheart to fly, too, and it sure looks sexy on the wing, with that classy curvy fuselage and long wings. Build thread here.

The second kit is the old classic Craftaire Drifter II, which was also a simple build, and only a bit more work than the ASW15. It sure came out light, at a mere 19oz, which is what the Drifter II is renowned for. I flew it for the first time today, off a shortie hi-start, and made many hops to trim it out and get the feel of it. Man, what a great little floater! This will be one to have on those days when I don't have all day to set up a winch and fly, and just want to stake out a hundred feet of hi-start and catch the lawn thermals. I am most pleased!

So, I got this model from my good flying buddy Greg Tutmark, and decided that, after three different owners, it needed a full refurb. I spent most of the month of December stripping it down to the bones and going through everything with close scrutiny, to bring it up to "factory reman" quality again. New covering (Hobby King transparent film), and a Saito 56 in the nose, and new bent-wire landing gear, brought it back for another lease on life.

It weighs a mere 7.4lbs, with gobs of wing area, so no surprise it turned out to be quite the floater. Watching this thing motor along is like watching the Goodyear blimp float overhead. What fun! Today was my first day out with it, and everything worked flawlessly. It'll get lots of airtime once the weather warms up a bit and the days get longer. Flight vids are included in my thread here.

Here's my newest addition to the fleet; a Dynaflite Butterfly with a Cox TD09 engine, 2 Hitec HS-81 servos and an all-up weight of 49oz. I highly recommend this kit-- good wood, light but strong construction, excellent plans and instructions, and everything fit together the way it was supposed to, with no adjusting or trim-fitting required. Well worth the eighty bucks from Tower.

I built it in October, but only recently had a good weather window for a maiden flight. I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out to be just exactly what I wanted-- a simple machine for launching high and finding thermals. I did a few simple mods, for my own personal preferences. I went with the Butterfly II tail feathers instead of the stock ones shown on the plans, just because I like their funky lines more. I lowered the wing down onto the fuselage longerons to lose the faux cabin/windshield look. And I left off the landing gear and wheels, because my idea here was to have a motorglider, to be used for soaring in thermals, not for shooting touch-n-goes (I have other, better models for that sort of thing).

The Butterfly is a real sweetheart to fly. Stable and predictable, with a low minimum sink rate at slow speeds and excellent controllability in thermal turns. I used to own a Paragon, and this feels and behaves a lot like that one. A slow turkey vulture looking for some vertical puffs.

The engine is strictly a launching device. I have a one ounce fuel tank mounted behind the firewall, which provides a little over two minutes of full power engine run time-- enough to get the Butterfly up to well over 1500 feet or more (i.e., speck height). I will more likely run just enough fuel for a winch-height launch of about 400 feet, which is all I will need for finding thermals.

Can't wait for spring to get here now! I anticipate many long, enjoyable thermalling flights with this one!

I bought this kit a month ago, in a fit of why-not, what with the free shipping and a $10-off coupon from Tower (those sales gimmicks work!), and seeings how I had an urge to consume some balsa wood and this kit seemed like it had plenty of that. It actually turned out to be a really nice kit, with superb die cutting and good wood all around, and some clever engineering to help make the build a trouble-free pleasure. The whole thing went together in just under 30 days, from open the box to CG checks and programming the radio. Not bad!

Today was its first day at the field, and it did not disappoint. The engine started right up (brand-new and fresh out of the box), with a good reliable idle and a screaming top end. Thunder Tiger Pro engines don't get enough praise in my opinion. They are a fine piece of machinery, easily on par with OS. The Contender flew like a Contender, with fast fly-bys, giant loops and small ones, lightning-quick rolls and a good vertical with a long hover at the top of the ascent that looked just like 3D to me. Spins and snaps are a little soft, but the Contender is right at home inverted, and that big belly flap makes every landing a good one. What an enjoyable retro-model this is! I'll have it with me on every trip to the field for quite awhile, I can tell already.

I let this kit languish somewhere in the middle of my kit stack for too many years, so I finally decided to bring it to the surface and build the darn thing. WELL WORTH IT! It's one of those "why didn't I build this sooner" models. Have you ever flown one, or seen one fly? Mine came out to a mere 64oz AUW, and at 69" (one-sixth scale) and 675 squares, it's definitely a floater. With the throttle pulled way back, it motors along at scale speeds in flight. Loops and rolls are part of the fun, and landings happen at a fast walk. What a fun, fun plane! Build thread here.

I got this Bergfalke already built, from a guy I knew from my old glider club days. He told me that some old guy named Wiley built it from the Hegi kit ten years ago, but it hadn't flown since. I decided it needed a new owner and a new life, with a fresh make-over and a power pod for launching to height without the need for a hi-start. Half-A power pods are a nostalgia thing for me, as a lot of my gliders way back in my youth featured them for getting up to thermal height, and this old glider seemed like a perfect candidate. The Cox .09 hauls it up there at a leisurely pace. I can't wait for the thermals to come back this spring... the Bergfalke will be ready! 90" span, 57oz AUW, R/E radio-assist with two Futaba S148 servos and a 1100mah Nimh battery.

My newest build project got its maiden flight today, in the bright, cold sunshine following the first snow of winter. This was a FUN kit to build, I must say. All sheet balsa, with precisely die-cut pieces that all fit together as good as any laser-cut kit. And it flies just fantastic on its little 20 gram Hextronic 2211 outrunner. So glad I finally pulled this one down off the kit stack and gave it a go. Well worth the bench time.

Span 33"
Weight 14oz AUW
Hextronic 2211 2300kV outrunner
Hobby King 12amp ESC
Rhino 460mah 2s lipo
2- Hextronic HXT500 servos
fun factor 4 stars!

My latest project is a kit-built Stinson 105, with a geared inrunner in the nose. Today was my first outing, and I am very pleased with the delightful way this one flies-- like a big, blimpy jumbo rubber model! Build thread here

I flew my new Stevens Aero Skyboy today for the first time. Fun, fun little plane! It flies like it looks, snappy and tumbly, yet smooth as silk and easy to land at nearly zero airspeed. Suppo 2814/8 1000kV on 3s 2200mah lipos, 44oz AUW, Tower Pro 9gm servos, bolt-down wing.

Hat tip to Mike Gore for turning me on to this little playtoy plane! What a great pick for a day at the park.

Today was the first day out for my Green Models Tiger Moth. I really like this one. It has good scale fidelity and flies wonderfully, and the ASP30 provides adequate power for scale-like flying. 50" span, 4.1lbs AUW, good quality ARF. Dunno if this one is still in production or not, but if you can find one, I highly recommend it.

I maidened my new Great Planes Fokker Dr1 ARF yesterday. Flew great! My old OS FS-61 engine had just enough power for realistic take-offs and a reasonable climb rate. Good plane for goofy stunts like off-round loops and barrelly rolls and weird vertical spins. All my landings were very respectable, down on the mains and no flip-overs or ground loops. What an odd-looking flying machine the Triplane is! But fun. Very fun.

I may go with a new RCG 15cc gasser soon, if they ever come up available at the HK USA warehouse. That would be a good match for this airframe. Bring on the Nieuports, I'm ready!

[EDIT 10/30/13] I put my OS FS-70 Surpass in the Dr1, and the Triplane is so perfect now with that engine that I decided to leave it that way, so the RCG15 will have to find another home. Sometimes you just plain get it right, and don't want to mess up a good thing. The GP Fokker and the OS FS-70 were made for each other.

Today was my first day out with my new Giant Aeromaster tug, built from the Great Planes ARC kit (almost-ready-to-cover). I bought this kit from Tower a few years back, just before they went out of production. I covered it in Ultracote, and mounted my new DLE55 engine in the nose, with a custom cowl cut down from a TF Mustang cowl. This thing really jumps with the DLE55 for power, like ten foot take-offs and straight up climbs and big giant loops. AUW is 17.5lbs. I expect it will have no problem towing up gliders of up to 5m span and 15lbs or so. I hope to do some towing with it at the upcoming aerotow event at our home field, CMAA "Big Birds" field in Monroe WA, and on any weekend when gliders are out at the field.

Just maidened my new Schweizer 1-26E, at the Yakima WA aerotow. It flew great, and I am very satisfied with it! Build thread here.

[EDIT] I flew the Schweizer again this last weekend in Othello WA, and got a 45-min flight with it, at one point I was going to land, but managed to scratch out from base leg in a low-level thermal and got back up to release height. What an expression session that flight was!

I built my first one of these years ago, and never flew it before I sold it! So this was a nostalgia build for me, and a chance to make right the wrong of so many years ago, and find out (finally!) how the little Velie Monocoupe flies. What a great little plane! I couldn't be more pleased. Build thread here.