A friend of mine Tony gave me a crashed Freewing Me 262 that was Heavily damaged in a crash. The wing and one nacelle were completely smashed and the spar was bent. Motor and electronics all survived. He couldn't bear to spend the money for the new wings so he gave the hulk to me. Thanks Buddy!!! The fuselage was broken in three place or should I say thirds. Tony hand done a good job of gluing it back together, but the nose was missing a huge piece which wasn't in the body bag of parts so I filled it in and shaped it. I also ordered a new wing an nacelle set. There isn't anything unusual about my rebuild as hundred of pilots do this all the time, but I wanted to document it here maybe to inspire that it isn't that hard to fix foam planes even if your missing a piece.

Here is my Dynam B-26 getting new motors and a new plane feel. I found the stock motors to be woefully inadequate in power. The plane was rather unpleasant to fly in any kind of wind. Full throttle most of the 10 flights. Flight times were decent considering I downsized the battery from the stock 4000mah 4 s to a 3300 4s. 8.5 minutes on average. The plane is a beautiful but underpowered beast that feels like the plane should tip stall any moment. It will in fact, if don't dial down the elevator and use lots of Expo. I shelved the plane for many years and just admired the look. Yet, the plane beckoned me to fly her. I weighed all the available motor transfer options and then decided the spare 3536 850kv I had laying around should be a huge improvement over the stock 3520 600kv. Which weigh almost nothing. I had a crashed airframe from my friend Cartoon laying in a pile of parts, so I decided to do some exploratory surgery on the crashed wing to see what I was up against. I pondered just moving the firewall in, but then decided like my HD Zero that I would just cut 9mm off and reglue the engine back on. Two evenings is all it took. The test run almost ripped off one of the nacelle that Dynam in their constant goal of saving glue barely glued on. I then repaired the torque injury and finally proceeded to the airfield. The plane took off in the usual manner, but right away I could feel that the climb rate was way more then I was used to. Mind you this was...Continue Reading

I thought I would compile all of my latest bash here in case someone is interested. The Cub has been discontinued awhile ago, but it is still one of my favorite airframes. I bashed one into an L-5 Stinson a few years ago. I still fly it, but it is pretty beat up and has gained some weight from repairs. I had another spare, so I decided to make the Stinson's nemesis the Storch....Continue Reading

Well after 50 missions I got fed up with the stock gear getting wobilly and loose so I decided I needed to do some exploratory surgery and come up with a fix. After cutting up the nacelle pretty good I realized the stock retract cannot be made much better, meaning I would have to cut the stock strut to add an oleo or change to a Freewing B-17 retract. In that I cut up the nacelle I decided to order the Freewing retracts. The pictures are sort of a chronological of my journey. The Freewing retracts do require carving so all my experimental cuts were not in vain. Even if you don't do the Freewing mod the pictures hopefully will give you insight to how the model is made. The stock struts are prone to twist and that causes all sorts of problems on the tarmac. I was thinking of cutting the stock struts and adding an Oleo and that can certainly be done, but the coil has to be kept in order to keep the wheel and strut from hitting the retract unit. The coil is super ugly and the gear leg is too long. The stock gear can also have the allen lugs removed and a bigger allen screw put into it's place. I did that and it held up about 25 landings. But you always have to check them on landing. That just gets annoying. So now that I am putting in the Freewing I hopefully don't have to touch them like most of my other planes. Plus they look pretty cool....Continue Reading

Finally getting around to making the cockpit more scale. It is a work in progress. I will post me templates so others can do the same later. used this website as a reference. https://www.scalespot.com/onthebench/b17g/build.htm...Continue Reading

So when the new Marauder showed up, I couldn't pass up the opportunity for another bomber. Especially, a Marauder. The stock plane doesn't come with a bomb bay so again I will let the knife do the talking. I decided to cut out the Bomb bay to a more scale front and rear configuration.

I wanted a really detailed pilot for my FMS 1450mm P-51B. Walking around the AMA Show I came across http://Warbirdpilots.com. The sold me a 1/8 scale full bodied Army Air Force pilot. I was a little skeptical I could make him fit inside, but I bit he bullet and started cutting up a spare canopy I had laying around. Did some preliminary cockpit templates until I found a good combination of semi scale with practicality to get the seat the right height inside and research the web to get some good photos.http://doogsmodels.com/2012/07/04/ta...-pt-1-cockpit/ This is one of two links I used.

Stuka hits Polish Village House (0 min 11 sec)

Whenever I fly my planes with the Adam Bombs on them it is always more fun to have a target. So I got inspired by reading International Model Airplane magazine when I read an advertisement for Airfix and their diorama building sets. So I went dumpster diving and found lots of 3/4" styrofoam sheets. I have also built a foam cutter by watching youtube videos. The foam I then craft into scale replica building based on the Airfix sets. I used an approximate 1/18 scale. The idea is to get about six or seven of these to make a village/city target for my Hobby King B-17 and my other bombers. Of course, I made the Reichstag to put near the middle to make it more of a military relevant target. I have come up with a name for my targets--Doomstown....Continue Reading

I recently added guns to my Durafly Corsair which I showed off to a local news crew that happened upon me flying. I strafed them pretty good. Loads of fun.

Corsair Machine Gun (0 min 8 sec)

Picked one of these V1 up from General Hobby. They are super close to were I work. They were really easy to deal with and I picked up so no shipping. They have tons of inventory. All version 1s. I modified the center section and put in a bomb bay to fit 5 Adam Bombs(explosive simulating bombs)http://dropadambomb.com/ . I picked the brain of a fellow RC Groups member Stacker for how he did his bomb bay. My bombs are slightly bigger so I had to do a little more cutting then he did and engineer enough room for all the electronics too. I put in some 40 oz torque HS 81 s to get the load to double. 18oz proved not to be up to the job. Now it fits five Adam Bombs. Bomb runs are a real blast (pun intended), but really that's what this plane is all about. Never ceases to please the crowds. Check some of the videos out in the comments.
Also, this plane has been an ambassador to the past. I was first contacted by Tom Plackis who's father Nicholas Plackis was the bombardier on the original Kwitcherbitchen and was given some amazing personal pictures and more documentation of the original plane. Later, Adam Drain from the Liberty Foundation and 390th group historian found this blog and contacted me about any knowledge that would help them find veterans of the plane, as the son of the pilot had contacted them. I gave them Tom's number and they gave me more incredible photos of the original plane. Who could imagine my little plane being the conduit of connection for everyone interested or had a connection to the original Kwitcherbitchen/Hellion B-17.

Here is my tribute model to the VNAF or South Vietnamese Air Force. I plan on making this plane. Commentary by Bill Diebold sums up my reason for making this plane.

The Vietnamese Air Force

I can remember the first time I flew with the Vietnamese Air Force. My friends in the news office all made jokes. One wanted to have my cameras when I didn't come back, another my stereo etc. I laughed...but I was not a little concerned. That is why I was amazed when I arrived at Binh Thuy air base and noted the professionalism in the Vietnamese Air Force from top to bottom. There were no Americans involved at all. The mechanics who took care of the airplanes and the pilots that flew them were all Vientamese. Then, I was twice amazed at just how good their pilots were.

The Americans up to that time had lost 7000 aircraft and helicopters in the Vietnam war. The Vietnamese Air Force had lost seven. When we taxied to the end of the flight line we had four planes so that if anything did not check out on one of them we still would have at least a flight of two before taking off. As it turned out, we took off with four F-5's. When we arrived over the target the FAC was Vietnamese also. He put in four rockets along a bunkered gully and said "Hit my rockets." I laughed to myself because from what I had seen in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam it was rare for any pilot to hit a target right on the money. The first plane turned and made its run and nailed the rocket smoke right on...Continue Reading

Decided to finally try and finish my A1H Durafly Skyraiders and put the last of the finishing touches---fully functional wing hard points. I used Dymond 2.7 gram servos and my Adam Bomb drop mechanisms to make a true "Flying Dump Truck". I am able to pickle off the center on one channel and then pickle off the outsides on another channel. Makes for less landing to reload and better chances of scoring a hit on the target per sortie. CAS (close air support) missions are super fun.

So many people have asked me to help them install metal trunnions in their Durafly Skyraiders and Corsairs I have made this blog entry to try and explain all the steps. It takes a little skill and very few tools. It's about one hour to complete each retract. The retract trunnions are purchased from PW-RC and are the minis. http://pw-rc.com/index.php?route=pro...product_id=179 I have many flights on my Skyraiders and have done this mod now eight times. They make the planes much more reliable....Continue Reading

I am going to bash a Dynam Waco YM-5 into a civilian training program VF-5 version known as a Waco UPF-7. They were very similar to the Waco YM-5s but had a Continental 670 radial that wasn't cowled and had wider landing gear. I plan to make a tribute model to my father who flew a Waco in the VF-5 program at Ball State University in 1943. The plane in the picture is the plane he soloed in. That plane (#53) later crashed and killed the instructor and student. My father later went on to fly PT-17s in Norman, Oklahoma, before being washed out of the flight program by the Navy in 1944. They no longer were losing so many pilots in the Pacific due to the introduction of the Hellcat. My father loved flying the Waco and since he passed away in 2007 I have been meaning to build a F-7. When Dynam introduced the 5 model I picked one up immediately for this purpose. A side note to this Waco was that my father met his life long best friend in the training program and they later married sisters. The Waco will be a sort of tribute to the whole family.

I finally got around to making the wing racks for my D-5 conversion of the G model Durafly Stuka. I got Plastistrut plastic rectangle pieces and cut out the center carefully and then ground and sanded the FMS HS123 bombs to fit them. They are removable similar to the stock cannon mounts only smaller.

Love this airframe.Bought it as a kit this time. Decided to make another one (#3), but this time a little more visible color scheme. AD 4B model from China Lake Naval Ordinance Training Station (NOTS) seems to fit the bill. I used Dymond D90 digital servos for ailerons(which turned out to be overkill) and Hitec m65 on the rudder, and elevator. Bomb drop of course is mandatory and is an Adam Bomb http://dropadambomb.com/mechanism teamed with Dymond 3.7 gram servos. ESC is a Eflite Pro 40 and motor is a Durafly 850kv Stuka motor flown on 3s. I used one of my RC Custom prop adapters on a 12x6 two blade prop which proved on my Stuka to be the perfect combination. This plane is faster then my stock powered 750kv Skyraider on a 12x8 prop. I have also added metal trunnions from PW-RC and they have made the gear very reliable. This is my go to plane. I don't know how many flights (hundreds) are on her, but the wings are actually showing some stress cracks now.

Since I almost destroyed my Stuka wing flying into a palm tree, I decided to install my Adam Bomb Drop Mechanism on the tree beaten wing as a test airframe.

I want to use higher PWM on my ESC, so on someone's recommendation from this website I bought the following items to make a shield to protect my radio reception using higher Pulse Width Modulation. Should make the ESC more efficient. Especially at mid range throttle. I will solder the resistor to the tape and then wire that into the negative of the battery.

Now that I changed props on my Durafly 1100mm Stuka to a 12x6 two blade, the plane is much more enjoyable to fly. Takes off without a hint of tail swing and flies super scale like. No longer a speed demon.gets way better flight times too. 9 minutes of mixed flight. Because its a G model it has anti tank guns that are always susceptible to breaking on nose over, I am converting mine to a D model bomber. Dive bombing is way more fun. Ordered up some bomb drop mechanisms from Yellow Aircraft and am waiting for them to arrive. In the meantime I thought "hey I am going to need a siren". I had a broken AirHog helicopter on my bench and said to myself "that thing looks just like what I need. Now all I need is a scale bomb and bomb release trapeze.

Here is my RAM machine gun sound unit. I lightened it up by shortening up all the wires and getting rid of the 9volt. It use to way 76 grams and now weighs 66 grams. All up weight with up the battery, servo and container it weighs 130grams. It use to weigh 119 with just the battery and unit no servo or container. Plan is to put it in the Stuka. It is too big for the Spad.