[[email protected]]
Radio Control Giants Sal Calvagna
Follow-up on Andy Marone’s Sopwith
WELCOME BACK.Why does it seem as
though summer passes so quickly, while the
winter lingers for an eternity? Talk about time
flying, September is already here and fall is
on the way. Don’t fret, there’s still plenty of
good flying weather to enjoy this season.
In the April issue, Andy Marone of
Manorville, New York, was busy scratchbuilding
a 1/3-scale Sopwith Triplane. I have
some photos of the completed model to share.
Todd Bailey read about the Advanced
Scale Models B-17 in the May 2011 issue of
MA and sent along this really interesting story
about his B-17 model. Check it out!
Andy Marone recently completed a 1/3-scale
Sopwith Triplane built from his own plans
based on Replicraft drawings. This build was
first featured in the April 2011 “RC Giants”
column. Andy has completed the model and I
had an opportunity to photograph it before its
first flight.
Andy built the model with scale fidelity in
mind—from the precise placement of the
wing ribs to the scale control cabling that
operate the ailerons, elevators, and rudder.
Even the covering on the fuselage has scale
stitching that can be removed to access the
internal workings!
Since the three wings contain the scale
aileron cables, he cannot easily take the model
apart for transportation, so Andy transports
the fully assembled model in a large trailer he
purchased. The model is powered by a
Rotomotor Roto 85cc
two-cylinder, fourstroke
gas engine.
The Sopwith
Triplane was designed
by Herbert Smith in
1916 with three
narrow-chord wings
and a fuselage and
tailplane similar to that
of the Sopwith Pup.
Also included in this column:
• Todd Bailey’s PW-RC B-17
• ViperJet by Skymaster RC
join the Navy together, but dad had flat feet so
the Navy would not take him. Dad enlisted in
the Army and became a B-17 ball-turret
gunner.
“My father never really talked much about
the experience. It was after D-Day when he
arrived in England and I think that he had
participated in five combat missions as a
replacement gunner in various aircraft. Once,
when I asked him what plane he had flown in,
he told me had flown in several different
planes but the one he had been in the most
was named Little Joe and I knew that he had
been in the 95th Bombardment Group.
“When the famous Memphis Belle
returned to the United States after completing
25 missions, the aircraft was used in a war
bond tour. After that, it was used for training
at MacDill [Air Force Base] down in Florida.
Dad once flew a training mission in the
Memphis Belle when it was at MacDill.
“I found that Little Joe was B-17 serial
number 43-39037 assigned to the
336th [Fighter] Squadron, 95th
Todd Bailey displays
his electric-powered
Little Joe B-17 from
Philip Workshop R/C.
To the right is a closeup
of the B-17’s nose
area.
Below: Todd Bailey’s
father, second from
the left in the
front row, was a
member of the 95th
B o m b a r d m e n t
Group.
Above: This 82-
i n c h - w i n g s p a n
ViperJet is powered
by a JetCat P-80
turbine. Its paint
scheme is done in
the mold.
September 2011 103
Although it had one more wing than the
Pup, the new aircraft allowed the pilot a
greatly improved field of view.
The prototype first flew in May 1916 and
it became an instant success. More
importantly, the triplane could out climb and
out turn the German Albatros of the same
period. The Germans were so impressed with
the triplane’s performance that they made it a
priority to secure a downed triplane for
evaluation. Thus the existence of the Fokker
triplane!
Andy has flown the model and reports that
it exceeds his expectations in flight.
Nice work, Andy!
Todd Bailey of Hamilton, Ohio, is a fan of
the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. His
attraction started many years ago when he
learned that his father flew as a ball-turret
gunner during World War II. Here’s what
Todd has written:
“In 1944, my father and his friend left high
school to fight in the war. Their plan was to
09sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 7/22/11 11:36 AM Page 103
Bombardment Group. The pilot of the
aircraft, First Lieutenant Charles Rose,
received the Air Medal for getting the bomber
home on two engines.
“In 1997, the Aluminum Overcast, which
is operated by the EAA, was in the Cincinnati
area. I paid $500 for a flight in the B-17. I
even got to fly it for about 15 minutes. Best
$500 I ever spent.
“That experience certainly gave me new
respect for the guys who flew the B-17 in
combat. Even tooling around at 2,500 feet for
an hour on a warm summer afternoon was not
what anyone would call a comfortable ride by
today’s standards.
“I cannot imagine the courage it took to
climb into that bomber and fly for six or eight
hours up where the temperature would freeze
you, you could not breathe the air, and there
were bunches of angry Germans doing their
best to shoot you out of the sky—and to do
that over and over and over again until there
was nothing left to bomb.
“I am an AMA Life Member and have
been flying RC planes for over 40 years with
Control Line and rubber-powered Free Flight
before that. I am a member of the HAWKS
(Hamilton Area Wireless Kontrol Society)
club and fly at their field in Hamilton, Ohio.
“I mostly fly for sport now but was fairly
successful in Quickie 500 Pylon Racing in the
past. I won the 1995 NMPRA [National
Miniature Pylon Racing Association] District
5 ‘Standard’ Class Championship and was in
the top 25 for national points standing one
year. I have many Pylon trophies in my
collection.
“I had always wanted a B-17, but until
fairly recently, putting one in the air was a
daunting task. The cost of putting a fourengine,
glow-powered plane in the air was
high and the large size of the decent models
was also an issue. With the maturing electric
technology available today, a ‘smaller’ size B-
17 has become much more practical.
“So now the question was which aircraft to
model (Little Joe, Memphis Belle, or
Aluminum Overcast) and which model to
build. I decided on modeling ‘Little Joe’ and
selected a B-17 ARF produced by PW-RC
[Philip Workshop R/C] as my starting point.
“My Little Joe model is a heavily modified
PW-RC Memphis Belle ARF which has a
fiberglass fuselage with built-up wings and tail
surfaces. I completely recovered and repainted
the model and rebuilt the control surfaces to
simulate fabric covering and use scale hinging.
“I fabricated a Cheyenne tail turret, a chin
turret, cheek guns, and other details to convert
the B-17 from an ‘F’ version to a ‘G’ version.
The aircraft lettering and insignias were made
by Kirbys Kustom Vinyl Graphics. The ‘Little
Joe’ nose art was computer generated and
printed onto decal film with a color laser
printer.
“A historian with the 95th Bomb Group
Memorial Foundation advised me on the
colors likely used for the nose art since only
black-and-white photos were available.
“I have more than 200 hours of work in the
conversion. The plane has an 81-inch
wingspan and weighs in at 13 pounds, 6
ounces. It has four Turnigy SK3530 motors,
powered by two three-cell 5000 mAh Li-Poly
packs running in parallel. Even with the stock
Edition: Model Aviation - 2011/09
Page Numbers: 103,104,105
Edition: Model Aviation - 2011/09
Page Numbers: 103,104,105
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Giants Sal Calvagna
Follow-up on Andy Marone’s Sopwith
WELCOME BACK.Why does it seem as
though summer passes so quickly, while the
winter lingers for an eternity? Talk about time
flying, September is already here and fall is
on the way. Don’t fret, there’s still plenty of
good flying weather to enjoy this season.
In the April issue, Andy Marone of
Manorville, New York, was busy scratchbuilding
a 1/3-scale Sopwith Triplane. I have
some photos of the completed model to share.
Todd Bailey read about the Advanced
Scale Models B-17 in the May 2011 issue of
MA and sent along this really interesting story
about his B-17 model. Check it out!
Andy Marone recently completed a 1/3-scale
Sopwith Triplane built from his own plans
based on Replicraft drawings. This build was
first featured in the April 2011 “RC Giants”
column. Andy has completed the model and I
had an opportunity to photograph it before its
first flight.
Andy built the model with scale fidelity in
mind—from the precise placement of the
wing ribs to the scale control cabling that
operate the ailerons, elevators, and rudder.
Even the covering on the fuselage has scale
stitching that can be removed to access the
internal workings!
Since the three wings contain the scale
aileron cables, he cannot easily take the model
apart for transportation, so Andy transports
the fully assembled model in a large trailer he
purchased. The model is powered by a
Rotomotor Roto 85cc
two-cylinder, fourstroke
gas engine.
The Sopwith
Triplane was designed
by Herbert Smith in
1916 with three
narrow-chord wings
and a fuselage and
tailplane similar to that
of the Sopwith Pup.
Also included in this column:
• Todd Bailey’s PW-RC B-17
• ViperJet by Skymaster RC
join the Navy together, but dad had flat feet so
the Navy would not take him. Dad enlisted in
the Army and became a B-17 ball-turret
gunner.
“My father never really talked much about
the experience. It was after D-Day when he
arrived in England and I think that he had
participated in five combat missions as a
replacement gunner in various aircraft. Once,
when I asked him what plane he had flown in,
he told me had flown in several different
planes but the one he had been in the most
was named Little Joe and I knew that he had
been in the 95th Bombardment Group.
“When the famous Memphis Belle
returned to the United States after completing
25 missions, the aircraft was used in a war
bond tour. After that, it was used for training
at MacDill [Air Force Base] down in Florida.
Dad once flew a training mission in the
Memphis Belle when it was at MacDill.
“I found that Little Joe was B-17 serial
number 43-39037 assigned to the
336th [Fighter] Squadron, 95th
Todd Bailey displays
his electric-powered
Little Joe B-17 from
Philip Workshop R/C.
To the right is a closeup
of the B-17’s nose
area.
Below: Todd Bailey’s
father, second from
the left in the
front row, was a
member of the 95th
B o m b a r d m e n t
Group.
Above: This 82-
i n c h - w i n g s p a n
ViperJet is powered
by a JetCat P-80
turbine. Its paint
scheme is done in
the mold.
September 2011 103
Although it had one more wing than the
Pup, the new aircraft allowed the pilot a
greatly improved field of view.
The prototype first flew in May 1916 and
it became an instant success. More
importantly, the triplane could out climb and
out turn the German Albatros of the same
period. The Germans were so impressed with
the triplane’s performance that they made it a
priority to secure a downed triplane for
evaluation. Thus the existence of the Fokker
triplane!
Andy has flown the model and reports that
it exceeds his expectations in flight.
Nice work, Andy!
Todd Bailey of Hamilton, Ohio, is a fan of
the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. His
attraction started many years ago when he
learned that his father flew as a ball-turret
gunner during World War II. Here’s what
Todd has written:
“In 1944, my father and his friend left high
school to fight in the war. Their plan was to
09sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 7/22/11 11:36 AM Page 103
Bombardment Group. The pilot of the
aircraft, First Lieutenant Charles Rose,
received the Air Medal for getting the bomber
home on two engines.
“In 1997, the Aluminum Overcast, which
is operated by the EAA, was in the Cincinnati
area. I paid $500 for a flight in the B-17. I
even got to fly it for about 15 minutes. Best
$500 I ever spent.
“That experience certainly gave me new
respect for the guys who flew the B-17 in
combat. Even tooling around at 2,500 feet for
an hour on a warm summer afternoon was not
what anyone would call a comfortable ride by
today’s standards.
“I cannot imagine the courage it took to
climb into that bomber and fly for six or eight
hours up where the temperature would freeze
you, you could not breathe the air, and there
were bunches of angry Germans doing their
best to shoot you out of the sky—and to do
that over and over and over again until there
was nothing left to bomb.
“I am an AMA Life Member and have
been flying RC planes for over 40 years with
Control Line and rubber-powered Free Flight
before that. I am a member of the HAWKS
(Hamilton Area Wireless Kontrol Society)
club and fly at their field in Hamilton, Ohio.
“I mostly fly for sport now but was fairly
successful in Quickie 500 Pylon Racing in the
past. I won the 1995 NMPRA [National
Miniature Pylon Racing Association] District
5 ‘Standard’ Class Championship and was in
the top 25 for national points standing one
year. I have many Pylon trophies in my
collection.
“I had always wanted a B-17, but until
fairly recently, putting one in the air was a
daunting task. The cost of putting a fourengine,
glow-powered plane in the air was
high and the large size of the decent models
was also an issue. With the maturing electric
technology available today, a ‘smaller’ size B-
17 has become much more practical.
“So now the question was which aircraft to
model (Little Joe, Memphis Belle, or
Aluminum Overcast) and which model to
build. I decided on modeling ‘Little Joe’ and
selected a B-17 ARF produced by PW-RC
[Philip Workshop R/C] as my starting point.
“My Little Joe model is a heavily modified
PW-RC Memphis Belle ARF which has a
fiberglass fuselage with built-up wings and tail
surfaces. I completely recovered and repainted
the model and rebuilt the control surfaces to
simulate fabric covering and use scale hinging.
“I fabricated a Cheyenne tail turret, a chin
turret, cheek guns, and other details to convert
the B-17 from an ‘F’ version to a ‘G’ version.
The aircraft lettering and insignias were made
by Kirbys Kustom Vinyl Graphics. The ‘Little
Joe’ nose art was computer generated and
printed onto decal film with a color laser
printer.
“A historian with the 95th Bomb Group
Memorial Foundation advised me on the
colors likely used for the nose art since only
black-and-white photos were available.
“I have more than 200 hours of work in the
conversion. The plane has an 81-inch
wingspan and weighs in at 13 pounds, 6
ounces. It has four Turnigy SK3530 motors,
powered by two three-cell 5000 mAh Li-Poly
packs running in parallel. Even with the stock
Edition: Model Aviation - 2011/09
Page Numbers: 103,104,105
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Giants Sal Calvagna
Follow-up on Andy Marone’s Sopwith
WELCOME BACK.Why does it seem as
though summer passes so quickly, while the
winter lingers for an eternity? Talk about time
flying, September is already here and fall is
on the way. Don’t fret, there’s still plenty of
good flying weather to enjoy this season.
In the April issue, Andy Marone of
Manorville, New York, was busy scratchbuilding
a 1/3-scale Sopwith Triplane. I have
some photos of the completed model to share.
Todd Bailey read about the Advanced
Scale Models B-17 in the May 2011 issue of
MA and sent along this really interesting story
about his B-17 model. Check it out!
Andy Marone recently completed a 1/3-scale
Sopwith Triplane built from his own plans
based on Replicraft drawings. This build was
first featured in the April 2011 “RC Giants”
column. Andy has completed the model and I
had an opportunity to photograph it before its
first flight.
Andy built the model with scale fidelity in
mind—from the precise placement of the
wing ribs to the scale control cabling that
operate the ailerons, elevators, and rudder.
Even the covering on the fuselage has scale
stitching that can be removed to access the
internal workings!
Since the three wings contain the scale
aileron cables, he cannot easily take the model
apart for transportation, so Andy transports
the fully assembled model in a large trailer he
purchased. The model is powered by a
Rotomotor Roto 85cc
two-cylinder, fourstroke
gas engine.
The Sopwith
Triplane was designed
by Herbert Smith in
1916 with three
narrow-chord wings
and a fuselage and
tailplane similar to that
of the Sopwith Pup.
Also included in this column:
• Todd Bailey’s PW-RC B-17
• ViperJet by Skymaster RC
join the Navy together, but dad had flat feet so
the Navy would not take him. Dad enlisted in
the Army and became a B-17 ball-turret
gunner.
“My father never really talked much about
the experience. It was after D-Day when he
arrived in England and I think that he had
participated in five combat missions as a
replacement gunner in various aircraft. Once,
when I asked him what plane he had flown in,
he told me had flown in several different
planes but the one he had been in the most
was named Little Joe and I knew that he had
been in the 95th Bombardment Group.
“When the famous Memphis Belle
returned to the United States after completing
25 missions, the aircraft was used in a war
bond tour. After that, it was used for training
at MacDill [Air Force Base] down in Florida.
Dad once flew a training mission in the
Memphis Belle when it was at MacDill.
“I found that Little Joe was B-17 serial
number 43-39037 assigned to the
336th [Fighter] Squadron, 95th
Todd Bailey displays
his electric-powered
Little Joe B-17 from
Philip Workshop R/C.
To the right is a closeup
of the B-17’s nose
area.
Below: Todd Bailey’s
father, second from
the left in the
front row, was a
member of the 95th
B o m b a r d m e n t
Group.
Above: This 82-
i n c h - w i n g s p a n
ViperJet is powered
by a JetCat P-80
turbine. Its paint
scheme is done in
the mold.
September 2011 103
Although it had one more wing than the
Pup, the new aircraft allowed the pilot a
greatly improved field of view.
The prototype first flew in May 1916 and
it became an instant success. More
importantly, the triplane could out climb and
out turn the German Albatros of the same
period. The Germans were so impressed with
the triplane’s performance that they made it a
priority to secure a downed triplane for
evaluation. Thus the existence of the Fokker
triplane!
Andy has flown the model and reports that
it exceeds his expectations in flight.
Nice work, Andy!
Todd Bailey of Hamilton, Ohio, is a fan of
the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. His
attraction started many years ago when he
learned that his father flew as a ball-turret
gunner during World War II. Here’s what
Todd has written:
“In 1944, my father and his friend left high
school to fight in the war. Their plan was to
09sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 7/22/11 11:36 AM Page 103
Bombardment Group. The pilot of the
aircraft, First Lieutenant Charles Rose,
received the Air Medal for getting the bomber
home on two engines.
“In 1997, the Aluminum Overcast, which
is operated by the EAA, was in the Cincinnati
area. I paid $500 for a flight in the B-17. I
even got to fly it for about 15 minutes. Best
$500 I ever spent.
“That experience certainly gave me new
respect for the guys who flew the B-17 in
combat. Even tooling around at 2,500 feet for
an hour on a warm summer afternoon was not
what anyone would call a comfortable ride by
today’s standards.
“I cannot imagine the courage it took to
climb into that bomber and fly for six or eight
hours up where the temperature would freeze
you, you could not breathe the air, and there
were bunches of angry Germans doing their
best to shoot you out of the sky—and to do
that over and over and over again until there
was nothing left to bomb.
“I am an AMA Life Member and have
been flying RC planes for over 40 years with
Control Line and rubber-powered Free Flight
before that. I am a member of the HAWKS
(Hamilton Area Wireless Kontrol Society)
club and fly at their field in Hamilton, Ohio.
“I mostly fly for sport now but was fairly
successful in Quickie 500 Pylon Racing in the
past. I won the 1995 NMPRA [National
Miniature Pylon Racing Association] District
5 ‘Standard’ Class Championship and was in
the top 25 for national points standing one
year. I have many Pylon trophies in my
collection.
“I had always wanted a B-17, but until
fairly recently, putting one in the air was a
daunting task. The cost of putting a fourengine,
glow-powered plane in the air was
high and the large size of the decent models
was also an issue. With the maturing electric
technology available today, a ‘smaller’ size B-
17 has become much more practical.
“So now the question was which aircraft to
model (Little Joe, Memphis Belle, or
Aluminum Overcast) and which model to
build. I decided on modeling ‘Little Joe’ and
selected a B-17 ARF produced by PW-RC
[Philip Workshop R/C] as my starting point.
“My Little Joe model is a heavily modified
PW-RC Memphis Belle ARF which has a
fiberglass fuselage with built-up wings and tail
surfaces. I completely recovered and repainted
the model and rebuilt the control surfaces to
simulate fabric covering and use scale hinging.
“I fabricated a Cheyenne tail turret, a chin
turret, cheek guns, and other details to convert
the B-17 from an ‘F’ version to a ‘G’ version.
The aircraft lettering and insignias were made
by Kirbys Kustom Vinyl Graphics. The ‘Little
Joe’ nose art was computer generated and
printed onto decal film with a color laser
printer.
“A historian with the 95th Bomb Group
Memorial Foundation advised me on the
colors likely used for the nose art since only
black-and-white photos were available.
“I have more than 200 hours of work in the
conversion. The plane has an 81-inch
wingspan and weighs in at 13 pounds, 6
ounces. It has four Turnigy SK3530 motors,
powered by two three-cell 5000 mAh Li-Poly
packs running in parallel. Even with the stock