Author: Jim T. Graham
Edition: Model Aviation - 2011/03
Page Numbers: 84,85,86
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Who invented 3-D?

Jim T. Graham | [email protected]

A question was posted on an Internet forum awhile ago: Who invented 3-D and the 3-D airplanes we fly today? It was a simple inquiry that was hard to answer.

Pilots who are into 3-D remember how they found out about it, but figuring out where 3-D and 3-D-capable aircraft came from requires taking a long walk down the RC path. Luckily for us, some 3-D pioneers are not only still around, but are also friends of mine. They were there in the beginning, creating what was to be the facet of the hobby that drew me and many others into RC.

A virtual round table of 3-D historians: What would it be like to have all early innovators and pilots together to discuss the origins of 3-D? This is my attempt to let you in on the history of 3-D by reading accounts of those who were there making it happen. Enjoy!

The Father of 3-D — Quique Somenzini

"I had seen full-scale airplanes torque roll in videos and my dream was to do that with an RC airplane. My very first 3-D airplane was built back in 1986. It was called the Tooripo. That is Spanish slang for 'Little Bull.'

"The Tooripo was a .45-sized airplane that ran a two-stroke motor, with a Magic tuned pipe and an 11x4 Taipan prop from Australia. Those were the only props that would keep my airplane hovering. The airplane had a 55-inch wingspan. This airplane used a mono wheel to reduce weight.

"We were going 30 degrees on the elevator and that was really crazy at the time. The Tooripo was my very first airplane that I could hover. My definition of hovering back then was that the airplane would stay in one spot and make five rotations. I had never seen anyone hover in RC prior to that.

"I also designed the Hovering Cobra as a 3-D airplane. It was light and had large control surfaces. I used a low-pitch prop and high-RPM motor. It did not have much forward speed but it had lots of thrust.

"As time went on we started to increase all the surfaces on my airplanes and used bigger throws. As time went on we also had motors that could create the power needed for 3-D. That was the route I took to 3-D."

Dave McDonald's View on Early 3-D and Profiles

"Like everything else that's ever been invented, 3-D profile airplanes didn't just magically appear. They evolved by combining characteristics of previous airplanes.

"Shortly after that, nearly all of the Competition Fun Fly airplanes adopted the tube design, and then began mounting profile fuselages to them. The first one I recall that combined the tube and profile fuselage was the Menace. But Mark Shope says it was the Duck and he would know.

"Airplanes like the Menace were capable of 3-D flying, but weren't being marketed that way. The old Stickit IV was my harrier and hovering trainer, even though it wasn't intended to be flown as a hovering and harrier trainer.

"Walter Morris is the first company I remember marketing profile airplanes for 3-D flying, which they called 'Hoverbatics.' I believe that Tom Stryker was the design guru, Tony Ayers was the demo pilot, and Walter Morris was the marketing genius.

"I doubt that anyone could successfully argue that the Morris airplanes invented 3-D profiles, but I think they deserve a lot of credit for exposing the 3-D style of flying to the RC masses.

"Paul Swanson and Mark Shope conspired to improve on the Morris profiles by making them lighter and stronger using the proven Menace-type construction. Presto! The Fat Free Taco was born! Then later the Burrito was born!

"Personally, I would consider the Burrito to be the forerunner of the modern-day 3-D profiles that we fly today. Therefore Mark Shope and Paul Swanson should get the credit as the designers of the modern-day 3-D profiles."

How the First 3-D Model Profile Was Born — Azarr’s Perspective

"There have been a bunch of profile airplanes around for many years; the first I remember seeing were profile warbirds put out by Kraft in the late ’60s and early ’70s, but none were what we consider 3-D.

"The key to the modern-day 3-D profiles was the fiberglass boom. The first ever fiberglass boom fun-fly airplane was the Stickit III designed by Dan Stevens. The original Stickit used a Hirobo fiberglass helicopter boom which was prone to breakage.

"Dan and I were discussing this one day when I mentioned I had some large kites that used 1/2-inch fiberglass tubes. I orphaned one of my kites to send him one of my tubes and the rest is history. Dan re-designed the Stickit around the boom and Mac Hodges built the first version.

"The first true 3-D profiles came from the addition of the Sportsman Class to the NCFFA (National Competition Fun Fly Association) competition events. These were more standard fun-fly events and to stop the pod-and-boom class airplanes from dominating, one of the rules was that a fuselage was required.

"Innovative as competitors are, many showed up at the events with standard pod-and-boom airplanes that had stick 'fuselages' glued to the top and bottom of the fiberglass boom. As with all innovation, those first designs continued to develop.

"The first kit I'm aware of that incorporated the innovations of the competition fun-fly designs was the Smith Sportsman Special (the Duck for its odd canopy shape) kitted by Mark Shope. The next was Mark's Menace, which was a more refined version of the profiles and he used some innovative building techniques to incorporate the fiberglass boom into the structure of the design.

"The average modeler had problems setting up and flying our Stickit and Smith Special kits, so our 'Stick-Stang' and 'Stick-Munk' were a profile takeoff of the fun-fly airplanes that were designed for the mass market, not the true 3-D pilot. They sold well through Tower Hobbies/Great Planes until they basically copied them and came out with their own versions.

"As far as I’m concerned, all the credit to the current crop of profile 3-D aircraft belongs to Dan Stevens, because without the use of the fiberglass tube none of the designs would have progressed as far as they have.

"Jerry L. Smith, and in turn Mark Shope, led the development to what has become much more than ever anticipated. I feel privileged to have been part of that scenario.

"Quique Somenzini is generally credited as being the ‘Father’ of 3-D, but we were flying 3-D before anyone decided to call it that. As with the Profile Brotherhood, we were flying in small groups and basically unknown in the general modeling community while Quique was flying big airplanes on a big stage.

"Not to take anything away from Quique of course; his contribution to the hobby has been immense and I’m pretty sure all this development was happening at the same time.

"What Morris did well was market 3-D and create the term 'Hoverbatics.' That, combined with the videos of Tony Ayers’ great flying, led a whole generation to believe that Morris 'invented' 3-D."

Mark Shope Recalls the Start of 3-D

"The first RC profile I recall was the Goldberg Shoestring. It flew better as a control-line airplane! As far as the tube goes, Unlimited Competition Fun-Fly airplanes (stick-boom) used them but had no fuse.

"Pushing the limits on the Sportsman class, Jerry L. Smith and Mark T. Smith (AMA VP) came up with the Smith Sportsman Special (sometimes called the Duck) that I produced for a while, about the same time Morris appeared. The latter couldn’t take a joke with the ground let alone compete with the lighter airplanes.

"Keep in mind that the competition airplanes were purpose-built to loop, roll, spin, and hover all day but were a pain to knife edge! The timed events didn’t require it. Next came the Menace I designed and through that, after several years, I met Paul Swanson and put the Taco on a diet and the evolution continues!"

3-D Continues to Evolve — Billy Hell

I was your average RC pilot until I accidentally purchased a stick-built, homemade profile airplane at a swap meet in Tennessee at the time when 3-D was starting to be seen on the Internet. After the first flight I was in love with 3-D profile models.

This was fairly new back then, so those of us who were into it banded together to trade build tips and engine-tuning modifications, discuss what propellers worked best, and cover everything else we obsess about on our aircraft. I started stick-building Morris airplanes, and that got me into custom trim schemes. All of those things are the basics of RC and great skills to have for all parts of the hobby.

Matt Jolley, the marketing person for Morris, contacted me one day and asked me to help promote Morris through build threads online. That was when I got my foot in the door of the hobby industry, and I have never taken it out!

Soon after that I started doing public relations and marketing for Hobby Lobby.

I tried as many 3-D models as possible in the early days and finally talked Hobby Lobby into carrying a 3-D foamie. The Mike Glass Mini Gee Bee was the first available with a preprinted scheme. That is hard to imagine now that you can buy almost any kind of foamie 3-D airplane in any kind of configuration, but it was cutting edge back then.

For many years after that, 3-D was a big seller for Hobby Lobby. I tried full-fuselage airplanes, but the weight savings and winglike fuselage on a profile model always outperformed the more scale-like aircraft.

Then one day I flew the Paul Swanson Mojo, and that was it for me. It’s a forgiving, stress-free 3-D performer that can take a hit and is fun 100% of the time. Now 3-D designs come in all shapes and sizes. My dream of miniature 3-D RC models has become a reality, and they are affordable.

3-D is only a single facet of this great hobby, but it’s also entertaining and has a rich history. The real question now is, "What’s next?"

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.