Born to Fly - 2011/03

84 MODEL AVIATION
Jim T. Graham | jgraham@Born to Fly rcgroups.com
Who invented 3-D?
Jerry Smith flies his Spoiler 3-D model, so named because it flies
so well that it will spoil you.
Quique Somenzini’s Hovering Cobra in the bones. This was a
mythical airplane in the early days of 3-D.
Left: Nine-time Fun Fly champion Jerry L. Smith designed
the Smith Special by trial and error. In the early days of 3-D
competition, pilots shared structure info to make these
airplanes do what was asked of them and work well.
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 wing span. This
airplane used a mono wheel to reduce
weight.
“We were going 30 degrees on 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 5 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
03sig3.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/24/11 1:51 PM Page 84
credit for exposing the 3-D style of flying to the RC masses.
“Paul Swany 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 From Azarr’s
Perspective:
“There have been a bunch of profile airplanes around from
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.
March 2011 85
Jerry Smith (L) and Azarr attend the Pro Bro 3-D event in
Nashville, Tennessee.
Chris Chianelli (L) did much to promote all aspects of our hobby.
He is shown with the author, who holds his favorite model: the
Mojo. It features most of what 3-D pioneers worked out: large
control surfaces, huge throws, a carbon-fiber rod through the
fuselage, and a great design, thanks to Paul Swanson.
The author has a nice collection of 3-D aircraft, and they date back to the “good old days.”
A classic Stickit V—which Dan Stevens designed and Azarr kitted—
which many pilots have used to learn how to hover and Harrier.
Dan helped build many of the B-29s that Mac Hodges has flown.
03sig3.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/24/11 1:51 PM Page 85
“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 take off 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 fullfuselage
airplanes, but the weight savings
and winglike fuselage on a profile model
always outperformed the more scalelike
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?” MA
Sources:
Quique Somenzini:
Horizon Hobby
(800) 338-4639
www.horizonhobby.com
Azarr:
E Cubed R/C
(937) 256-7727
www.ecubedrc.com
Dave McDonald:
Dave McD’s World of R/C
http://mypage.yhti.net/~dmcdnld
Paul Swanson:
Swanyshouse
www.swanyshouse.com/index.aspx
86 MODEL AVIATION
03sig3.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/24/11 1:52 PM Page 86