Toledo follow-up
Greg Gimlick | [email protected]
The Toledo R/C Expo is old news by now, but as I write this I only returned from it a week ago and it’s still fresh in my mind. The show was another success and if you’ve never been, you owe it to yourself to make the journey to the Weak Signals Toledo Show next year.
I’m not going in depth since I know MA Editor Jay Smith was there doing the big coverage, but I will hit on some of the electric highlights.
Stevens AeroModel
Bill Stevens’ booth was a highlight for me and many others. He has boosted the market with his incredible smaller electric-powered airplane offerings, including CL models that are actually practical now. His kits range from scale to cute to everything in between.
If you’ve never built from a kit before or are looking to rekindle your love of building, you should check them out. Some can be built in an evening and others will take slightly longer. Bill carries everything from motors to ESCs to all the building and covering supplies you’ll need. Bill and his kids all fly the products, so you’ll get a knowledgeable person on the telephone when you call or email.
FMA Direct
The Marks brothers were there in full force with a staff demonstrating and explaining all of the company’s products. I’ve been eyeballing a Cellpro 10S charger for some time now, and after getting a great demonstration and lesson on what it will do, I pulled the trigger and brought one home. This is in Red Scholefield’s territory so I won’t review it here, but it’s everything Red has told me it is, and I’m just scratching the surface of its capabilities.
What was of particular interest is how it treats two 5s packs when they are charging simultaneously. Because my 10s airplanes use two 5s packs in series, it’s the perfect charging situation. The packs connect to two charge-and-balance ports on the charger, but are treated internally as a series pack so the cells are balanced across the two packs. This is incredibly cool for the health of your packs if you run them this way!
The display of the internal resistance of each cell intrigues me. Now when you think you have a cell in a pack starting to go downhill, you can monitor its actual resistance and compare it with the others. This is a great charger for the money.
Sig Manufacturing
It was great seeing David Martin at the Sig booth. He has a long history in the aeromodeling business and his dad was a good friend of mine. David brought his expertise, along with a couple of investors (also modelers), to Iowa and purchased Sig.
The company’s outlook is great and production is in full swing. Its new Rascal EP-49 ARF drew large crowds all day. I’ve flown the larger Rascals and they’re great-flying aircraft, so I expect this one to be the same.
Sig brought its full line of building and covering supplies for scratch builders. The company still makes kits too, so maybe building is making a comeback.
Xtreme Power Systems
Jim and Scott staffed the booth at Xtreme Power Systems (XPS) and brought a prototype of the new 16-channel radio I shared with you. Unfortunately the FCC certificate didn’t come through in time for the production run to make the show. I suspect by the time you read this I will have one in my hands and be happily trying to figure out all its possibilities. XPS sold the heck out of its receivers and accessories so things look good there. I’m still a big fan of the high-capacity Li-Poly packs!
Horizon Hobby
Horizon had its new Blade mCP X micro helicopter on display and I already have one on order. This little guy is incredible and the best feature is that it’s flybarless! Had it been available for immediate purchase, there would have been a line around the building. What a cool little helicopter — and it's 3-D capable.
The new Mosquito also drew quite a crowd and I'll be assembling one of those as soon as I return from my trip.
Great Planes
Great Planes had its usual huge presence and a large staff ready to answer questions. I looked at some new receivers and battery packs for my FASST-equipped airplanes. The T7C continues to perform well. With the new Hobbico LiFeSource battery packs, there is no worry about in-flight power to the system.
Keith "Mr. Electrics" Shaw
I'll admit it — I'm a huge fan of this guy! I've known Keith for many years, going back to the Quakerstown days of the famous KRC Electric meet. He's been my friend and mentor throughout the years and I'm always amazed at the subjects he chooses to build from scratch. Keith does "one offs" so plans are not available, but he's always willing to share information with serious scratch builders.
Throughout the years he's entered an incredible collection of scratch-built scale models in the Weak Signals Toledo Show competition. A shock for many of us is that he's never placed except in the MonoKote category.
I won't mince words. I think there has been an injustice, but this year all is well and I'm happy to report that he won first place in Nonmilitary Scale. Keith's subject was a Yak UT-1, a 1936 Russian aerobatic trainer. It sports live suspension inside those wheel pants that had to be seen before covering to be appreciated.
Keith also hand-carved each cylinder head on that radial engine. The patience and attention to detail he portrays is beyond belief. The 9-pound model is 1/4 scale and is covered with MonoKote. The span is 72 inches with 950 square inches of wing. Power is provided by a Scorpion 4035 outrunner, a Castle Phoenix 45HV ESC, and 10 A123 2300 mAh cells.
Jim Ryan
Jim Ryan's Cheyenne is a show stopper! You'll soon be treated to a construction article from Jim about his scratch-built helicopter. It's based on a 450-size airframe and he will have glass parts and plans available.
Jim is well known for his Ryan Aircraft line of Speed 400-powered scale warbirds and a few years ago he morphed into an amazing helicopter designer and flier, too. This project follows his scratch-built Chinook.
Jim finished the Cheyenne a few days before the show and entered it in the Helicopter class against some tough competition. He pulled off a first-place win for his efforts!
I happened to see one of his "reject" glass fuselages and it was better than any I've bought that were considered first class. Jim's attention to quality is unsurpassed. Congratulations on a great job!
Final Approach
Well that's it. I'm off for the adventure of the year. I've packed the motor home and found room for some helicopters and airplanes, too.
Flying at various sites around the country is always a fun experience and I hope by the time I write the next column, I will have met a bunch of you at fields throughout the west!
MA
Sources
- Stevens AeroModel
(719) 387-4187 www.stevensaero.com
- FMA Direct
(800) 343-2934 www.fmadirect.com
- Sig Manufacturing
(641) 623-5154 www.sigmfg.com
- Xtreme Power Systems
[email protected] www.xtremepowersystems.net
- Horizon Hobby
(800) 338-4639 www.horizonhobby.com
- Great Planes Model Manufacturing
(217) 398-8970 www.greatplanes.com
- Ryan Aircraft
(513) 729-3323 http://ryanaircraft.net
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
