FOCAL POINT

Swift
Frank Novak (12 Strong St., Newburyport MA 01950; email:
[email protected]) recently completed this Globe Swift.
“I have always thought it interesting that a plane as beautiful
as the Swift was so rarely modeled and, that being the case, this
was an interesting challenge,” wrote Frank.
The model was built from scaled-up Cleveland plans.
Construction is built-up balsa and plywood with MonoKotecovered
wings, while the rest of the model has a dope fi nish.
The cowling is built-up balsa, which was then carved to shape
and fi berglassed. Power is a K&B Torpedo .40 rear rotor. Frank’s
Swift spans 47 inches with a length of 32 inches and total weight
of 3.9 pounds
Glider
W. Stewart Tittle (1640 Ridgecrest Dr., Klamath Falls OR 97601; email:
[email protected]) built this 36-inch wingspan Sailplane with help
from his 51/2-year-old grandson, Adrian.
Stewart wrote: “We used a fi berglass arrow shaft for the fuselage, 1/16-
inch music wire for wing mounting, shot for ballast, 1/16-inch balsa for the
wings, 1/8-inch balsa for the tail feathers, 3/8-inch balsa for the cockpit area,
and 1/32-inch plywood to reinforce everything that needed sandwiching,
which included wheel mounts, forward and rear arrow shaft attachments,
stabilizer mount, nose ballast chamber, and wing mounting areas.
“The design changed as we progressed through the building. The most
notable was that we moved the wings aft fi ve inches so that we could
balance it.
“The project was done in time for the arrival of mom and dad. Adrian’s
dad, Brad, did the test fl ying on the slope across the street. It fl ew off the
drawing board very nicely!”
Randy’s 120-inch Quaker
Randy Kuntz (1624 Glenfi eld Dr., Lawrenceville GA 30043; email:
[email protected]) wrote: “Wanting to experiment with electric
power, and after building and fl ying RC for 40 years, I decided that the
Quaker would make an excellent, stable choice for a fi rst scratch-built
electric.
“Knowing that bigger fl ies better, I obtained a set of 105-inch
wingspan plans and blew them to 120-inches in span. The scratch
build only took about 21/2 weeks to complete (and several rolls of
MonoKote).
“A Turnigy 5065-400 outrunner powered by a Hobby World 70-amp
ESC and a Turnigy 5000 mAh LiPo turning a 16 x 8 wood propeller give
this 6-pound ‘oldie’ almost vertical climb performance. A six-channel
Futaba 2.4 GHz radio makes sure no glitches are felt.
“Takeoff rolls are seldom longer than 6 feet on a calm day. Once
at altitude, shut down the motor and thermal like a big Sailplane.
Landings are as slow and predictable as the original Quaker. The best
of both worlds! It’s a joy to fl y and always draws a crowd.”
Simla
Eugene Job (6026 Whispering Hills Dr., Marsing ID 83639) shares
his Simla with MA readers.
Eugene wrote: “Thanks to Ed Kazmirski for this great plane and
thanks to Duane Wilson for bringing it back. I made a few changes. I
enlarged plans to an 80-inch wingspan and put a 3W 48 twin on the
model making the fi nal weight 25 pounds. The model also uses a JR
10x and graphics from Cal-Grafx decals.”