Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/03
Page Numbers: 80,81
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Focal Point 2014/03

Junior

Ken Lawrence (2455 Grafton St., El Cajon, CA 92020; email: [email protected]) built this Curtiss-Wright CW-1 Junior from AMA Plans Service number 994.

  • Weight: 40 ounces
  • Wingspan: 55 inches
  • Power: ElectriFly Rimfire .10 with Castle Creations Thunderbird 36 ESC
  • Radio/servos: Airtronics RDS8000 with Hitec servos
  • Covering/finish: wings and horizontal tail surfaces covered in silver 21st Century fabric; fuselage, fin, and rudder sprayed hunter-green Krylon gloss
  • Details: Williams Brothers plastic cylinders used for the dummy engine; graphics hand-cut from MonoKote trim sheets

Blackbird

Walter Jensen (1267 S. 31st St., Manitowoc, WI 54220; email: [email protected]) scratch-built this SR-71 from a picture he enlarged to 200%.

  • Length: 6.5 feet
  • Power: Turnigy G60 400 Kv turning a 14-inch propeller
  • Performance: top speed about 45 mph; handles well

Four Star 40

Ryan Wheless (4683 S. House Rock Tr., Flagstaff, AZ 86001; email: [email protected]), age 9, and his dad, Jeff, built this Four Star 40. It is their first build.

Ryan wrote: "It is a blast to fly and was a lot of fun to build. We got a lot of advice from our fellow Flagstaff Flyers and Dereck Woodward. The Four Star is a plane that will occupy us for a long time! It weighs 4.8 pounds with all the gear and batteries on it. It runs on an 860 Kv motor, two three-cell, 3,800 mAh LiPos in series, and a 13 x 8 or 14 x 8 propeller, depending on our mood. We use a Futaba 7C radio with it. It does rolls really well. It is a great plane!"

  • Weight: 4.8 pounds (with gear and batteries)
  • Motor: 860 Kv
  • Batteries: two 3-cell 3,800 mAh LiPos in series
  • Propeller: 13x8 or 14x8
  • Radio: Futaba 7C

Sig Hog Bipe

Greg Wozney (5 Grove St., Waldwick, NJ 07463; email: [email protected]) shares his Sig Hog Bipe with readers. The model, photographed by Doug Nasto, is a modified Hog converted to electric power.

  • Motor/ESC: Skyshark Lightning 75 motor with a 70-amp ESC
  • Power: six cells in series
  • Modifications: turtledeck and canopy, fiberglass cowl and main gear, redesigned tail feathers

Bald Eagle

Leon Rosen (3285 Jessica Ln., Naples, FL 34105; email: [email protected]) designed and built a 30-inch Slow Flyer that he converted into this 7-foot Bald Eagle. Leon wrote: "Stupid idea really, but with tenacity and 100-plus hours, the objective was achieved. I built the extended spruce and balsa fuselage over the original carbon-stick fuselage of the Slow Flyer, the new length governed by the wing chord, and covered the fuselage with Solartex.

"The wing is flat bottomed, achieved by cutting away the underside of the Slow Flyer wing and then adding gull-shaped extensions, which are removable using plastic wing bolts. The feathers were made with 1/32-inch sheet over a 1/16-inch frame. The wing covering is Litespan. Power is by E-flite Power 15, and control of ailerons, elevator, and rudder is by a Spektrum DX6i. (I know eagles don’t have rudders.)"

  • Final span/size: 7 feet (converted from 30-inch Slow Flyer)
  • Structure: extended spruce and balsa fuselage over original carbon-stick fuselage
  • Covering: Solartex (fuselage); Litespan (wing)
  • Wing: flat-bottomed with removable gull-shaped extensions
  • Feathers: 1/32-inch sheet over 1/16-inch frame
  • Power: E-flite Power 15
  • Radio: Spektrum DX6i

Butterfly

Bob Beutler (700 Park St., Boulder City, NV 89005; email: [email protected]) shares his Butterfly with MA readers. Shown here with Bob’s granddaughter, Elodie, this Butterfly was built from a vintage Craft-Air kit.

  • Special features: action figure and parachute deployment pod added to the bottom of the fuselage; deployment pod contains a servo and is shaped to fit the fuselage contour
  • Engine: O.S. 25LA two-stroke
  • Wingspan: 99 inches
  • Gear: Sullivan tail wheel added
  • Flight: slow and graceful

Nabu

Romi Lucas (10204 Ross Lake Dr., Peyton, CO 80831; email: [email protected]) wrote: "This plane was modeled and named for the Nabu Fighter featured in Episode I of the Star Wars Trilogy opening scene. Two E-flite Power 32 outrunner motors power this airframe."

  • Configuration: delta wing with no rear stabilizer
  • Power: two E-flite Power 32 outrunner motors
  • Gear/controls: retractable main landing gear and a functional rudder
  • Access: top half of the fuselage is removable to access batteries and electronics

Heinkel He 178 V-1

Tony Kameen (11045 Silver Run, Moreno Valley, CA 92557; email: [email protected]) scratch-built this EDF project.

  • Background: started from a small three-view and gathered extensive reference material
  • Span: 40 inches
  • Power system: three-phase (brushless) with a 40-amp ESC driven by an 11.1-volt LiPo
  • Construction: fuselage carved from blue foam; wing is conventional built-up balsa
  • Finish: paint custom-mixed latex in RLM 02 color
  • Balance: CG determined by the location of the battery pack in the front of the airplane under the cockpit

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