Focal Point
Ag-Wagon
Ray Shroba (101 Pioneer Dr., Minooka IL 60447; email: [email protected]) presents his Cessna 188 Ag-Wagon from RC Guys (www.rcguys.com).
Complete with a Slimline smoke system, this 98-inch wingspan model weighs in at 17 pounds. Power comes from a First Place Engine 2.4 power plant with dual 1,400 mAh flight batteries and MPI switches, 1,100 mA ignition battery, and a three-cell LiPo battery for the smoke pump. Ray uses a Futaba 10C to control the craft.
“Flies nicely, is very maneuverable, and is rock solid on the controls. Looks beautiful and is unique in the air,” wrote Ray.
Cub
John Opsitnik (503 Waterside Dr., Felton DE 19943; email: [email protected]) finally finished this Balsa USA 33% Piper Cub after 4.5 years of building.
This scale model has a 145-inch wingspan, an operating smoke system, and it weighs 26 pounds. It is covered in 11.5 meters of Solartex. A Fuji BT-64EI powers the craft with control delivered by an Airtronics 2.4 GHz radio.
“After 50 years of scratch building, this is my favorite,” wrote John.
Short Singapore
Frank Baker ([email protected]) built this model from his own plans based on three-views in the book Shorts Aircraft Since 1900.
This flying boat model has a 68-inch wingspan and is powered by two O.S. FS26 engines swinging 10 x 6 propellers. The wings and empennage were covered with silver Solartex and the fuselage was painted with butyrate dope.
Frank wrote:
“Due to the upsweep on the fuselage, the balsa construction involved quite a bit of complicated balsa bending. The engine nacelles are suspended between the wings on music wire struts with basswood strut fairings. The model has been flown off a grass runway and the water. Because the plane sits low in the water, the propellers throw quite a large plume of spray on takeoff. This photo was taken by Fred Schrank.”
Aeromasters
Jack Cummings (114 Regent Row, Willow Park TX 76087; email: [email protected]) built these two versions of the Lou Andrews Aeromaster and Great Planes Aeromaster Two from plans. These two Aeromasters represent the 16th and 17th Aeromasters that he has built since 1970.
The one Jack is holding spans 52 inches. The one on the ground was built from the original Andrews Aeromaster plans; however he extended the top wing from the original 48 inches to 52 inches and built the bottom wing with the original 48-inch wingspan.
Both are powered with O.S. 46LA ABN engines, guided with Futaba radios, and are sweet to fly.
Jack has built so many Aeromasters because other RC pilots want to buy them and he loves building as much as he does flying them. He is currently designing an EP-foam version of these two Aeromasters.
Focal Point
Flying King
Keith Lindsay (3873 Union Church Rd., Fort Valley GA 31030; email: [email protected]) built his Flying King model from a Bruce Tharpe Engineering kit.
Normally flown with a single glow engine, Keith added four nacelles to the wing. Each nacelle has a three-ounce tank, a throttle servo, and an O.S. FS-20 engine.
Because the wings weighed more than normal, he added additional light plywood to the wing hold area to strengthen the fuselage. Keith also filled in the cabin windows with balsa to increase strength. The wingspan increased one inch because of the modifications.
"The transformation to a pseudo airliner was easy to do ... and much fun," wrote Keith.
Wilga
Steven Powell (12607 Wellington Pk., Houston TX 77072) built his 1/6-scale Wilga from his own plans.
Steven wrote:
"I wanted a 1/6-scale Wilga and didn't find one available commercially so I built this one from scratch using three-view drawings of the full-scale plane. It has a 72-inch wingspan, Fowler flaps, and uses a geared Astro .25 for power. It has about 20 flights on it and flies well."
Primus Taurus
Chris Padham (2007 Autumn Rose Ct., Bakersfield CA 93312; email: [email protected]) built this Primus/Taurus from a Home and Hobby Solutions kit.
It is powered by a Saito .72 engine, and has carbon-tissue covering on the fuselage and empennage section. Sig Coverall was used on the wings and the base finish is nitrate dope followed by Klass Kote primer and paint. Chris uses a Spektrum 2.4 GHz radio for control.
"It is a great-flying model. Not up to today's standards of aerobatics, of course, but very pleasing nonetheless," wrote Chris.
Last Patrol of the Day
Jesse Aronstein (50 Pasture Lane, Poughkeepsie NY 12603) shares his Catalina taking off into the setting sun at Galway Lake in New York.
Built from a Guillows stick-and-tissue static model kit, Jesse converted it with a 1,000 mAh LiPo battery. It is built mostly as kitted, but modified to be lighter and stronger. Jesse stretched the tail surfaces on this 44-inch wingspan model to add 15% more area.
Other modifications include a water rudder and increased distance between the engine nacelles to allow clearance for 6-inch propellers. Jesse used modern technology including brushless motors, LiPo batteries, and sub-micro servos within the flying surfaces.
Jesse wrote:
"I used to watch PBYs fly out of Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, and always wanted to model one. Thanks to Guillows kit and modern electric and radio technology, I now fly my own."
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
