March 2006 107
nice and shiny, but how about a fabriccovered
ARF that the modeler could paint?
One of the photos shows the full-scale
Stearman with full smoke on. Smoke would
be a great addition to the model. The
pictures also give me some ideas about
adding other details, just for the fun of it.
At this stage of building you want to
decide whether to use two or four aileron
servos. I elected to use two in the lower
wing. Each servo has 125 ounces of torque,
and that should be enough with the ailerons
coupled as in the full-scale airplane.
After the first several flights I found that
it wasn’t enough! I have pulled the strings
out of the lower surfaces of the upper wing
panels and taped them down just in case.
They aren’t noticeable in that position. All I
would have to do would be to cut the servo
boxes out with a sharp knife and then pull
the servo extensions through the wing
panel.
I joined the wings with 30-minute epoxy
per the instructions. To obtain a good, tight
joint I held the wing halves until they were
dry. You could hold the halves together
with weights (a stack of magazines works),
but since they were already covered I didn’t
want to take the chance of their separating
while they were drying.
I’m also going to add a 1-inch-wide strip
of fiberglass tape to the wing center-section
on the lower wing. To do this I’ll strip away
the white MonoKote and add the fiberglass
tape using thin ZAP. Then I’ll add another
center-section of white MonoKote and seal
it down.
I left the top wing per the instructions. I
just added pieces of red and white
MonoKote to cover the wing joint.
If you purchase this model, consider
reshrinking all of its covering with a heat
The model Stearman’s lower wing panel joined with servo leads
marked.
JR Sport high-torque servo with 125 ounce-inch at 4.8 volts. Stan
added heat-shrink tubing to the 12-inch servo extension.
106 MODEL AVIATION
The author’s progress report on his Super Stearman
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Scale Stan Alexander
Also included in this column:
• Top Gun 2006
• This year’s Scale Nats
• Golden Age aircraft
Full-scale Super Stearman N146CM in flight with air-show smoke on. The full-scale Super Stearman viewed from the front.
Great Planes’ Super Stearman in front of the full-scale, fully aerobatic aircraft.
MY GREAT PLANES Super Stearman is
coming along nicely. I went to the local
hobby shop and, since I’ll be using a JR
radio with this model, selected one of the
new JR Flight Packs for a 1.20-size model.
I’m not a fanatic about JR radios, but I do
like them and have several. I have
Airtronics systems too. Does anyone out
there remember the old JR eight-channel
“Scale” radio systems?
The JR Flight Pack comes with five
servos, a six-channel receiver, and assorted
goodies including two 12-inch servo
extensions. I’ll need both of those with the
Stearman. The package doesn’t come with
a crystal; you need to purchase that
separately.
Yes, for what I paid for this Flight Pack
I could have bought a good sport radio with
standard servos, but Great Planes
recommends servos with at least 52 ounces
of torque for the Stearman’s control
surfaces. Looking at and then measuring
the size of the ailerons, you’ll see why.
Strings were added through the wing
ribs, so it was easy to pull the 12-inch servo
extensions through each panel from the
hole cut for the servos. This took
approximately five minutes to do, gently
pulling back and forth until the leads were
all the way through. When I hit a rib, I’d
pull back a little the other way and then
proceed slowly.
A good square knot on the servo
extension behind the connector held it in
place. Then I screwed the servos down to
the exterior of the wing. I used masking
tape to hold the servo extension at the end
of the root or inboard rib of the wing panel.
I’m going to paint the servos white to try to
hide them a bit.
Just as I was finishing adding the second
set of servos to the upper wings, the mail
came and I received a disk containing
photos from James Martin: the owner of the
full-scale airplane that Great Planes kitted.
Please see the January column for details. I
wrote James back, thanking him for the
great pictures.
Great Planes did a good job on this ARF
by duplicating the color scheme and
markings. Granted, there weren’t many
markings, but the model and the full-scale
Stearman look exceptionally clean.
All you need to request from anyone you
contact about documentation for Fun Scale
is one photo of the full-scale aircraft. That’s
all! The only negative thing about the Great
Planes kit is that no color photo of the fullscale
airplane is included! You could use
the page in this magazine for your
documentation.
With as many color schemes as there are
for Stearmans of all types, I would think
someone would come up with a neutral
design or make an airframe the modeler
could cover.
Bob Banka has more than 100 color
schemes for the aircraft type, and many
other documentation sources have different
versions of the Stearman: military, civil,
air-show types, etc. What about it, Great
Planes? The plastic MonoKote covering is
gun before beginning assembly. I also used
a MonoKote iron on all the control surfaces
to seal the covering to the wood over the
positions where the surfaces would be
hinged.
Installing the main gear is a snap. Just
remove the balsa block, and the prepainted
main gear will go into the slotted section on
the lower fuselage.
All the hardware was provided,
including the tires, wheel pants, axles, tail
wheel, hinges, fuel tank, screws, sockethead
screws, tubing, clevises, cockpit
combing, and other materials. This is as
complete as any kit I’ve seen so far.
Some of the changes I’ll make to the
Super Stearman involve the boot over the
tail-wheel gear, the radio antenna, and
painting the cockpit the correct color. If I
ever have to re-cover the lower wing, it
would be easy to add the retractable landing
light.
Next month I’ll write more about the
Super Stearman. I’ll cover engine
installation and look into a smoke system
for the O.S. 120 FS.
Top Gun Invitational: Lakeland, Florida,
will again be the venue for Top Gun. It will
be held April 26-30 (just before hurricane
season!). Promoter Frank Tiano puts on a
heck of a show with this contest. There are
several classes for the spectators to watch,
from Pro-Am, which is gaining popularity,
to Masters.
The weather is great that time of year in
Lakeland, and the Sun ’n Fun Fly-In ends
just before Top Gun starts at the Lakeland
Linder Regional Airport. There is also an
aviation museum on-site, and the Fantasy of
Flight Museum is just a few miles away.
For more information check out www.frank
tiano.com.
2006 Scale Nats: This just in from the
October planning meeting: this year’s Scale
National Championships will be held
August 3-6. Thursday—the first day of
Scale—is for the third annual Scale RC
Indoor Classic. On Friday all static judging
for outdoor Scale events will take place at
Ball State’s Worthen Arena. All outdoor
events will be flown to completion Saturday
and Sunday.
As one longtime Nats event director told
me, you don’t have to be an Expert to
attend and participate at the Nats—just an
interested AMA member. New Scale
modelers are why Fun Scale and Sportsman
classes are available at the Nats to all AMA
members. Several modelers I know started
out as volunteers and then went on to
compete in Scale competition. For more
information check out www.nasascale.org.
Scale Sources: Numerous Scale modelers
are fascinated with the Golden Age of
Aviation and the types of aircraft that were
produced during that era. However, many
of the book companies’ wholesalers either
ignore this era completely or offer few
selections, much less drawings and other
information.
For many years Wind Canyon Books has
specialized in Golden Age titles, especially
for WACO aircraft, including Piper’s
Golden Age, Aeronca’s Golden Age, and
other volumes in that series. Wind Canyon
is the exclusive distributor of Paul Matt
scale drawings and reference books. The
company also has a large base of reference
materials for other eras of aviation. Call
(800) 952-7007 or log on to www.wind
canyonbooks.com for prices and more
information.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 106,107,108
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 106,107,108
March 2006 107
nice and shiny, but how about a fabriccovered
ARF that the modeler could paint?
One of the photos shows the full-scale
Stearman with full smoke on. Smoke would
be a great addition to the model. The
pictures also give me some ideas about
adding other details, just for the fun of it.
At this stage of building you want to
decide whether to use two or four aileron
servos. I elected to use two in the lower
wing. Each servo has 125 ounces of torque,
and that should be enough with the ailerons
coupled as in the full-scale airplane.
After the first several flights I found that
it wasn’t enough! I have pulled the strings
out of the lower surfaces of the upper wing
panels and taped them down just in case.
They aren’t noticeable in that position. All I
would have to do would be to cut the servo
boxes out with a sharp knife and then pull
the servo extensions through the wing
panel.
I joined the wings with 30-minute epoxy
per the instructions. To obtain a good, tight
joint I held the wing halves until they were
dry. You could hold the halves together
with weights (a stack of magazines works),
but since they were already covered I didn’t
want to take the chance of their separating
while they were drying.
I’m also going to add a 1-inch-wide strip
of fiberglass tape to the wing center-section
on the lower wing. To do this I’ll strip away
the white MonoKote and add the fiberglass
tape using thin ZAP. Then I’ll add another
center-section of white MonoKote and seal
it down.
I left the top wing per the instructions. I
just added pieces of red and white
MonoKote to cover the wing joint.
If you purchase this model, consider
reshrinking all of its covering with a heat
The model Stearman’s lower wing panel joined with servo leads
marked.
JR Sport high-torque servo with 125 ounce-inch at 4.8 volts. Stan
added heat-shrink tubing to the 12-inch servo extension.
106 MODEL AVIATION
The author’s progress report on his Super Stearman
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Scale Stan Alexander
Also included in this column:
• Top Gun 2006
• This year’s Scale Nats
• Golden Age aircraft
Full-scale Super Stearman N146CM in flight with air-show smoke on. The full-scale Super Stearman viewed from the front.
Great Planes’ Super Stearman in front of the full-scale, fully aerobatic aircraft.
MY GREAT PLANES Super Stearman is
coming along nicely. I went to the local
hobby shop and, since I’ll be using a JR
radio with this model, selected one of the
new JR Flight Packs for a 1.20-size model.
I’m not a fanatic about JR radios, but I do
like them and have several. I have
Airtronics systems too. Does anyone out
there remember the old JR eight-channel
“Scale” radio systems?
The JR Flight Pack comes with five
servos, a six-channel receiver, and assorted
goodies including two 12-inch servo
extensions. I’ll need both of those with the
Stearman. The package doesn’t come with
a crystal; you need to purchase that
separately.
Yes, for what I paid for this Flight Pack
I could have bought a good sport radio with
standard servos, but Great Planes
recommends servos with at least 52 ounces
of torque for the Stearman’s control
surfaces. Looking at and then measuring
the size of the ailerons, you’ll see why.
Strings were added through the wing
ribs, so it was easy to pull the 12-inch servo
extensions through each panel from the
hole cut for the servos. This took
approximately five minutes to do, gently
pulling back and forth until the leads were
all the way through. When I hit a rib, I’d
pull back a little the other way and then
proceed slowly.
A good square knot on the servo
extension behind the connector held it in
place. Then I screwed the servos down to
the exterior of the wing. I used masking
tape to hold the servo extension at the end
of the root or inboard rib of the wing panel.
I’m going to paint the servos white to try to
hide them a bit.
Just as I was finishing adding the second
set of servos to the upper wings, the mail
came and I received a disk containing
photos from James Martin: the owner of the
full-scale airplane that Great Planes kitted.
Please see the January column for details. I
wrote James back, thanking him for the
great pictures.
Great Planes did a good job on this ARF
by duplicating the color scheme and
markings. Granted, there weren’t many
markings, but the model and the full-scale
Stearman look exceptionally clean.
All you need to request from anyone you
contact about documentation for Fun Scale
is one photo of the full-scale aircraft. That’s
all! The only negative thing about the Great
Planes kit is that no color photo of the fullscale
airplane is included! You could use
the page in this magazine for your
documentation.
With as many color schemes as there are
for Stearmans of all types, I would think
someone would come up with a neutral
design or make an airframe the modeler
could cover.
Bob Banka has more than 100 color
schemes for the aircraft type, and many
other documentation sources have different
versions of the Stearman: military, civil,
air-show types, etc. What about it, Great
Planes? The plastic MonoKote covering is
gun before beginning assembly. I also used
a MonoKote iron on all the control surfaces
to seal the covering to the wood over the
positions where the surfaces would be
hinged.
Installing the main gear is a snap. Just
remove the balsa block, and the prepainted
main gear will go into the slotted section on
the lower fuselage.
All the hardware was provided,
including the tires, wheel pants, axles, tail
wheel, hinges, fuel tank, screws, sockethead
screws, tubing, clevises, cockpit
combing, and other materials. This is as
complete as any kit I’ve seen so far.
Some of the changes I’ll make to the
Super Stearman involve the boot over the
tail-wheel gear, the radio antenna, and
painting the cockpit the correct color. If I
ever have to re-cover the lower wing, it
would be easy to add the retractable landing
light.
Next month I’ll write more about the
Super Stearman. I’ll cover engine
installation and look into a smoke system
for the O.S. 120 FS.
Top Gun Invitational: Lakeland, Florida,
will again be the venue for Top Gun. It will
be held April 26-30 (just before hurricane
season!). Promoter Frank Tiano puts on a
heck of a show with this contest. There are
several classes for the spectators to watch,
from Pro-Am, which is gaining popularity,
to Masters.
The weather is great that time of year in
Lakeland, and the Sun ’n Fun Fly-In ends
just before Top Gun starts at the Lakeland
Linder Regional Airport. There is also an
aviation museum on-site, and the Fantasy of
Flight Museum is just a few miles away.
For more information check out www.frank
tiano.com.
2006 Scale Nats: This just in from the
October planning meeting: this year’s Scale
National Championships will be held
August 3-6. Thursday—the first day of
Scale—is for the third annual Scale RC
Indoor Classic. On Friday all static judging
for outdoor Scale events will take place at
Ball State’s Worthen Arena. All outdoor
events will be flown to completion Saturday
and Sunday.
As one longtime Nats event director told
me, you don’t have to be an Expert to
attend and participate at the Nats—just an
interested AMA member. New Scale
modelers are why Fun Scale and Sportsman
classes are available at the Nats to all AMA
members. Several modelers I know started
out as volunteers and then went on to
compete in Scale competition. For more
information check out www.nasascale.org.
Scale Sources: Numerous Scale modelers
are fascinated with the Golden Age of
Aviation and the types of aircraft that were
produced during that era. However, many
of the book companies’ wholesalers either
ignore this era completely or offer few
selections, much less drawings and other
information.
For many years Wind Canyon Books has
specialized in Golden Age titles, especially
for WACO aircraft, including Piper’s
Golden Age, Aeronca’s Golden Age, and
other volumes in that series. Wind Canyon
is the exclusive distributor of Paul Matt
scale drawings and reference books. The
company also has a large base of reference
materials for other eras of aviation. Call
(800) 952-7007 or log on to www.wind
canyonbooks.com for prices and more
information.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 106,107,108
March 2006 107
nice and shiny, but how about a fabriccovered
ARF that the modeler could paint?
One of the photos shows the full-scale
Stearman with full smoke on. Smoke would
be a great addition to the model. The
pictures also give me some ideas about
adding other details, just for the fun of it.
At this stage of building you want to
decide whether to use two or four aileron
servos. I elected to use two in the lower
wing. Each servo has 125 ounces of torque,
and that should be enough with the ailerons
coupled as in the full-scale airplane.
After the first several flights I found that
it wasn’t enough! I have pulled the strings
out of the lower surfaces of the upper wing
panels and taped them down just in case.
They aren’t noticeable in that position. All I
would have to do would be to cut the servo
boxes out with a sharp knife and then pull
the servo extensions through the wing
panel.
I joined the wings with 30-minute epoxy
per the instructions. To obtain a good, tight
joint I held the wing halves until they were
dry. You could hold the halves together
with weights (a stack of magazines works),
but since they were already covered I didn’t
want to take the chance of their separating
while they were drying.
I’m also going to add a 1-inch-wide strip
of fiberglass tape to the wing center-section
on the lower wing. To do this I’ll strip away
the white MonoKote and add the fiberglass
tape using thin ZAP. Then I’ll add another
center-section of white MonoKote and seal
it down.
I left the top wing per the instructions. I
just added pieces of red and white
MonoKote to cover the wing joint.
If you purchase this model, consider
reshrinking all of its covering with a heat
The model Stearman’s lower wing panel joined with servo leads
marked.
JR Sport high-torque servo with 125 ounce-inch at 4.8 volts. Stan
added heat-shrink tubing to the 12-inch servo extension.
106 MODEL AVIATION
The author’s progress report on his Super Stearman
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Scale Stan Alexander
Also included in this column:
• Top Gun 2006
• This year’s Scale Nats
• Golden Age aircraft
Full-scale Super Stearman N146CM in flight with air-show smoke on. The full-scale Super Stearman viewed from the front.
Great Planes’ Super Stearman in front of the full-scale, fully aerobatic aircraft.
MY GREAT PLANES Super Stearman is
coming along nicely. I went to the local
hobby shop and, since I’ll be using a JR
radio with this model, selected one of the
new JR Flight Packs for a 1.20-size model.
I’m not a fanatic about JR radios, but I do
like them and have several. I have
Airtronics systems too. Does anyone out
there remember the old JR eight-channel
“Scale” radio systems?
The JR Flight Pack comes with five
servos, a six-channel receiver, and assorted
goodies including two 12-inch servo
extensions. I’ll need both of those with the
Stearman. The package doesn’t come with
a crystal; you need to purchase that
separately.
Yes, for what I paid for this Flight Pack
I could have bought a good sport radio with
standard servos, but Great Planes
recommends servos with at least 52 ounces
of torque for the Stearman’s control
surfaces. Looking at and then measuring
the size of the ailerons, you’ll see why.
Strings were added through the wing
ribs, so it was easy to pull the 12-inch servo
extensions through each panel from the
hole cut for the servos. This took
approximately five minutes to do, gently
pulling back and forth until the leads were
all the way through. When I hit a rib, I’d
pull back a little the other way and then
proceed slowly.
A good square knot on the servo
extension behind the connector held it in
place. Then I screwed the servos down to
the exterior of the wing. I used masking
tape to hold the servo extension at the end
of the root or inboard rib of the wing panel.
I’m going to paint the servos white to try to
hide them a bit.
Just as I was finishing adding the second
set of servos to the upper wings, the mail
came and I received a disk containing
photos from James Martin: the owner of the
full-scale airplane that Great Planes kitted.
Please see the January column for details. I
wrote James back, thanking him for the
great pictures.
Great Planes did a good job on this ARF
by duplicating the color scheme and
markings. Granted, there weren’t many
markings, but the model and the full-scale
Stearman look exceptionally clean.
All you need to request from anyone you
contact about documentation for Fun Scale
is one photo of the full-scale aircraft. That’s
all! The only negative thing about the Great
Planes kit is that no color photo of the fullscale
airplane is included! You could use
the page in this magazine for your
documentation.
With as many color schemes as there are
for Stearmans of all types, I would think
someone would come up with a neutral
design or make an airframe the modeler
could cover.
Bob Banka has more than 100 color
schemes for the aircraft type, and many
other documentation sources have different
versions of the Stearman: military, civil,
air-show types, etc. What about it, Great
Planes? The plastic MonoKote covering is
gun before beginning assembly. I also used
a MonoKote iron on all the control surfaces
to seal the covering to the wood over the
positions where the surfaces would be
hinged.
Installing the main gear is a snap. Just
remove the balsa block, and the prepainted
main gear will go into the slotted section on
the lower fuselage.
All the hardware was provided,
including the tires, wheel pants, axles, tail
wheel, hinges, fuel tank, screws, sockethead
screws, tubing, clevises, cockpit
combing, and other materials. This is as
complete as any kit I’ve seen so far.
Some of the changes I’ll make to the
Super Stearman involve the boot over the
tail-wheel gear, the radio antenna, and
painting the cockpit the correct color. If I
ever have to re-cover the lower wing, it
would be easy to add the retractable landing
light.
Next month I’ll write more about the
Super Stearman. I’ll cover engine
installation and look into a smoke system
for the O.S. 120 FS.
Top Gun Invitational: Lakeland, Florida,
will again be the venue for Top Gun. It will
be held April 26-30 (just before hurricane
season!). Promoter Frank Tiano puts on a
heck of a show with this contest. There are
several classes for the spectators to watch,
from Pro-Am, which is gaining popularity,
to Masters.
The weather is great that time of year in
Lakeland, and the Sun ’n Fun Fly-In ends
just before Top Gun starts at the Lakeland
Linder Regional Airport. There is also an
aviation museum on-site, and the Fantasy of
Flight Museum is just a few miles away.
For more information check out www.frank
tiano.com.
2006 Scale Nats: This just in from the
October planning meeting: this year’s Scale
National Championships will be held
August 3-6. Thursday—the first day of
Scale—is for the third annual Scale RC
Indoor Classic. On Friday all static judging
for outdoor Scale events will take place at
Ball State’s Worthen Arena. All outdoor
events will be flown to completion Saturday
and Sunday.
As one longtime Nats event director told
me, you don’t have to be an Expert to
attend and participate at the Nats—just an
interested AMA member. New Scale
modelers are why Fun Scale and Sportsman
classes are available at the Nats to all AMA
members. Several modelers I know started
out as volunteers and then went on to
compete in Scale competition. For more
information check out www.nasascale.org.
Scale Sources: Numerous Scale modelers
are fascinated with the Golden Age of
Aviation and the types of aircraft that were
produced during that era. However, many
of the book companies’ wholesalers either
ignore this era completely or offer few
selections, much less drawings and other
information.
For many years Wind Canyon Books has
specialized in Golden Age titles, especially
for WACO aircraft, including Piper’s
Golden Age, Aeronca’s Golden Age, and
other volumes in that series. Wind Canyon
is the exclusive distributor of Paul Matt
scale drawings and reference books. The
company also has a large base of reference
materials for other eras of aviation. Call
(800) 952-7007 or log on to www.wind
canyonbooks.com for prices and more
information.