RADIO CONTROL SLOPE SOARING 2003/10

October 2003 127
I’M BACK FROM a Slopin’ Safari trip to Kansas and
California; the big news is the availability of many new Slope
sailplanes. I’ll be writing event-coverage articles of the MWSC
(Midwest Slope Challenge) for Model Aviation and the Southern
California PSS (Power Scale Soaring) Festival for Model Airplane
News, but in this space I’m going to describe 12 new gliders I saw
in which you may be interested.
F-5 Tiger: Larry Blevins ([email protected]) of Tennessee
is a prolific designer, and this year he brought his new expanded
polypropylene (EPP)-foam Northrop F-5 Tiger. It was built using
1.3-pound foam and a minimum of strapping tape to keep it light,
making it a rare Slope jet—one that flies in light and medium lift.
Larry handed me the transmitter, and I’m happy to report that
the F-5 flies well. It’s stable and balanced in aileron and elevator
response and performs quick axial rolls, all the time looking good
in the air.
The F-5 kit, along with the Cobra One Design Racer (ODR)
and 30-inch- and 48-inch-span foamie warbirds, is available from
Magnum Models at www.magnum-models.com.
Dave Garwood, 5 Birch Ln., Scotia NY 12302; E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL SLOPE SOARING
Magnum Models’ Grumman F-5 Tiger EPP-foam Slope jet designed
and flown by Larry Blevins over Wilson Lake at MWSC 2003.
Mike Bailey launches his prototype MDM Fox over Wilson Lake at
MWSC 2003. The kit is available from Mike’s Models.
EPP-foam SF-1 Swift, designed and flown by Joe Falconer over
Wilson Lake at MWSC 2003, is available from Falcon Air RC.
Rick Schwemmer’s P-51 Mustang at Cajon Summit 2003. Leading
Edge Gliders makes the kit for Brian Laird’s new EPP design.
128 MODEL AVIATION
Scale Fox: Mike Bailey ([email protected]) of Kansas
flew his very large prototype MDM Fox for several days in light
and medium lift. That sailplane sure looks good, and it can take
some abuse on landing since it’s constructed from EPP foam.
There’s a particular joy in flying long-span sailplanes on the
slope; you can do a lot in light and heavy lift if you have some
span, and the big gliders are well suited to the conditions at
Wilson Lake, Kansas.
Mike makes a foam ODR and promotes F3F races at
Midwestern locations. More about the Fox’s development is
available at www.midwestslope.com.
Swift S-1: Joe Falconer ([email protected]) of Colorado is
new on the Slope-kit scene, and he flew his Swift S-1 at the
Kansas event. It’s a good-looking, 60-inch-wingspan EPP-foam
sport glider. There’s something extra cool about flying a model
airplane that looks like an airplane.
Joe’s Swift and his 60-inch-span Fox are available from Falcon
Air RC at www.falconairrc.com.
Patriot and Hellcat: Jack Cooper ([email protected])
of California is another new kit maker and I got to fly his Patriot,
which is an exceptionally well-balanced and good-flying nonscale
48-inch EPP-foam Combat sailplane. Jack also designed and
produces a Grumman F6F Hellcat kit, giving us a new foamie
warbird type for Combat and 48-inch warbird racing.
Jack’s Hellcat follows a trend to make the 48-inch foamies
look more scale, with fuller and rounder fuselages. Some builders
Jeff Fukushima’s prototype P-40—another new Brian Laird EPP
design—at Cajon Summit. Leading Edge Gliders makes the kit.
Steve Greenfield’s prototype EPP F-20 Tigershark at Cajon
Summit 2003. California Sailplane Designs sells the kit.
Jack Cooper’s original-design Patriot EPP combat Slope model at
Cajon Summit. The kit is available from Leading Edge Gliders.
Steve Patton’s EPP combat Spitfire at Cajon Summit. His models
are known for speed. Patton Aircraft sells the kit.
October 2003 129
are switching to Solartex covering, from
UltraCote, for covering these airframes,
and some are painting and panel lining
these foamies to produce a model that
approaches a molded-fiberglass sailplane
in appearance.
The Patriot, Hellcat, and other Slope
kits are available from Leading Edge
Gliders at www.leadingedgegliders.com.
F-20 Tigershark: Robert Cavazos
([email protected]) of California is
known for the super-high quality of his
molded fuselages. With the introduction of
the heavy Cavazos Sailplane Design Slope
Scale Northrop F-20 Tigershark, the hardcore
Slope fliers have a replacement for
the John Higgins Rodent and F-20 speed
machines which are out of production, and
the F-20 design pays much more attention
to scale appearance.
Look for a product review on the F-20
kit in Model Aviation. This and many
other Slope Scale warbirds are available
from Cavazos Sailplane Design at
www.rcglider.com.
EPP F-20 Tigershark: Steve Greenfield
([email protected]) of California
has been importing the successful
Canterbury Sailplanes 29-inch-span EPP
F-20 Tigershark kit and has introduced a
1.5-size Monster F-20 Tigershark kit with
a 60-inch span.
Steve let me fly his new jet at Cajon
Summit, and it’s a winner for sure. With
medium weight, it handles medium- and
high-lift conditions and is highly
aerobatic, easily pulling fast axial rolls
and graceful loops. I love bounceable
Slope jets.
More information on this and Steve’s
other kits is posted on the California
Sailplane Designs Web site at
www.californiasailplanes.com.
Fast Mustang and Spitfire: Steve Patton
([email protected]) of
California—an early designer of EPPfoam
World War II warbirds—has been
known for getting them to go faster than
anyone else can. At last year’s PSS
Festival his foam 60-inch-span Focke-
Wulf Ta 152 clocked 109 mph on a radar
gun.
I liked Steve’s Slope warbirds, but
unfortunately he discontinued making
them for a time. Patton Aircraft is back in
production. Steve flew his 48-inch-span
EPP North American P-51 Mustang and
EPP Supermarine Spitfire at Cajon 2003.
Patton Aircraft makes 32-, 48-, and 60-
inch-span EPP-foam Slope gliders of
WWII aircraft. More info is available at
home.earthlink.net/~pattonacft.
Mini P-40 Warhawk: Jeff Fukushima
([email protected]) of California
has designed 11 molded-fiberglass
warbirds and Slope jets, and most of them
are pretty large. Now he’s producing a line
of miniwarbirds for electric power, but he
will also make Slope versions of these
little beauties.
At Cajon 2003 Jeff flew his mini
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, and it looks and
flies great. He is painting the fuselages in
the mold, making construction and
finishing much quicker and making
painted fiberglass fuselages available to
those builders who don’t use an airbrush
yet.
More about the Slope and electric
versions of these sailplanes is on the
Vortech Models Web site:
www.geocities.com/vortechmodels.
Laird EPP Mustang and Messerschmitt:
I’ve saved the best for last. Brian Laird
([email protected]) of
California has been a prolific designer of
high-performance Slope warbirds for nigh
20 years, making kits under the Slope
Scale name.
Brian, who until now has worked
exclusively in molded fiberglass, has
applied his talents to carved foam. His
design philosophy of “First fly well, then
look good” has produced outstanding
results on a pair of new EPP-foam
warbirds. Brian fattened the fuselages,
trimmed down the wing chords, and added
clear canopies to get the best-looking
foamie warbirds yet.
Wings come in two spans: 48-inch for
sport flying and 60-inch to carry ballast
and compete in the Inland Slope Rebels’
(ISR) new Warbird Air Racing class.
Brian’s and other ISR club members’
sailplanes are covered with Solartex ironon
covering, come as the Slope Scale
balsa-over-foam wings, then are painted.
Man, they look great! From five feet or
more away, you can’t tell that they are
foamies.
I flew Brian’s prototype Mustang Reno
Racer for an hour. I didn’t give the
transmitter back until he warned that
receiver battery power might be getting
low. The model flies much like the heavy
Slope Scales we know and love. In good
lift it goes where you point it, rolls are
blindingly quick, and it performs stall
turns with the rest of the pack in a Slope
Scale Party (stall-turn formation flying).
The only things missing are the tapping
sound when contact is made with other
airplanes in flight and an easy way to get
to the internal radio gear in case repairs or
adjustment are needed. Brian is working
on this for the third design iteration of
these way cool Slope warbirds.
The EPP-foam North American P-51
Mustang and Messerschmitt Me 109 kits
are available from Leading Edge Gliders.
For more information about 60-inch
Warbird Air Racing, see the ISR Web site
at ourworld
compuserve.com/homepages/ISR.
The next bimonthly Slope Soaring
column will be published in the February
2004 issue since the December Model
Aviation will carry Nationals coverage. MA
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