Prototype 60-inch wingspan Gekko
by Don Grissom [email protected]
When you look at the Scale Combat airplanes that people fly, you will notice one thing about them: they are almost always single-engine Combat models. Most Combat pilots are not going to put the time into building and working with two engines. Although setting them up with electric power would make it easier, it still does not happen, unless you are someone like Chris Handegard or me.
Chris is the kit builder of many airplanes such as the Ki-43 Oscar, which I fly in Scale 2948. He has also developed some other airplanes that he sells under his BulletProof Models label. For the past few years he has been one of the few who has been flying the J1N1-S Gekko. This is a Japanese fighter from World War II that was used for reconnaissance and night fighting.
In the past, Chris had a twin-engine Mustang, which flew great, but it was a lot of work to build because it basically had to be constructed with two fuselages. Most people wonder why you would want to take the time to build and maintain something like this. One reason would be the advantage of having a longer wingspan.
Unlike other 2948 wings that have 48-inch spans, the Gekko has a 60-inch wingspan. While watching Chris fly his last year at a contest, I noticed that the wingspan helped when trying to catch a streamer.
Earlier this year, I saw Chris at a contest and was finally able to get one of his prototype kits of the Gekko. At first, I was slightly overwhelmed at the amount of work that it was going to take to build this airplane. One of the best features of his kits is the full-size plans. In this case that was particularly important because I would need to make sure the nacelles were aligned on the wing.
The airplane is built-up, as are most of the airplanes that I have constructed. I only had to modify the wing by cutting the leading edge to accept the nacelle with the fuel tank. Chris told me that I would need to make sure that I have the ability to access the fuel tank in case of an issue. I ended up cutting out a block that could be removed by cutting the tape that held it down.
Unlike Chris's airplane, I also put the throttle servo in the nacelle instead of routing lines through the wing to the main fuselage.
For power, I used the Magnum .15XLS engine. I switched to those engines last year and have had good luck with them. The provided cowling was made from plastic peanut butter jars that he had purchased (and eaten all of the peanut butter!). We had a laugh when he talked about his trips to the grocery store, and how he looks at the plastic jars to see if they can be used for airplane parts.
Chris had some issues with the canopy, which he ended up cutting from foam. I shaped it and covered it to make it look like a canopy. In the past, Chris has made them from plastic, but had issues finding a jar that would work.
I hope to get some flights on the Gekko as soon as the weather gets better. I also hope to have it ready for some contests later in the year.
South Florida Contest
The year got off to a warm start with a trip to south Florida for the Hobe Sound Havoc at the Martin County Modelers' club. This is the first time a contest has been held at this field, so it was a treat to have so many pilots show up in the middle of January. The weather was great, with temperatures in the upper 70s every day and little wind. The first day even got hot because I was accustomed to colder temperatures during this time of year. I want to thank Chris Handegard for opening his home to Bob Loescher and me so that we did not have to get hotel rooms. This also gave me a good chance to see the building of the Gekko.
We started early Saturday morning with Open B. Six pilots in the event allowed us to go all-up because we had enough club judges. The field is located in a swampy area and we were told to stay close to the pilots' line, but in the first round I had a mid-air collision and went down in high grass. After plenty of wandering around in the high grass, I was able to get the airplane. I learned to stay closer and did not have a problem after that.
Scoring for Open B was low with no more than three cuts for anyone in a round. Chris had the highest score—a 1,740. Second place went to Kenneth Clements, and I came in third.
Later in the day we started Scale 2948 with eight pilots. This was a good showing, although we had a few pilots who only had one airplane. We only flew through five rounds because some of the pilots needed to work on their aircraft overnight to continue in the morning.
The next morning we started early with all pilots in the air again and it was great. It has been a long time since I have been to a Scale meet that had that many airplanes in the air. Scoring was also high for a Scale meet, with many pilots getting multiple cuts during a round. Kenneth Clements ended up in first place by nearly 700 points.
After we were finished, all we had left to fly was Scale 2948 S Combat, which started with nine pilots. We were able to go all-up, but two pilots in the first two rounds crossed the safety lines for -400 points for the round. We had few issues after that problem—although Bob did try to land his airplane in his van.
After everything was done, the young gun, Kenneth Clements, won the contest. He had some high-scoring rounds followed by Chris Handegard, and even with the -400 for a round, Bob Loescher came in at third place.
It was a great contest, and even better, Bob and I were able to get away from the cold weather and fly a little Combat.
I want to thank the club for allowing us to come and fly; I hope to do it again in the wintertime.
SOURCES:
- Martin County Modelers
http://martincountymodelers.com
- BulletProof Models
- RC Combat Association
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
