rc combat - 2012/05

110 Model Aviation May 2012 www.ModelAviation.com
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 wingspans, 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 LE 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.
Chris Handegard displays
his Gekko after a good
round of Combat.
Bob Loescher poses with one of his new Combat
airplane designs. It uses parts that can be purchased
from a local hardware store.
rc combat
A large group of pilots and volunteer judges attended
the Hobe Sound Havoc event.
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 midair 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 in 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 SSC Combat, which started
with nine pilots. We were able to go allup,
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
[email protected]
RC Combat Association
www.rccombat.com