Welcome back to the “RC Giants” column. Now that the busy holiday season is behind us, it’s time to think about new projects for 2014.
A great way to start the hobby year would be to attend the 2014 Westchester Radio AeroModelers (WRAM) Show held at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey, February 21-23. The WRAM Show is one of the country’s largest hobby trade shows.
There will be more than 150 manufacturers and vendors present along with magnificent static models of all types: land, sea, and air. It’s also a great time to see old friends and catch up. For more information, please visit the WRAM website, listed in “Sources.”
Vailly Aviation S.E.5
Roy Vaillancourt of Vailly Aviation is an ardent Giant Scale designer and builder. His successful designs can be found at many Giant Scale events and are well represented in competition at the US Scale Masters and at Top Gun.
In a departure from his usual World War II offerings, Roy’s latest design comes from an earlier era. It is a 1/3-scale Royal Aircraft Factory (RAF) S.E.5.
The S.E.5 is built with balsa and light and aircraft-grade plywood, using the conventional stick-built construction methods. The model spans 108 inches, with a length of 85 inches and an all-up weight of nearly 40 pounds. It has removable wing panels for easier transport and can accommodate a variety of engine sizes.
Roy’s prototype is powered by a Zenoah G62, which has a reduction-gear propeller drive attached, spinning a 30 x 10 propeller. Roy will display the model at the WRAM Show along with available plans and accessories. Accessories include an ABS headrest and engine valve covers.
For more information, please visit Roy’s website listed in “Sources.”
40% Spad
Rick Andrese of Sussex, New Jersey, is featured in one of the photos with his mammoth 40% Spad XIII built from enlarged Balsa USA plans.
The Spad has a 127-inch wingspan and weighs 52 pounds. It is powered by a gas engine and is covered with Solartex iron-on material. The model is painted with Rust-Oleum paint and uses bicycle-type wheels for the main gear.
Nosen DGA-6 Mr. Mulligan
I also included an inflight photo of Lou Zackman’s Bud Nosen kit-built Howard DGA-6 Mr. Mulligan. The 108-inch wingspan model has a length of 71 inches and is powered by a Zenoah G38 gas engine.
Built during the Golden Age of Aviation in the 1930s, Mr. Mulligan was a one-off design specifically constructed to compete and win the Bendix Trophy. It could fly the entire length of the Bendix race nonstop and at high altitude as no other aircraft had done in the past.
It was the winning aircraft of both the 1935 Bendix and National Air Races, where it received the Thompson Trophy. No other aircraft had ever won both races.
The model was sold by Bud Nosen in the late 1970s and later by A&A Industries. Original kits occasionally surface for sale; however, if you can’t wait for one to miraculously appear, you can readily purchase a set of plans online.
1/3-Scale B-17
Last, but not least, is Jack Bally’s 1/3-scale project that has to be seen to be believed. It is not a remotely controlled model. It is a single-person, piloted aircraft!
I last reported on this model in March 2010 and it is now nearly complete. Here is some background information from that column:
“So what do you do when you’ve already built a Kitfox, a Georgia Special, and your buddies (with the help of a few adult beverages) prod you to build ‘one last’ experimental?
“If you are Jack Bally of Dixon, Illinois, you build a 1/3-scale B-17 Flying Fortress. With more than 1,000 hours as pilot in command and the ratings to go along with them, Jack is no newcomer to aviation. But his stick time is for pure pleasure.
“Nowadays Jack is content to operate his Kitfox and Georgia Special for local flights from his private strip just north of Dixon Municipal Airport. A carpenter by trade, Jack used the GI Bill to learn to fly and spent four years as a certificated flight instructor, sharing his passion with others while honing his piloting skills.”
The aircraft spans 34 feet, 7 inches, with a length of 25 feet. It weighs 1,800 pounds and is powered by four 60 hp engines for an estimated cruising speed of 110 knots. For some amazing construction photos of this project, please visit Jack’s website.
That’s all for this month.
