Baby Rog
THE BABY ROG was the first flying model I built during the early days of aeromodeling. I built it at the Boys' Club on Montgomery Street in downtown Syracuse, NY-not far from the National Guard Armory where contests were held. Contestants came from all over to compete. One of the first to build flying models was my cousin Bob Potter of Ithaca, NY. He built Indoor and Outdoor flying models which were all powered with rubber. He also built one of the first gas-powered models in the area.
The Fairchild FC-2
IT HAS often been said that necessity is the mother of invention. The first Fairchild FC-1, built at Farmingdale, Long Island during late 1925 and early 1926, certainly was conceived out of necessity. At the end of hostilities in Europe in 1918, the United States was left with a huge surplus of Curtiss Jenny aircraft and Curtiss OX-5 engines. This surplus was to become the Barnstormers main stock. The Curtiss JN-4 was a trainer and a good one, and the Government was selling them far below what a newly developed aircraft could sell for. For at least the next seven years this greatly retarded aircraft research and development in this country. The military services were mainly the only place any R&D was being practiced, and this was divided between a few of the larger companies such as Curtiss and Boeing.
The Fairchild FC-2
Inspired by the real planes he saw in his boyhood, George masterminded this superb flying, faithful copy of the FC-2 in 2 in.-to-the-foot scale. With more than 7 sq. ft. of area, the 88-in. plane weighs 11 pounds as built, but is purposely ballasted to 14 pounds-and has independent stabilizer trim just like the real one. An OS 60 FSR handles it with ease.
Mr. Spook III
THE EVOLUTION of Mr. Spook: During the fall of 1976 I won a deBolt Champ kit as a door prize. Having built two Champs previously, I decided to use the kit material to build a model capable of more speed and with ailerons. Doodling on the Champ plans (pardon me, Hal), I made the fuselage frontal area less (with less height overall) and brought the rear of the fuselage up a bit to improve streamlining. I gave the wing less incidence and set the horizontal stabilizer nearer to 0-0 to improve the speed. I left the thrust as it was. I used the basic Champ wing but changed the airfoil a bit and decreased the dihedral to make the barn-door-type ailerons more effective.
