Planes I've Known
(Yes, the page is under construction
-- aren't they all? More words and pics -- and I guess special effects and stuff
(but NOOO music!) later as I get time and take breaks from flying and building.
Building a Hybrid
Pattern Plane - actually the beginning of the story - shows initial wing
core prep - planning and installation of interior structure, servo / linkage
locations, etc.
Updated Jan 11 -- Root Rib Prep and Wing Mounting
- shows what it says - matching the wing cores/ root ribs to the fuse sides,
and the selected system for mounting the wings to the fuse.
Added Jan 11'03 - Sheeting_The_Wings
Dec 13 '03-- Initial CG check, Landing Gear support / mount, Fin mounting -
documented at
CG,
Landing Gear and Fin Mounting
Jan / Feb 04 -Mounting the
Cowl and Bellypan Cowl final fitting / mounting and bellypan fitting
Elevator and rudder Linkages
- shown and described -- complete
The pics below show the planes I've built / flown over the years.
This is my third ever pattern plane - an Arrow 60, by MK. All
wood, and the nicest wood kit I've ever built, bar none. Supertigre X-61 engine
- 16,000 on a tuned pipe. Talk about LOUD!
This one had all the bells and whistles - retractable landing gear, flaps - the
whole thing.
A very fast, very nice plane.
First flight was about 1983 - and it's still in the basement. Might fly again,
but the truth is that the designs these days are just SOOO much better!
This biplane is an Aeromaster - designed in the 60's or so, and lots of them are still flying today. It's the bipe I ever built / flew, and the most complex paint I had done to date. It first flew in about 1983. If it's possible to put too much engine on one of these, I've never seen it!
This was one sweet-flying plane - and it would do most anything you told it to do.
It taught me a lot about flying in general, and about bipes.
I ended up trading it in 1984 to a flier in North Carolina for a FW190 kit ... more on that one later.
The Dirty Birdy... ah yes... the Dirty Birdy.
This is an all-wood one - fun to build - lots of building. lots of carving and
sanding, but - hey ! it is / was about craftsmanship! Another screamer - OS .61
FSR engine on a tuned pipe - retracts, etc.
The fuse was covered in 3/4 oz fiberglass cloth - wings were white Monokote. All
the blue and green paint was Superpoxy paint.
Panel lines were striping tape, and the lettering was dry transfers, all under a
layer of K&B clear. Wouldn't do it that way today, but it sure looked good!
First flew about 1982 -- it died on the 7th flight. I tried to blame the crash
on a radio glitch, but I think the truth is that the pilot slowed it down too
much on final approach and it stalled ... rats!
This
F-86 was about 3-3/4 lbs. Lightest fiberglass fuse I ever saw, and a built up
foam wing. I built this one for a local hobbyshop owner - I think he gave me a
Great Planes CAP 21 kit in exchange.
This little baby was a screamer - it had a K&B 3.5 engine turning a ducted fan
inside the fuse, and even at 4000 feet above sea level in El Paso, it'd get up
and go just fine.
It flew a few times and then hung in the hobby shop for a long time.
Jet
Hangar Mirage, K&B .45 DF engine in a Turbax fan. My dear friend Howard (he's
the one by by the nose of the plane) and I built this together in 1982, and I had the honor of making the
first... and only ... flight. Another 500 rpm, or one less coat of paint and it
might have been a different story...
A 1983 vintage 'Thunderbird' - a contract job for an El Paso pilot. Nice flying plane, and very different for the time.
Sig "Kwik Built" ChipMunk - .60 size. A nice flier.
Bought in 1984, first flight spring 1999.
Flying buddy Dave Lockhart and his Tiger 3D. I didn't build it-- Dave did - I covered it....
This is one of the best 3D planes I've seen - and still does the other stuff too.
Of course, it helps that Dave is a National Champion and consistently in the top rank of aerobatics pilots Nationwide ...
This is the 2001 class of planes. The red/white/blue one is an EMC2 I bought used from a great pilot out in Oklahoma -
The other plane is a kinda- Tiger 2 -- it's a 5 lb jewel. Scratch built fuse - all stick construction behind the wing, no lite ply, honeycombed foam wing (by Dave and Ron) , and a Webra 50 for power.. It just flat goes where you tell it, for as long as you want it too. A great all around flier!
First flight was about May 2001, and as of November 2002 it has
about 250 or so flights on it.
It hit the ground / survived an elevator servo mount failure, and is back in the
air as of winter '03. A great aerobatics practice plane!
This
is the same pattern plane as the EMC 2-300 above. I've played with color layout
a little on it, and really like this better, both on the ground and in the air.
The
bad news is that sometimes this stuff happens - this was the result of a June
2002 midair collision at 115 mph or so during a contest... ouch... but you keep
on flying (the backup plane, of course)
This was the end of flight #167 (for me) on this airplane - and who knows how many on it by the builder / previous owner, Bob Pastorello. It was a GOOOD plane.
Spring
2002 -- This is a 66" Fiberglass and Foam model of an FW-190 A4. Retracts. split
flaps, full cockpit detail -- and a Saito .91. Does OK. Wings and tail are
glassed, Plane is painted w/ Nelson paints. Markings are a combination of
paint, stock crosses, and custom-cut vinyl. Full panel lines on upper surfaces,
etc.
Cockpit
detail before panel lines were added - click to see it bigger.
Nose
art detail after panel lines were inked on- click it to see it bigger.
Dave Patrick Ultimate - with OS 160 FX - GREAT flying plane... currently in the repair line after an. arrival...which swould have KILLED any other plane I've ever flown.
Nice - light, true, a neat flier.
2002
-- This is the first pattern plane I'd built since about 1984... flies pretty
well.
First flight May 25 '02, 250+ flights by end of October
OS 140RX on a Bolly muffler... wing mounted fixed gear...
It's got some issues, but it's a good flying plane... good enough to win the District pattern intermediate Class Championship for me in 2002.
2003-
2004 -- The current plane is my Piedmont Focus - lovingly called a FrankenFocus
- because it was one of the last ones shipped by the manufacturer, and and IIRC
the owner told me that the models shipping by that time were made up of leftover
and spare parts. Some pics of the lightening efforts (holes in the wings, stab,
and rudder) are here:
Info on the lightening effort at
focus_arf_component_weights.htm
It hit the ground (pic below) on flight 5... (inop elevator - either radio or, more likely a fatigue failure of a 2-56 pushrod component)
Here are shots of the damage from the June 8 arrival - amazing to think that there was no structural damage to the wings from this...
It was back in the air by July 5, - help from friends in the form of new / used
cowl and canopy
-- 150+ flights since then -
and helped me win the 2003 NSRCA District 1 Advanced championship.
