TWIN JET JOB
Designed by Dick Sarpolus as a quick-to-build, easy-to-fly EDF jet, the “Twin Jet Job” is made almost entirely out of DowCor Fan-fold insulation foam. It uses an inexpensive power system and basic hardware and is a great first jet. The plans are also available for free download at the “From the Magazine” section at the modelairplanenews.com website. Download the article... |
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GEE BEE MODEL-Y SENIOR SPORTSTER
WHEN YOU SHOW UP AT THE FIELD WITH THE SENIOR SPORTSTER, EVERYONE WILL STOP FLYING JUST TO WATCH
When talking about Gee Bees, nine out of 10 modelers envision the Granville Brothers' big, round Model R-1-the fastest and deadliest plane of its day. Maybe a few would even know that Jimmy Doolittle flew it. Only a few diehard history buffs even know about the earlier Gee Bee versions. In today's world, where it is common to find women piloting everything from airliners to space shuttles, many readers will be interested to know that back in the early days of aviation, there were several very successful female Gee Bee pilots including Maude Tait. Read more... |
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DOUGLAS A-26 INVADER
DESIGNED AS A LOW-LEVEL attack bomber, the Douglas A-26 Invader first flew in 1942. Powered by two Pratt and Whitney R-2800 radials, it carried a variety of weapons from .50-caliber machine guns and rockets to a cannon. During the end of WW II, the Invader earned a reputation as a hard-hitting, durable weapons platform. The Invader soldiered on through the Korean conflict, operating mostly in night attack roles, but by the early 1960s most had been retired or converted into fire bombers. When the Vietnam War broke out, the tried and battle-tested A-26 came out of retirement for a third tour of duty converted into counter-Invaders, designated B-26Ks, used mostly for counterinsurgency missions. Read more... |
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AEROMARINE EO SPORT BOAT
WHAT IS IT? That's the most common question asked of my friend Larry whenever he brings his Aeromarine Tractor Sport Boat to the flying field. Larry is used to the question, though, as he has been scratch-building his own scale projects for years. He loves unusual, seldom seen airplanes and this one is no exception. Although the Aeromarine is close to scale, Larry builds his planes for casual sport/fun flying and not for serious scale competition. One thing is for sure: you're likely never to run into another Aeromarine EO Tractor Sport Boat at the flying field!
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WILD HOTS
THE WILD HOTS has a lineage that goes back 27 years. In 1982, my father, Dan Santich, designed the original "Hots" to compete at local fun-fly events. At that time, there were no kits or laser-cutting services available, but his model became very popular and hundreds were built and flown. It was intended for advanced fun-fly aerobatics that were akin to what we now call 3D flying. "This airplane is a different breed," he said. He expanded the line and many "Hots" variants soon followed.
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SPITFIRE MK. 1
ENGLAND, 1940: as the sun rises over the grass airfield, you scramble to your Spitfire, sirens wailing and your crew chief waiting. Within seconds, you are strapped in, chocks are away and you advance the throttle of your mighty Merlin engine. Skip forward 67 years, and you can realize your dream of becoming a Spitfire pilot by building this electric sport-scale, all-wood Spit. Read more... |
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TURBINATOR-E
OVER THE YEARS, I have designed and built a number of RC ducted-fan models. Due to my close association with the late Bob Kress, these models ranged in power size from .049 to .90 cubic inches. With current electric power technology being so efficient and practical, I decided to make a smaller electric-powered version of my 72-inch-span turbine-powered Turbinator jet. I designed the prototype Turbinator-E to be powered by the Astro brushless 020 motor/Wemotec 480 Mini Fan system offered by Astro Flight. It had a 44-inch wingspan and used a 3-cell LiPo battery. This combination flew OK but not as I would have preferred. I changed to a 45A ESC and a 4-cell 2100mAh FMA LiPo battery for a great increase in performance. I have also used the High End Technology RC 6904 ducted fan with the Astro Flight 020 803MS motor on 4 cells with very good results. Read more... |
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BRITTEN-NORMAN DEFENDER 2000
THE DEFENDER is an unlikely moniker for an aircraft that seems like it could trace its lineage to an overland cargo trailer with wings. It's clearly designed for utility rather than aesthetics: square edges rather than curvy lines, a rectangular rather than sleekly tapered wing planform and a funny looking twin-wheel landing gear system. The phrase it's got a great personality comes to mind! So, with all these qualities, what makes the breed so successful? In reality, the Defender is a stretched version of the Britten-Norman Islander, the airplane you see in use everywhere in the islands and small countries in commuter airline and short-haul utility roles. Its boxy lines spell function; no valuable space is given away in the interest of slippery looks. Read more... |
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LUTON BLUE CHIP & FORERUNNER
THE INSPIRATION FOR these models came from a construction article for a rubber-powered model of the Blue Chip that was published in Model Aviation many years ago. The model had horizontal stabilizer and elevator areas that were quite large for a race plane. Their general layouts looked like they would produce a good RC sport model. A bonus was that these were unique designs never before flown by RC. Read more... |
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WESTLAND WYVERN S4
THE WESTLAND WYVERN occupies a unique position in aviation history. Few British aircraft have achieved as many firsts as the Wyvern. It was the world's first turboprop combat aircraft and was the first turbine-powered airplane to serve on aircraft carriers. It was the heaviest single-seat combat aircraft in British service at the time and used the first eight-bladed contra-rotating propeller system developed in the U.K. Read more... |
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LOCKHEED YO-3A QUIET STAR
IF YOU LIKE military planes and gliders, you are in luck. I stumbled on the Lockheed YO-3A Quiet Star in the October 2006 issue of Flight Journal, the sister publication of Model Airplane News. The YO-3A was used in Vietnam to spot and mark targets so that smart bombs could hit them. The plane's only defense was the darkness of the night skies and silence. Its operating sound levels are still classified. In my opinion, the YO-3A was the first stealth military plane produced. Information on this airplane was very sparse at best and to my knowledge this is the first RC version of this subject. Read more... |
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HAWKER HURRICANE
THE HAWKER HURRICANE is one of the most recognizable British WW II fighters for its ungainly yet attractive lines. Its thick wing, wood-framed fuselage, and humpbacked appearance made for a unique fighter aircraft look. Nimble, fast, and strong, it was a good match for the Luftwaffe's Bf-109 and the Fw-190. Read more... |
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1940 TAYLORCRAFT BL-50
II HAD MY VERY FIRST airplane ride in August 1944; the airplane was a 1940 Taylorcraft BL-50. Shortly after I turned 16 years old, I received my first lesson in the airplane and soloed in it a month later. After I had become seriously involved in scale RC modeling, I wanted to build a model of the Taylorcraft I learned to fly in, but I could not find any photos to use to document its markings. Many years later I found an article in the E.A.A. Sport Aviation magazine featuring the 1994 Oshkosh Grand Champion, which happened to be finished in exactly the same blue and silver aircraft markings as my Taylorcraft but with different registration numbers. This particular paint scheme was often used with aircraft in the Civilian Pilot Training Program of the early 1940s so it isn't often seen. Another unique feature is that it had its engine cylinders exposed similar to a J-3 Cub; most Taylorcraft aircraft after 1940 to '41 had enclosed engine cowls. Read more... |
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CURTISS JENNY
WHEN IT COMES TO scale park flyers, old biplanes are very hard to beat. And when the subject of old biplanes comes up, the Curtiss Jenny is one of the first planes that most airplane buffs think of. There's no doubt that the Wright Brothers invented the airplane, but it was Glenn Curtiss who perfected it! Read more... |
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AERONCA C-3
MY FIRST RC MODEL of the Aeronca C-3 series was the Dennis Bryant-designed C-3 Master. I used the model for competitive events, but my documentation was not very good and its static scores were pretty poor. I then swapped some documentation on the Fokker Dr. 1 Triplane for a booklet entitled Historical Aviation Album, Volume X. Inside was the early history of the Aeronca Company along with some very good drawings by Paul R. Matt and lots of photographs of the Aeronca C-2 and C-3. I soon realized that the scale drawings were the ones that Dennis had used when drawing up his plan and when I started to use them in my documentation pack, my static scores improved tremendously. Read more... |
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THE BUSTER STUNTER
THE BUSTER was Steve Wittman's first Goodyear racing airplane. It was built from the wreckage of his first closed-course racing airplane, the Chief Oshkosh, that was first raced in 1931 at the Cleveland National Air Race. Buster raced in the inaugural Goodyear Trophy Race in 1947 and won first place. This was followed by a second first-place win in 1948 and another in 1949. Its speed increased steadily from 165.9 mph in 1947 to 177.3 mph in 1949. The airplane was finally donated to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in 1954. Read more... |
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3D F4F WILDCAT
MY GOAL WITH THIS all-foam F4F Wildcat was to create an airplane that looks like a warbird while having 3D flying capability. The Wildcat is easy and inexpensive to build, it flies well in 15 to 20mph breezes, and it?s durable. Apart from the motor and electronics, it costs about $10 or $15, depending on where you buy the foam. Read more... |
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T-38 TALON
WITH ITS SLEEK LINES and long curvaceous fuselage, the Northrop T-38 Talon (nicknamed the White Rocket,) is often regarded as one of the most beautiful airplanes of all time. But unfortunately for modelers, it is not an easy airplane to model because of its small wing and long, curvy fuselage. The emergence of lightweight sheet-foam construction, high-powered electric motors, and lithium-polymer (LiPo) batteries has changed that. Read more ... |
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THE WEDGY
WEDGY THE RECORD SMASHER was the title in the November 1940 issue of Model Airplane News. Just a few months earlier, with a 22-minute-plus flight, my original model had won first place in Class A Free Flight at the 1940 National Championship in Chicago, IL, setting a new record. Nine versions were built and tested before I homed in on this winning version. It placed in the top three in every contest in which I entered it. Read more... |
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MIDGET MUSTANG
WHEN I HEARD that a local club was racing .25-powered models, I dropped in to check out the activity. The two model types that seemed to dominate the pits were two of my old designs that were kitted by House of Balsa the T-6 Texan and P-51 Mustang. Flattered by the popularity of the designs, I thought, How about a .25-powered Goodyear/Midget class racer? Or maybe a Minnow, Shoestring, Rivets or Midget Mustang? Read more... |
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THE EAGLE 7
MOST JET ENTHUSIASTS like scale models that capture the excitement and thrill of full-scale aircraft. There's an endless variety of kits available for almost any scale jet you might like to build, so why design and scratch-build a jet that's not scale? I designed the Eagle V sport jet three years ago (published in the December '04 and January '05 issues of Radio Control Modeler magazine) to prove that an all-wood entry-level jet could have the performance of one of those expensive fiberglass models. I built several Eagles from the plans, and from the feedback I received, all who've built the model were satisfied. Read more... |
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3D HOT HOTS
IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE to do anything wild 3D maneuvers, fun-fly competition or burning big holes in the sky the 3D Hot Hots might be for you. It can take off like a guided missile, hover like a helicopter, do clean knife-edge passes, square figure-8s and torque rolls while going fast or slow all with clean, efficient, electric power or a glow engine; that's up to you. Read more... |
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DH-88 COMET RACER
THE DE HAVILLAND DH-88 COMET was built as a racer for the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from London, England, to Melbourne, Australia. Three Comets were in the race but only two finished in first and fourth places. The third, Black Magic, led the race until its engines burned up after being given the wrong fuel in Allahabad. Read more... |
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