Saturday is usually the big day for the crowds at the WRAM Show and this year was no exception. The isles were crowded and the was lots to see in the booths and on display along the center isle. A few more competition planes showed up and tomorrow the awards will be handed out to […]

Today was the first day of the 2014 WRAM trade show and I can’t think of a better way to end a week than spending Friday getting to see all the new products and RC plane on display. Here are some shots I took today of some of the models on display, both in the […]

Last year’s Mr. Top Gun winner David Wigley will again be defending his title well deserved for the fourth time this year with his amazing 1/5-scale Bristol Beaufighter. With its 138-inch wingspan and powered by twin BME 102cc has engines, David’s amazing RAF warbird has set a very high standard to compete against. Competing in […]

If you are attending the Upcoming WRAM show at the Meadowlands Expo Convention center in Secaucus, NJ, be sure to stop by the Model Airplane News booth and say hello. On February 21 through 23, editor Gerry Yarrish and the rest of the MAN team will be there covering this must-see event. The annual WRAM […]

This week’s “Road to Top Gun” highlight focuses on Bill Steffes who is again competing at the 2014 Scale Invitational with his impressive Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bomber. Bill has entered in the Team Scale category and will be competing with the SBD’s designer Nick Ziroli Sr., as his Team pilot. These two well-known Top Gun veterans are sure to give the […]

The 26th Annual Top Gun Scale Invitational, is once again going to be a full 5-day extravaganza of the best RC scale competition. Starting on April 30 and continuing till May 4, Frank Tiano’s annual event will take place at the Paradise Field RC flying facility in Lakeland FL. And, for the first time, there […]

Traveling to events, trade shows, fun flys and competitions is a great way to increase your experience and a fun way to learn new things about the hobby. The MAN editors travel across the country to cover national and regional events so we can bring you our readers, the latest and greatest news and happenings. […]

Over the course of building my Balsa USA Fokker Triplane, I searched the web for suitable images and documentation for the triplane flown by Cole Palen at the Old Rhinbeck Aerodrome (ORA). Here a few of those images and the set of scale drawings I made for the “Bloody Black Baron or Rhinebeck’s show plane. […]

When it comes to making a scale model look real, or at least, realistic and a little less like a  model, it’s all in the details. My basic plan is to look at the model and all the visible RC hardware has to be either painted to cover up plastic and soldered parts, or it […]

So now that we’ve set the stage for creating a 1/4-scale sport scale Sopwith Camel, let’s start building. When it comes to any project, I gather all my materials and supplies ahead of time, that includes ZAP adhesives, sandpaper, new X-Acto blades and so on. The first job is to remove all your laser-cut parts and […]

I recently received some photos taken last September at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, during the Mid-Hudson RC Society’s WW1 Scale Jamboree. My 1/3-scale Fokker Triplane, built from the Balsa USA kit, was created specifically for this event, and I am pleased my good friend Tim Haggerty snapped these shots! It doesn’t get any better than […]

My newest project steps away from building a commercial kit plane, and is more about designing and building my own scale airplane. This includes, using CAD and having final plans sent to a laser cutter to produce my own kit. Then in the workshop it is business as usual. So, to start, I will describe […]