Road to Top Gun 2014


3 Days until Top Gun — The excitement grows in the scale community!

3 Days until Top Gun — The excitement grows in the scale community!

The MAN team is getting set to travel down to Lakeland Florida, to cover the biggest scale event of the year! Held at Paradise Field, Top Gun is more than just a popular event, and destination. Though each year the editors get a front row seat as we cover all the scale action and details […]
7 Days until Top Gun — The MAN crew is getting ready!

7 Days until Top Gun — The MAN crew is getting ready!

The MAN crew is getting excited about traveling to Top Gun for the annual Scale Invitational. This year the facility at Paradise Field will be sporting a brand new paved runway for the Top Gun pilots to operate from. Joining editors Debra Cleghorn and Gerry Yarrish, will be contributors Rich Uravitch, Carl Layden and ace […]
Road to Top Gun — Jeff Foley’s Bf-109E

Road to Top Gun — Jeff Foley’s Bf-109E

The Luftwaffe will be well represented with Jeff Foley flying his very impressive and well tried Bf-109E German WW2 fighter. Jeff’s “Emil” has an 86 inch span, and is completely scratch built from Jeff’s own molds. The classic warbird  is 1/4.5 in scale and weighs 27 pounds. It uses a modified Dave Platt landing gear, and […]
Road to Top Gun — P.J. Ash and his Rising Sun Japanese Zero

Road to Top Gun — P.J. Ash and his Rising Sun Japanese Zero

PJ has just finished his Top Gun competition plane which is a Meister Scale long wing Zero. The wingspan is 118 inches and the model is powered with a Quadra 100 swinginga Xoar 26×10 prop. It has Sierra retracts, and is guided by JR 12x.  For the impressive slightly weathered South Pacific finish, PJ used Tamiya […]
Road to Top Gun — Mike Barbee’s T-34-B Mentor

Road to Top Gun — Mike Barbee’s T-34-B Mentor

Mike Barbee will again be competing with his absolutely immense T-34B Mentor in the Expert class. The plane is 36% scale and has a wingspan of 138 inches and is 110 inches long. Mike built it from a Bob Patton design and the fuselage is fiberglass made from Bob’s molds. The wings are foam sheeted and finished with 1.5 oz. […]
Road to Top Gun — Pedro Sanchez’ Razorback Thunderbolt

Road to Top Gun — Pedro Sanchez’ Razorback Thunderbolt

This year Pedro with be competing in Pro Am Sport with his impressive P-47 Thunderbolt “SNAFU”. Built from a CARF Models the P-47 is beautifully detailed and is powered by a Moki 250cc radial engine turning a  carbon fiber 4-blade prop and a solo hub. Pedro uses Sierra landing gear and wheels, and Hitec 7955 […]
Road to Top Gun — Vince Veltri’s Wonderful Wildcat

Road to Top Gun — Vince Veltri’s Wonderful Wildcat

The Grumman Wildcat is a very popular early WW2 fighter design and Vince Veltri’s version is one of the best you’ll see. Vince’s Grumman Wildcat with be entered in the Team Scale class, Vince Veltri has been busy in the workshop putting the finishing touches on his South Pacific Zero chaser. The “Team” referred to […]
Road to Top Gun — Frank Tiano’s Macchi 200

Road to Top Gun — Frank Tiano’s Macchi 200

As if, Top Gun creator and promoter, Frank Tiano, isn’t busy enough during his annual Scale Invitational competition, Frank often registers as a pilot to compete along with the rest of the scale pilots at the event. This year, Frank will be flying in the  Pro-Am class (Pro-Prop) with his impressive Macchi 200. A radial engine […]
Road to Top Gun — Free Flight Avro Lancaster Bomber

Road to Top Gun — Free Flight Avro Lancaster Bomber

Many of you may not know this, but each year at the Top Gun Scale Invitational at Paradise Field in Lakeland, FL, several of the contestants as well as the staff and press, get together and have a mass-launch for scale rubber powered model airplanes. Most are built using stick and tissue construction and many […]
Road to Top Gun — Spectactular Spitfire

Road to Top Gun — Spectactular Spitfire

Part of the talent pool that is the Long Island Sky Hawks RC club, Lou Cetrangelo will again be competing at Top Gun with his very impressive Spitfire Mk. IX. Powered by an 110cc 3W inline twin cylinder engine, Lou’s airplane started out as a CARF-Models ARF Spitfire kit. Lou engineered it so the engine […]
Road to Top Gun — Peanut and a Shooting Star

Road to Top Gun — Peanut and a Shooting Star

Scale Jet legend Bob Violett with the support of “Peanut” his jet puppy will again be competing at Top Gun this year. Bob won 3rd place in the Masters Class in 2013 and will be flying his Shooting Star F-80C again at this year’s Scale Invitational. Bob’s jet is powered with the EVF -3- 12S power system, it performs flawlessly. Bob […]
Road to Top Gun — Reconstructed Corsair

Road to Top Gun — Reconstructed Corsair

It is always good to hear when an RC airplane is resurrected from a crash. And this year, Dino DiGiorgio will be flying a rebuilt F4U Corsair in Pro Am Propeller class. Dino comments, “Our model started out as a rebuild from a major crash by Heinz Ayvaz. The previous owner had trashed the model and […]
Air Age Media ©
WordPress Lightbox