It has been a long time since I have posted anything on my blog and there have been some changes. After the 2005 airhow I took it upon myself the organize the 2006 airshow. It was an uphill battle the whole way but it was all worth it in the end. That year I did not get to do allot of flying and at the end of the year I crashed my bat plane into a tree. At that point I had only been able to fly maybe five or six days out of that year. The fuse survived but it needs a new wing, the landing gear mounting block has to be glued back in place and the tail surfaces need to be glued back on. It will fly again but not now. I never got around to building the Sig Cub and the Northstar so I figured why not just get rid of them and get something that can get me in the air now. So I downloaded the plans to this little puppy to the right. It is a Skeeter 30. A Hacker 20-20L with a 1250 milliamp 3 cell lithium and a 20 amp Cermark ESC provide me with power to spare. This was my first scratch build and the plane is on the heavy side but still flies well. I will be selling this plane at a swoop meet next weekend because I would like to build another one that is lighter and add some side rails to the fuse.

This winter I have a couple of builds lined up. First of all I would like to rebuild my Skeeter 30, next I plan to build a Bridi kit called the Vagabond 40 and I would like to repair my bat plane (a Sig Mid Star) because there is this soft spot in my heart for it. I would also like to get a Ultimate bipe. There is now a manufacturer making an ARF of this great plane in a 40 size. You can find it at www.thewingsmaker.com.

Well that is all for now and after I get back from the swoop meet next weekend I hope to have a few new things to get me through this winters build. As this will be my largest one to date.

Planemaker's Only Wish

Christmas Wish List

4 Book Modeler Series from Model Airplane News

-Finishing & Detailing

-Workshop Secrets

-Building Techniques

-Covering AC Airplanes

Something Just for Fun

I found this and laughed my head off for hours. So check it out!

First Scale Kit

One of my first memories of RC airplanes is of a J-3 Cub. I was playing with some friends and there neighbors was into RC planes and had just crashed his Giant Scale J-3 Cub. Well, the wing was toast but the fuse survived. I don't know why he decided to get ride of it and not just build a new wing but he had given the fuse to my friends to play with. Being giant scale, and I being young, the darn thing was big enough for one of us to ride down a hill in. This neighbor had also riged up the steering, rudder and ellevator movments to a stick in the center. Needless to say that if the damn thing had a wing we would have flown. This is one of the reasons that I am invovled in the RC planes hobby. That and I think RC is cool. But, my dream has always been to own and fly a scale Cub. I have choosen to start out with something that isn't a giant scale but still pretty substantial in size. The Sig 1/4 Scale J-3 Piper Cub has a 108" wing span and recomended engine size I believe is .61-1.20. I will power it with a 28cc Mucalla engine that I converted to an aircraft engine. For this particular aircraft I have been told that usually they are powered with a 23cc to a 25cc gas engine. But, my engine is a little heavier then gas engines designed for model aircraft so the added power would be to my advantage. Plus I plan to put floats on it an fly off of the water, snow and ice. I plan to start building this winter with no deadline. I would like to build it to scale and include a pilot and cockpit. I really have no idea how I am going to do all of this but I have club members who I can call on for help. If you have ever built any scale planes at all, or this one in particular, I could use a little guidance. My building skills are okay but this will be my first scale attempt. So if you have any suggestions I thank you in advance. I could use all the help I can get.

Winter Kit

What excitement a new kit brings me. My winter project will be a Northstar from Balsa USA. It is an amphibious plane but I hope to get it done before the snow melts. It can be flown right off the show and it would be a shame to have to wait a whole year to try it. As you can see it also has (included) landing gears that you can snap into the fuse to take off of grass. NEAT!!! The only bad part about this whole thing is that I have never flown off of water before and I am a little nervise about it. Everyone tells me that taking off of the water really isn't that much diffrent then on land. It's just an unknown at this point and things that I don't know anything about intimidate me. My main reason for choosing this plane is that I love the way it looks and my father owns lake front property. I can't tell you haw many times I have been there and wished that I had a plane to fly. Most times that I am there the water is calm, the wind is barely a slight breeze and the water is like a sheet of glass. Just one problem, no one in my club has any real experiance with float flying. Any tips?

This summer I visited A fly-in called Jets Over Winimac. Let me start off by saying that I have never witnessed anything quite as impressive. The models there were top of the line and the craftmanship that went into them was absolutely fantastic. Due to the danger, and not to mention the price tag, the public was not allowed to walk up to the plane to look at them. But, most of the pilots that were there would answer any question that you had. The event is hosted by the Braun Corporation as is the field and the paved runway. The owner of the company, Ralph Braun, and his son both fly model jets and performed in the event. I was fortunate enough to have met Ralph at the Air show that my club hosted in Elkhart several months earlier. Many of the local residents have been coming to this event for years and enjoy watching these magificant birds fly. One man I talked to said that he and his two sons were both into RC cars but enjoyed this event so much the first time that they kept coming back for the last five years. Another older couple said that they lived across the street from the field and just enjoyed the atmosphere of the event so much that they had been coming since it began. There was also no lack of merchandise either. Some of the products that they offered were a little out of my price range but the next $25,000 I get is going into a model jet ;-) However, a good majority of venders had merchandise for the average modeler. In all I would have to say that it was the most fun and entertaining model air show that I've been to yet. If anyone would like to attend this years up coming show in Winimac, Indiana please contact me for directions.

Here it is ladies and gent's. The show stoper of the day at Flight Masters of Elkhart Countys' First ever RC Airshow held at the Elkhart Municipal Airport. Andrew Jesky flew his 54% Yak with amazeing skill and grace. I have to say that I really had no idea that a plane could to the things that he did. Of course, if that were a real plane, I really don't think that a human being could stand the G's. The pure size of the plane and the artisty of the pilot made for an amazing show. My thanks go out to Andrew for coming to our show to provide us with the adrenaline rush that most RC Pilots crave.

B-17 at Flight Masters of Elkhart County's Airshow

B-17 in flight

Just awesome

The Bat Plane

This is a Sig Mid-Star 40. Basically a Four Star with a mid wing design. This means the placment of the wing is in line with the horizontal stab. I started biulding it in the winter of 2003 and finished it in the spring of 2005. Yes it took a long time to build. Well I have a good reason for that, I decided that it was time to get married and buy a house. This means that the plane got put on the back burner. So did alot of other things like: flying, working out, gameing, hanging out at the model air field... I have been flying it all year and it is a dream to fly. It flies like a trainer but is arobatic like a pattern ship. I do, however, have a few more problems that I need to iron out. Like the alirons, they won't travel to full difflection and they aren't binding anywere. Also, that stupid engine problem that is discribed in an earllier posting. But, dispite that I love it. Buy-the-way this was my first balsa built kit and my first covering job too. Do you like the pattern?

Front view of The Bat Plane

The Bat on the bottom

My first plane was a US Aircore 40 trainer. It was a good first plane but was way under powered by todays standerds. Basically it took two thirds of a three acre field to get up in the air and then would barely climb up over an electric fence on the other side. Don't get me wrong, it was a great trainer and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning to fly. Just don't put anything smaller then a .46 in it and I wouldn't be affraid to put a .50 in it. Eight pounds of plane is alot for a little .40 LA. But, it tought me to fly a plane and not just overpower it to the point that it would go up forever. Thakfully it was tough enough to take being flown into the ground more times then I would like to admit. And, to my surprise there was never really any damage. It finally bit the dust when I reconfigured it to a tale drager and for some strange reason it just would not fly right. I ended up crashing it and the impact split the wing in two. I tried to fix it and dicided that it was just plain time to move on. Below is a picture of the same plane on floats. Never had the nerve to try and fly it off the water. Besides, it would not have had the power to fly well and it would have been unstable.

Evolution Engine

Here it is in a nutshell. I have a .46 Evolution pts, the top end runs great ( no, better then great). But, the low end stinks. With the trim lever all the way down and the throttle all the back the carb. barrell is ever so slightly open it will not come down to a low idle. The longer it runs in this setup the slower the idle becomes. Effectively loading the engine with fuel. As soon as the throttle is advanced it just sputters and dies. I have tried to lean out the low speed needle setting and have leaned it to the point where the high and low speed needles touch in the center and cut off the fuel. I am at my wits end and no one at my club can figure it out. Maybe one of you can shed some light on this mystery.