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The Gillespies also dabble in the civilian vein as we see with this pair of C- 310s built from the PCM Short Kits (above). Rob’s model features retractable landing gear, and Bob’s is rigged with lights. Tom Binkley learned that flat bottom airfoils do work in sport/aerobatic type models, and has designed his latest 24-inch span creation around that theory (at right). Looks like this one will do very nicely indoors or out.


vived one wild flight, and has been around now for some 49 years. The model was re- cently restored to its current state of pris- tine condition. There was no mention of the possibility of a second flight, but as nice as the model looks, it just might not be worth the risk. After all, we do see a pattern form- ing here. Next up is Mike Troxell’s PA-20 Pacer


built from the Dumas kit. The 40-inch span model was originally designed for 3-chan- nel R/C, though in the spirit of a more scale flyer, Mike added ailerons and reduced the dihedral to 1.5 degrees. The 8-ounce model is powered with an E-flite Park 300 out- runner and Castle 10-amp ESC and is guid- ed using four 4.3 gram servos. Cover is Coverite Microlite. Mike’s Pacer flies great, but as with so


many of these high wing civvies, the ailerons exhibit a good bit of adverse yaw so rudder is needed to keep things under con- trol in the turns. Otherwise, the model flies in a very scale-like fashion floating around high above the local flying site. Just a thought here: in the early days of


much heavier equipment, the smaller mod- els really didn’t perform very well with ailerons at the higher weights common to the earlier efforts. But since we can now build these “small models” so light, ailerons are taking on a whole new complexion, and I, for one, am really happy to see that these 4-channel models are doing so well, and


can’t help but wonder how they might do with flaps now too. And then we have a very talented father


and son team from Boise, ID, Bob and Rob Gillespie with a pair of real show stoppers. Bob’s 75.5-inch span B-17 was built from the Dare kit and won Best in Show at the Nam- pa Model Aviators in the Warbirds category in 2011. Sharing the award is Rob with his 60-inch Curtiss Jenny built from the PCM short kit. The level of detail on both of these models goes way beyond the average sport scale model, proving once again that detail doesn’t need to add enough weight to ad- versely affect the fine flying qualities of the models that still qualify as SMALL models. Also from the Gillespie’s is a pair of C-


310s, also built from PCM short kits. Rob’s model is finished in blue trim, and features retractable landing gear using the E-flite electric retracts. Bob’s model was finished as originally designed with fixed gear, and features operating lights. Then to change directions a bit, we have


Tony Silvestra’s 30-inch span Shoestring racer built from Model Airplane News plans. The model is finished with Econokote and MonoKote trim sheets in the yellow and red Number 16 scheme from the mid-1960s, using the graphics package from the Dare kit. The model is powered with the brush- less in-runner and 20-amp ESC from the Ripmax P-51 and 4-channel control using three 9-gram servos.


Now let’s really take a change of direc-


tion with Tom Binkley’s latest effort. Tom learned from the Steven’s Aero Shaft Series design philosophy that a flat bottom airfoil really does work in the sport/aerobatic realm. The idea is to create a fully aerobat- ic “stick model” designed for snappy aero- batics in a small venue. The result is the 24-inch span model that builds light, is of all wood construction, and goes together quickly. At this point, Tom’s model is all framed up


and ready to add the guidance and cover. It just goes to show you what can be done us- ing the knowledge and ideas we as modelers can accumulate from experience, no matter how unorthodox it might seem. And as soon as the flying report comes in we’ll pass it along and see just how well the whole plan plays out. My guess is that it’ll work real well.


Well, it looks like we have things pretty


well covered for this month. And with that I’d like to offer a hearty and collective “well done” to all of you for some really beautiful- ly built, re-built, and diverse models. And judging by the diversity and varied levels of complexity it shows us the broad spectrum of projects available to build and fly. And if that’s not enough, we can see too that if what we want isn’t available anywhere else, you can always do it “your way”. And that is what makes this such a diverse, challeng- ing, and above all, fascinating hobby.


Mike Troxell proved once again that ailerons work well on smaller models by converting his 40-inch span 3-channel Dumas PA-20 Pacer (above left) to 4- channel R/C. Mike reports that the model flies in a very scale-like fashion after


FLYING MODELS


the mod. Tony Silvestra built his 1960’s era Shoestring Racer (above right) from MANplans, and trimmed it out using the graphics sheet from the Dare kit. The colorful model is set up with brushless power and 4-channel R/C.


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