Henry R. Carstens


president and publisher carstens@carstens-publications.com


Frank Fanelli editor


Jim Wiggin associate editor


Maureen Frazer production editor John A. Earley


vice-president and director of advertising


Pieter W. Uptegrove advertising manager George Riley


director of marketing Larry Deitch


advertising production manager


Tammy Havens advertising production


Phyllis M. Carstens assistant to the publisher


Otto Vondrak webmaster Chris Lane


book acquisitions manager Lynn Good


customer service


Cathy Streeter dealer service


FLYING MODELS (ISSN 0015-4849) Incorporating FLYING ACES and R/C Model Boating, is published monthly by Carstens Publications, Inc., 108 Phil Hardin Road, Fredon Township, Newton, New Jersey 07860. Phone: 973-383-3355. FAX: 973-383-4064. Visit our web site at www.flying-models.com, or e-mail us at: carstens@carstens-publications.com. Henry R. Car- stens, President; John A. Earley, Vice President, Phyllis Carstens, Secretary / Treasurer. Periodicals Postage paid at Newton, NJ 07860 and additional mailing offices.


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Contact Flying Modelsat (973) 383-3355 Voice, (973) 383-4064 FAX, or e-mail us at frankf@flying-models.com


efore you do anything else, I want to ask a favor. Please go to page 42. There you will see the before and after photos of Dick Sarpolus in


the cockpit of his Hangar 9 Meridian, before and after the maiden flight of this very re- cent offering from Horizon Hobby. Some background is in order. I had asked Dick if he wanted to come up and fly the plane at a field near our office. The usual en- ticement was offered, a free lunch at a place that serves really good food. Didn’t take too long for Dick to say “Yes” since it also offered him an opportunity to make a surprise visit to his daughter who works in the local com- munity college.


Well, the day dawned brilliantly bright and sunny... and windy. There were no gen- tle zephyrs that day. Wind was 15–20 mph, gusting to 30, and variable. Though I tried to forewarn Dick early that morning he had already left home, headed for Newton, NJ. So we went to the field and Dick flew the Meridian. Now you know the reason for the character of the before and after photos of him in the cockpit. He took off youthful and confident and landed a gray haired senior. It is a testament to both Dick and the Meridian that the landing was almost a greaser, despite the ravages of the wind. That not at all gentle breeze blew the model all over the place and almost gave me whiplash as I tried to track it with the cam- era. But the quality of the Meridian showed through. It was tough, and handled the wind’s pummels with no problem. It’s also a testament to Dick’s pilotage and characteristic modesty who said afterwards: “Aw, shucks it wasn’t all that bad.” He also had some other nice things to say about the plane but you’ll have to see for yourself in his review of the Meridian and the very neat Evolution 10cc gas/ignition engine. On the other hand, it was electric power that spun the prop of the Tower Hobbies F6F Hellcat that Larry Kruse reviews this month. It’s good to have him back so soon af- ter he relinquished the reins of the F/F Sport column to Dave Mitchell, who I think has made a great start with that very popular monthly “blog”.


At 39-inch span, the Hellcat fits into a niche that has always been the heart of the mainstream, what was usually the .40–.60 size glow engine models. There is a lot to rec- ommend that size. They’re economical, they’re large enough to fly well, and they present nicely in the air. Oh, and they fit easily into most cars.


Larry found a lot of admirable features in


the Hellcat. It has very good scale outlines and detail for a sport scale plane and most importantly it flies well, as he says: “it’s a solid performer.”


So while we’re in a scale vein, it’s probably a good time to mention Joe Redan’s review of the Top Notch Products Mooney Mite M- 18. As Joe says in the very first paragraph this was a model he had to build. And it is a a true laser-cut wood kit.


Probably the best reason he took on the job was a reunion with a plane that has some personal meaning. Seems he was the one who designed the electric acuator of the real plane’s retractable gear.


From what I’ve personally seen of the Top Notch kits they build into great models be- cause of accurate, quality parts. Joe backs up that assessment because he found a very positive result for the real test of any model. It flies great.


So let’s switch tack and take a look at a plane that pays tribute to Laddie Miku- lasko. One of his wildly popular designs was the Northstar that after many years is still produced by Balsa USA. Steve Shumate took the basic Northstar and turned it into the Polaris XL, an all-foam, upsized version of Laddie’s iconic model. One of the best choices to review this plane was Jim Vigani who has quite a few foam designs to his credit as well. This is a plane that has to be built, even though it’s foam; it’s not a molded ARF.


So Jim came to the office, with his lovely wife, Chris, to drop off the review and show us the plane. It says something about the praise he bestowed on the Polaris XL when he wouldn’t let the plane out of his sight for fear that we would confiscate it for our- selves. We even tried to distract him with lunch but it didn’t work. I think he really likes this plane. Daniel Walton seems to like the Baby Bi-


winger he first presented to us in the July 2012 of FM. It was a remake of the 1952 freeflight model that Lud Kading designed, and used the TD .010 for power. Daniel spec- ulated then that it might be possible to trans- form the 13-inch span model into a 3-channel R/C plane with the micro R/C gear that had been introduced in the last few years. Well, in kind of a nod to Orville and Wilbur, he flew the R/C modification of the Baby Biwinger in December of 2012. And it wasn’t just a matter of throwing some of this miniature radio technology into the exisit- ing airframe. It took some cogent considera- tion of the factors involved to modify it into a plane that flew well.


As is his usual style, Daniel laid out the whole process so we could better understand what it takes to make this conversion. He also offered a list of models that could take advantage of the same sort of retrofit. And as a bit more incentive, we’ve reproduced the 1:1 plan, first published in the July 2012 issue of FM, in this article as a centerfold plan for your convenience.


Before we let you go and enjoy the rest of the magazine some mention about the Weak Signals Exposition, better known as the Toledo Show. It turned 59 this year, and is the longest continuous running model avia- tion show in the country. Jim Wiggin took the lead in covering what is always a highlight of Toledo, the static display models. As has been the case from the beginning these are the models at the forefront of our hobby. –FRANK FANELLI


MAY 2013


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