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by pat tritle You can reach Pat Tritle at 10313 Snowheights NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112 or via e-mail at
patscustommodels@aol.com
PHOTOS: PAT TRITLE
Pat built this Yard Stik (at left, above) from Tom Binkley’s FM plans using scrap parts over a foul weather weekend to fill the hole in the fleet for all weather flying. This one is guaranteed to peg your fun meter. The fuselage was laminated from three layers of 1⁄16 bass wood for strength, and two battery trays were set up so the c.g. can be quickly altered to accommodate any weather conditions.
I
t’s hard to believe that we’re coming up on June already, seems like Christmas was just last week. Time is sailing by at warp speed, but like they say, “Time flies when you’re having fun”, and as model- ers, if we’re not having fun then we’re defi- nitely not doing it right. And speaking of having fun with modeling, it’s also been said that, “Variety is the spice of life”. And they’re right about that too.
For my entire 50-odd years in modeling, whether it was plastics, freeflight, U/C, or R/C, be it airplanes or boats, scale has al- ways been my mainstay. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think non-scale is legitimate; quite to the contrary. There have been some incredible non-scale designs come and go, and like old timers and Ugly Stiks, some just never go. But the main thing in model- ing is that we do what brings us the highest return for our efforts, be it “Top Gun” scale, or a simple stick model that can be built
from scrap parts over a rainy weekend and flown when conditions are such that we’re not comfortable bringing out “the good stuff ”.
The reason all this came up is because for
the past several weeks our weather condi- tions here have been far less than favorable, so we’ve been pretty well grounded with the smaller scale, 3-channel old timers, and con- verted freeflight lightweights. So to get back on track, I borrowed a set of plans for Tom Binkley’s Yard Stik (FM2/12, CD432) from a friend who recently completed one. After flying his I was hooked and just had to have one of my own.
The model was built entirely from scrap wood and Microlite. The power and running gear were all orphan parts from past proj- ects, and it all went together without a hitch over a blustery weekend, and test flown on a day when I wouldn’t even have taken the Cub out of the truck. And since this is in-
tended to be an all-weather flyer, two battery trays were set up so that the battery could be placed forward to move the c.g. up a bit when flying conditions are less than desirable. And now, as luck would have it, the spring winds have pretty well subsided and things are getting back to normal, but come to find out, the Yard Stik flies great in good weather too. So now, an otherwise dull and uneventful weekend cooped up in the house turned productive in finding a home for a bunch of idle parts and scraps, and from it came a fun little airplane that will fly just about any time the mood strikes, and at any number of places within a mile of the house. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
And speaking of building things We’ll kick this off with a brand new kit release from Mountain Models. The Tom-E- Boy 150 design is based on the Vic Smeed
PHOTO: MOUNTAIN MODELS
The Tom-E-Boy 150 is a brand new release (above left) from Mountain Models. These kits are beautifully engineered, easy to build, and fly great. Mountain Models kits are also a great choice for a first time builder looking for a high quality kit that’s easy to build to cut their teeth on. The Laird Super Solution
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PHOTO: WILLIE BOSCO
(above right) is another of Willie Bosco’s very successful freeflight to R/C conversions. The 30-inch Dumas kits make terrific R/C models, and with several to choose from there’s something that will appeal to just about anyone looking for a nice conversion project.
JUNE 2013
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