Don’s Ercoupe on maiden takeoff run (above left). First flight showed very gentle handling characteristics. Flight shots next time. Denny Sumner’s scratchbuilt Tipsy S2(above center) enlarged to a 50-inch span from a 3-view
Denny Sumner scratchbuilt the Tipsy S2 using a 3-view enlarged to a 50-inch span. It has a Scorpion 3008-32 and a 3S 2600 mAh pack. The all balsa airplane has a wing area of 382 square inches and uses a Spektrum receiver and JR servos. It is covered in Ul- traCote and weighs 40 ounces. Denny’s Tip- sy had no ground handling problems with the short cut grass of the Balsa Butchers field.
The National Electric Fly-In, better known as NEFI, was held on June 21–23 at the National Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana and CD’d by Jay Smith. This is one great event with so many model- ing activities to see and be part of that it is really hard to leave. First you get to fly from the best non-full scale runway I have ever seen and there is a grass section for hand launch along with a charging station. It was also possible to take a tour of the AMA museum and relive the evolution of model aviation in air-conditioned comfort. Then you could watch some outdoor F/F events or attend an R/C Swap Meet and Sat- urday night pizza party, all included and lo- cated on the AMA grounds.
If a little more action is to your liking then enter the full contact Combat event spon- sored by Dan Malone of GWS Props
www.gwsprops.com or maybe the pylon race
is powered by a Scorpion 3008-32 and a 3S 2600 mAh pack. Dave Grife took a few minutes away from being the CD to demo his beautiful Airworld Models Me-262 (above right) which sounded sweet flying.
which had a 3-cell 1350 mAh max battery limit and any airframe goes. Did I say there is no additional charge for these competi- tions and there were plenty of prizes donat- ed by the hobby industry.
There was great on-site food, including homemade ice cream made while you wait, which all said was delicious. Camping/show- ers were walking distance from the flight line!
Carl Rich flew his beautiful BVM F-86
Sabre. The Sabre flies on a 12-cell 6,600 mAh Thunder Power Li-Po pulling over 120 amps and weighing in at 17 pounds. The fa- ther and son team of Tom and Jason Mc- Quistion flew a pair of scratchbuilt Fokkers in formation, powered by 160 outrunners on 10-cell 5,000 mAh packs. Robert Jackson flew a Fantastic Flying W designed by Jed Casey, a retired Naval Cap- tain. Robert raved about the design’s ability to take off from any surface including water and handle the harshest of conditions. Robert suggests a Google search for a build thread on the design. Try to make this event next year. I’ll be there.
Project update National Balsa
www.nationalbalsa.com offers the full laser-cut kit of the Ziroli Er- coupe
www.ziroliplans.com that is my ongo-
ing project. With the Ercoupe completed and ready to test I spent a week turning on the model and operating the control surfaces daily, making sure everything was working correctly each time it was powered up. With wings off taxi tests were made to assure proper tracking. I brought the Ercoupe to my home field of GCRCC on our weekly Tuesday flying session for my buddies to see. They had watched over the months and had seen it take shape. Winds were moder- ate and skies grey as the Ercoupe was lined up on the paved runway. Adding power the Ercoupe accelerated and did take a bit longer than the Tri-Pacer to lift off. Once airborne a few clicks of up el- evator were needed for level flight. Turns in both directions were fine and the Ercoupe was able to handle the windy conditions with ease. I did land a little long due to the great glide but the Ercoupe stayed rock sol- id, touching down on those Robart www.
robart.com gear with smoothness that my landings do not routinely have.
The Tuesday group of fliers from GCRCC congratulated me on the maiden but said from the instant the Ercoupe broke ground on takeoff they knew it was going to be a good flier. Sorry no flight shots yet. A full Ercoupe wrap-up next time with some flight pictures. Till then fly safely.
Carl Rich’s BVM F-86 Sabre(above left) is hard to tell from the real thing. Pulls over 120 amps from the Thunder Power 6,600 mAh 12-cell Li-Po. The father and
FLYING MODELS
son team of Tom and Jason McQuistion (above right) put on a great formation flying demo with their scratchbuilt Fokkers.
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