Up-Coming New Releases;
36" J-Kota Biplane
The J-Kota Biplane is a Fantasy Scale, or as it were, "Proposed Homebuilt" based on Joe Wagner's old reliable Dakota Biplane design. The original Dakota was a 24" span all sheet balsa model for 1/2A power. The new J-Kota is a light weight stick frame design in 1:8 scale, and was designed around the cowl and dummy engine and landing gear from the new Piper L-4 grasshopper. The cabin was resized a bit to closely match the dimensions of the Cub cockpit as well. And, it was all done without loosing the charm of the original Dakota design.
The model is powered by a Tower Pro 2208-1100KV Outrunner on 2, 1320 mah Li-Poly cells and features 4 ch. R/C using 4 servos. Flying weight for the 412 sq. in. model is a scant 14.6 oz., so flying the slow and docile J-Kota in small venues is no problem. And you have to admit, the Cute Factor is clear off the scale.
The Short Kit includes highly detailed plans, laser cut parts, plus the vac-formed plastic cowl with the dummy Continental engine and wheel pants.
Meanwhile, kits are in hand and ready to ship. For more info,
drop a line at
patscustommodels@aol.com, or go to
to get your kit coming.
Piper L-4 Grasshopper
The Piper L-4 Grasshopper is a model I've wanted to build for several years, and have finally taken the time to sit down and get it done. The model was designed in 1:8 scale to align nicely with the previously done Aeronca Camp and Chief, Super Cub, C-140 and others.
The model Spans 53" with a flying weight of 15.6 oz. Power is provided by a Himax 2808-980 Outrunner w/ a GWS Symmetar 9-5 prop and a Thunderpower 1320 mah 2S battery. As it is, the L-4 has more then adequate power, and flight durations of over 20 minutes. Control is 4 ch. R/C.
The L-4 features plug in wings to help keep the cabin looking much more scale like. Park Flyer Plastics has provided a fantastic vac-formed cowl with a Dummy A-65 engine to round out the scale look.
Meanwhile, kits are in hand and ready to
ship. For more info, drop a line at
patscustommodels@aol.com, or go to
to get your kit coming.
And if Yours is a flair for the unusual;
Cincopelli Fünfling
In the late 1800’s there was a group of little known thinkers, tinkerers and inventors, Quint Cincopelli, Diane Hedralski and Cosmo Vennise. This vigilant band of visionaries was on a constant quest for innovations to make life easier when life was not as cushy as in more recent times with all of our modern conveniences.
In began in 1904. After hearing of the Wright brothers successes this group of dedicated pioneers began to cultivate an interest in aviation, and decided to build a flying machine of there own. In studying the Wright’s airplane they noticed a couple of shortcomings not obvious to the average untrained eye, and gave much thought to improving on the basic concept.
But before they began to design their vision for the future, they decided that the results of their findings must be published, so they formed the organization they called the Experimental Airplane Association, figuring it would be easier to get published if they had a title. Unfortunately, they never got published, but the organization still lives on.
The first thing they noticed was that the Wright’s airplane didn’t fly very far, so was really of little value. To be of some worth, their machine must travel great distances since the next farm was over a mile away, and it was almost 4 miles into town. So, Quint surmised that the short distance might be attributed to the fact that the airplane had only two wings. So in their design, they figured more wings meant more distance. They settled on five.
Diane noticed that the Wright’s airplane had droopy wings, and required a complicated series of cables, cradles, hinges and pulleys, just to keep it level. So she thought that if they went the other way and angled the wings upward that it might stay level simply by moving the rudder from side to side. And since they needed a rudder to steer anyway, they would be killing two birds with one stone. The concept was referred to by the group as Di-Hedral, later shortened simply to dihedral, an aeronautical term still in use to this very day.
But far and away the greatest visionary in the group was Cosmo Vennise. He saw things in this design that no one else did. Once they had their machine built, he spent hours gazing thoughtfully upon all those wings. Then it came to him; if he could somehow lash a tall stack of slats together, and find a way to rotate them, they could be hung over the windows in the house making it impossible to look in, rendering it blind to the outside world. He developed his invention in just a few short weeks, and called it the Vennisian Blind. In the end, his invention was far more successful then their airplane was. After all, it’s hard to find a house that doesn’t have at least one set of Vennisian Blinds, but not everyone owns a five winged airplane!
And yes, their airplane did fly, though it turned poorly to the right. From that experience they learned that tail volume was vitally important, and they needed a way to determine the correct ratios of wing and tail area. From that came their equation that resulted in the addition of two more rudders. The calculations go like this;
Before the mod; 2 Horizontal Stabilizers + 1 rudder = 3. Subtract 3 from 5 (wings) and you get 2.
After the mod; 2 Horizontal Stabilizers + 3 rudders = 5. Subtract 5 from 5 (wings) and you get 0.
As you can see in the first design lacked the necessary tail volume by a factor of 2, which is why the airplane turned twice as good to the left as to the right. But with the addition of the two rudders, it was a wash, and the airplane turned just as good one way as the other. These Guys were good! And that’s why I selected their airplane for this unusual modeling project.
Meanwhile, the Construction Article has been submitted, and as soon as it runs, the Short Kits will be available.