What

What's Up

Available Now on the Page By request, the replacement plastic parts for the Short Kits are now available separately. Also offered independently are the 3 5/8" Aeronca style wheel pants used on the Chief and J-Kota, and the 4" Sport Style wheel pants to help personalize your special project.

The Thrill of a Lifetime We took out annual Trek to Little Rock AR on May30 - Jun 1 2008 where Joe Wagner was kind enough to sign my J-Kota Biplane. Joe designed the original Dakota Biplane in 1948. Sixty years later, my J-Kota Proposed Homebuilt in 1:8 scale, based on the original 1/2A free flight Dakota design was unveiled.

Modeling in its own right will bring us a lot of satisfaction, but the most important element of this hobby is the people we meet along the way. Having been involved in modeling for nearly 50 years, I have had the opportunity to meet some of the legendary people who's names I've seen in print over the years, many of whom I've learned so much from.

But without a doubt, the high point in my modeling life was at the 2008 SMALL event where Joe Wagner was kind enough to sign my "re-designed" Dakota Biplane. Joe designed the original Free Flight Dakota Biplane in 1948, so as it turns out, my "scale homebuilt" rendition of the Dakota was unveiled in the 60th anniversary year of Joe's original design.

And rather then simply have Joe sign the model, which he would have done without question, it was suggested by Steve Staples that we do the signing after the awards presentation to give the event the notoriety it so richly deserved. Joe is not only a co-founder of the SMALL modeling movement, but is also a modeling legend in his own right, and truly deserves the notoriety he has quietly earned over the years. And to have his signature on my model now makes it one of my most prized possessions.

31" Wendigo. Now that the Wendigo article has appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of RC Boat Modeler magazine the plans are available on the page. By request, a laser cut wood pack has been developed which contains the light ply hull frames and keel parts and cabin roof formers, plus the 1/32" ply window frames. So now, you can either scratch build your model, or start with the pre-cut parts to speed up and simplify the building process.

DC-6 Update But the big news is that the DC-6 has been refitted with 2208/17 Outrunner from RC Hotdeals. Power output is almost twice that of the original IPS System, and surprisingly, is less expensive to set up then then the original IPS System and ESC. I'll report the results of the test flights once it happens. Meanwhile, if all goes as expected, it will mean that the power system for the 60" Connie will be available, and progress can get underway again on the project.

And the good news is that the DC-6 has finally been flown, and handles beautifully with her new power system. The test flight was limited to 5 minutes, then the battery charged to find the power consumption was just 182 mili-amps per minute, meaning that the flight times of around 10 minutes using the 2500 mah battery will be very comfortable. In flying the model, the added weight is definitely apparent, but in no way adversely effected the flying qualities of the DC-6. From here, it looks like the DC-6 is going to be seeing a good bit more flight time.

Meanwhile, I've been working on getting the Kit Review for the 1963 Lyman Soft Top Sleeper from M.A.C.K. Products Model Marine finished up. This is a terrific kit, and builds beautifully, but it is not a beginners build by any means. The kit is beautifully engineered and went together very well. Each of the hull planks were laser cut making the lapstrake process as painless as possible. For more details, have a look at the Build Thread for all the details.