It must be that spring is just around the corner as there were four folks who presented new planes.
Lynn Morgan led off with his Fliton Mini Inspire. He thought that the plans and instruction book were both good with excellent wood quality using good, stiff and light balsa and light plywood. He felt that the clear covering of the ARF did not provide the best visibility for him, so he recovered the wing and elevator in white.
Weighing in at an all up weight (AUW) of 24 oz., it is quite light. It is powered by a Hacker A30-28S with the electrons being fed from the Thunder Power 3S1P 2100mAh battery through a Castle Creations 25-amp brushless speed control. With a wing area of ~308.5 sq.in., it has a wing loading of 11.2 oz./sq.ft. and cubic wing loading of 7.65 oz./cu.ft.
Barry Jones brought in his new Skyfarer. Barry built it from plans that he drew himself. The full size Skyfarer was designed in the late 1930Ős by Otto Koppen. The original was designed to be stall and spin proof. The full size high wing monoplane featured twin fins with no rudders. This was different from the Ercoupe designed by Fred Weick which was a low-wing twin fin designed with coupled ailerons and rudders with a lot of dihedral for stability.
Barry drew is 1:5 scale plans from an article in the April 2000 Model Airplane News. His model has a 76" wing, with 814 sq.in. of wing area and weighs 11 lb. 2 oz. (178 oz.). It has a wing loading of about ~31.5 oz./sq.ft. and cubic wing loading of 13.24 oz./cu.ft. The plane is powered by a Saito .91 4-stroke. Seven servos are used for throttle, elevator, ailerons (2 servos), steering and 1 each for rudder control. The rudders are mixed to the steering servo so that they only move outboard and do not interfere with the elevator movement. The rudders on bolted on to ease transportation.
Rick Sawicki showed off his Great Planes ElectriFly P-51 Sport Fighter EP ARF and FW-190 Sport Fighter EP ARF. These ARFs come complete with a Speed Force 370 brushed ball bearing motor with 5:1 gear drive and a 10x4.7 prop with prop saver and combat streamer material for $24.99 each. Rick feels that they are an excellent value for the money. It only takes about two hours to have one ready to fly using your own speed control, receiver, servos and battery pack. He also noted that they do fly very well for what they are.
Bill Brown showed his Sig Manufacturing 1909 Demoiselle. He noted that this is a real "builder's" kit. He has detailed his version very nicely and has added the "dummy" engine detail. He also noted that this 44" span, 509.75 sq.in. model has only one real place to pick it up. It comes with the material to make the pilot, while other details were added using materials in his shop. This is a KIT not an ARF and was a lot of fun and challenge to build.
Bill also had his AirHogs mini infrared controlled helicopter. For a lot of fun, he let Stan Spiewak have a crack a flying it. Good for lots of laughs for all of us, no matter who was flying it. Thanks, Bill.
Rick Sawicki showed his new Fliton Andrew Jesky Extra 330. He felt that this ARFŐs planes and instruction booklet were excellent. The parts fit was very good. It is powered by a Hacker 30-10XL and uses a Polyquest 3S1P 3700 LiPo pack.
Larry Markey shared his latest version of his scratch-built AniManiac bipe. This excellent flying indoor aerobatic model uses a Hacker A10 motor and 2S1P 250mAh LiPo pack.
Jesse Brunais showed his T-Rex 450SE V2 from Align. He felt that the instruction booklet was good, but that was difficult to get started. He was very, very thankful for the help that he received from this clubŐs excellent helicopter pilots! He thought the materials were of high quality and appreciated that some of the assemblies were preassembled, which saved time. He did feel that the manufacturer should provide more explanations, as it is pretty tough for a beginner to understand some of the steps in the assembly. This little, aerobatic chopper uses a 430XL brushless motor, 35 amp RCM-BL35X ESC and 3-cell 2100mAh Li-Po battery.