PILOT PROJECTS

Model Airplane News, Jun 2005

* Iron Bay Hellcat F6F-3

Brandt Jasper

Rosemount, MN

Built for Brandt by Steve Hartwell, this Escale beauty weighs 35 pounds, has an 87-inch wingspan and is 70 inches long. A Fox 4.2 engine and a Byron 3-blade prop power the Hellcat. Brandt also installed Robart 150 retracts that handle the model admirably on the ground. According to Brandt, the Hellcat's flight performance is "... fantastic and very scale."

* F-14 Tomcat

Bill DeRego

Kailua, HI

Aloha! This pilot's project comes to us all the way from Hawaii. Bill converted the F-14 that he built from a DCU Mfg. kit to handle two Artes Jet USA turbine engines that put out 14 pounds of thrust each. This twin-turbine fighter weighs 25 pounds dry and 36 pounds when filled with 144 ounces of Jet A fuel for takeoff. It has an extended wingspan of 78 inches and sports a DCU landing-gear and brake system. Bill chose to model his jet in the colors of the VFI squadron-the first squadron of F-14s to operate from an aircraft carrier-specifically, the Enterprise.

* HVP Modell Bristol

Beaufighter

Warner Lowe

Lake Oswego, OR

According to Warner, this 1/12-scale Beaufighter "... flies as good as it looks!" He powers this attractive model with two Axi 2808/16 motors and a 9-cell, 3300mAh NiMH battery pack. Modeled after the Bristol Beaufighters that flew during WW II, this model looks just like the full-size fighter-except, of course, for the 55-inch wingspan!

* Dynaflite Super Decathlon

Bradley Buchanan

Layton, UT

Powered by an inverted O.S. 1.60 FX 2-stroke engine, a 16x6-10 prop, a J-Tec muffler, a 3-inch chrome spinner, 6 Hitec servos and a JR 8-channel radio, this Super Decathlon "... is a great-flying airplane and is very easy to land," according to Bradley. He also installed a TME pump, which creates beautiful smoke contrails while the plane performs various aerobatic feats. Its orange and white Coverite finish with black pinstriping and LustreKote paint gives this giant-scale bird a handsome look. With its wingspan of 89 inches, you would never guess that this model weighs only 14 pounds.

* Grumman Wildcat

Bud Chapped

Portland, CT

Powered by a geared AstroFlight Cobalt 25 motor and a Master Airscrew 13x6 3-blade prop, this Wildcat realty tears up the sky. Built to duplicate the Wildcat flown in 1942 by Lt. Edward "Butch" O'Hare, Bud's model has a 56-inch wingspan, is 44 inches long, has a wing area of 574 square inches and weighs only 6 ½ pounds. Amazingly, Bud built his model from the landing gear up! He inventively constructed the Wildcat's landing gear using copper tubes and music wire, and it's actuated by one standard 180-degree retract servo. Very creative!

* Delta Vortex

Joe McCary

Fredericksburg, VA

According to Joe, this 7-pound Delta Vortex can "... last all afternoon on one tank of fuel." He powers his Delta with an O.S. .70 Ultimate engine and a pump that he has mounted on its side to take fuel from its 17-ounce tank. Joe explains that his model is fully aerobatic and "goes where you tell it to." It is also the most stable flying platform that he has ever built and flown over the past 50 years!

* Grumman J2F-6 "Duck"

Robert Pease

Astor, FL

This 1/7-scale, scratch-built Grumman was assembled using Cleveland Plans that were enlarged by 10 percent. It has a 65-inch wingspan and 1,322 square inches of wing area, and it weighs 18 pounds. The Duck soars when powered by a GMS 1.20 engine, a Hitec radio, a Futaba receiver and 9 Futaba servos. Its construction was actually started by Robert's friend Fred Strauss in 2002, but Robert recently completed it, and he included features such as retracts, rivets, a fully detailed cockpit and a sliding canopy.

* Air Tractor 802F SEAT

Gregg Putman

Gilette, WY

Gregg refers to this project as a "kit bash," since he took a Sig Four Star 120 and converted it into a semi-scale Air Tractor 802F single-engine air tanker (SEAT), known as "Slurry Bomber." Having grown up in the mountains of Wyoming, where forest fires were always a threat, Gregg decided to design and dedicate a plane to represent the firefighting AT802F slurry bombers that he used to see overhead. He powers his model with a Saito 1.50 Golden Knight 4-stroke engine installed inverted with a Slimline muffler. A Graupner 15x8, 3-blade prop, 9 JR digital servos and receiver and a JR 8103 radio round out the airborne package. This 15-pound 11-ounce Air Tractor with its 83 ½-inCh wingspan sports RAm navigation lights and functional bay doors that can hold more than two cups of baby powder for its simulated slurry.

SEND IN YOUR SNAPSHOTS. Model Airplane News is your magazine and, as always, we encourage reader participation, in "Pilot Projects," we feature pictures from you-our readers. Both color slides and color prints are acceptable, but please do not send digital printouts or Polaroid prints. Emailed submissions must be at least 300dpi. We receive so many photographs that we are unable to return them. All photos used in this section will be eligible for a grand prize of $500, to be awarded at the end of the year. The winner will be chosen from all entries published, so get a photo or two, plus a brief description, and send them in! Send those pictures to "Pilot Projects," Model Airplane News, 100 East Ridge. Ridgefield. CT 06877-4606 USA.