Focal Point
Modified Four Star
R.J. Miller (1709 15th St., Woodward OK 73801) built this modified Sig Four-Star 60. His first Four-Star was still flying when this one was christened, but it had so many flights on it that it was badly in need of repair.
- Modifications: radial plastic engine cowl, somewhat rounder tips than stock
- Power: Saito 100
- Weight: 7 pounds
- Radio: JR system
de Havilland Beaver
Eugene Waters (214 E. Tennessee Ave., Oak Ridge TN 37830; E-mail: ehwaters@juno.com) built this de Havilland Beaver from a Dennis Hunt/Zimpro Models kit for Sharon Nealey (Barrington IL) as a gift for her husband Douglas, who owns a full-scale Beaver. Eugene built it as a display model only and added as much external detail as he could, based on photos of the full-scale aircraft that Sharon sent him.
- Wingspan: 100 inches
- Length: 6.5 feet
- Notes: Rather than try to ship an aircraft this big, Sharon’s husband flew the full-scale Beaver to Tennessee to bring it home. "It was a tight fit, but we managed to get it in the airplane," wrote Eugene.
Skybolt by Committee
Russ Arnold (146 Kelley Smith School Rd., Palatka FL 32177; E-mail: JRALA146@yahoo.com) had wanted a Sig Skybolt since he first saw one fly in the 1970s. A fellow club member gave him a partially assembled kit. Russ started it but didn't have the time to finish it. His good friend Arlin Brewer completed the job.
- Engine: SuperTigre .61 with Bisson muffler
- Covering/Finish: Sig Koverall, Rust-Oleum paints
- Note: "Thanks to Arlin, I have a Skybolt to be proud of!" wrote Russ.
Fun Scale Wright NW-1
Gerald W. Bunn (302 Royale Dr., Baltimore MD 21226; E-mail: bbunn@highstream.net) produced this Fun Scale model of the 1922 Navy-Wright NW-1, a "sesquiplane" (a mixture of a biplane and a monoplane). He scaled up Paul Matt drawings to produce the 1/5-scale model.
- Power: Saito 150
- Features: 12 functional exhaust stacks; spinner and wheel pants are fiberglass; remainder of the 12-pound model is built up from balsa
- Weight: 12 pounds
Profile P-38
Al Harms (2034 31st Street Ct., Sioux City IA 51104; E-mail: harmsal@pioneer.net) built his profile P-38 from a Great Planes kit. He covered it with Olive Drab UltraCote and added World War II invasion stripes.
- Wingspan: 50 inches
- Weight: 5 pounds
- Radio: four-channel Futaba RC system with six servos
- Engine: MDS .28 turning an 8 x 6 propeller
Douglas Sleeper Transport
Loren Perry (1412 Fisherman Bay Rd., Lopez WA 98261; E-mail: goldmedl@rockisland.com) constructed this electric-powered Douglas Sleeper Transport version of the DC-3 from an imported HVP kit sold through Hobby Lobby as a C-47.
- Wingspan: 59 inches
- Flying weight: 3 pounds, 12 ounces
- Covering: Chrome MonoKote brushed to resemble aluminum
- Features: steerable tail wheel, homemade retractable landing gear, landing lights, operating cabin door
- Power: two direct-drive Model Motors brushless motors
Balsa USA Dr.I
Darren Gibson (6801 Burnell Dr., Eau Claire WI 54703; E-mail: darren8@juno.com) built his Fokker Dr.I triplane from a Balsa USA kit.
- Engine: Zenoah G-26 with B&B Specialties Super Smoke Pumper
- Radio: Futaba FP-7NFK FM system
- Servos: Hitec HS-425BB and HS-625MG
- Covering: Solartex
- Features: MGA pilot
Electric Gipsy
Robert F. Temple (6354 Casabella Ln., Boca Raton FL 33433; E-mail: jht1135@aol.com) is the owner of this de Havilland Gipsy Moth designed by John Goodrich (Burlington VT). Through digital editing, Goodrich is shown seated in the front cockpit and Robert in the rear.
- Covering/Finish: Sig Koverall, painted with Sig modeling dope
- Power: Mega brushless motor with Hacker 40-3 motor-control unit
- Battery/Weight: 20-cell battery; total weight 10 pounds
Focal Point - 2005/01
Matt’s Foam Extra
Rick Sarpolus (4303 Countrymeadow St., Moorpark CA 93021; E-mail: sarpolus@sbcglobal.net) submitted this photo of his 13-year-old son Matt and the Extra 300 Matt built with minimal help from his dad and now flies.
- Model: 36-inch-wingspan Extra 300 from FoamyFactory Models (blue foam)
- Finish: airbrushed with water-based craft paints in a scheme inspired by Internet RC boards and Model Aviation
- Power: HiMaxx brushless motor driven by a 3-cell 1500 mAh Li-Poly battery
- Notes: Ample power for 3-D maneuvering and long flight times
AC-130 "Spectre"
Randy Ryman (2640 Autumn Ln., Harrisonburg VA 22802) took his first venture into four-engine models with this Lockheed C-130 that Bob Sealy built from a Quality Fiberglass kit and finished as an AC-130A "Spectre" gunship of the Vietnam era.
- Wingspan: 102 inches
- Finished weight: 17.25 pounds
- Power: four O.S. .25 FX engines
- Features: RAM rotating beacon, landing-light system
- Note: "The model flies great with very scale takeoffs and landings," wrote Randy.
Milestone King Kobra
Milton C. McGuffin (116 Hillview Ave., Houlton ME 04730) built this King Kobra from a Sig Manufacturing kit.
- Engine: ASP .60
- Radio: Airtronics Vanguard 6 system
- Gear: Tower Hobbies retractable landing-gear system
- Weight: 7 pounds
- Note: Milton, who is 78, wrote, "The #43 on the side represents the 43rd airplane that I have built over the past 20 years."
Staggerwing Worth the Wait
R.L. Quintana (6640 Balboa Cir., Ocean Springs MS 39564; E-mail: Quint11@netzero.net) remembered seeing a Staggerwing in a magazine when he started the hobby in the early 1950s and always thought about building one. At age 60, he finally built this version from a Royal kit.
- Features: full interior, dummy radial engine, cooling deflectors
- Covering: 21st Century Fabric and MonoKote
- Engine: Saito 91
Stunning WACO
This in-flight photo of Aubrey Nabers' (276 Doe Run, Sautee GA 30571) WACO was taken during a flyby at Pat Hartness's Triple Tree Aerodrome in Woodruff, South Carolina.
- Scale: 1/3-scale model
- Weight: 51 pounds
- Power: RCS 215cc radial engine turning a 34 x 10 propeller
- Features: fully functional flying wires made from Jerry Nelson's streamlined wire; cabane struts fabricated from airfoil-shaped aluminum tubing
- Covering/Finish: Sig Koverall fabric, finished with Randolph aircraft dope
- Note: "The WACO is my best effort to date and represents about 65 years of modeling experience," wrote Aubrey.
It's a Barbie!
John Pakiz (4411 Parker St., Omaha NE 68111) converted a Dick Baxter Pussycat into an outdoor sport free-flight rubber-powered model for his 8-year-old daughter Marissa, renaming it "Barbie."
- Finish: Barbie colors, including logo and bow on the vertical fins
- Wingspan: 15 inches (longer than the original design)
- Construction: mostly 1/16 balsa stock, including wheels; uses an airfoil rather than a flat wing section
- Weight: 9.75 ounces (excluding rubber motor)
Coldrolski CrS-7
Chuck Snyder (10759 Moss Hill Ln., Cincinnati OH 45249; E-mail: sbetty354@aol.com) refers to this model as his "Could Have Been Scale" version of a World War II Russian dive-bomber, similar in appearance to a Petlyakov Pe-2 or a Tupolev Tu-2.
- Origin: kit-bashed from a Direct Connection Sea Fury
- Wingspan: 75 inches
- Power: two O.S. 52 four-stroke engines
- Construction: nacelles from fiberglass over polyurethane foam forms
- Finish: epoxy paint
Pancake V
As a design "excursion," Chuck Bennett (669 Baker St., Mount Gilead OH 43338; E-mail: chbennett@bright.net) built this combination of a Grumman X5U-1 Flying Pancake and a Zimmer's Skimmer.
- Wing area: almost 800 square inches
- Wingspan: 40 inches
- Weight: 3.8 pounds
- Covering/Finish: MonoKote in pre-1939 Army Air Corps colors
- Radio/Control: three-channel functions
- Power: K&B .28 engine
- Notes: The model sits with a high angle of attack on the ground and is capable of extremely slow flight.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
