Scale projects from Spain and the US
by Stan Alexander
onawing4602@att.net
Wow, it’s Christmas time again. It seems like it comes around faster each year. I hope that many of you receive the Scale goodies you’ve wished for all year. It’s a great time to drop a hint to a family member and let him or her know that you would like a new radio or engine—just a helpful thought there.
I sometimes receive photos of interesting projects built by modelers from around the world. One such project is from friends in Spain. Agustin Sevilla and his father, Agustin Sevilla Ferrando, built a Ryan PT-22 using The Best of Wylam three-view drawings and a Sig Manufacturing set of plans. In 1992, Agustin Sevilla visited the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, D.C., and took documentation photos.
The 94.5-inch wingspan model weighs 27 pounds and is incredible. The Ryan PT-22 model’s wing and tail surfaces are aluminum and the main and secondary spar are cross-grained balsa and carbon fiber. The wing is covered with tissue and dope, and the fuselage framework is built from aluminum and covered with 0.7mm aluminum sheeting. The cowling was formed from one piece of aluminum that was hammered and polished into shape.
I’ve included four photos of their Ryan PT-22 with this column, but check out others in the online and digital editions of the magazine. This model took four years to build.
Agustin Sevilla Ferrando turned 90 this year. The family’s next project is a model of the 1911 Blériot. I look forward to seeing this one!
to enlarge the plans by 50% and make it electric powered.
The X Class
Frank Tiano and crew have come up with a new class for competitors who don’t build their own models, but want to compete and fly at Top Gun. The X Class will allow pilots to enter prepainted or factory-finished models in the contest. The contestants cannot change, remove, or move any part of the color scheme or the markings, but can add details to the color scheme (such as weathering) and to the markings. The modeler may not change, alter, or remove any part of the model considered in outline judging, but is allowed to add details shown in the documentation, such as hatches, protrusions, bumps, antennas, panels, fins, screws, ordnance, nomenclature, etc.
The documentation must be from a published source—not a three-view included with a kit. Manufacturers often develop these drawings to match the models they produce. Examples of good sources would be a magazine article, material from reference books about the airplane, or online information.
The flight routine for the X Class aircraft will be the same as for all other Top Gun entries, so it will be interesting to see how it goes for the first year. It’s time to plan for Top Gun 2016!
Fair skies and tail winds!
SOURCES:
Top Gun
www.franktiano.com/TopGunFrameset.htm
National Association of Scale Aeromodelers (NASA)
www.nasascale.org
