FOCAL POINT
P-26 Peashooter
Tony Kummerow (Estill Springs, Tennessee) built this P-26 Peashooter made by an overseas company.
The Peashooter has a 71-inch wingspan powered by a .76 two-stroke glow engine turning a 14 x 6 propeller. Tony’s model weighs approximately 8.5 pounds.
Laser 200
Tom Zink (Sarasota, Florida) built his Laser 200, designed by Wayne Ulery, from Model Airplane News plans.
The Laser 200 spans 85.5 inches and is balsa, light plywood, and basswood construction. The wood parts package was purchased from Manzano Laser Works. A Moki 1.8 powers the Laser 200 with an 18 x 8 Master Airscrew propeller. The cowl and canopy come from Fiberglass Specialties.
Tom covered his model in missile-red and dark-blue MonoKote. The stars are from Major Decals. Control of the model comes from a Hitec Optic 6 on 72 MHz with Hitec HS-485HB servos.
Tom wrote: “Although it took a while to build, this is one awesome-flying airplane. Aerobatics are limited only by the pilot’s skill level. Vertical performance is unlimited with the Moki engine and landings are uneventful. Of all the Lasers I have flown—including Giant Scale—this flies better than them all.”
B-29
Tom Ranta (Canton, Michigan; email: rantatrjranta@aol.com) built his Giant Scale B-29 from plans by Don Smith. The aircraft is shown here with Tom’s daughter, Holly.
The scratch-built model has a 141-inch wingspan, flaps, and Robart retractable landing gear. Tom’s B-29 flies with four Zenoah 20cc engines turning 14 x 8 four-blade Zinger propellers. The all-wood construction is covered with fiberglass, Krylon paint, and a Sharpie pen to accent the details. A finish of Testors Dullcote completed the aircraft and sealed in the ink.
It took Tom three winters to build this airplane. He has flown it successfully several times at his club field.
Watts Up
Tom Scott (Albuquerque, New Mexico; email: tscott1118@comcast.net) built the Watts Up model featured in “AMA Plans Service Showcase” in the March 2014 issue of Model Aviation.
The model was built according to the plans, except Tom added spoilers and an E-flite 400 brushless motor. The completed Watts Up weighs 18.5 ounces and is covered in UltraCote ParkLite. Tom used a 12 x 8.5 folding propeller and a 1,300 mAh LiPo battery.
He wrote: “It will go vertical when launched at full throttle, and handles great. With a 52-inch wingspan, it’s perfect for small-field flying and signals lift well. The Watts Up is fun to fly and easy to build.”
Polaris XL
Thomas W. Haake (Richboro, Pennsylvania; email: tomh1449@verizon.net) built this Polaris seaplane/park flyer kit designed by Steve Shumate and marketed by Model Aero.
The Polaris is a park flyer adaptation of Laddie Mikulasco’s Northstar. It features sheet-foam construction. A Spin Max 2810-19 brushless motor powers the model swinging a Master Airscrew 8 x 6 three-blade propeller. Flight control is from a Spektrum DX-8 transmitter, AR500 receiver, and HS-225 servos.
Bell Kingcobra P-63
Kenneth Fiala (St. George, Utah; email: kfgfiala@gmail.com) built this Bell Kingcobra, which appeared in the January 2014 edition of Model Aviation. The plans and construction article were written by Mark Rittinger.
Kenneth purchased the plans from the AMA Plans Service. The model is constructed from balsa with electric three-gear retracts. It flies with an E-flite Power 32 motor controlled by a 60-amp ESC with a 4,500 mAh, four-cell battery for power. The covering is flat MonoKote painted with Model Master military flat paint.
“It is a pleasure to fly at full or reduced power and will do anything you ask of it with no bad habits,” wrote Kenneth.
Bluebird
Doug Smith (Birmingham, Alabama; email: duckwork@bellsouth.net) built his Jimmie Allen Bluebird from Skelly Oil plans.
The Bluebird spans 38 inches and weighs 7 ounces. Power comes from an E-flite 280 motor with a Castle Creations ESC and a Berg 4 receiver.
Doug covered the model in Doculam and painted it with Krylon Plastic spray. He also located images of the original kit decals and printed them on decal paper to complete the model.
Doug made some changes to the 1933 plan to convert the model to electric. He wrote that it flies well with more power than it needs.
Swoose
Rich Flinchbaugh (South Dennis, Massachusetts) submitted this photo of his son, Mark, with the Swoose. Rich wrote: “Our son, Mark, is destined to be the new owner. It [the Swoose] is the most prized possession that I have in the world—its fuselage having been hand carved, mostly by my dad, back in 1947. It remains a beautiful model and, as you can see in the photo, it still floats.
“I chose to keep it as a true Free Flight model, despite the fact that there is plenty of miniature RC equipment available to make it an RC model. It still takes off from calm water and lands upright on its floats (most of the time).”
