FOCAL POINT
Interested in sharing your handiwork? Visit www.ModelAviation.com for submission guidelines.
Easy Built Models
SPAD S.XIII
Mark Snowden’s (Batavia, Ohio; email: msnowden@hotmail.com) 1/20-scale Easy Built Models Spad S.XIII kit included quality balsa sticks, printed balsa sheets, and five sheets of camouflage-colored tissue. “A bit of inspirational credit goes to Pat Trittle’s article in the May 2024 issue of Model Aviation,” he wrote. “He encouraged builders to take a break and build stick-and-tissue aircraft.”
The final build is a 16-inch wingspan rubber band-powered Free Flight model. The roundels were included in the kit, but Mark printed his own decals on shopping-grade tissue paper to match that of Eddie Rickenbacker’s Number One Spad. The bottom is gray, and each color had to be glued in place, while each sheet of tissue was preshrunk before being cut out. A light mist of thinned dope helped stretch everything taut. Mark stated that the plastic cowling was also glued over a custom-carved block.
1937 Mignet Pou-du-Ciel
Flying Flea
George Lumpkins (Katy, Texas; email: golumpk@swbell.net) questions readers, “What has no elevator, no ailerons, and no tail wheel, and flew at the Bayou City Flyers field [in Katy]?” His 1937 Mignet Pou-du-Ciel Flying Flea! He is the fifth owner of this airplane and was the first to achieve a controlled, but short, flight. “Three others had more sense than to try,” he quipped.
The origins of this short kit are unknown. The builder and the first of the previous owners tried to fly it but had multiple ground loops. It was then transferred to a Bayou City Control Line (CL) flier, who refused to touch it, let alone convert it to CL, which was an optional build. The CL flier’s buddies said to call George and dare him to fly it!
The Flying Flea is powered by a Value Hobby 2208-1800 Kv motor, an SMC 2,200 mAh three-cell battery, a Hobbywing 30-amp ESC, and an APC 8 x 4 propeller. The electronics are handled via a Futaba radio and servos.
Pfalz E.I Eindecker
Lee McDuffee (Waukesha, Wisconsin; email: winterhawke2007@yahoo.com) modified his Balsa USA Eindecker 90 kit as the Pfalz E.I Eindecker.
New landing gear and a new tail structure were added to match the 1916 Pfalz monoplane, which was based on the French Morane-Saulnier Type H. Electric power is with an AXI 4130/20 motor and the finish is Oratex covering.
Lee noted that it’s a great-flying model for Dawn Patrol events, as well as a solid RunCam 2 camera platform.
Twin Telemaster
In 2018, Michael Montgomery (Phenix City, Alabama) wanted something different, so he pulled out old Telemaster plans and decided to make a twin.
He strengthened the fuselage sides with plywood and shortened the fuselage by 4 inches to correct the tail heaviness that is caused by twin rudders and tail-mounted rudder servos. The battery hatch includes the new “windshield” shape. The flight gear is E-flite 32 motors, E-flite 60-amp Pro ESCs, 11 x 7 propellers, and a 4,000 mAh, six-cell LiPo battery in the nose. Scaledlike flight times are 7 minutes with some touch-and-gos and a 3-minute reserve for landing.
Michael stated that the airplane is considerably overpowered, but it has impressive vertical performance. A build thread can be found on RCGroups at www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4558749-Telemaster-Converted-To-T....
Westland Lysander
Keith Davis (Colorado Springs, CO; email: lkdavis03@hotmail.com) purchased the Phoenix Model 1:4-scale Westland Lysander in 2023 but decided that he wanted a different color scheme. After browsing the internet, he came across Westland Lysander #2363, based at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Ontario, Canada, which had the color scheme used by British and Canadian target tow aircraft. “Unfortunately, the full-size Lysander had a hard landing in 2019 and was still waiting to be repaired,” he wrote.
After weeks of researching, planning, and buying the necessary material, Keith removed the original gray MonoKote covering, which took more than a month to strip off, and repaired the framing. It took several more months to re-cover it in Cub Yellow MonoKote and measure, cut, properly space, and place the black MonoKote stripes. Cub Yellow paint was used to paint the plastic cowling and wheel pants, and decals were ordered from Callie Graphics.
The year-long project was finally ready to fly with a 126-inch wingspan and a weight of 25 pounds. Keith powered it with a DLE 61cc gas engine and installed a Sullivan smoke pump and operating landing lights. “This is the largest RC airplane project I have ever attempted and will probably never do a project that large again!” he stated.
Simplex
The Simplex, designed by Paul Plecan, was published in Air Trails magazine in 1941. Mark Fineman’s (Wake Forest, North Carolina; email: pinkman1244@gmail.com) two Simplex models are variations of the original.
The tan and black airplane is a 40-inch wingspan, electric-powered, three-channel RC model that originally appeared in Aeromodeller magazine. The 22-inch wingspan orange and white version was designed and kitted by Al Liedberg. It is a balsa-and-tissue, electric-powered Free Flight model that can easily make 2-minute flights.
The photograph was taken by Jim Wharton.
Kawasaki Ki-61
Jake Moon (Dallas, Texas/currently residing in Singapore; email: jakethecopywriter@gmail.com) finished his Kawasaki Ki-61 in the spring of 2024. He built it for 1/2A Control Line Scale competition. Jake started by scaling down a set of plans by 33% for a Walt Musciano-designed .09-sized Ki-61. “This seemed a lot easier in my head than it turned out to be!” he noted. “The biggest challenge was hiding as much of the control system as I could internally.”
To keep the leadouts straight despite the dihedral, he mounted the bellcrank above the wing root and ran the leadouts over the top of the wing to the wingtip, where they pass through the wing and exit out the bottom. The fuselage is a 1/8-inch keel with 1/16-inch formers and sheeting. The wing is fully sheeted with 1/16-inch sheeting. It is powered by a Cox Golden Bee .049 engine, weighs 7 ounces, and flies on absurdly short 28-foot lines. “I’ll admit, it doesn’t fly great, but it sure is fun and looks great in the air!”
RC 4-40
Bob Johnson (Bristol, New Hampshire; email: grampybob@myfairpoint.net) was looking for a project in the winter of 2024. He took a step back in time, dug out the plans for Dr. D.B. Mathews’ RC 4-40 from 1984, and made up a kit. Bob had built another one in 1985, and it was time for a new one.
Powered by an O.S. 40FS four-stroke engine, the 4-40 is covered with MonoKote and the decals are from Callie Graphics. Control is with a JR MAX 6 radio. Bob mentioned that after it was dialed in, the airplane was a delight to fly.
It took him four months to build the 4-40, but, at the age of 89, Bob stated that he does not build as fast as he did in the past. “It is still fun to glue part A to part B.”
The photo was taken after the sixth flight.
