May
The
first Model of the Month was
Red Covington's Aeronca.
I have no details at
this time.
June
Phil
Greasley's nice Turbo Porter, an ARF. is the Model of the Month for
June.
Newport News Park Radio Control Club
Model of the Month Contest
The
model of the month contest was begun in May of 2002.
It was proposed to the club by Phil Greasley and put into effect the following
month. The following models were the winners for 2002.
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
2002 Model of the Month Winners
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May |
June |
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July |
August |
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September |
November |
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Model
of the Year |
Model of the Month - 2003
The Model of the Month Award was changed slightly for this year. Rather than have all models in one category, there will be two. The first column will be for those models that are ARF's, ARC's, Ready to fly, etc. The second Column will be restricted to those models that are completely built by the member from a typical kit, or from plans. These can be all balsa, composite construction (fiberglass/foam core, etc.) or any other technique, so long as all construction was done by the member.
Any model will qualify in one category or the other, but only if it is entered.
| ARFs., ARC's, etc | j | Scratch Built, Kits, etc. |
jj jj
January
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The
ARF Category: Owen
Dwire showed off his Cap 232 ARF made by Hanger 9.
It weighs 12 lbs. |
The Kit/Scratch Category: Joe Lupton displays his little Mirage built This is a composite kit with a fiber glass fuse and balsa covered foam-cored wings. Power is an OS Max .25 vrdf and a small ducted fan. The paint is epoxy and the scheme is from a full scale show jet called the MisDemeanor.
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j j February jj
| The Kit/Scratch Category: Phil Fedrico Jones scratch built this "Winglet" from Model Airplane News plans. Covered in Ultracoat, this Northrop Flying Wing look-alike has a 74.25" wingspan, 900 sq in of wing area, and is powered by an O.S. 46FX with remote glow. This super looking aircraft sports a split flaps arrangement that serve as speed breaks and weighs in at 9.5 lbs. The airplane has not flown as of the February meeting, but Fred and the rest of the club members can't wait for the good weather to see her airborne. Congratulations and good luck Fred. |  |
There was no winner of the Model of the Month in the ARF category for February.
j March j
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For this month's ARF
Category:,
Don Kohlman brought his Staudechar 300S, built from an Ace Hobbies ARF
Package. Don wedged a O.S.91FX into this 60-size acrobat and says
it is one of the better flying aircraft he has owned. Don
reports the airplane will do unlimited vertical with plenty of power to
spare. Good looking ARF of a very agile bird. Thanks for
letting the club take a look Don and the best of luck with that
airplane.
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The
Kit/Scratch Category:
Fedrico Jones wins the KIT Class again for the second month in a
row. This time, Fred brought his outstanding Top Flite P-40
Warhawk for club members to drool over. The Warhawk is painted in
the British North African theater colors. Fred extended the rudder
aft some 2 1/2 inches to replicate the P-40M that the British
forces flew. Power is a Saito 120 and should sound
great! Fred went all the way with flaps, scale rivet detail, full
scale cockpit, and pilot. The model sits atop Century Jet scale
rotating retracts and Fred has incorporated a bomb drop
capability. It takes 9 servos to fly this 11 1/2lb model.
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APRIL
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j YOUR PHOTO HERE NEXT MONTH?
j |
| The ARF Category: Fedrico Jones is again the winner of the Model of The Month (ARF Division) for April with his Great Planes Lancair ES. The model is larger than it first appears with it's 80" wingspan. It is even IMAA legal to boot. Fedrico has installed 8 servos to drive the control surfaces to include flaps. Weighing in at 8.5 lbs, Fedrico says the aircraft is a sweet flyer with the power provided by the Saito .91 four stroke. Well, one thing is for sure, it is one good looking aircraft. Congratulations once again Fedrico. | There were no entries this
month for Model of the Month in the Scratch Built or Kit built division.
All you have to do is bring your latest model to the meeting to be eligible. You guys get busy! |
j MAY j
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The ARF
Category:
Owen Dwire displayed his new biplane and won the ARF category.
Although he purchased the aircraft already built at a swap
meet this winter, Owen has sunk some serious time modifying and
"Tweaking" it to his liking. The model appears to be
something on the order of a "Great Lakes Bipe" and sports a
very nice white and yellow paint scheme over Coverite, which Owen has
preserved. Owen dropped in a OS .46 FX with a Pitts-style muffler
and installed a new tank and lines. The model has a 38"
wingspan and weighs a hefty 5.5 lbs, including 6oz of lead at the very
front of the cowl. After some adjustments and changes, Owen says
the Bipe is ready for the air. It is unknown if the aircraft has
flown in its prior life but it certainly will now just as soon as the
weather permits. A beautiful 40-size biplane model that anyone
would be proud to own. Great job getting it into flying shape
Owen. We look forward to seeing it in the air many times at the
field.
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The
Kit/Scratch Category:
Joe Lupton was like a proud father showing off his
"reincarnated" Bob Violet Models Maverick Pro Ducted fan jet
aircraft. And well he should feel that way because the jet was a
fine piece of work. We say the model was reincarnated because this
particular jet was reconstructed from pieces of a crashed and pieces of
a new Maverick fuselage. Joe basically scabbed the tail of a
crashed model on to a new forward fuselage and although Joe will tell
you it came out OK and that the paint didn't match perfectly, you
certainly could have fooled everyone at the meeting. I personally
could not see the joint at all, nor could I detect a color change where
the joint occurred. The model is powered by a OS .91 with a BVM
Fan unit and Joe suspects the model will easily push 150 mph with that
engine and fan spinning at 20,000 rpm. The jet weighs 14 lbs, 5oz
including 6oz in the nose to balance her out. Brakes, flaps, fuel
mixture control, and 11 servos are just a few of the other attributes of
this machine. Joe even engineered the nose gear out of two other
dissimilar nose gears. An absolutely beautiful red and yellow
paint scheme topped of a model that looks like it's doing 200 mph
sitting still. It is pretty obvious that any club members
interested in graduating to the jet age of this hobby should spend some
quality time with Joe to get a good head start. Another beautiful
model out of the Lupton Stable.
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June
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June's
ARF category for Model of the Month was won by our Club
President, Owen Dwire. Owen showed off his Goldberg Extra
300. This aircraft is a great example of simplicity in this
hobby. It is a profile model powered by a OS .46FX and tips the
scales at around 4 lbs. Owen made a few changes to the
model. He constructed some aluminum brackets for the mounting of
the fuel tank and switched out the flimsy landing gear that came with
the kit with some fiberglass ones that are sturdier. The ARF costs
about $159 and Owen tells us it flies great. ARFs have come a long
way and this is another good example of a very capable airplane for a
modest cost. Thanks Owen. See you at the field with that
airplane.
j |
The
Model of the Month Program for June brought about a surprise in the
kit category. Dave Keadle entered, displayed, and won
with the club's first helicopter entry. Dave's model is the
Century Predator Max, sporting a OS .91 Competition Spec engine and a
very cool looking muffler. Dave controls the helo with a
combination of digital servos (9252s and a 9253 for the tail) mixed with
a Futaba GY502 Gyro for added stability. Two 1500 mah battery
packs provide the voltage for this machine and it hauls a whopping
24oz of fuel around. Dave splurged for a very expensive set of
720mm carbon fiber main rotor blades to top off his kit. A fine
example of the rotor side of our hobby and Dave files it
well. Anyone in the club with aspirations to get in to helos would
do well to contact Dave for some tips. Nice job Dave!
j
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JULY
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In the ARF
Category: Jay
Taylor displayed his very pretty Cermark Pitts S-2B. Covered in
Blue and white, this Biplane is a fine example of the first class ARFs
that companies are producing these days. Jay installed a YS 1.20
matched with a 16x10 prop which should turn out to be plenty of power
for this acrobatic beauty. Jay has mounted the powerplant on a
soft mount from Dubro. Jay says he spent some time beefing up the
landing gear mount area as well as the wing saddle, but that everything
else was basically stock with the kit. With a nicely done
fiberglass cowl and wheel pants, the aircraft should weigh in the
neighborhood of 11 lbs. Jay says the Pitts is yet to fly but that
it balances out with only the placement of the battery pack and no extra
weight. Nice airplane Jay. Good luck with the first flights!
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In the Kit/Scratch
Built Category:
Carl Nettles always has something special up his sleeve and his Pizza
Box Flyer was no exception. Basically a sheet of "Coraplast"
sign material, the Pizza Box flyer sports a OS .45 for power and a
pull-pull rudder system. Carl bought the major parts from a swap
meet in Pennsylvania and the plans from RCM. He has mounted wire
skids on the contraption to see if it will perform a take off run to get
airborne. Carl brought the Pizza Box flyer to The Mall Show last
month and it was a big hit. the crowds had plenty of questions and
skepticism about its capability to fly. Show them Carl!!
Good luck and keep those innovative projects coming.
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August
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| Phil
Greasley’s F-6F Hellcat ARF won the “ARF
Category”
for the month of August. This
70” wingspan model comes with a fiberglass fuselage and cowl, built up
balsa wings, and it is covered in Solartex.
Phil traded out the fixed landing gear for some Robart 100 degree
rotating air driven gear using scale sized wheels and tires to boot.
All this was accomplished after he bored out the wing just outside
the root for the wheels to retract into.
Phil also changed the paintjob on the model to make it a bit more
scale. He repainted the
underside gray color a flat white and added medium sea blue along the side
of the fuselage to replicate the war colors the actual hellcats wore
throughout the war with Japan. The
Hellcat has a Saito 150 for power and weighs in at 12lbs, 8 oz.
It has yet to get airborne but Phil expects to remedy that soon.
This also won Model of the Year in the ARF category! |
Pete
Dixon won the “Kit
Category”
of the Model of the Month with his absolutely superb Balsa USA Sopwith
Pup. This huge model carries
a 5 cylinder Saito 3.25 engine neatly covered by an aluminum radial cowl.
The model sports functional flying wires and a scale cockpit and
pilot that Pete had to assemble separately.
There is enough latex paint to cover a good-sized house on the
aircraft and a scratch built Vickers machine gun.
Pete guesses he has 300 to 400 hours of construction time invested
and the aircraft sure shows it. What
a piece of work. Nice going
Pete.
j |
September
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A new member of the club, Reggie Johnson,
wins the ARF Category for September by displaying his World
Models Dago Red, Unlimited Racer. Dago Red is a highly
modified P-51 Mustang that has enjoyed much success on the Unlimited
racing circuit over the years. Reggie's model is a fine
replica of that aircraft and sports a OS. .50SX for power and mechanical
retracts. Reggie has yet to fly the Dago Red but the model looks
as though it will take after the actual aircraft and be very fast in the
air. A nicely done ARF. Good luck Reggie.
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Red Covington surprised everyone at
the meeting with his Half Scale Skycrawler electric model built
from plans drawn from pictures of the model in one of the
Magazines. At 1/2 scale, the aircraft was still very small and
delicate and red says the covering is cellophane. The electric
motor Red is using does not seem to have enough pull to get it off the
ground but Red is working on that. A very nice scratch built
project Red. Congratulations.
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October
| No one entered a model in the ARF Category for this month. |  |
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Model Of The Month For October. (Kit
Category)
October's club meeting
resulted in a very appropriate winner on the Kit Category for Model of
the Month. Mr. Joe Lupton Showed off his flying witch which
was surprisingly simple in its construction, but as usual, Joe had put a
very realistic finish on it. The witch's broom was made of a laser
cut cardboard tube that acted as the main support for the Coraplast
laser cut body of the witch. The body was reinforced with light
ply and the wing was made basically of a nylon kite that looked
surprisingly like the witch's cape. Joe incorporated three
channels ( Throttle, elevator, and rudder) into this extraordinary kit,
painted the witch's detail with epoxy paint, mounted a OS .60FX on
her and just as a touch of detail, installed some scraggly looking hair
that blows in the breeze during flight. Speaking of flight, Joe
says he has attempted to take the witch off from the ground on
several occasions with no success. However, hand launching is
another matter and Joe has flown the witch several times
successfully. All the club members who have witnessed the witch
fly say that it flies well and looks very good. I'm not sure this
one will make the cut at the next jet rally Joe, but the rest of us
want to see it fly, especially since Halloween is upon us.
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November
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There were no entries in the Scratch / Kit build category this month. |
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Jerry McGhee took Model Of the Month
in the ARF Category for November with his slick looking Great
Planes Viper 500. This airplane sports a "V" tail
and a wing span that is in the neighborhood of 45". The OS
.46FX looks huge on the nose of this 3.5 lb model and Jerry says it is
"Stupid Fast". He has taken it to a fly-in in North
Carolina and entered it in a series of pylon races and he says it will
do about 130 miles per hour as he has it set up currently. Rusty
Kennedy told him to use a different prop that would almost
assure the aircraft would crank out speeds of 150 mph. The
aircraft uses fairly small ailerons because it is very quick to react to
inputs from the pilot. Jerry says "It turns on a dime and
leaves 9 cents change". Jerry also states that this
ARF goes together very quickly and he covered it nicely in Air Force
Thunderbirds livery. Great job on a sweet airplane Jerry!
Can't wait to see it fly.
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