Shortest Straw

 In 1990, I started working on the Shortest Straw (Garry, Glenn and I usually called it the "Straw"). We had been flying the competition fun-fly events (nothing like fun-flys today...). Those fun-flys had lots of crazy events. Snips, Dixie Double Death, Figure 8 touch-n-go's, etc. The 3 of us flew these events almost every weekend, somewhere. We were using all sorts of airplanes, and never quite happy with what we had. We learned that we needed something with light loading, lots of drag to slow quickly, really low stall speeds, lots of power for quick acceleration, something fairly neutral so it would fly inverted with little trim impact, a tail dragger for taxi events, lots of control surface area, and not a lot of top speed. 

While plunking around at the hobby shop and scouting a desirable wing profile, I noticed a Revel Model kit of a large submarine. There was a hydrofoil on it that looked like a super thick, symetrical wing. It had a fairly blunt leading edge. Steve (Hobby Shop owner) let us open the kit, and pull it out. It was a two-piece hydrofoil, so we could get to the root of the foil. I stood it up on a piece of paper and traced around it. The next week, I took it to work and enlarged it on the copying machine, until I got to about the size I wanted, and the airfoil was born for the Shortest Straw. 

We were constantly scratch building airplanes, so I kept some of that cheap, unfinished paneling from Lowe's in my storage room. I think it was 3mm. I would cut parts out, use a sanding block on the stained side to remove the oily surface so CA and epoxy would adhere, and build with that. I built lots of ply fuselages with that stuff. I framed up a fuse about the size of that used on the Goldberg Eagle 63, used the scroll saw to remove most of the wood (we called it "cheesing"). I built up a large set of tail feathers and tacked them on, temporarily hung a .40 on the front and main gear on the bottom, and cut a wing saddle in the top of the fuse in a spot that would allow me to hit CG on the spar. Back yard experimenting at it's finest :-) . 

I assembled the airframe and covered it, balanced it on the spar, and started flying it. I kept moving the CG aft until it was almost uncontrollable with a near empty tank of fuel. The performance outstanding! It pretty much did what I wanted, quick, yet would slow down immediately in the air, stop on a dime, etc. I added wingtip plates about 1/2" larger than the flat tip ribs and I could hog it around at just about a fast walking pace without it dropping out of the air. The tip plates also acted like a skid when doing taxi races. I ripped the tail feathers off in flight, the covered stick version of the horizontal stab just couldn't handle the abuse. I built another airplane from the scraps with a sheeted built-up horizontal stab. Glenn still has an original, I hope to get a photo to put here. This wasn't the end.... I'll write more in another post about the Shortest Straw II and III (a pair of III's are under construction, now...)

 Here's a pic of the rib...  

 

 

Flying Machine

 In early 1990, I got a set of plans from Don Muddiman of his "Flying Machine". He was performing amazing stunts with his in the Cloud Dancers Show Team from Kissimmee Florida. I had the good fortune of doing lots of RC radio for for their show teams' radio systems when I owned Hobby Radio in Wilson NC. I framed up this one, and hung it on the wall...I was busy working on something I  built called "The Shortest Straw", so I never covered it. Garry Owens got it, covered it, and played with it a while. I later got it back from Garry, and flew the puddin' out of it. One day, while flying, I had a radio issue and splattered it. She came in from high altitude, full throttle, straight down. The crash was spectacular! All was lost...engine, radio, etc. These airplanes are amazing! 

 

 

 

Royal Chipmunk .40

 In 1989, I bought a Royal Chipmunk .40 ARF from the Antique Barn in Wilson, NC. That was a popular and very well stocked hobby shop. I always loved going there and browsing, I couldn't help but buy things every time I went :-) . Anyway, this was a BEAUTIFUL ARF, although somewhat heavy. ARFs of that day were not what they are now, they were typically heavier than kit built stuff, but it was hard to be the finish! This had a wooden structure, but was covered in some sort of foam with a preprinted outer plastic skin. It made for a very durable finish, with a high gloss and vibrant colors. 

It was quick to build. I fitted a Royal .40 (a copy of the ball bearing O.S. .40 FSR ABC engines), and a Mac's muffled tuned pipe. Boy, would that baby scream!! It was built to accept retracts, but I used the supplied fixed gear. This thing flew GREAT, was very fast, and great for short runways. I had to come in a little hot, but it was easy to get used to that. Like many of my earlier birds, I don't have pics of my own version. Here's a couple from the web to give you an idea of what it looked like...

 

 

The RDRC Circus

 "The Circus" wasn't an official RDRC group, but rather a large number of members that headed out to other clubs' event on a regular basis. It was so much fun, I can't possibly explain it in a proper way...but I'll try :-) We would talk on our FB page or the RDRC forum. Back in those days, web forums were a popular way to communicate...maybe yahoo groups? Anyway, someone would mention an upcoming event on a Saturday or Sunday, and everyone that could make it, would. 

We'd arrange to meet up somewhere, head to breakfast long the way, and then on to the event. We had radios to yak back and forth on between vehicles during the trip, and that was usually a comedy show all along the way. Sometimes, we'd roll in with 10-15 vehicles/trailers deep (sometimes more), and fill in a big chunk of the parking and setup area. Usually, many of the vehicles had multiple people. Very often, clubs would say they were getting worried they were gonna have a low turnout, then the Circus would roll in. 

 All types of birds were represented...trainers, fun-fly, 3D, warbirds, etc. You name it, and it was probably in the lineup.  We would fly all day, have a large time, lots of laughs, crashes to talk about, crazy flying skills from some of the guys were demonstrated, formation or group flying, high speed stuff. Wow... the list goes on. 

Many times, the route home involved stopping to eat along the way. Foamies would often break out and the flying would continue. We had fun the entire time. The entire time. Such good memories we made, and we still talk about some of the craziness, even today. We should probably make and effort to get this started back up...and we probably will! 

Here's a few pics of the Circus, on the road, and in action...

 

 

Lucky-13 Build

 I was going through some pics today, and found this batch of build photos for the Electric Lucky-13 build, from back in 2014. They're in no particular order, but you can see what I did with it. This was a great flying bird, wish I could find another!