Dan Schmidt brought a “kitchen table scale” Albatross D2 built from a Lazer Works Short Kit, Design by Peter Rakes.

www.manzanolaser.com/html/peter_rake.html

The parts “fit like a glove.”  E-flite 480 motor, 3 cells.  Polyspan fabric, Minwax polyurethane—“simple, easy, quick, non-toxic.”

The spinner was carved from foam, covered with glass cloth, and the foam removed.  Nail heads in the natural wood finish were simulated by puncturing with a pin and rub-bing the hole with wood stain.  Dan reports that small airplanes are harder to build than large airplanes.  For example, 1/64” ply must be bent around smaller radius curves

Roy Maynard described the TV program First Air War.  New Zealand modern full-sized recreations of Brisfit, SE5a, Albatross, BE-2, FE2B, etc.  Watch for rebroadcasts on PBS

Chris O’Connor’s P-47 (actually Nate O’Connor’s airplane) started as a Top Flite ARF.  32 lbs, 85” span, Sachs 4.2  magneto, Sierra gear.  18 flights including Fond du Lac.  “Flies Fabulous.”  Requires no rudder or elevator correction on takeoff.

Chris rebuilt it by stripping off the plastic, replacing the turtle deck and other parts with fiberglass parts from Wylie Warbirds [www.wyliewarbirds.com].  Glassed and covered with Flitemetal and embossed with panel lines and rivets.  Flitemetal added only one pound to total weight. Pilot by Warbird Pilots, Aeroloft dry transfer markings. Operational navigation and landing lights by ElectroDynamics.

Steve Meyer’s P-47 also started as a Top Flite ARF. 32 lbs, 10 oz.   Brisson 4.2, Sierra retracts.  Landing gear blocks were reinforced with ply and triangular stock.  Like Chris, Steve also replaced the turtle deck and other parts with fiberglass parts from Wylie Warbirds, mentioned above.

Recovered with glass and painted with Behr latex.  Added panel lines.  Custom dry transfer graphics by Cindy at Aeroloft.  Scale Specialties dummy radial engine.  The color scheme is derived from 200 photos of a modern rebuilt Duxford SNAFU.  Enlarged stars-and-bars on both wings were unique to the D-Day invasion.  The checkerboard cowl was tricky--Steve used a laser level to align the paint lines, some of which are tapered.

Joe Niedermayr’s Learjet is his third.  The first, a Hobby Lobby foamy, quickly deteriorated.  The second crashed due to a reinforcement of the wingtips that introduced wash-in that made it unstable.  But it had excellent electric turbine engines.  Learning from these experiences, Joe scratch-built the third.  He saved the turbines from the second Learjet and made the tail, nacelles and wing removable for ease of handling.

The fuselage is a cylinder of 1/32” ply, balsa nose, foam tail, plastic covering.  He used a carefully selected water glass plug to mold the nacelles in glass cloth and resin.  (Is there any material that Joe hasn’t used yet?)   Electric retracts, 800 watts total power in 3 cells.  Hobby King door sequencer.  The plane tends to be nose heavy despite the two engines behind the CG, so the batteries are placed above the wing.

Mark Wolf’s Great Planes P16 is another example of ARF-bashing.  Only 19 ½ lbs, recovered with SIG Koverall, Stits rib tapes, 30 cc gas engine, Aces of Iron pilot, concealed aileron servos, rebuilt landing gear and pants.

Flown at Fond du Lac.  The pilot is mounted on a dowel, held in place with magnets.  The pilot can be removed by pulling him up which exposes the switches and jacks below-very clever!

Dennis Batty’s “close to quarter scale” Condor Models P4 Grasshopper is an example of another reason for ARF bashing--“a lot of stuff that didn’t quite fit.”  It was “a lot of work.”

Also, the landing gear had to be rebuilt plus modifications to mount the 20 cc gas engine and tank.