The post RCX is back! See the Full Press Release appeared first on Model Airplane News.

Mitch covered the biplane with Nelson fabric, and finished his Waco with automotive Dupont basecoat/clearcoat paint, and homemade graphics. For radio gear Mitch uses a JR 10x transmitter, and onboard he has dual LiFE 6.6V 2300mAh battery packs and switches. Feeding the radial engine is a 50oz fuel and next to it is a 50oz smoke oil tank for his “Showtime” smoke system’s variable speed pump.

Some changes Mitch made to the AMR kit were to add corrugations to the ailerons, Airfoil shaped flying wires, scale hinging on the ailerons and elevators, full instrument panels and cockpits, rib stitching with pinked surface tapes, scale tail-wheel and fairing, wheel pant fairings, landing gear upper fairings, hidden cowl mounts and all attachment hardware using countless #0 Philips head screws.

The “N” struts are modified in order to replicate the adjustability of the full scale. Rib stitching was replicated using short pieces of fishing line glued over the ribs and covered with pinked edge tape. Paint used was DuPont automotive basecoat/clearcoat in order to obtain the shiny finish of the original. I also installed a navigation and landing lights.

After countless flights, Mitch says the WACO really feels dialed in and is a wonderful airplane to fly! Mitch has placed 4th in the Expert class at the 2010 Top Gun event and also received the pilot’s choice Best Civilian. The WACO also earned a Best of Show at the 2010 WRAM Show. Mitch’s WACO was also featured in the December 2010 issue of MAN and was the issue’s cover plane.

The post Aerobatic Scale Biplane — Smoking WACO YMF-5 appeared first on Model Airplane News.

His Mustang has a fully detailed “I fly Tailies” cockpit, with a full-body pilot figure from Warbird Pilot figure at the controls. He is using a 12-channel Futaba radio with Savox servos.

Cockpit Details

More Detail

Fernando’s model represents one of the fighters from the famous WW2 332th Fighter Group’s “Red Tails” squadron—”Duchess Arlene”,  piloted by Capt. Robert Williams in 1944. Documentation information came from the Tuskegee Airmen Association. All the markings are homemade by Fernando who has been flying RC for 30 years.

The post Red Tail Mustang: Fernando Bellegarde Giant Scale P-51 appeared first on Model Airplane News.

In some way, every model he has built ties to his father, and this Ziroli designed Douglas SDB-3 Dauntless is no exception. He and his father, Lloyd Hamilton, were at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo in Michigan when they brought in the original aircraft that this model is based on. While looking over the newly acquired SBD, which was recovered from Lake Michigan (with all the lake growth still attached), his father told him the story of his best friend being a rear gunner on an SBD during WW II. At that moment, he knew he had to build one.

The Ziroli SBD has typical wood construction and is nicely powered by Zenoah GT-80 twin cylinder gas engine.The model is 2.4 in. to the foot scale and has a wingspan of 100 inches. It is 78 inches long and has 1,750 square inches of wing area. It features Robart retracts, a Spektrum DX18 radio system for guidance, a fully detailed cockpit and is painted with latex house paint including all markings, weathering etc.The model has been flying at local fly-ins now for over 3 years.

Chuck says the love for modeling goes back to his father who was in the infancy of RC and scale military aircraft and modeling has kept them close.

Photos by Chuck Hamilton and Dino DiGiorgio

The post Chuck Hamilton’s SBD Dive-Bomber appeared first on Model Airplane News.

From Dayton, OH, Bret Becker competed in the Pro-Am class in 2018 and was honored with a Special Recognition Award at Top Gun . In 2019 he earned a respectable 5th Place in the Expert Class.

Built with balsa and ply construction, the Valkyrie has a painted fiberglass finish, and is powered with four Schubeler HDS-30, (70mm), EDF units with 1540-9 Tenshock motors. Bret’s XB-70 is 8 ft. long, has a 56 in. wingspan and weighs 25 lbs.

The XB-70 comes in for another High Delta touchdown.

Here are some of the detailed photos we stole from Bret’s Facebook page. It surely looks like the Valkyrie will be even more impressive, with newly painted and detailed exhaust section and the landing gear upgrades.

3D printer exhaust nozzles from Chris Wolfe! Nice

One of his newest upgrades was this impressive scale canopy/cockpit section that articulates just like the full-size bomber.

We can’t wait to see how Bret does at the 2020 Top Gun Scale Invitational.

The post Update! Bret Becker’s XB-70 Valkyrie appeared first on Model Airplane News.

1. Turn and get lined up when my caller tells me to. Being off heading in front of the judges requires corrections which lower your flight score.

2. Check everything when inspecting your airplane. On my second round I had a dead-stick and landed in the rough damaging my landing gear’s sub-wing which required repairs. The clunk and pick up line in the tank came off! The little details count big time.

3. Slow down. Even though my Triplane is a model of a replica show plane which was faster and more powerful than a WW1 Fokker Triplane, I still flew too fast. This affected my Realism scores. Also, flying closer in to the flightline would have helped me slow down my maneuvers.

4. Much more practice needed on my vertical maneuvers, and of course centering the maneuvers more would also help. Oh also, next time no smoke system! A smoke trail looks great but it also shows instantly all of my flight corrections. The flight judges don’t need any help spotting piloting flaws.

5. Right after your last flight round, prep you model and get it ready for its next flight. Top off the batteries if you have too, refill the gas tank and go over everything to make sure all is flight ready, then you can relax under the Warbird Alley tent!

Overall, I had a really great time and I felt very successful. I came, I flew, I learned and I went back home with an airplane in the same number of pieces I left with. That’s a win/win/win in anyone’s log book.

The post Tips for flying an RC Triplane in Competition appeared first on Model Airplane News.

So with all this said, I would like to apologize and set the record straight. Recently the covers of two issues covering the action at the Top Gun Scale Invitational event, were credited incorrectly. Both main images for the September 2018 and the December 2018 issues we credited to David Hart. The photos were actually the work of our photographer Carl Layden of from Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador.

In front of the camera

Carl is not only an amazing camera guy, but also a talented RC modelers and designer. In 2016 Carl designed, built and competed in the Special Free Flight Event at Top Gun and he won the Concourse Champion award with his amazing Avro Lancaster bomber. Built with traditional stick and tissue construction techniques, Carl’s win was well deserved.

TEAM MAN!

The Model Airplane News Team from 2016 (Left to right): Yvonne DeFrancesco, Rich Uravitch, Gerry Yarrish, Debra Cleghorn and Carl Layden.

The post Cover Photo Credits Correction appeared first on Model Airplane News.

Several club members camp out at the Dawn Patrol meet and put in their first flights in the wee hours of the morning.

(Above) Video courtesy of Ron Preston

And there is always action around the balloon bust target area!

Also as a special bonus, club member Nick Ziroli Jr., made several low level passes with his beautiful Stearman Biplane.

And for the flightline, there’s always tons of WW1 eye candy to see up close and in the traffic pattern.

There were about 35 pilots at last year’s event and a lot of WW1 biplanes on the flightline and in the traffic pattern. The club’s flying field is also a great reason to come and fly as part of the Dawn Patrol event! It’s actually on a Sod Farm field and smooth as a putting green!

Be sure to check out the club’s Facebook page for more information on the Dawn Patrol event and for pix of the club members’ building projects.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Long-Island-Skyhawks-Dawn-Patrol/145897418938626

See ya in the trenches next year , the event is always the first weekend in August!

The post The Best WW I Dawn Patrol Fly In appeared first on Model Airplane News.

Powered by a pair of powerful Kontronik 22-16 Varipitch electric motors, the 1/4-scale King Air has a 155-inch wingspan and is a Bob Patton design.The entire power system is programmable and it duplicates the starting sequence for the full-size turboprop engines powering the real King Air.

The King Air is a huge electric powered aircraft, it fills the flightline tent!

Mike’s impressive aircraft also earned the High Static Award for Team with a score of 98.083, and pilot Frank Noll also earned the Best Multi Performance award with the C-90. Their final flight score 196.833.

The post Top Gun — First Place Team — Beechcraft King Air C-90 appeared first on Model Airplane News.

Competing in the Expert class, Jack’s impressive 1/4.5 scale jet was built from a Phillip Avonds kit from Belgium and has a 100-inch wing span. Much more information to come so stay tuned.

The post Jack Diaz wins Mr. Top Gun Title at the 30th Annual Top Gun Scale Invitational appeared first on Model Airplane News.