A View from Broadway

New .21 Sport Speed plane



By Ken Burdick

Yes Folks, it’s true

There IS a new speed ship here in the Northern Stables of the Broadway Bod Busters. It has no name and while not as cool as the Newtron Bomb, made famous by designer John Newton, I like it.

I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to build anymore Speed ships since I have a full contingent of them in the shop, but that was before Fred Quedenfeld dangled the O'Donnell .21 in front of me. What can I say — once a motorhead, always a motorhead.

I had never heard of the O'Donnell .21; it was made for RC cars some years back. The beast arrived just before Christmas and I set about collecting bits and pieces for a new speedster. I was pretty sure I had aluminum wings and a fiberglass crutch "somewhere," so over the holidays I began uncovering miscellaneous pieces to the project I didn’t really want to build.

I found a few Darp pans, a glass fuselage and several aluminum wings.The outline was taken from the .21 Sport Speed ship I already have — some of you have seen the Louie-Louie Speed Team hand-launch that one. That model is very fast, but too peaky and hard to needle. The new model is supposed to fix all that.

This model was a struggle from the beginning due to the rotundness of the engine. It’s so fat — well, never mind. Anyway, the bulk caused many issues.

The model will likely make it’s debut at the 2025 Northwest Regionals in Roseburg, Ore.

This one will NOT be hand launched; we save that for special occasions.

Finish on the new model is Endura Royal Blue, trimmed with Painter’s Touch Golden Sunset. White primer under the yellow and a gray etch auto primer under the blue. The whole mess will be clear coated  with an automotive clearcoat two-part polyurethane.

I seriously doubt I can set a new record with this one, but hope springs eternal here at the Bod Buster Northern Fortress.

I hope to see all my speedy and non-speedy friends at the NWR.


— Kenny-b


The top and the O'Donnell .21. All photos by Ken Burdick.



Early construction.



Primer applied.

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This page was updated Feb. 8, 2025