Leo Mehl of Portland, Ore. produced another nice-looking stunt plane in summer 2007. This latest is his Gieseke Bear, to be powered by a Moki .51. It uses bicycle brake cable for leadouts and a strong control system with carbon fiber pushrod stiffener and soldered wheel collar keepers. Fuselage is cross-braced in the rear portion. The turtle deck is molded 3.32" balsa. Leo Mehl photo.
Scott Riese of Portland,
Ore., completed this Stunt Master for the 2007 season. Flying Lines photo.
Here's the story of the project as told by Scott:
The Stunt Master was a childhood plane that I couldn't afford at $11.95. The Ringmaster was $5.95. It was a simple choice.
The .049 Stunt Master was my first plane that I put together all by myself, at 5 years old. I still have it. Three years ago I made another .049 Stunt Master and took third place at the McMinnville static model event in February.
The .35 Stunt Master was something I wanted to do. Marv Knowlden and I sat down and built two Stunt Masters this winter. Both were set up for McCoy Redheads .29s and 35s. Both planes were cut out of 6-8-pound balsa. Both wings were built with carbon fiber 3/8" rods as lineup and 1/8x1/32 carbon fiber rectangle as spars. All carbon fiber was left in the place and glued.
The Finish is Brodak dope over medium tissue. Base coat is automotive paint, and then Brodak clear over all paint. The blue or red or gold that you see on the wing is light-changing paint from House of Color. Tank is painted with brake caliper paint from Eastwood.
Engine was going to be the McCoy . 29 Redhead. However, after some inverted dead stick landings I went to the Brodak .40 from my Cobra that I'm no longer using.
Weight is 36oz
Lines .015x60
Prop 11x4 Top Flight
Leo Mehl of Portland, Ore., designed and built the Arctic Fox in 1994. It was powered by a GMA ABC Fox .35. The plane had a history of bad luck: Wind blew a sign into it and damaged the wing at an air show demonstration, the leading edge was damaged when it hit a pile of dirt at Portland's East Delta Park, and the plane finally was destroyed when a later engine flamed out and the plane crashed. Leo has plans, in case anyone would like to build another one. Leo Mehl photos.
Bruce Hunt of Salem, Ore., built this Lark for Classic Stunt. The Ed Southwick design is powered by an O.S. LA .46, finshed with Randolph light blue and Brodak Insignia Blue, gold and clear. The pilot is a California Raisin with his finger on a "panic button." Bruce Hunt photo.
Floyd Carter of Eugene, Ore., has come up with another beautiful Classic Stunt plane. This is his Thunderbird, just finished in June 2007. Floyd Carter photo.
Mike Potter of Auburn, Wash., displayed
and flew his Boeing XB47-D in the precision scale competition at the 2007
Northwest Regionals. The recently completed model is built from 1958 Model
Airplane News plans. Added were brakes on the nose wheels, a drag chute
and throttles on both O.S. .15FP engines. The plane uses a J-Roberts three-line
control system with a fourth line to activate the chute. Down elevator works
the brakes. The finish is Randolph butyrate dope. The canopy was made over
a basswood mold and vacuum formed. Decals were Sig stars and the rest were
water slide type made on Mike's computer. To see a nice layout of photos
of the XB47-D from all angles, download Mike Potter's
XB47-D pdf file.
Photos provided by Mike Potter.
This page was upated Aug. 18, 2007