Gary's Flying Circus
Sig Cadet Mark II
- Power: K&B 40,
- Covering: Econokote
- Weight: Within acceptable range
Still searching for picture.
This was my first plane some eleven years ago. My brother saw my keen interest in his model and bought me one for Christmas. Nice guy! He left me to pay for the engine and radio. I built it that winter. The first flight in spring lasted less than two seconds. We couldn't wait, and flew it on a day with winds gusting to 20 mph. Naturally, the takeoff was also a little crosswind. The plane never had a chance; it flipped over and nosed into the ground. I repaired the damage with a few hours work. The plane lasted for almost two seasons, crashing many times. The final flight was after a particularly bad crash that took some 40 hours of repair. I had changed the controls to make them more sensitive, and to be safe, I let the plane fly quite away's straight out from my position. On trying to turn, the plane did a quick "something" and I completely lost orientation. Never got it back under control. Too many pieces to count.
Great Planes Super Sporster 40
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This was my second plane. I got interested in painting and made the big mistake of sheeting the wings. That, plus the weight of the paint, made this a less than top performer. Since good landings were still in my future, this plane took a real beating. I went through three sets of landing gear (finally resorted to bending my own). The plane also had a tendency to break right behind the cockpit on my "landings". (Its a weak point anyway.) By the time I dismantled this plane, I think the fuse was 1/4" longer from all the re-gluings.
Sig Kouger
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This plane lasted for around five years, and went through several modifications. It had a nasty tendency to stall, which I suspect was partly because of something I did wrong, and partly because it was underpowered with the K&B 40. The first change I made was cosmetic. All the paints, except the black, never fully cured. They kept coming off on my hands. I stripped off the paint and switched to Ultracote. After the second bad stall and crash, which split the fuselage lengthwise and cracked the wing into two, I decided to do a major overhaul. I sawed off the original firewall, made a new one, and mounted a Super Tigre 60 engine. The plane did unlimited verticals, and never stalled again. I did have problems with mushy elevator control, and was never able to adequately fix that. I used this plane for another three heavy flying seasons before the rudder servo locked up in a spin and the aircraft augured into the ground.
Sig Kouger II
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This plane had the shortest life of any of my planes to date. It lasted for less than one flight. An excellent pilot was testing it on it's maiden flight. During a dive in a figure "M" maneuver, the plane refused to respond to the elevator, and hit a hard gravel road at full power. There was little left to the plane, the OS engine, or the Futaba reciever.
FliteCraft Cardinal ARF I
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After a string of depressing crashes, I was left without any flyable planes at mid-season. My wife, feeling sorry for me, told me to buy a cheap ARF to get back into the air fast. I flew this plane for three years, and then semi-retired it for two years until 1993. It restored my confidence in being able to fly, and I learned most of my basic stunts with this plane. As it appears, it was pretty ugly after a number of crashes. It hit trees twice on landing. I had one bad crash where the plane spiraled into the ground, because I forgot to put the eight rubber bands on that held the wing to the fuselage. In the reincarnation shown here it was on its second wing (and last leg), and the firewall had been completely rebuilt and reset with epoxy and glass cloth. This plane had a very weak foam tail assembly which lasted less than one season. I had to rebuild the rear surfaces. In 1994, I began using this plane to train my son. However, after several flights, I foolishly let him get too close to the ground and directly overhead. He lost orientation. By the time I got the transmitter from him, the plane was coming nearly straight down at the flight line, and other flyers. The only thing I could do was to push full down elevator to get it away from the flight line. There was no time for it to finish an outside loop; It was unrepairable.
Sig Smith Miniplane
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This was my fourth plane. The kit was based on a full size version. It was a good solid aerobatic performer. I loved this plane with the 4-cycle on it. I ended up losing it in the sun at high noon during a snap roll. It came down fast, and either refused to listen to the radio controls, or I lost orientation completely. The crash demolished the fuselage and left me with four wings. The engine had to be sent in for repairs. To this day, I don't know if the problem was me or the plane.
Jack Stafford TomKitty 40
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This plane is over ten years old. It was given to me already built as a consolation for the red and white striped Sig Kouger that crashed on its maiden flight. I figure that it has at least 400 flights on it, and it is still going strong. It is a wonderful pattern-like plane. It is a little less responsive then my top performers, but it's a great plane for general sport flying. It has had only one bad crash. I don't believe this plane is being manufactured anymore.
CraftAire Rearwin Speedster
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This plane was one of the nicest covering and paint jobs, I have ever done. The kit design was based on a full size version produced in the 30's. Unfortunately, the plane was a dog. Its flying speed was only slightly higher than its stall speed. In six flights I had four crashes. I went through two different engines, and several wing incidence corrections with little change in the flyability. After the last crash, their was no unbroken, solid surface to mount the wing onto the fuselage. I just gave up trying to repair the plane and make it fly.
Northeast Aerodynamics Bel-Air 40
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This was one of my best flying and favorite planes. The kit was excellent, with good quality wood and directions. This plane had remarkable agility for a biplane. It is the first conventional gear plane that I built where the tail naturally came off the ground. The only plane that may be close to it is the Ultimate Bipe. After about a dozen flights, this plane was involved in a mid-air and fell out of the sky. The entire front of the fuselage up to the wing saddle was destroyed. I liked it so much that I rebuilt the front section jigsaw fashion, even though no original piece was larger than about 3 sq. in. For three years this plane was my "beater". I flew it at work where we have a very rough field. On the first flight of the 2002 season I caught the weeds at the end of the runway on the landing. The front of the plane came off and the wings were damaged. Because of the glue in the former repairs there was little give in the airframe. I decided the best course was to junk the plane.
Sig Skybolt
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This plane was a hand-me-down from my brother. I received it with minor (for me) damage. This was my former favorite plane to fly at work. It was not a great performer, and was quite sluggish in most maneuvers because of control rod flexing. After several seasons and several rounds of control modification, I finally worked out most of the problems. After a couple of hundred flights, in 1997 the trees at my work site ate it.
Carl Goldberg Sukhoi S-26
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This plane is/was a favorite of mine. Very quick, lightening response airplane. Definitely not for beginner's, but it sure can make a weekend flyer look good. The landing gear mounting system in this plane is badly designed. On any but the smoothest field the heavy Al gear is easily ripped away from the wing. I don't know anyone who has not landed without leaving the gear lying on the field sooner or later. After the third time it happened to me, I redesigned the entire gear carriage(see my notes section for more detail). This plane is a little underpowered with the Enya 120; I don't get high verticals and I have to watch my loop size closely. Nevertheless, I love this plane. It rolls on point effortlessly, and does some of the best looking snap-rolls I have ever seen. Very scale-like maneuvers. Why is the cowling only white...yuk? Well, I didn't intend it to be. Unfortunately, there isn't a fuel proof paint with even a close match for pearl red Monokote. Didn't occur to me to check until after I had covered the plane. In 1996, after maybe only two dozen flights, I did a stall turn right in the sun, and lost orientation. Further on in this page is my second version.
Carl Goldberg Tiger 60
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This plane is my son Neal's. He started building this plane in 1996 when he was 14. It finally was finished in 1998 with much prodding from me. He did all of the major construction with only hints and suggestions from me. I installed the engine and radio for him. (To tedious for a fidgety 15 year old.) He designed the covering scheme and covered the plane himself. The image does not do justice to the green neon contrasting with the orange. He has been flying the model since early 1998; It is his second plane. I think it was a great choice. It does almost all of the maneuvers that anyone at his level would want to try, and still can land at a very slow speed. Of course, the moves are not always as crisp as I would like, but even I enjoy flying this plane when he will let me. This plane certainly flies faster than the flitecraft trainer, and it did take maybe a dozen flights before he felt comfortable at full speed. Because of the low stall speed, landings are a pleasure to watch and execute with this plane.
Hanger 9 J3 Cub
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This plane is an ARF so it went together rather quickly. I decided it would be nice to have a slow flying plane for some days. The old OS 61 FS supplies more than enough power with a 12x6 prop, and of course it sounds great with this plane. I like this model; it does achieve my goal as a slow floater plane. However, it does have all the bad points of a typical Cub, with a tendency to snap in crosswind landings and takeoffs. One positive thing is that it has taught me to fly rudder on takeoff. Until this plane I strictly used ailerons. I also find that on my short at work field, I have to fly with rudder and ailerons to make decent turns. From a construction perspective, there was some frustration with the way the rear of the motor mount interfered with the positioning of the fuel tank. To get the tank as far forward as possible it was necessary to grind out the rear of the motor mount. No small task once glued in. I then had to make an additional supporting ring for the tank. Seems wrong to have to do so much work on an ARF. In addition, the cowling, although fiberglass, is very brittle and crazes and crack very easily. Second, the landing gear is a very low grade of aluminum. It bends with all but the gentlest landings.
Sig Liberty Sport
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The Liberty Sport was built ages ago. I got the kit at an auction at a deal I could not pass up. I built it and it hung in the basement for six or seven years, waiting for a motor and radio to free up. When the Skybolt crashed, I decided to use this as my "everyday" flier. Although it flew fast and landed nice and slow, it was not a very good aerobatic plane. The airfoil is semi-symmetrical, but it is almost flat bottomed. After one season, I decided to hang it back up.
Carl Goldberg Sukhoi S-26 (second try)
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This plane is my second version of the Carl Goldberg Sukhoi. I bought this kit from someone who needed the money for other planes. He also had the fiberglass cowling which I bought from him. This is the "second generation" CG kit version with the beefed up landing gear. However, the modified landing gear mount still did not suit my tastes. I extensively reworking the gear mount (see my RC tips section). Unlike my previous effort this plane has < 1/4 degree twist from wing tip to wing tip. I have about 75 flights on this plane now. and it is still my favorite plane. It is still underpowered with the Enya, but I am using 15% nitro fuel which has made a big difference.
Midway Model Gnome
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Great little hand toss glider. I fly it at lunch time at work when I just don't feel like dealing with fuel or flight boxes. I have yet to match up with a thermal and get it up high, but one of my colleagues has done it several times.
Great Planes Ultrasport 60
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This plane is my current"everyday" flyer. It replaced the Liberty Sport which was just to unresponsive for me. It flies quite well on the SupreTigre 60. For some reason the roll rate is a little low. My biggest problem is that the vibration harmonics in this plane play havoc with the muffler screws on the engine. I lost one muffler after a few flights. Even spring washers on the mounting screws have not helped. I will need to design a system to prevent the muffler from vibrating loose.
