Mick

Only use your own ute keys to clean your ears!

Do you mind if I use that next time my landings are less than perfect?

Not sure Matt, he has not mentioned it.

We make sure he gets no rest & have him training 2 days a week in Gladstone too.

Sell the Stang & Spit, keep the Tempest. That's easy for me to say with Tempest as my favourite. I am lucky with my wife loving full size flying so I don't have to choose one or the other. The full size is a "we" thing and the modelling is my thing. Full size flying does mean I don't spend as much time model flying but sometimes we have to make sacrifices.

If it is that close maybe a small increase in wingspan and thus wing area will result in a lower wing loading. Would that result in the reduction of stall speed you require?

Hi Alan, I did see the Stang on RCT as well & actually tried to talk a mate into buying it as he recently lost a Top Flite 51. I think if we were close enough for him to drop by & see it he would be hooked. That's the hassle of living in central Queensland, we see lots of neat stuff on RCT but it is always too far to go to get it & most models are too hard to ship. Cheers!

Hi Alan, Great shots of the Spit! So is recreational flying the change of direction mentioned in the Tempest add on RC Trader? Have you had any interest in the Tempest? I would love to take on the Tempest as it is my favourite fighter, but my $$$ are all committed to getting my Boomerang finished. We have chatted on RCU were I go by "Boltman". If you look back a couple of pages on this thread you will see my latest Thunderbolt. Good to see another warbird fan in this section of the forum. Mick

Hi Mark, Somehow missed this post? The Boomerang it molded in the same material as the Thunderbolt I flew at Gratton last year. It is a thin layer of glass, then a layer of "core-cork", then another thin layer of glass. This layup is very stiff and requires no formers in the back end. I have used the carbon - end grain balsa laminate you mention in other models for firewalls etc. it's really good stuff! Mick

Hey Ian, It was great morning for a fly, had been out to Old Station for a touch & go, then to Rodd's for another, then over to the coast & back to town. Best Monday morning I have had for a long time!!! How did you go with the RV-4?

+1 on Gunnedah. Nice helpful & friendly guys & your fuel $ helps the club.

I stopped at Goondi for fuel ONCE. I rang 2 days before. Rang again 1 hour out to confirm arrival time ( which was smack in the middle of the time window indicated in the first phone call ). Rang on arrival and was told "Yeah will be there in 2 minutes". We waited over an hour in 40 degree temps with melted bitumen sticking to our shoes. I was not game to leave the aircraft to find shade as I was worried that they might turn up, not see us & leave again. I will never plan to fuel at Goondi again.

I need to change a blade on a Kaspar In-Flight adjustable prop. Got the blade from the factory & all the info required, assembly drawings, torque figures for all fasteners etc. After all this arrived it was found that we need some tools that are specific to this job on this prop. Is there anyone out there that has changed a blade on a Kaspar that might have these tools that I could buy / hire / loan? Thanks in advance Mick

I am a happy owner of my second Sporstar. Google "Evektor Australia" The latest version is called a Harmony.

If that little girls grows up to be into flying that video will be an incredible memory to treasure.

My latest project is a CA-13 Boomerang. At 1/4 scale it has a wingspan of 2740mm or 9 feet. This photo is the actual aircraft that I plan to replicate. This is a project started by some friends of mine who made the molds for the entire airframe to be built in composite. They ended up shelving the project when they became concerned that it would end up over 25kg with the amount of nose weight it would require to balance as well as the fact the retractable undercarriage they had designed around would not take this weight. The 2 composite shells were left to languish in a shipping container after the project was abandoned. I kept bugging them about what was to be done with these two airframes which to me looked way too good to do nothing with. Finally I was told "If you think you can make it work, take them and have a go!" So now the project is mine. I have set out on a mission to reduce the weight as much as I can and focusing on the tail end in particular. I have also ordered a set of "Custom Retracts" that will carry more than our projected weight of 25kg. I have a DLE 111cc twin cylinder petrol motor that fits neatly in the cowl. Of the airframes that I have been given, the first one out of the molds has some faults that mean it will never fly, so I plan to paint it up as a static model. It is the green one in the pictures below. The second airframe has had most of the internal structures removed to be re-done as part of my weight reduction program. There is alot of work ahead to complete this model, made more interesting by the fact there is no real plan to follow. Everything has to worked out as I go. I will post more info & pics as significant progress is made. To give some proportion, the bench the Boomerang is sitting on in the pic below is made up of 2 standard household doors. The model that I am working to fly can just be seen in the right side of this pic.

This thread has been a bit quiet lately. Here is my latest, a Hangar 9 Christen Eagle II. It's 1/4 scale with a wingspan of about 1400mm. The model was my birthday present late last year & then Santa brought me an OS GT 22cc petrol motor for Xmas. It went together pretty well as Hangar 9 stuff usually does. It would have been done in no time if I had not had to wait 2 months to get servos from Xtreme Hobbies in Brisbane - They might be cheap but their service sucks! This is my first biplane since 1990. It is fun to fly but has reminded me why we don't always fly short coupled bipes. It does look cool in the air with this great colour scheme.

Great photo of Lefty & "White Lightning" in action. I remember reading an interview by an aviation magazine reporter with Lefty that went something like this - Reporter - "Lefty is it true that you once landed after a heat at Reno with some bush caught on your wingtip?" Lefty - "Yeah, but I was not that low. The bush was at least 10 or 12 feet high." "White Lightning has been fully restored and now flies in Europe with the Red Bull collection. Gotta love that polished finish.

Hi Mark, I will soon get around to posting some info on the Boomerang project in the model section of this forum rather than hijack this thread. Cheers

This pic with the reflections in the paint reminds me of a conversation I once overheard. Someone had a go at Guido Zuccoli ( the then owner of the pictured Boomerang ) about the Boomer being painted in gloss not matt as per the originals. Guido's reply - "When you get your own Boomerang, you can paint it however you like!" Apparently the reason for the gloss paint is that it is much easier to clean & much more durable than matt paint.

Going to have to take you to task on the "not manouverable" part. Below 5000 feet the Boomer was able to out manouvre just about anything. It just was not fast enough and as it gained height it rapidly ran out of puff. I have been doing alot of research into the Boomerang lately as this is my latest modelling project. It is 1/4 scale and that bench it is sitting on is actually 2 standard household doors. In the process of my research I have managed to make contact with a Boomerang pilot from WWII and a guy in Melbourne who is doing a static restoration on one.

The pilots only had to fly them, not buy them.

The following was written by Rip Collins who flew both the Mustang & Thunderbolt ( nicknamed the "Jug" ) in combat during WWII. For sure, fighter pilots are a different cut of guys. I guess we got spoiled because we were considered the "cream of the crop." In most cases, not all, but most, if you were going into the USAAC, USAAF, USAF, or whatever name it was called at the time, the majority of us young bucks wanted fighters (1055) and not multiengine (bombers, transports, surveillance, rescue, etc.). I've seen the disappointment at "wash out" time, when the primary and basic flight instruction group was split up prior to advanced training. The men that couldn't cut it went on to multiengine advanced training bases, while the "cream" went on to single engine bases to fly the AT-6 Texan (advanced fighter trainer). It is not unusual to favor your own aircraft. In fact, it is a bit common. We probably all look at this in a different way, and in a different light. And if you didn't get to fly both the Jug and the Mustang, you were at a decided disadvantage. Here are my dozen reasons why the T-bolt was the superior fighter of the two. 1. The Republic Thunderbolt had a radial engine that could take hits and keep on running. I know of an actual case where a Jug brought a pilot back from Borneo after 8 hours in the air. The pilot landed with the master cylinder and three other cylinders blown out of commission. But the Jug kept chugging along, running well enough to bring its pilot back safely to his base at Morotai. I was there. 2. The Jug's radial engine was air cooled, instead of liquid cooled with a radiator system, like the Mustang's V-12. This is significant because one small caliber hit on an aluminum cooling line in a Mustang would let the coolant leak out, and when the coolant was gone, the engine seized, and the show was over. I took a small caliber hit in a coolant tube over Formosa (Taiwan). When I landed back at base, my crew chief said, "Lieutenant, did you know you got hit?" I replied, "No." He continued, "You took a small caliber shell in the coolant tube on the right side of the engine. I'd give you between 10 and 15 minutes flying time remaining." I had just flown from Formosa, over nothing but the Pacific Ocean, to our fighter strip on Okinawa. 3. The P-47 could fly higher than the P-51. With its huge turbocharger, it could climb to over 40,000 feet. You could just look down at your enemy in a stall and smile. 4. The Jug could out dive the Mustang. As a matter of fact, it could out dive any enemy fighter, and at 7.5 tons loaded, it dove fast! I have personally been in a dive at what we called the "state of compressibility," at nearly 700 mph indicated air speed. I was scared to death, but with a tiny bit of throttle, I pulled it out at about 2,000-foot altitude, literally screaming through the sky. 5. The Thunderbolt had eight .50's. The Mustang had six. That's 33 1/3% more firepower. This made a major difference. 6. The later model Thunderbolt's could carry and deliver 2,500 pounds of bombs. (One 1,000-lb. bomb on each wing, and one 500 lb. bomb under the belly.) This was a maximum load and you had to use water injection to get airborne. But it would do this with sufficient runway. I have done this myself. In addition to being a first class fighter, it was also a superb fighter-bomber and ground level strafer. Jugs practically wiped out the German and Italian railroads. I have strafed Japanese trains, troops, ships, gunboats, warships, airfields, ammo dumps, hangers, antiaircraft installations, you name it. I felt secure in my P-47. 7. The P-47 was larger and much stronger, in case of a crash landing. The Jug was built like a machined tool. Mustangs had a lot of sheet metal stamped out parts, and were more lightweight in construction. One example was the throttle arm. You can see the difference. What does all this mean? The safety of the fighter pilot. 8. The Thunderbolt had no "scoop" under the bottom. You can imagine what happens during a crash landing if your wheels would not come down (due to damage or mechanical trouble). On landing, it could make the P-51 nose over in the dirt as the scoop drags into the earth. In water (and I flew over the Pacific Ocean most of my 92 combat missions), it could cause trouble in a crash landing because the air scoop would be the first part of the aircraft to hit the water. Instead of a smooth belly landing, anything might happen. 9. The Thunderbolt had a much larger, roomier cockpit. You were comfortable in the big Jug cockpit. In my Mustang, my shoulders almost scraped the sides on the right and left. I was cramped in with all my "gear." I could not move around like I could in the P-47. I found the ability to move a little bit very desirable, especially on seven and eight hour missions. 10. The Mustang went from 1,150-horse power Allison engines to the Packard built Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that had 1,590 hp. The Thunderbolt started out with a 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney engine, and ended up with 2,800 war emergency hp with water injection. That's close to twice the power. 11. The Jug had a very wide landing gear. This made it easy to land just about anywhere, with no tendency to ground loop. Many times we had to land on rice paddies and irregular ground. When you set the Thunderbolt down, it was down. In the Far East, England, Africa, and Italy, this helped you get down and walk away from it. To me, that was very important for the safety of the pilot. 12. The Jug's record against all opposing aircraft is remarkable. The ratio of kills to losses was unmistakably a winner. Thunderbolt pilots destroyed a total of 11,874 enemy aircraft, over 9,000 trains, and 160,000 vehicles. But, the big factor, above all else, it saved pilots in great numbers. Ask most fighter pilots who flew both in active combat and they will tell you that, given a choice to fly either one in combat, it would be the Juggernaut hands down. Now one last thing: the P-51 Mustang was a superb fighter. I am fully aware of that! But, considering that I flew about every kind of mission the Pentagon could dream up, and a few they didn't know about, I will rate that 8 tons of destruction first as long as I live, and no one can change my mind. I was there. Simply walk up to one of them and see for yourself. The dictionary defines "juggernaut" as: "any large, overpowering, destructive force or object." That was the P-47 of World War II.

All this talk about what's pretty & what's tough. For me tough wins everytime. This is my idea of tough - It out guns, out dives & out weighs all of it's contempories, and best of all it would soak up alot of damage and still get you home.