1941 Taylorcraft BC 12-D Build

1941 Taylorcraft BC 12-D Build

This is my ¼ scale, nine-foot wingspan 1941 Taylorcraft BC-12 D, built from my own plans over a period of several years beginning in 1995. This photo shows my wife Teryl and me with the airplane at TOP GUN 1999, where it was the first electric powered model ever to be included in the competition. […]

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Building the Stinson SR-9 (2)

Speaking of building, let’s talk a bit about just how much of an old time building project this particular model airplane is…or is not. The Top Flite Stinson kit is designed around what experienced model builders usually refer to as a traditional, built-up structure, which means that the engineering, the shape and function of the […]

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Focke-Wulf FW 190 Build

Focke-Wulf FW 190 Build

The Focke-Wulf FW 190 fighter appeared in combat a few years after the beginning of World War II, not long after RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires decided the outcome of the Battle of Britain against the Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitts. The Spitfire Mk 5 was developed specifically to deal with the 190’s when they began to appear. I […]

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Dumas DH 89A Dragon Rapide Review

Dumas DH 89A Dragon Rapide Review

The DeHavilland DH 89A Dragon Rapide is the best known of several two-and-four-engined short range transport airplanes developed in England during the 1930’s. Many of the Dragon Rapides built for civilian use were put into RAF service during World War II and referred to as the DeHavilland Dominie. My model represents one of these. Built […]

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Top Flite DC-3/C-47 Kit Review

Top Flite DC-3/C-47 Kit Review

This is my 1/14th scale (82.5 inch wingspan) C-47 converted from the Top Flite/Great Planes Gold Edition kit of the Douglas DC-3. (The Army C-47 was/is a military version of the civilian DC-3 passenger airplane.) Although the kit is engineered for glow engines, I converted it to electric power using brushless outrunner motors and Lithium […]

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Electrifying the Skyshark R/C Messerschmitt 109E

Electrifying the Skyshark R/C Messerschmitt 109E

This is a Messerschmitt Bf109E built from a Skyshark RC balsa kit intended for glow engines and converted to electric power as the subject of a feature article in Fly RC Magazine. Bf is the German abbreviation for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke . The “E” model (Emil, to the Luftwaffe pilots) was the definitive Battle of Britain […]

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Building the Stinson SR-9 (1)

At just about the same time I was planning those structural changes to the little Berkeley Super Cruiser, I decided to go ahead with a project that had been lurking around the edges of my imagination for a couple of years. This one is a bit bigger. You’ve seen the ads for the Top Flite […]

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The Aeronca Model K.

Bob Benjamin’s Aeronca Model “K”

The Aeronca Model K is one of the classic American light aircraft of the 1930’s. The “K” is the direct ancestor of the better known Aeronca Champion and Chief airplanes that were popular in the years just after World War II. My “K” was built from my own plans drawings to a scale of 1:4 […]

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Do you remember Berkeley kits?

Do you remember Berkeley kits?

Do you remember Berkeley kits? If you were aware of model airplanes during the period from World War II until the early 1960’s, you probably do. There were dozens of them, maybe half of them free flights and the rest control-liners (except for a few intended for something exotic and mysterious called radio control). Nearly […]

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