Small Flying Arts

The model in the photo is a laser cut version of Wade Wiley's Basin Flyer. The Basin Flyer is a good performing, simplified model.

[attachment=0]First_Finished.jpg[/attachment]

The kit will be available at the end of August.

KF

The Giant NoCal Beaufighter kit is now available from my web site. [url]https://www.hjlmodels.com/sgino.html[/url]

I did get to fly the Beaufighter a couple of times at the Boys & Girls Club gym in Pacoima after the Black Sheep Pearl Harbor NoCal contest. The gym is slightly larger than Stonehurst but you have to be careful to avoid the ventilation fan ("The Sikorsky") in the middle of the room. Still getting back in to the habit of using the Sony Action Cam but at least I did get some video.

[url]https://youtu.be/XT0L0cOkIeE[/url]

[url]https://youtu.be/qujEL-jbMOU[/url]

KF

:D IMPRESSIVE!

My original prototype of the Giant NoCal Beaufighter was built with 1/16" stock like the smaller version. It flew well but would warp on a warm breath. The current, production, beta prototype is made with 3/32" stock. It's not that much heavier but is much more easily handled and transported. After a slight redraw of the British temperate camouflage skin I will release it for production. Look for it December 1st.

The short test flight in the video was just because Dave Gee asked me to do it. It was flown with a few hundred turns on single loops of 3/32" rubber with a large, acetate drag tab on the right wing to get it to turn in the small gym. On 1/8" rubber, outdoors, it's a different animal. I'll get some outdoor video of it this weekend.

KF

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVY3ZEZ8gCc[/url]

One of my customers built three of my kits in the last month and informed me that he was having trouble trimming them because I had left the CG position off the plans and he didn't have a starting balance point. I checked the plans and discovered that I had left the CG location off the plans on five of my kits. This surprised me because, literally, a hundred of these kits have been built and no one told me about it! At the Round Valley contest I saw Bostillations and an Irish Jumping Bean flying very well and no one told me about the initial trimming problems.

I have reviewed and revised the plans where necessary and am having them reprinted for future production. If you have any of the following kits and have not built them yet here are the balance points:

[b]Bostillation[/b] a bit less than and inch aft of the spar. This is noted on the plan in an unconventional location, the upper right corner of the plan off the wing tip. The marker has been moved to a more conventional location under the side view of the fuselage on the plan.

[b]Irish Jumping Bean[/b] about an inch aft of the spar. Plan revised.

[b]Wright Amount of Wrong[/b] just aft of the leading edge of the lower wing. Plan revised.

[b]Double Trouble[/b] at the spar on the upper wing. Plan revised.

[b]Bristol Beaufighter[/b] about 1/3 back from the leading edge of the wing.

My apologies if this has caused you any trouble with these models.

Keep 'Em Flying!

Howard

Here is what the P-36/Hawk 75 looks like with the Vichy skin on it.

[attachment=0]Vichy_NocAL.jpg[/attachment]

Well, I was at the Round Valley Dome Indoor Contest. I met some people that I only knew from the Internet, sold some kits, and did some flying.

I still didn't get to see what the Giant NoCal Beaufighter can do. I took it to Round Valley but forgot the stooge! Dave Gee and I thought about finding a two person method of winding it but it suffered from a problem that many of our other models did, warps from altitude and humidity. When we unpacked our models we found that many of them had warped going from 830 feet above sea level and 50% humidity to 7080 feet above sea level and 7% humidity. We were more concerned with straightening out the models we were competing with than sorting out the Beaufighter. More on that later.

Round Valley Dome is a very interesting venue. It is a flattened dome over a sports stadium, 95 feet high in the center and 400 feet across. The altitude requires that you use about twice as much rubber as near sea level to get a good climb (unless you are flying the F.A.I film covered stuff) and the glide is not as good but there were some spectacular flights in the space.

[attachment=0]Dome.jpg[/attachment]

KF

I will be at the Round Valley Dome Indoor Contest in Eagar, Arizona on April 16-18. 2021. Kits will be available.

Howard

As you saw in another post, I had to restrict my Howard Littman Model Aircraft operations due to a family medical emergency at the end of October. This situation has been resolved, thankfully, and I am getting back into full production and the development of some new kits. One of the things that I had many requests for is the Vichy French skin for the P-36/Hawk 75 NoCal kit. I had drawn this up some time back but did not put it into production because it had some negative connotations. However, I keep getting requests for it because it is quite colorful so it is now available for this kit.

[attachment=0]116.jpg[/attachment]

(Yes, the skin has been corrected since the picture was posted.)

Keep 'Em Flying!

KF