Midwest Performance Flyer's promote R/C Helicopters, Electric powered R/C Aircraft and R/C Instruction.

Building Projects

Joe Cole's Balsa USA Taube

It looks like Joe really outdone himself with this one. Very nice looking plane.

Here's a link to more Taube pictures that Joe sent.

Dave Cantrell's Cessna 310

First of all I would like to say that I think Dave's project is just great. I am very interested in building small scale twin engine indoor electric airplanes. The twin is made from parts from the Cessna 210, 18 gram plane that is now so popular. The nacelles where made from scratch and the fuselage was modified from the high wing 210. The wing is the same wing that is on the 210. Dave has posted some pictures on R/C Groups. Take a look and see if you too don't think this is a great kit bashing project!. Here is a link to the pictures.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=793362

Dean Copeland's 2^nd Flying Wing 2007

Video Of Dean's 2^nd N9MB Northrop Flying Wing "Taxi Tests"

Video Of Dean's 2^nd N9MB Northrop Flying Wing "First Flight"

Photography by Nelson Carpenter

     The video I made of Dean Copeland's first flight with the Northrop N9M Flying Wing can be seen on Google Video now. Go here: Video Of Dean's 2^nd N9MB Northrop Flying Wing "First Flight" The video runs for about 5 minutes.

     Specs: 1/6th scale with 120" wingspan; weight 24 lbs.; twin electric motors powered by 23v batteries at 10 amps producing approximately 890 watts of power each; full retracts and flaps.

     The flight was at the Wahoo Airport (20 miles west of Omaha) on Monday 23rd of April. Weather conditions were good with temp in the low 60s and winds at or under 8.

     After a thorough pre-flight, Dean taxied the Wing to one end of the taxiway and pointed it into the wind. A smooth 200 ft roll and the Wing lifted gently into the air and flew for six minutes. It tracked real well in the turns and was steady.

     The video shows preparation for the flight and the takeoff as well as a short clip of the actual flight.   The camera guy (...that be me...) had problems finding the Wing in the sky through the video camera's viewfinder. Of course, the Wing has a low visual profile that didn't help me.

     Dean leaves Saturday for Top Gun that will be held next week near Orlando, Florida. Wish him luck.
Nelson Carpenter

Ed Splittgerber's New 1/5 Scale Waco YMF-3 Project.

Ed's building project is a WACO 1/5th Scale YMF-3. This is a scale model of an open cockpit biplane built in the mid-1930’s. Ed is building it from an old PICA kit that was sold in the mid '90s. PICA went out of business a couple of years ago and was recently purchased by Cox Hobbies. However, kits are not yet available from them.

Click for Pictures

Dean Copeland's 1^stFlying Wing 2006

Dean Copeland's N9MB Northrop Flying Wing Project

Dean's second flying wing project

Keith,

I have attached some in progress pictures of the wing; first one is of the 33 inch center sections (original and the two new ones).

Second and third photos are both wings assembled; looks like Northrop’s assembly line, each have a ten foot wing span. Not much room in the shop when they are together but wanted to see what it looks like with the two put together. The reason they are both assembled is that every thing I do to one I do to the second one right away and this step required assembly. Both planes are at the same point of construction at all times. I have them numbered 1 & 2 (1 being the primary one and 2 the back up). I always do the next step on the #2 plane and then on the #1 plane, this should make the #1 plane the better of the two but #2 is turning out to be equal. Things are going well and the new ones are much more precise than original with lots of improvements. One improvement is the turtle decks, nacelles and belly pans are fiberglass (this required plugs and molds; lots of work but worth it). I am approx. 3 months ahead of the project as compared to last year when I was only building one; I have been reverse engineering the first one which has saved lots of time since all the time consuming design has been done. With a little luck and a back up I should have one for the 2007 Top Gun. (I received my invitation a couple week ago). Top Gun is May 2 thru the 5^th, 2007. Joyce and I are really looking foreword to going again and hope the wing will be everything that I am hoping for.

Dean

Dean's Original Flying Wing

Dean Copeland's Flying Wing Project - Page1

Dean's Wing - Page2

Dean's Finished Wing

Deans Skyvan

Ed Splittgerber's & Gale Sherman's Martin PBM Mariner Twins


Gale Sherman's beautiful 1917 French Spad XIII. This is a museum quality K&W kit.	Another shot of Gales Spad. Isn't the framework a thing of beauty? It's a shame to cover it.

Gale has finished his project and it looks like his colorful paint job turned out great.	Here's a second view of Gales Finished plane.

Joe Cole built this great Cap 232 last month.	Keith Paskewitz is planning to build another IFO and color it like this.

Keith Paskewitz Finished IFO	Keith recovered his old IFO to match the new one.

Gale Sherman's latest project is a Curtis JN4-D2 "Jenny" which is a Proctor kit. It has an 87" wingspan and is 55" long.	It's a very neat scale plane with all authentic scale construction, including cable controls, wing rigging and working turnbuckles.

Click on picture for more

Ed Splittgerber and Gale Sherman are building two matching Martin PBM Mariners The pictures are of Ed's plane which is ready for covering with fiberglass and epoxy. Gale's plane is also close to this stage. They plan to start fiber glassing in March after Ed returns from Texas. (These two planes are really going to ad excitement to the Float Flys this summer). 1/31/2004

Joe Cole is building this auto gyro. Way Cool!

Progress 3/12/2005 - 3/23/05

The Midwest Performance Flyers is a radio control model aircraft club that promotes flying, training and building R/C model planes, helicopters, gliders, scale, and indoor electric. We have a lot of activity in both indoor and outdoor helicopters. There has been a tremendous increase in the technology in gas and electric helicopters. There has also been an equally big jump in the technology of indoor and outdoor electric airplanes. This makes both of these activities very interesting to participate in as there is something new every day. The two most important improvements in electric have been the brushless motors and the new Lithium Polymer batteries. With these two improvements you can increase the power to weight ratio to a point that will give unlimited vertical performance. I have personally been very involved with indoor flying. I have found some types of airplanes that can be used for indoor flying which can do both acrobatic and 3-D flying and most important are almost indestructible. The two planes that I have found to be best for this are the IFO and the Revolution 2. The IFO can be flown in a very small area and can do loops rolls and inverted flight but is not as good at maneuvers like the torque roll. Although it does not revolve in a torque roll if you add a rudder to the plane it can hover. The Revolution 2 can do the torque roll very well but is harder to fly in a small Gym. The IFO gets it’s strength form a carbon fiber frame covered with ripstop polyester and the Revolution 2 gets it’s durability from the use of EPP foam. The EPP foam lets the airplane bend when it hits something but it bends back without breaking or deforming. While on the subject of durability I might mention the motor/gear train for the airplanes. When we used to fly with motors that had brushes in them the motors had to turn at a higher RPM to make their power. This meant that you had to have a gear reduction because they couldn’t turn a larger prop that was necessary for good vertical performance. Unfortunately every time you hit something it would either break or knock the gear train out of line. After repairing the gear train it was usually necessary to run it for about a ½ hour before the gears would wear in and reach maximum RPM. By that time you would hit something else and have to start all over. Now however you can purchase an Outrunner brushless motor, such as the Nippy Black, that can turn the bigger props without a gear box. This eliminates all the hassle of keeping up the gear box and the plane will run at maximum RPM without any wear-in or break-in time. When you use an Outrunner motor with the EPP foam or carbon fiber/ ripstop polyester planes you will have eliminated almost all of the upkeep and repairing. Home Building Projects Electric Gliders Events Flight Instruction Float Planes Flying Field For Sale Helicopters Indoor Flying Links Mall Show Membership Metro Area RC Flying Photo Gallery September Fest Shirts "N" Caps Show and Tell Work Shop Tips