My RadioControlled Model Airplanes Bill Garner Alpha 40

My Radio-Controlled Model Airplanes Bill Garner

Alpha 40 The Alpha 40 was my first trainer. There were a pair of them, frequently damaged & repaired.

Eagle 2 The Eagle 2 was my first plane built from a kit. It was powered by an O. S. 40 LA engine.

Ugly Stick 40 An ARF, the Ugly Stick was a good flyer. As an inexperienced flyer, however, it was destroyed in a crash

Ultra Stick 40 The Ultra Stick 40, my second semi-aerobatics model, was an ARF.

Firebolt The Firebolt was scratch-built from plans & powered by an O. S. 40 engine. It was very sensitive in pitch to power changes. Attempts to correct the pitching were unsuccessful so the plane was scrapped.

Indy 400 The Indy 400 was scratch-built from AMA plans. It is powered by an O. S. 25 FX engine. While it flies OK, it is relatively heavy and must be flown relatively fast for good performance. It is the general model used for designing the Wombat 25.

Wombat 25 The Wombat 25 was my first original design. It was modeled on the Indy 400 in overall dimensions. It is my favorite airplane with well over three hundred flights. It is stable and aerobatic with excellent low speed handling characteristics. It has had two crashes & is still flying. It is powered by an O. S. 25 FX engine, uses HS 225 BB servos and an AR 7000 Spectrum 2. 4 GHz receiver.

Wombat 60 The Wombat 60 was a scaled up version of the Wombat 25. The wing was covered by balsa sheeting & painted. It was a little on the heavy side & therefore sluggish, meeting an untimely end.

Sweetater 1 The Sweetater is an early 1970’s era pattern plane built from plans and a short kit. The wing is balsa sheeted foam. Although powered by an O. S. 60 engine, it was so heavy and had such small control surfaces that it needed to fly fast in order to be controllable. This picture is of the original plane. It suffered a low altitude stall-spin into the ground.

Sweetater 2 is Sweetater 1 rebuilt after a major crash. It didn’t help its flying characteristics, though and so it was scrapped.

Ultra Stick Lite 120 This model was powered by a 26 cc gasoline engine with electronic ignition. Early static tests encountered erratic control surface movement due to ignition interference even though it operated at 2. 4 GHz. The problem was believed solved but on its maiden flight control was lost and the plane crashed into trees. The engine was broken and unrepairable. The wing was demolished but the fuselage is repairable.

Enforcer The Enforcer, in kit form, was a gift from Walt Gallaher. It is controlled by a central elevator in line with the engine with outboard ailerons. There is no rudder. It is powered by a 91 four-stroke pusher. It is pitch sensitive with power as the propeller airflow is directly over the elevator. It is a relatively poor flyer but does have stable roll characteristics. It can be landed slowly at a high pitch attitude.

Mis Stik Built from a kit, the Mis Stik is a very stable slow flyer, electric powered, rudder & elevator control. This one I fly when I want to relax for a while. It does OK in light winds (up to 5 mph). 80 W out-runner motor, 18 A ESC, 11. 1 V 1500 ma. H Li. Po battery, AR 5000 Spectrum 2. 4 GHz receiver

Zimmer My own design, the Zimmer sports a Zimmerman wing plan-form of half an ellipse in front, half an ellipse in back. The model was under-powered with an O. S. 25 FX engine, has high wing loading (my design error) and has insufficient horizontal stabilizer area to give good elevator response. As a result it did not fly very well. It does have good roll stability, however, due to the strong upward wingtip vortices.

Zimmer Mod Rather than abandon the Zimmer altogether, I kept the fuselage, replaced the tail with a larger one & substituted a conventional symmetrical wing that would fit without modifying the fuselage. Although a little under powered, it flies reasonably well and is stable, including slow landings. It would do better with a larger engine

Zimmer 2 The Zimmer 2 is my second Zimmerman wing plan-form design & is electric. It was designed and built to improve the performance over that of the original Zimmer. The aspect ratio was increased from 2 to 2. 5, the relative wing area increased, the stabilizers increased in area and moved farther back & the wing loading reduced substantially. 180 W Outrunner, 30 Amp ESC, 11. 1 V, 1500 m. Ah Li. PO battery, 2. 4 GHz receiver, four HS 81 servos

Fun-Fly Hots The Fun-Fly Hots was scratch-built from Dan Santich plans in January 2010. It is powered by a GMS 32 engine.

Ember The Ember is electric powered and operates at 2. 4 GHz. It was purchased from David Littleton for indoor flying at the Germantown Soccerplex.

Vapor The Vapor is electric powered & designed for slow indoor flying.

Electric J 3 Cub Powered by a brushed motor, this Cub was under powered and flew poorly. After replacing the motor with a brushless, the plane was over powered and suffered a nose-down crash.

FSW 3 Forward Swept Wing version 3. Originally a glow model modified for electric power. Stable flight characteristics, high alpha landings, slightly under powered with Rimfire 0. 1 motor.

Fiesler Storch ARF with folding wings. Electric power. Extendable leading edge slots and flaps. Relatively unstable, subject to tip stalling. Poor hardware set, inadequate landing gear strength.

Radical RC Stick 600 Laser-cut kit, well made. Weighs 3 pounds. 600 sq inch wing, 11 oz/sq ft loading. Excellent flight performance, slow landings, well controlled. Unique quick release wing arrangement. O. S. 0. 25 brushless motor, 11 x 5. 5 APC E-prop, 3 S 2100 mah Lipo battery, 54 Amp ESC

Zimmer 1 (on left), Zimmer 2 (on right) Zimmer 1 & 2 sport the Zimmerman wing plan; elliptical front and rear. Zimmer 1 was a poor flyer as it had too little lift and insufficient horizontal stabilizer. Zimmer 2 was larger with a larger tail and flew reasonably well. Zimmer 1 was glow powered while Zimmer 2 was electric powered.

Wander Bird is my design for a 2 meter electric powered sail plane. The wing is foam core covered with fiberglass and polyurethane varnish. It uses carbon fiber spars. It is an excellent flier, easy to control.

TC 6 C Electric Powered Sail Plane This sailplane has a 105 inch wingspan and is electric powered. Using a 2 S, 10 AH Lipo battery it was flown under continuous power for 2 hours and 41 minutes.