Greg Covey

Hi all,

This Travel Air Model R "Mystery Ship" was originally built by Paul Weigand in 1988 from a Fred Reese "Golden Age Models" kit. It was powered by an O.S. 1.08 FSR. It won a Dolly Wisher hand-made Teddy Bear as the Pilots Choice award at the 1989 K-W Flying Dutchman Scale Rally in Kitchner, Ontario.

The model was sold in 1991 and used for display in an office. In June of 2005, it was repurchased by the original builder and owner, Paul Weigand, who converted it to clean and quiet electric power. After 14 years, the Travel Air "Mystery Ship" flies 2 pounds lighter.

Specifications:
1/5 Scale
70" wingspan
800 sq. in. wingarea
49" length
Flying weight is 10.5lbs

Power System:
AXI 4130/16
Jeti 77-amp Opto
6v UBEC
6-cell Kokam 3.2AH pack
APC 16x10 e-prop
1080 watts at 53amps
6700 RPM

pmmartin

Looks great! This is very interesting. Where and when will it fly next?

airflow

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Superb Craftsmanship on this Mystery Ship.
Does it have a UBEC? Does it have a Discharge Protection Module?
Please keep us informed of any updates on the plane.

Greg Covey

Yes, it uses a 6v UBEC. I'll add it up top.

I'll post more on this ship soon like flying photos and a video. It is flying up in Kitchner, Ontario this weekend trying to recapture its trophy from 14 years ago.

It will also be in my tent at the NEAT Fair on September 16th-18th.

An interesting story is that it was originally sold because the builder couldn't stand having it unclean after flying it and it was a real job to get all the glow fuel off, taking several hours. The advancement in electric flight over 14 years provided the opportunity to fly it again, this time only lighter and cleaner.

bigbobed

Here's some more pictures.

Greg Covey

Hey Bob,

See how your cowl photo was before Paul added the spark plug wires as in mine above?

I went to drop off my 35mm photos of the Mystery Ship flying and pulled the wrong roll of film out of my camera case. A total lack of focus on my part! :/

bigbobed

Greg, my pictures were taken on Aug 21 at the Great Electric Funfly. Paul didn't have it ready to fly then, and I was disappointed that I couldn't stick around to see it fly. He mentioned that there was a missing cylinder that he had removed to make room for the glow motor and he intended to replace it. I wondered how he could find the missing cylinder after all those years. If you compare our photos side by side, it appears he replaced the whole motor rather than just the missing cylinder. Just shows you what an exacting scale modeler he is. By the way, looks like some Kokam's under the AXI? Guess you mentioned them in your first post.

Greg Covey

Bob,

Are you the guy that showed me the new way to mount AXI motors with PVC spacers?

bigbobed

Yep.

Greg Covey

Ahhh, see my memory still works a little. It was the Texas address that threw me.

Greg Covey

The Mystery Ship flew at the NEAT Fair noontime demos on Friday and Saturday. Although these photos don't show it, the pilot was replaced by a hand-painted pilot from the Kitchner event. I believe the place is called "First Flight".

I still haven't developed my 35mm film roll yet.

Greg Covey

Paul W. flies the Mystery Ship on Labor Day weekend.

scalepilot

My Feedback: (51)

Hey Guys-

Just wanted to see how much interest there would be on the Golden Age Models Kits of the Travel Air.
I now own the rights to Golden Age Models. I have not started producing any yet, but I have most of the parts. Should have a 1/4 scale fuselage made soon the original mold was lost. Of course I have the 1/5 scale "R" if anyone is interested.

By the way Greg incredible model!!

Thanks

Matt

hcuellart

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I would be very interested in the 1/4 scale version of the travel air mystery ship. Matt, which other models were produced by the company I am very interested in these scale old timers.
Good luck!!!
Homero

scalepilot

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Homero-


Well currently the Fred Reese designed Travel Air Mystery Ship in 1/5 and 1/4 scale, also a 1/4 scale Ryan STA.
In the future there will be a .20 and .60 size Gee Bee R-1/R-2 Glass fuse foam cores. This is a hobby for me also not much of a business. I couldn't be more thrilled to offer the Fred Reese designs they are incredible models that not too many people have.


Thanks for asking-

Matt

Eplane65

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Greg, will a 5v UBEC work ok??

jfassino

Any chance we could see the plane from below? I have never seen the paint scheme from below. Great looking Mystery Ship

Jim

N1EDM

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I saw your plane at the NEAT Fair - immaculate workmanship. Maybe someday I can come close to that...

Sorry that I missed the demo (I came on Sunday morning) but even as a static display, that was a beautiful airplane.

Bob

Greg Covey

Hi guys,

Paul replaced his 6s 3200mAh cells with new Cellpro (20C) 5000mAh cells and it gave the Mystery Ship much better power and duration as it is a bit on the heavy side for an AXI 4130 motor. He flew it all 3 days during the demos. These 5000mAh cells are the same as PolyQuest, Tanic, and Duralite EVO.

Here are some photos from the NEAT Fair. In the group shot of Team FMA, left to right is Lynn Bowerman, Dan Egabroad, Devin McGrath, myself, and Paul Weigand.


photos by "Papa Jeff" Ring

Greg Covey

The Mystery Ship placed second in the scale competition to the Imperial Airways commercial passenger plane made from wood. The builder did a spectacular job!

East RC

Greg,

Chris from HL here....Has the VTOL article been printed yet..or am I way behind?

Greg Covey

Hi Chris,

Part 1 of my "Project VTOL" is scheduled for the January or February issue of Quiet Flyer so it could be the next issue coming out. My new job outside the R/C industry has kept me busy so I am not sure when the next part will be ready.

As you can see from the photos, most of the main parts are from Hobby Lobby.

Rube Goldberg

Here's a few photos of my Fred Reese Travel Air Mystery Ship. I'm probably the third owner, I think the original owner was the one that added stick-on lead weights to the Williams Bros. looking faux radial cylinders. Of course that was a structural disaster to the inner cowling that probably didn't last long.
Anyway, not nearly as scale looking as the one in the initial thread, but for I think $75 at a swap meet it was a good buy. Wing weighs a ton, fuselage weighs virtually nothing. Still, and probably will always be a "slimer" with an OS 91 four stroke.

I'd guess not many of these kits were produced.

Rube

MormonMike

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It's nice to see all this but nobody has said where there might be a possibility of finding and buying a kit of this plane. Who and where please. [] MM

N1EDM

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Let me know if you want to sell it... and, bring it to the SSRCC Scale Fly-In in August in Bridgewater... show it off!

Bob