Posts: 147
Joined: 12/31/2002 From: Oak View,
CA, USA Status: offline
LOL on the three pounds. I am just happy it wasn't more!! I knew I was close to the $2,500 Just think of the cool sound it would make with those turbines in it . Maybe you could find something for less, I hope!
Posts: 215
Joined: 4/4/2003 From: St. Louis,
MO, USA Status: offline
You and me both. At 108 db, I'd be bannished from the club forever. I'm tempted to put one on the test stand and run it just to see how loud it actually is. But hey, at least we got Paul up to 11 pages!
Posts: 334
Joined: 7/13/2002 From: Prior Lake,
MN, USA Status: offline
I recently had the pleasure of hearing from George Miller himself, the designer of the model A-10 I’m building. To say that Mr. Miller is an interesting man, and has done some interesting things, would be gross understatement! I think more than one model aviation enthusiast, not to mention movie buff, would love to have walked in his shoes, myself included.
Mr. Miller has been an occasional visitor to RC Universe and has already posted some information and photos, but I’ll summarize our e-mail exchanges below. Hopefully, you’ll learn some new things, as I did.
Those of us who have built, or are building, the George Miller A-10 Thunderbolt II radio controlled model airplane might assume, as I did, that he is basically a die-hard hobbyist with a particular interest in the A-10, but has a means of financing his passion other than the hobby itself. His design for this plane first appeared in 1985 in Scale R/C Modeler magazine. I later discovered that he had designed a large number of model airplanes. It wasn’t until very recently, though, that I learned he had turned his hobby into a successful business. Another false assumption was that it must have been Sunset Models, which I was aware had, at one time, kitted an A-10. As it happens, Sunset Models was never authorized to kit the George Miller A-10, but offered something close to it. Mr. Miller himself, though, had two businesses, "Custome R/C Aircraft" and "Model Art."
Quoting from some of the correspondence I shared with Mr. Miller…
I sold a complete line of fiberglass kits for 22 years: the A-10, F-4, T-38, F-8, YF-22 and Al-H Skyraider. There would have been more, but that was all we could keep up with. I would not have been in business for that long if I were’t supplying good stuff. I also showed up at around 15 different Fan Flys all over the states every year. I’ve given lectures, wrote many articles and have my aircraft on the cover of about 10 model magazines.
At the same time, I was under contract with Industrial Light and Magic, which is the special effects division of George Lucas Films. (I will assume that you know whom I am talking about.) I designed, engineered, manufactured and flew on location the aircraft that you see in the major movies for 16 years. They used no one else. "Indiana Jones Chronicles," "Always," "Die Hard 2," "The Rocketeer," "Alive," "Cliffhanger," "Hot Shots," "Independence Day," "Star Wars Phantom Menace" and many more. I have built some of the largest R/C aircraft I know of…
I retired in 1998 at the age of 55. I sold the model aircraft business to… the owner of Iron Bay Model Company. The YF-22 is the only one [of my kits] he shows and… he says he is redesigning the Skyraider.
For a brief time, Mr. Miller and I saw the uncanny possibility of being closely related. "Miller" is his adopted surname. His birth surname is "Marsh," the same as mine. In addition, his father and my family were both from the greater Philadelphia area. It seemed possible that his father, whom he had lost touch with after divorcing his mother, could have been my grandfather, but it wasn’t meant to be. After comparing other family names, though, it became clear that any close kinship was a remote possibility. Creepy, nonetheless!
Mr. Miller graciously provided me with a multitude of photos, which I’ll attach to a series of posts below. He also said to give his contact information to anyone who might be interested. It’s on RCU, I’m sure, but send a PM to me and I’ll provide his e-mail address.
Below are some photos of just one of a number of A-10’s Mr. Miller has built and flown. Following this will be some photos of aircraft he and his company built for a number of major motion pictures. If you’re like me, you’ll end up renting these movies (again) just to see the planes.
I have had the distinct pleasure of hearing from many people who stumble upon this thread and my own web site, including A-10 pilots and mechanics, but this was surely among the most unexpected and gratifying exchanges.
Paul
P.S. I had hoped to have my own A-10 ready for it’s maiden flight by now, but 2-1/2 months of business travel got in the way. Imagine the nerve of my employer to put their needs ahead of my desires! Incredible.
< Message edited by pdmarsh -- 4/20/2008 10:29:10 PM >
Posts: 56
Joined: 5/13/2005 From: HASTINGS,
MN, USA Status: offline
PD: Greetings from my part of the "MN Tundra"! Spring just won't get here this season, will it? I've been patiently waiting for good flying weather especially to see if you are going to get in that much-awaited "First Flight" with your Wathog and then give us all a report of how it went. I built the small, OS FP .25 sized prop driven version a couple of years ago and will try to attach a few in-flight photos of mine in this RCU string to see if we can breathe life back into the discussion. Best Regards, Ron Hillmer Rich Valley R/C Club Hastings, MN
Posts: 334
Joined: 7/13/2002 From: Prior Lake,
MN, USA Status: offline
Hi Ron,
Your A-10 looks great. I'm anxious to see mine in the same pose!
I'd like to say it's been a strange spring, but if spring arrived I missed it! I'd also like to say that it's the weather's fault for any delays with my A-10 project, but that would be a stretch. However, I am, right now, in the final stages of installing the engines. I just haven't gotten around to posting an update. If all goes well, I hope to do the engine run-in this weekend. The maiden flight will depend entirely on how that goes. If I have to do a lot of tweeking to get the needed power, it could be a few weeks more before the first flight.
Here's what I've been up to, along with some pics. First, I had to drill and tap the engine crankcases for pressure to operate the Perry pumps. I've been told that the pumps really shouldn't be needed, but that they won't hurt and could help, so I decided to go ahead and use them. I even called O.S. Engines before taking the plunge (I wasn't real crazy about drilling into brand new engines). I had already decided to mount the pumps as you see in the photos. This configuration puts the pumps directly in line with the carburetor as well as out of the main air stream in that they are masked by the engine itself somewhat. The tuned pipes came with a pressure tap on one side of the bevel on the engine side, so I drilled and tapped another hole directly opposite and used those to secure piano wire that wraps around the engine. Finally, I had to cut an engine clearance hole in each nacelle hatch. The hatches have since been repainted and hinged to the other nacelle halves. Now, I'm running the throttle linkages and fuel lines. I'll post pictures of the final installation soon. After that, the only thing to do is determine how much counterweight is need in the nose and place that. I've been trying to find lead s
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RE: My A-10 Warthog Project - 
Just think of the cool sound it would make with those 
. Maybe you could find something for less, I hope! 
