yee-ha

Hi everybody. One of the best parts of building a new plane is showing it off! So here is the big reveal. There is so much satisfaction in kit building and scratch building that an arf will never match!

This is an Airkill Macchi MC 200 that I just finished up. It is the first plane that I have ever built from just a set of plans, and is also my first ever 1/12 scale warbird. It has a Magnum XL .15 and is covered in Top Flite Monocote. It has a GWS micro receiver and futaba mini servos. I really enjoyed building this airplane! I love warbirds but most larger sized warbird kits are a real significant time commitment. I need to enjoy this plane now, because I don't give it a very long life expectancy! I hope it flies and flies good! I'd hate to wreck it! It weights 24 3/8 oz. ready to fly minus fuel. With 185 sq in. of wing area, that is a wing loading of 7.59 oz/sq in or 18.97 oz sq/ft. Anyway wish me luck with the first flight, which may be a while up here in the frozen ice cap. Take care.

What you all' buildin'?

Baldeagle

My Feedback: (7)

Good luck on your maiden. Rich

Bob Paris

My Feedback: (13)

That is a nice looking model, and an unusual one too. I used to be into small model fighters for years...but gravitated to larger .40/60 size fighters. House of Balsa use to have a whole bunch of little fighters and I've built and flown them all at one time or another. In those day's only Kraft and Cannon had radio gear small enough to go four channel. Yet today, there is a multitude of different choices for guidence and lots of plans and kits out for the smaller fighters. These little fighters can be a hand full once in the air and take a quick eye and thumbs to fly with grace. The larger fighters are easier to fly too, but you can build and fly these smaller models for a lot less $$$. Please let us know how your maiden flight goes.

Soft landings always,
Bobby of maui

yee-ha

Thanks guys. And your right about the money! I built this plane out of all the excess balsa I just had laying around. I didn't have to buy anything but a role of covering and a can of paint to get the airframe done. Jeff Weis of Airborne hobbies sells a lot of the plastic parts for these. So if your intrested in building an Airkill or Gus Morfis design, between www.turnkeyrc.com and Jeff, at www.airbornehobbies.net, you can build some real one of a kind subjects. If anybody has more pictures of 1/12 warbirds, lets see them!

yee-ha

Does anybody have any pics of finished Gus Morfis birds? I would like to see some!

Briannixon

My Feedback: (1)

Here are some pics of my 1/12 Hergett Mustang built from plans by Steve Hergett. The Hergett Mustang was one of the gold standards back in the day when scale combat warbirds were built from balsa. This plane flat out rocks on a Norvel .25 BB engine.

yee-ha

Well after several months of admiring the bird, I actually decied to fly it today. I have never flown a plane this small ever. I had no idea what to expect, other than it would be a handful. I never expected it to live through the first flight. I started up the brand new Magnum .15 and gave it a left handed toss. It ubruptly turned left and dove for the dirt. I saved it, but the butt end was draggin' and I set it down in the weeds undamaged. Wow cool! One successful flight! I fired it back up, and this time threw it hard with my right arm, because I decied it wasn't up to flying speed the first time. This time, It rolled 90 degrees to the left and headed for the dirt. Saved it again... Butt still draggin, speed increasing... It's flying!!!! Put on some altitude, and flew around a bit... Seemed to be tip stalling constantly. Turn left and the plane would go right, etc. Then I realized that my elevator dual rate was on high. Switched it to low and calmed down a little. Now the plane flew perfect. Two clicks of aileron trip, two clicks of down elevator. I made some high speed runs around the yard, and then slowed down and went by a few times. I always think a warbird looks best low and slow so you can see it well. Despite the small size, I was impressed with how well I could see the airplane. I had no trouble with the plane being so small. Kinda cool actually. Ok time to land. Thought I would do one for practice, then go around and try it for real. I flew a long approach, and it started getting hard to see when coming toward me. No prob.... Whoops, to slow.. Throttle.... This thing sinks like a brick with so little wing. Landed in the bean field. I hoped it would be in one peace. It wasn't. The wing detached itself from the rest of the plane. Hit to hard and the wing mounting failed. Broke the fuse a little. Probably repairable. I'm not sure I'll fix it. This thing is a pain because it is so small and getting everything in there is terrible. I can also see why electrics are so popular these days. This plane would have been awesome built as an electric. Still the landings are going to be difficult everytime. It must be flown in really fast. If I had not had previous experence with a shrike this plane would have never lived as long as it did.