Evil_Merlin

My Feedback: (13)

Already in process. Soon (end of summer hopefully) another company out there that does stuff scale without paint (just primer) and when I say scale I mean it. No American or British planes, just Russian, German and a few French and Japanese birds. All made in the US. All high quality and all at least 1/5th scale. Estimated prices thus far are around what KMP charges, but I can promise that they contain more scale fidelity, are a bit stronger in the retract area and will be made of a composite material with carbon fibre reinforcement where needed. Expect a Fw 190 D, a Ta-152, Yak-3 (or La-5 not sure which yet), MiG-3, Ki-43 and POSSIBLY a J2M (I'm having some balance issues with this one). All of my German planes are built from factory plans & drawings and the only thing NOT scale will be the airfoils used on most planes (the MiG-3 and Yak-3 will be scale as they both use the Clark YH) but will be an easier to fly symmetrical airfoil.


I too have dealt with Andrew (directly) and KMP and they still haven't fixed my broken Bf 109 retracts.








Proulxlaw, I'm doing much the same as you. I've had a 1911 for years, but recently got a very nice condition Luger and TT-33 which is actually in almost new condition, its a post war, but still a TT-33. I'm now working on my rifles, I already have the M1 Garand and .30 Carbine for the US, and a very nice Mosin-Nagant 1891/30 and its twin, the 1944 Carbine. Finding German rifles in good condition is my next job. Love the Gewehr 43 there!

rod5011

actually i havethe 1st production prototype of one and i can share some mods i did of mine allthough i did not use articulated landing gear for now,but i will be designing some i made several major changes needed for this plane to be more scale like i have been building and flying for over 25 years and trust me these mods will work fine.i added slats open door(removable) better landing gear vertical struts tail struts new window glass and i used a bob holman storch cowling because the one with the kit is wrong in deminsion.theplane is the same size as the bob holman storch so you can make parts from his plans to fit this arf if you like.the halogen lights are not a waste trust me they are super bright!!!!you can probably fly it longer in the evening than most possibly when the moon is full and bright you could still fly it.here is some pics of some of my mods.the rigid landing gear will work fine....you use it on all other models big or small and they work fine.but like i said i will be making some more realistic ones later just trying to keep it simple for now.oh i did make the new rigid gear using the bob holman plans without the articulation.i will post more pics later todaythis is the easy tiger storch this will be a great flyer if you do not mind kit bashing.

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

Looks great!! The plane is the right size. It will carry 1/6 scale scale pilot like the Ultimate Soldier , et.al. type figures. Great point about the Bob Holman kit and parts fabrication.

I can't wait to see it finished and a flight report.

proulxlaw

My Feedback: (3)

You have to be careful buying G43's and other German firearms. They command high prices and there's a "humper" around every corner. I thought that I had read as much as possible and knew quite a bit before I bought anything but, I got beat on one of my G43's. I eventually made the seller make the deal right but, not without some hassle.

My interst is mostly WWII sniper rifles. I built 4 K98 sniper rifles that are all MOA rifles.

I don't want to hijack the thread here but, you can PM me and I'll be happy to help keep you from making the mistakes that I made buying German stuff.

rod5011

well i worked on the storch some this afternoon and got a lot done i have one leading edge slat on made from balsa and carved out,landing gear is done made of 5/32 music wire with brass lateral supports this is plenty strong i reinforced the inside gear block with plywood and epoxy the original was thin and weak i added tri stock to the formers i have the tail struts remade out of airfoiled aluminum i just finished powdercoating them in flat olive drab not yet ready to put on.the engine on it is a rcv 120sp swinging an 20x10 apc prop this will be very scale with low rpm and high torque.no holes had to be cut out for the engine other than the small exhaust on the bottom,a hole for the wand starter on the left sideand of course the cut outs in the front to keep the engine cool with plenty of outgoing airflow.i had to get new decals made by cal-graphx these were more scale like plus the rudder did not come with the swaztika so i had it made also.a friend of mine is making a scale nose cone on his lathe,should be ready today i will powder coat it flat black.the windows were clear film like monocoat i did not like that so i cut all of them out including the front windshield and used flat sheet stock lexan which looks alot better and clearer too.added a scale machine gun and german pilot to the right scale 1/6th also will be using a different tail wheel assembly,the paint i used on the landing gear,cowl,dubro big scale wheels,slats i used bear premium exterior house paint colormatched to the covering(dead on)with topflite flat clear.i also dulled the covering with scotch brite to get rid of most of the shine.i will post more pics and mods as i move along with the storch pm me for questions on mods if you like.

NoFlaps

My Feedback: (131)

Rod5011,

That does this plane some justice!
Great work~
I really look fwd to see how you're attaching those leading edge slats, and to hear what effect they'll have on the flight performance.
[8D]

rod5011

well i attached the leading edge slats with 1/4inch round aluminum tubing 2inches long 4 of them i drilled shallow holes in the slats with a forstner bit and a hole all the way through the leading edge of the wing with the same forstner bit all glued in with jb weld(the reason for jb weld is epoxy will not stick to aluminum very well but jb works great and doesnt weight anymore than epoxy)i am trying to keep some of the mods simple this plane doesnt have to be 100% scale but a standoff scale.this i believe is a good setup without alot of extra money.just some time involved.oh and i plan to bring it to the warbirds over georgia at hodges hobbies in a couple of weeks.

pilotorc4

I LIKE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO THE STORCH, ITS COMING OUT REALLY NICE.....NOW YOU GOT ME WANTING ONE.

rod5011

if you come to hodges hobbies on july 12&13th you can see it,i plan to fly it there for the warbird show.i do have the bob holman kit and a small electric laser cut kit also i plan to build.but my interest is sparked by the kmp storch that should be out i hope by the end of the year. i have info that it will be scale with all the bells and whistles should be nice!

pilotorc4

I'll try to make it this year but unfortunatelly I'm in the Middle East working and don't know if I can get vacation during those days. I have the Svenson kit at home and plan to build it someday but to tell you the truth this one looks great, can't get any better for fun flying.

keep up the great work!

rod5011

well i test flew the storch yesterday and it flew great NO TRIM NEEDED wow although it took all the power it had to get in the air(16lbs bird) heavy but once i made my first turn and leveled the wings it had plenty of power to fly but if you need more power to get out of trouble you wont have it i recommend a saito 150 to 180 the weight is a few ounces lighter than the rcv too.i had some minor problems at first but will be working on them .for one i had to fly it with the cowl off because it was getting to hot i had to cut more out of the cowl on the bottom and also i had to make a home made muffler for it 4 times each one was blowing out the side of the exhaust the way i had it ran .iwas trying to keep the muffler inside the cowl without having to hack it up on the side,ihad the exhaust coming out the bottom but this did not work so i had to make a more direct muffler out of brass pipe and an os swivel connector.the exhaust now comes out the right side about an half inch not the scale location but it works.the flaps make it drop on a flat glide path i had to be carefull as this will play with your depth perception,for now i land it without flaps till i get used to the plane,in the air it has a heavy feel and on landings too.i will post a video on you tube later.

rod5011

well here it is in raw form the et storch on videoas you want to call it i have decided to go with the saito 150 at 16lbs it needs it. here is the link to you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYer_dQ8-g8