Swine Flew
08-14-2006, 11:10 PM
#1
Swine Flew
I really haven't been in R/C very long, compared to many of you all. I soloed my Sig Kadet Mk II in 1990, although I've built balsa planes all my life. Anyway, the man who taught me to fly did a lot more than just that. He taught me free flight and got me to appreciate the history of the hobby and turned me on to all the great vintage and classic stuff. He also got me hooked on 1/2A. I was amazed watching him invert his GLH to starve the engine and then bring it in right on the center line (I could hardly land within fifty feet of the runway at the time, much less fly inverted). Eck was a great guy and always took time to go over a new plane I had built, take it up and trim it out on its first flight. He was one of those guys for which model planes practically consumed his whole life. The entire basement was stacked to the ceiling with stuff and he had a large trailer in the back yard that was also packed full. He had Technopower radials, antique sparkers, G-marks, Coxs and everything in between. You could say he was excessive, but I could spend hours wading through all his planes and stuff. I'm sure we've all know modelers like that.
As far as I know he only had one r/c design published. It was the Swine Flew featured in the 10/78 MAN. It's layout is sort of like a Cessna Skymaster and flew on two .049s with ailerons and elevator. I've always wanted to build it and thanks to av8rsodt I finally have the plans. Two throttled Norvel .061s would be perfect (if I only had them).
Anyway, sorry for the nostalgic dribble. Her's a pic of the plane by Eck Calder. It's a bit ugly, but then it is called the Swine Flew.
As far as I know he only had one r/c design published. It was the Swine Flew featured in the 10/78 MAN. It's layout is sort of like a Cessna Skymaster and flew on two .049s with ailerons and elevator. I've always wanted to build it and thanks to av8rsodt I finally have the plans. Two throttled Norvel .061s would be perfect (if I only had them).
Anyway, sorry for the nostalgic dribble. Her's a pic of the plane by Eck Calder. It's a bit ugly, but then it is called the Swine Flew.
08-15-2006, 06:37 AM
#2
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RE: Swine Flew
Rainedav,
I'm afraid my wife would probably tell you that I'm overly obsessed with "toy airplanes". She's probably right ("correct as always my dear"). But you're absolutley right about those special "consumed" people who are the mentors that light the flame - and keep it burning for many of us. It sounds like your friend was quite a guy. Thanks for the reminder.
FWIW, I remember a model design published "back then" that was built around the soda bottle. Come to think of it, there were a couple of 'em. The one I thought of building had only one engine. I wonder why I never built it? By the way, I love the name.
I'm afraid my wife would probably tell you that I'm overly obsessed with "toy airplanes". She's probably right ("correct as always my dear"). But you're absolutley right about those special "consumed" people who are the mentors that light the flame - and keep it burning for many of us. It sounds like your friend was quite a guy. Thanks for the reminder.
FWIW, I remember a model design published "back then" that was built around the soda bottle. Come to think of it, there were a couple of 'em. The one I thought of building had only one engine. I wonder why I never built it? By the way, I love the name.
08-15-2006, 08:01 AM
#3
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RE: Swine Flew
Rainedav, I've been in the hobby for ~5 years, so you got 11 years on me! Nice story and I bet Combatpigg REALLY likes the name. Get busy, you've got about a month and a half...
08-15-2006, 11:00 AM
#4
RE: Swine Flew
It's interesting that the name on the plans is wrong. It was meant to be Flew, not Flu. As in, "Did you know that Swine Flew?" The virus called Swine Flu was spreading around at the time, I guess.
A cool feature is the construction of the tail booms. They are basically like two pylon FF fuselages, what you see with the Maverick, T-Bird, Spacer, etc.
Here's a pic of the guy with his TD .020 powered Obarski Foo-2-U replica. We were at a SAM meet near Rome, GA where I got to meet George Perryman.
The other pic is one of the first spark ignition planes I built in '92. A Megow Jap Slapper with an O&R .23 Sideport, Esaki silk and dope. I couldn't afford Trexlers. The JS was a wartime kit and was designed to be built from non-strategic materials. The ribs were cardboard with thin pine cap strips! Forget that. I used balsa and spruce spars.
A cool feature is the construction of the tail booms. They are basically like two pylon FF fuselages, what you see with the Maverick, T-Bird, Spacer, etc.
Here's a pic of the guy with his TD .020 powered Obarski Foo-2-U replica. We were at a SAM meet near Rome, GA where I got to meet George Perryman.
The other pic is one of the first spark ignition planes I built in '92. A Megow Jap Slapper with an O&R .23 Sideport, Esaki silk and dope. I couldn't afford Trexlers. The JS was a wartime kit and was designed to be built from non-strategic materials. The ribs were cardboard with thin pine cap strips! Forget that. I used balsa and spruce spars.
