RE: My new Dick Sparplous Challenger .40
GR RC,
You bet I know of Lew McFarland. I have a Dolphin and a Ruffy kit in line for building, in addition to plans for the Shark .45 (with which Lew won the Walker Cup, awarded to the overall Nationals Stunt Champion, in 1961) and the Shark .15. I've never built a Shark .45, but I've seen a number of them fly and they do fly well.
I have built several Shark .15's after discovering that plane was one of the few .15 sized kit planes that flew well at reasonable stunt speeds. Most of the others such as the Ringmaster Jr., Jr. Flight Streak, Midwest .15 Warbirds, etc., while scaled down to about half size, were not anywhere near half the weight. They just didn't fly well unless they were really hauling.
Have fun at the Contest in October. While there, you should enter and fly. If you can fly the whole pattern, but haven't for awhile, enter Intermediate Aerobatics. You can find the pattern shown at:
[link=http://www.brodak.com/info/precision aerobatics.cfm]CLPA Pattern[/link]
If you've never learned the complete pattern, enter Beginner Aerobatics (if it's offered) and fly as much of the Beginner Aerobatics pattern as you are able. The Beginner pattern can be found at:
[link=http://www.brodak.com/info/beginneraerobatics.cfm]Beginner Pattern[/link]
If you're at all interested in a list of Walker Cup winners, go to:
[link=http://www.zianet.com/pampaeditor/]P.A.M.P.A.[/link]
Click on the link to enter, then click on the link for 57 Years of Walker Cup Winners and read to your heart's content.
Enjoy.
Paul