Back in the early 90s, when practically everyone in our Atlanta RC club was still flying pattern aircraft, there was a guy that built and flew a FK Speeda. I think it was a FK glass and foam version of the Blue Angel. What a beautiful aircraft! It had an OS 61 SF ABC pumper long stroke engine with a pipe for power and trike Spring Air retracts. It was super fast and so graceful, with incredibly large loops and could do a slow roll from horizon to horizon. I loved that design but try as I may I could not get a kit from the US distributor, Mutchler’s hobbies located in Corydon, Indiana. I had one on back order for many months and finally in mid 1992 gave up and ordered a Great Planes Tiporare from Tower for $180 with shipping. Later on I ordered an OS 61SF ABC Pumper long stroke #17712, a pipe and header and a Sullivan flex mount to go with it.

By 1992, competitive pattern flying with Tiporare class rocket ships had decreased, but I didn’t care because I loved the way these aircraft flew and considered them the zenith of pattern aircraft design. Apparently there are many that agree with me because Tiporare class kits on ebay sell very well and demand premium prices. I’ve also seen post on RCU about flyers whishing that the SPA would create a venue for flying these ballistic missiles.

I started building the kit right away and by August, the build was moving along pretty well only to be interrupted by our relocation to Iowa. Iowa has a super great winter building season that last at least ten months or more, so when we got settled in I had a lot of snowy cold days to work on the Tiporare.

I made pretty good progress on the Tiporare in Iowa. The wing was sheeted, joined, the center section glassed and the stab, rudder, and the Spring Air trike gear installed. By May of 1994 we had paid or dues in snow and ice country and were given the gift of returning to Atlanta.

During the summer and winter of 1994 I got the fuselage and wing center section painted and the wing, stab and rudder Monokoted. By mid 1995 the OS 61 and radio gear was installed and it was almost ready for flight. At that point, much to my dismay the yellow Perfect Paint demons attacked my beautiful white Perfect Paint and turned it ugly YELLOW. Not so perfect! The white (now yellow) paint was used as the base color on the fuselage, wing center section and main gear wheel wells. Disheartened, I removed the un-started engine, radio and retracts. Sadly, I let the Tiporare collect dust in the shop until I was recently using some Top Flite LustreKote, MonoKote matching paint, on my Howard Engineering Kwik Fli III build ( http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Howa...2434444/tm.htm ). I did some research on the white LustreKote paint and discovered that it did not yellow. I had the paint solution I needed and it was time to get the Tiporare airborne! The first order of business was ordering a new Futaba 9C Super PCM radio with digital servos and some white LustreKote. The first radio installation used Futaba S148 BB servos so the digitals should drop right in.

My reason for starting this thread is to provide the RCU forum with some information on the pattern rocket ships of the late 80s and hopefully get some inspiration from those of you that flew/fly and love these airships.

Image of the Tiporare with yellow/white paint before starting my paint work and the 1991 Great Plans catalog showing the Tiporare, IIIusion and Dirty Birdy 60.

To be continued…