This is truly unbelievable. My wife, son, and I drove to Chuckey, TN (outside of Greeneville, TN) to visit my father in law and his wife. When we arrived he started showing off his airplane (he's building a "real" airplane in his hanger, a beautiful 2 seater "kit" plane; he's a pilot). We started talking about RC planes and I was showing him my "red book" of flight notes, "fingertip facts", etc.... and on one of the pages, I had printed out a small b/w picture of a "Das Ugly Stik", pasted it to the page, and made a comment that THAT was the plane I really wanted because I LOVE the Ugly Stik's look, handling, and everything about it. It's just a "neat" plane [&:]

He got this BIG grin and said cryptically "Follow me"; we upstairs to his workshop. He didn't turn on the lights until I was near the top of the stairs, then he said "Look to your right" and flipped on the lights. The "THUMP!" of my jaw hitting the floor almost knocked my teeth loose >>> sitting RIGHT there was a pure balsa & plywood fuselage of a hand crafted, blueprint built (no ARF!!!!) of, you guessed it an ORIGINAL "Das Ugly Stik" !!!!! He built it about 10-15+ years ago and never got around to finishing it. The ONLY thing it needs is paint (or ultracote, monokote - the wing is covered with dope fabric with HAND SHAPED scalloped ailerons, already hinged it also needs an engine + electronics & a set of wheels!!!! He said, "If you can fit it in the car, it's yours"!!!!! I AM STUNNED STUPID !!!!!! [X(] [X(] [X(] It's PERFECTLY BUILT!!! (he's a very, VERY talented modeller; he's been building balsa craft since he was 10 years old and he's 70+ now so it's "museum" quality PERFECT! Even down to the washouts on the wing tips and the PERFECTLY scalloped and matched ailerons and elevator!)

This is NO kit plane, he built it ALL from blueprints and balsa sheets and just never got around to the final steps of painting it! It's a SOLID balsa+plywood fuselage (no fuselage "cutouts for covering" for "weight savings" and NO compromises in building whatsoever, even down to the elevator and rudder -both SOLID wood with hinged & pinned control surfaces (rudder, elevator, ailerons) - NO CA HINGES. This bird is SOLID!!!! It's BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!! [sm=spinnyeyes.gif]. IT'S PEFECT!!!!!!!!! [8D]

He built it to handle a .90 series engine, but I think it'll do JUST fine with a .60 (that was the "original blueprint spec), and maybe even a .45. Just to keep it "tame" while I'm learning it. Desipite the solid wood constructionn, it's still pretty light (maybe 7 lbs(?)) It's got a 64" wingspan, 43" fueselage, 12" zero dihedral fully symetrical wing fully chord (not including the 2" ailerons). The only part that needs to be "built" is a servo tray and mounting an "engine mount" clips/spinner/ and wheels. It's got a single servo central "bellcrank" setup for the ailerons, and while I'm not a big fan of this setup, since this plane has not really been totally finished and never flew/crashed, I think I'll have better luck than I did with the Senior Falcon >that bellcrank was SHOT to heck! (incidentally, he ALSO gave met THAT plane too!) > With the Falcon, I wound up cutting slots in the wings in-line with the control horns and mounting 1 servo per aileron wired with a Y connector to accurately control the surfaces (the bellcrank was totally UN-adjustable it was so old and ALL over the map when it came to ajusting it.....)

I can't believe this, it's just TOO much for even ME to believe! This is the SECOND handmade RC plane he's given me (the 1st was the Senor Falcon) along with a COMPLETE flight/field box, packed with chargers, spinners, batteries, tools, spare parts, and even a 7 channel Futaba FG series Tx + Rx with battery + 6 servos.

Then, almost as an encore, he hands me a dusty Great Planes Real Flight Simulator "controller box" and the disk! (granted the disk is from 1999, so I'm not sure of the "version") and it's got and "old style" serial joystick connector (the 16 pin "wide" connector) and my laptop doesnt' have this port, so I'm HOPING I can run it through an interface to make it connect through a USB. This is JUST UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!

All I need to do for the plane is figure out HOW to paint it (the type of paint + technique) and add the markings (the german crosses). I'm going with him tomorrow to a LHS to see what kind of paint I need to get to paint correctly on a dope fabric. It SHOULD make it stronger and more resilient to common "bumps" and pokes. He says it's a peice of cake (but then again, as I said, he's a MASTER model builder! so how hard it REALLY IS remains to bee seen As an example, he built a 100% accurate and perfect "The Spirit of St.Louis" in a 22" wingspan that's hanging from the ceiling in my son's room > I'm BOUND AND DETERMINED that this kid WILL be a pilot RC or "real", I don't care, as long as he shares his old man's unadulterated joy about planes! [sm=wink_smile.gif])

Anyways, with my newly recieved K&B .45 engine (which is in awesome condition, esp for $35!), and my "new" SkySport 4, complete with 4 high torque servos, Transmitter, Reciver (ch48), battery, on/off switch, and connecting cables; even the original manual! (yeah, it's old and discontinued, but for $40, I couldn't pass it up! I really only needed 4 servos, but 4 servos are more than $40!!!!), I'm in some sort of "daze" . The .45 is slated for the SkyBox Fly40; the servos and controller were too, but I'd rather put them into the Ugly Stik, just to get it flying after TOO LONG on the ground. This bird needs to FLY !!!!! But I may have to be realistic and I may just hang it from my ceiling for a while until I can rack up more "training" time on a "crashable craft" like the SkyBox that's been banged on more times than HUMANLY possible (it's almost "airplane abuse" what's been done to this poor thing! I've gotten it back together and it WILL fly again; it'll make a great "pracice plane" b/c if I crash it, it won't be the end of the world)

Well, now I'm up to PLANE NUMBER FOUR and I haven't even fully solo'd yet [sm=50_50.gif]. Could it BE possible that I'm getting ahead of myself, or am I just lucky to BE in this position and STOP THINKING OTHERWISE and just GRACIOUSLY accept the free planes ?

I'm in favor of the latter [sm=angel_smile.gif] I'm including some pictures of my "new baby". I still can't believe it!

(ps the stains on the wing's doped fabric are basically age/mold discoloration from sitting for 10-15 years without being painted; they're purely cosmetic and there are no "holes" eaten in the fabric or even weak spots; I'm telling you this thing is SOLID!