The plane he's building is an RV-9A http://www.vansaircraft.com/public/rv-9int.htm he's building a 2 seater, "side-by-side" model. His neighbor has completed one(with front-to-back seating). Including my father-in-law's RV-9A, there will be FOUR "RV-9" series planes at that particular field. One of the guys at the field/housing community with one that is MAXIMUM built and flies passenger jets for a living now, but is a former Airforce Aerobatics Instructor..... the other day he was making passes about 15'-20' off the runway at 250mph (i heard him over the radio confirm the speed) and then pull it almost STRAIGHT UP to 400-500 ft -> he says he pulls between 6-8g's "typically" when he's just "messing around", but when he's "serious" he'll push it to ~9... [X(] He then flicks it into a BEAUTY of an Immelman, just like he was going around the corner to pick up some milk It's one thing to see it in an RC, it's another ENTIRE thing to see it when there's a PERSON INSIDE

Now that I'm home from TN, I've been doing some measuring of the new Ugly Stik; it's got a 60"ws and a 46" length (tip of the nose to the tip of the rudder). According to Great Planes, using THEIR sizes, this would put it in the .40 size range. Doc was planning on putting a .90 on this thing! He thinks a .60 is about right and probably the "smallest" he'd go. What are your thoughts on this? Just remember that the ENTIRE fuselage, hoizontal and vert stab are ALL SOLID THICK balsa sheets (no "skeleton" cutouts or anything, this sucker is SOLID!). The wing is covered with.... (nope, not tissue!)..... with "silron"! It's a silk+rayon material that hasn't been around for a while and IF you happen to run across some, it's worth it's weight in GOLD! Plenty of vintage model aircraft builders will give up a kidney for a roll of this stuff. Like I said, my Ugly Stik was built from blueprints about 30 years ago -i've got the original prints, so I have to be VERY VERY CAREFUL with it -> if I crash it I'm HOSED! because I have NO clue how to fix this thing [:@] much less what to use because "silron" has been gone for OVER 20 years! Do you guys think I should go with a .60 size or try a smaller .45 I have with a higher pitch prop? I'm leaning towards A .60 with a low pitch prop (11x6)strictly because of the weight of the completed plane and if I WANT it to SCREAM through the air, I can always increase the pitch (to 11x10) and it IS made to be a semi-aerobatic plane..... hmmmm..... [8D]

Doc doesn't fly RC anymore and hasn't in at least 25+ years (the engine I took out of the Hirobo Shuttle I got from him was discontinued in 1982! [X(] ). And he wasn't a very good pilot when he DID fly either That's why the Senior Falcon is on it's THIRD wing. I know Doc, and he can fix darned near ANYTHING, so that means that he SMASHED this plane's wing SO BADLY that it was UTTERLY DESTROYED to the point of completely "unsalvageable" replacement - TWICE!!!!! [:@] and that's a gigantic "WOW!!!!" revelation to me! He'll see the Falcon AND the Stik fly! I promised him that!!!

It's going to take some work to finish the Stik, I'm going to have to put 2 layers of clear dope on the wing, THEN 3-4 coats of RED and WHITE dope paint. Then 1 more coat of clear to seal the paint + decals. That takes care of the wing.... The body on the other hand is going to take a little more work.... First 2-3 layers of clear dope on the balsa, then ultra fine sandpaper to smooth it down, THEN I need to put 1 layer of tissue over it and clear dope that down. Then sand again. Then 2-3 more coats of clear (the idea is to "fill in" all the little holes, grooves, and grains of the balsa and make the surface GLASS smooth). Then 2-3 layers of RED and WHITE dope paint, then decals. Then 2-3 more coats of clear to seal it all down. Between 10 and 13 layers of dope and paint combined!!! [X(] Oh, then of course, I have to put in a servo tray, battery holder, kill switch, install control horns on the rudder, elevator, and ailerons, attach the wheels, etc.... there's a few more than a "few" hours to be spent on it Btw, does ANYONE know where I can buy "maltese cross" decals for this?

I know this sounds INSANE - I thought so too when Doc was telling me all this - but then I started looking at the Falcon's fuselage. It LOOKS LIKE FIBERGLASS it's so smooth and glossy! It's VERY, VERY impressive to see up close so I can see WHY all the clear dope needs to go on. The shine/luster is really one-of-a-kind and dang sure doesn't look like ANYTHING you see in even the best of the ARF's! All those layers also have the bonus of adding strength to the balsa framework so busting it up shouldn't be as easy (i'm emphasizing "shouldn't" very heavily....) It could also explain why the Falcon weighs in at between 9.5-10 lbs (without fuel!) too!!!

There's already a few small holes punched in the silron that I'm not sure how to patch.... I think I may just use small pieces of tissue to cover them with the clear dope. (they're very, very small holes; the material is OLD - so old that it's actually yellowed in some parts, but it's not brittle, THANK GOD! just a little "splotchy" looking...)

Like I said, it's going to take some WORK to get this bird flying! BUT IT WILL BE WORTH IT !!!!!!!!!!! I'll have a hand-made, one-of-a-kind "Jensen" blueprints "Das Ugly Stik", (labeled: "designed by Phil Kraft, plans by George Walker"). It might "resemble" the GP Ugly Stik, but it's going to look SOOOO much different because of it's finish (WAY different from GP's Monokote) that it'll be truly unique Of course if I crash it, I'll kill myself......