Muddiman

Sounds good guys I have no other pending plans for that weekend. :-)

John Wells

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I want one! These are b@d@$$ fast and furious!

I'll keep watching this.

Dave McDonald

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Can you give us a ballpark guess of the price for a FM ARF?
$100 ?
$200 ?
$300 ?

Any idea of a release date yet?

Tweek

Not yet, the market is all over the place, every time we order a batch of anything from overseas. Also, we're working on final pricing, and that is partially determined by whatever else we do to it before production. I'll venture to say that it'll be well under $200, unless the market takes a huge shift. Guessing, I think the release date will most likely be in the April-May timeframe. Once we get the pricing and delivery nailed down, we'll begin to take pre-orders on the first batch.

Dave

Dave McDonald

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Dave,
Thanks for the update!
If you've got some spare prototypes to test, I'd be glad to help you out!

A few days ago I posted a link to this thread on the P_R_O_B_R_O site because those guys are exactly the type of pilots who would be interested in a Flying Machine ARF. There even seems to be some interest among the younger bros whose only exposure to a Flying Machine is a video of Don Muddiman.

I rarely visit the "Questions and Answers" forum, and just happened to find this thread by accident. I'd be willing to bet the largest number of pilots that would be interested in a Flying Machine ARF tend to hang out in "Profile and Fun Flying Planes" forum. Perhaps starting a thread over there might generate some further interest?

firstplaceaviator

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Just saw this picture on the RCU homepage and thought it deserved a place in this thread!

Nutz4flying

Hi Dave,

I was looking for an "old school" sport plane for a first-time scratch build and I ran across Don's thread. I didn't see this thread or I might have waited for the ARF version. As it is, I ordered the plans from Don and began the build in January. I hope to enter the finished plane into our club's static contest in May. I took the plans to my last club meeting thinking that I'd blow the guys away with this cool looking plane. No such chance. Two of the more senior members in the club knew of the FM very well. One guy had built one years ago and sold it. Another guy had seen Don fly the FM in Florida. There goes the "surprise" for my static entry! I've finished the fuse and ready to sheet the wings. Now that I've seen the video, I'm more excited than ever to finish this project.

Tweek

To update the thread a litte... Don has been testing two of the ARFs down in Fla, and putting them through the paces. He has come up with a few mods that are now being put into the production version to improve the design. The ARF is lighter than his show birds, and very strong. He's working on video of the latest of this design, I'll get it on the server once it's ready.

We're going to produce a version with the original Don Muddiman scheme as seen in these pics, an 'all white' version for those who want to blank canvas to decorate, and probably one more. I'd like to hear from folks to see what other color scheme might be desired.

Here are a few pics of the ARFs he's testing now:

Nutz4flying

Hey Dave, the ARF is looking good. I just finished my scratch build from Don's plans. Here's my trim scheme:

Tweek

Wow, that's a great looking color scheme! Have you flown it yet?

Dave

Nutz4flying

I have not flown the Flying Machine yet. I still need to finish the servo linkage for the throttle and install the battery. I'm using an OS 46 AX with a 10x6 prop. I also changed the aileron to dual servos.

I took it to a club meeting tonight for show-n-tell. The guys really liked this plane. Here's a picture of the bottom. When the plane is rolling as fast as in Don's video, I don't think we'll be able to make out the top from the bottom - and it probably won't matter.

mikepress

Don,

This looks very similar to the version the easytigermodels.com is selling on their website for $499.00. Will you be be selling this model? If so for how much? It's a great looking plane and I would be interested.

Dave McDonald

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I looked at easytigermodels.com but couldn't find any plane that resembled a Flying Machine. Can you post a direct link to that plane?

mikepress

I was refering to the Fiesler Storch.

Tweek

Did anyone get pics of Don Muddiman during his 2-day demo gig with the Flying Machine at Top Gun this past weekend??

Dave

Nutz4flying

The Flying Machine  took it's maiden flight this past Friday.  The grass was a little tall on our field so a straight taxi out to the center of the field was challenging.  Under full power for the takeoff, the FM tracked straight down the field and lifted slowly with just a touch of up elevator.  I needed one click of down elevator and one click of right aileron for hands-off stright and level flight.  I had programed a lot of expo in all the controls and the flight would have been better with half of what I had.  The FM is so fast that if it's not turning quickly enough, the plane flies out of the pattern quickly.  It's an adrenalin rush.  Even at 3/4 throttle, it's exciting to try and stay ahead of this plane. Response to inputs (once past my expo points), was quick and true.  Once safely back on the ground, I needed to collect my nerves so I only got this one flight in.  The Flying Machine is a winner for pure fun and excitement. 

Dave McDonald

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So what's the latest update on the release date?

Tweek

We're now looking at sometime in July. The Spoiler was delayed a bit, and isgonna be any day now, and the FM sould be about 2-4 weeks behind that. The factory made many changes per Don's recommendations and pictures he took of the prototypes he's now flying, so they should be solid as a rock.

Dave

Dave McDonald

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Thanks for the update!

Nutz4flying

Dave, I know you were looking for ideas on trim scheme. Let me recommend that there be a lot of distinction between the top and bottom of the plane. My trim scheme is too busy and the plane becomes a blur in a snap roll, spin or just buzzing the field. I've not seen a picture of the bottom of your ARF, but hope that the bottom of the wing is solid yellow or something that will really stand out from the black and stripes on top to help folks like me that require visual reference to determine up from down. My trim scheme just adds some guesswork to already nail biting flight.

Nitro-Tom

Figured I would post my "Flying Machine"....had my local scratch builder do this project and it worked out better than I ever thought.

I like Red/White/Blue colors, so this way I did not have to wait longer for the ARF and did not have to put up with the black (Nothing personal Don!)

Don was also a huge help via Email with advise and details. The plans arived seemingly next day (Since I am in FL) and Joel (my builder) finished this in 2 weeks froms plans to field.

I have been putting on the finishing touches, such as wheel pants and moving the engine back as far as it can go. I will post final pictures tonight after the photo shoot, since this was 2 days ago.

I will also post a flight report Saturday, weather permitting.

Forgot to give my boy Dave a plug at ExclusiveDecals.Com for the graphics. Dave did a GREAT JOB! Makes the plane!!!!

http://www.exclusivedecals.com/

Nitro-Tom

Flying Report on my "Flying Machine".....Thing flew great....I balanced it right at 3" or a tiny bit forward....so it was a bit nose heavy....I may move the battery a bit back.

O/S .46 with a Mac pipe ran 100%!

Was about 10MPH straight down the runway and hot.....

Flew Great, Looked Great, Can't wait to get going on my new 90 size

Dave McDonald

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Any word on the release date yet?

Dave McDonald

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<knock............knock...............knock....... .......>

Hellllloooooooo!
Anybody there?

Is the Flying Machine ARF project still underway?
Or did it get cancelled?

(I still want one!)

Condor060

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