Mike Gretz

My Feedback: (1)

Glen Sig traded the Miniplane after a couple summers for a Pitts Special. The Miniplane went to Illiniois. A number of years later someone sent me a picture of it tied outside at an airport in terrible condition. It also lived in Omaha for a while. Looking the N-number up on the FAA register this morning I see that it still exists and is now up in northern Iowa and the registration was renewed two years ago. Hopefully that's a good sign that it is, or has been, redone and is being cared for. It was a cute little airplane!

bchapman

What a great story. It's always nice to know the back story on things and how they came to be.

I grew up in Iowa in the 70s and 80s and remember coming to the Sig factory on a tour several times. I remember that each time we had the opportunity to purchase a kit after it was over. It was fun looking at all the kits there for sale and getting to choose just one. I still have an old VHS video put out by you guys showing the factory that I bought on one of those tours in maybe 1986 or so.

Brian

Live Wire

Mike
Just how long have you been with SIG, I remember a great bunch of people there in 76 when I had a hobby shop here. I enjoyed talking to Glen and Hazel when I placed an order. Just wondering did you ever take orders then .
Larry K
The Old K&K Hobbies

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Hey Mike didn't the Mini give birth to the bipe kit SIG still offers? I remember the SIG catalogue from back then it was my favorite wish book growing up!

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

This is a highly modified Kadet Senior. Ailerons (HUGE ones) were added, the tail feathers greatly enlarged and the engine set in place and the cowl built around it. It is an OS .91FS. This thing is an absolutely marvelous flier.

skylark-flier

Outstanding story, Mike, and really a history lesson of sorts. Geez, they actually have a decal sheet of the emblem - I've been missing something.

Hey guys! Looks like I'm going to be out-of-touch for a few weeks - family situation that's going to involve a rather long road trip to upstate NY. FlyerInOKC and Jim Branaum have agreed to fill in for me while I'm gone. Will let all y'all know when I'm back "with the world".

Dave

skyrat71

Mike, thanks for the story on Glen's Miniplane. 'Fullsize' airplanes are my second hobby and how I make a living. The Smith Mini has long been one of my favorites among little biplanes, Glen's being one of the best looking examples ever built in my opinion. I had often wondered if it was still around, and if so, could it be acquired. I've been tempted to order a Sig Miniplane kit several times, and actually dug up a set of Sig plans I could scratch build off of, but at some point I have to just save my nickels and build a fullsize one.

Live Wire

Luckt rat!!!

Jim Branaum

My Feedback: (3)

We give our "WELCOME TO THE B'HOOD" to all y'all!!!! This is as of today.

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Please, PLEASE let me know if I've screwed up anywhere. Or let FlyerinOKC know that I blew it.

Mike Gretz

My Feedback: (1)

Live Wire
I've been with SIG since 1972. Always in R&D. Never took phone orders.

FlyerInOKC
Yes, we made a .45 size "sport scale" version of Glen's Miniplane. Still have it in the kit line.

skyrat71
I'm curious too about the current condition of the airplane. FAA n-number search shows that it is currrently in Humbolt, Iowa. Don't know if it's assembled or in storage.

Mike G

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I considered building a FARS 103 complaint airplane at one time while I was out of the hobby. Then I realized I could go back into R/C and build a number of airplanes for the cost of one full size aircraft so here I am. I also have the advantage of walking away from every landing regardless of whether or not the plane survives. I just have to keep the fingers, hands. toes, and assorted other body parts away from the shredder mounted on the front! That's a full time job as far as I'm concerned!

Jim Branaum

My Feedback: (3)

After a real nasty and scary partial panel situation and an FAA employee who used to be a club member running a full scale investigation on me (out of spite?) I pretty much let my rider scale stuff go.

Mike Gretz

My Feedback: (1)

When Hazel Sig and Maxey Hester owned SIG one of their dreams was to make a FULL-SCALE homebuilt KADET SENIOR. It would have been a terrific 2-place homebuilt. But alas, it never happened.
Llike we all know; "So many airplanes to build, so little time."

Mike Gretz

My Feedback: (1)

By the way - and I promise to not use this forum for SIG commercials in the future - but I wanted to make sure all you Kadet brothers know about the new taildragger Senior ARF we will be bringing out early next year. You can read about it on our web site (www.sigmfg.com) and our Facebook page (search for SIG Mfg Co).

I am super excited about this project! As you all know so well, people have been converting Kadets to taildragger for decades.

Here's a short video of the new KADET SENIOR SPORT
http://youtu.be/Lyqr5fODFGU

foodstick

I would have loved to seen that full scale Senior built,
I wish you guys all the success in the world. My family is from that area, and some still live in Monty. The first time I saw a RC airplane was about 1969/1970 at an event at the Montezuma field. I was real young and can still recall seeing a big (to me ) biplane just behind a fence. I bet I built a whole tree worth of balsa gliders over the years as a kid. I always credit that event and the John Wayne movie where he is in command of the Flying Tigers for making me an airplane addict !

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Good looking airplane Mike! How many colors will you be offering? I always liked the green and white combo on the Rascal C. I built my Rascal C kit to match with the exception of using gold pen stripes instead of silver pen stripes. I need to repair it, I had a duck strike take it out.

Lowvoltage

I have a kadet senior wing kit on back-order at Sig, and just emailed Becky to see if she could send me the new Sport instead. Her reply was yes. I think using a wing tube will help stop the problem of separation at the root rib. It will be interesting to see how Sig connects the tail wheel to the rudder servo so it can steer.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Hey Mike!

Any chance in a new kit coming out? How about a reintroduction of Max's old Ryan STA kit? Have you seen how fast the old vintage kits sell at a premium price when they show up here or on Ebay? There has to be enough demand to support bringing this kit back. SIG already has the design and it wouldn't take much to convert it to laser cut. I know I would buy at least one kit if not more. As you can see from my signature there is already a Ryan brotherhood I know would support it. Run it up the ladder and see what the bosses say, a lot of people are starting to tire at ARFs and are ready to try building.

skyrat71

Look at some of the pictures posted with this thread I see a lot of aileron conversions on Sr.s and Senoritas. How many of you use flaps too? I modified my Senorita with separate ailerons and flaps. Not just plain hinged ones either, but offset hinged ailerons and slotted flaps. I kindda wish I hadn't now. Getting a set of control surfaces I'm happy with built up has stalled this project for over a year.

Not to get to far off subject, but I had a question for Mike that was already touch upon. I would love to see some of the older Sig kits reintroduced, especially the Kommander.

Jim Branaum

My Feedback: (3)

BTDT and didn't even like the results! In fact it turned into one of my biggest flops. The ONLY saving grace for it was that my friend suggested it to me, so it was all his fault!

skyrat71

In my original Senior's final incarnation I chopped the wings and added short span, wide chord ailerons that also proved to be a disappointment. They produced a slight roll and an obscene amount of adverse yaw. I never had a chance to really tune them in or get it trimmed right before a broken elevator push-rod finally finished her off in a spectacular explosion of balsa and monokote. It was a very poorly executed installation though and I was hoping to improve upon them a bit.

Mike Gretz

My Feedback: (1)

foodstick
As long as you "credit" the SIG Fly-In and John Wayne instead of blaming us for your addiction, we'll consider it a good thing.

FlyerInOKC
Initially the new Senior Sport will be in the same trans. red & white, and trans. blue & white we've been using.

I'm sure it was the duck's fault. If you want to tell the whole story, I'd love to hear it.

Lowvoltage
Here's a link to the new Senior Sport instruction manual. See pages 9-10 for the steerable tailwheel installation.
http://members.zumatel.net/flysig/RC...Manual_WEB.pdf

skyrat71 and FlyerInOKC
Bless your kit building hearts. But do you guys know that us kit builders are quickly becoming extinct dinosaurs? If SIG had to rely on kit sales to survive, we'd be gone. Very few hobby shops carry kits, or even balsa wood, nowadays. Kit sales are less than 2% of what they were twenty years ago. As a 45+ year kit builder it's sad to see, but that's the way it is.

The vast majority of today's model "flyers" were raised on foamy RTFs and "receiver ready" ARFs. Let me tell you a quick story from last year's Toledo Show. Two guys, obvious flying buddies, walked up and were looking at our new T-Clips ARF. One of them was super interested.
What turned out to be his last question was; "Does it come with the servos installed?".
I said; "No, this is a traditional balsa wood ARF."
His buddy elbowed him in the arm and said; "This is one of those ARFs. You gotta build those."

I was speechless as they walked away. That's what we're dealing with in today's R/C market. I'd like to think that these guys were the exception, but I know they are quickly becoming the norm. Before long "traditional ARFs" will be the dinosaurs that kits are now.

All that aside, SIG is working on a new kit project, a whole new kit concept in actuality. That's all I can say for now. Watch for it in the spring. (Oh, but it won't be the Ryan or Kommander - two of the slowest sellers we ever had, even back in the heyday of kits. )

Mike

P.S. I think it's time for some "therapy". I'm gonna go sand some balsa.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Mike,

I was flying at a nearby church (the one I was a member of) instead of the usual R/C flying field. We have had Mallards returning to the property for years to the point we considered them members. I was coming in low over some tall weeds when I spooked a hen hidden in the weeds. She flew up and slammed into the Rascal in making her escape putting it on it's nose and into the ground. The gear was knocked loose, propeller broken, and a wheel pant shattered. Final score Duck 1 Rascal 0. Look for a Mallard hen with an little airplane stenciled on her side.

foodstick

Mike this is just an idea, but would it be possible for you guys to sell laser cut short kits? I would think there might be a market for 1/4 scale Smith Miniplanes, the Liberty Sport etc. It might not be huge,but if you could scale up the plans on pc and laser cut them it could be a niche? Other companies are making money at that. I have seen a 1/4 Miniplane before and it was a beauty. I have always thought a 100 inch Senior would be neat,I guess someone in our area built a 150 % Senior once.. however I never saw it.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

The short kits idea makes sense. You could cut them on demand and package them with the plans. The remaining items needed to complete the airplane any good builder would be able to handle. You guys sell balsa so extra stock wouldn't be necessary and you could make money off your old intellectual property.