Hey Todd looks like a winner to me. Mike

KITS, KITS, WE NEED KITS!!!.....

Greg Grigsby

I'll second that !!

tommy s

Well, its finally finished. The weather forecast looks good for this weekend so maybe I can get it in the air. Finished weight 10 pounds 8.5 ounces. Power is YS160DZ.

Todd

Todd,
Looks great!
JLK

Great looking plane Todd..can't wait to get the flight report,

Arch

looks great todd. can't wait to see it. Hope first flights goes well.

Thanks John, Arch and Tim,

Nice temps today but very windy. Hopefully tomorrow!!

Todd

Wouldn't you know it, windy all weekend, warm/calm on Monday and stuck in the office. Anyway, I hope Jerry Voth doesn't mind, but he sent me attached pic of his freshly painted fuselage. I'm really excited for him and am looking forward to seeing his in the air.

Hey everyone, brother Toddy has always done fine work. Clavy is a fine builder/pilot also, wont find any 2 guy's that can make better glue joints then these two yeahoos! Us 4 brothers were blessed with a Dad that took the time to teach us to build at a very young age.
While Dad, Clay,Todd, myself (Curt) and Trent all build and fly, we owe a great deal to Dad
for being a father willing to show us the basics and spend time at the field with us.
Some of my best times has been spent with these guy's and I would like to thank them publicly for all they have done for us as a family and as modelers.
You Fathers out there, teach 'em to build young, the rest will fall in place.

Curt
p.s dont tell dad that I spilt the thinner again!

Hey Todd just wanted to let you know I think your plane is beautiful. I really like the fact that you do the whole thing from concept to competing. Mike

Hey Todd, new paint looks great. Jerrys looks good to.

Thanks Mike and Brian for your kind words, I really appreciate your opinions. I hope to run across you guys at a some contests next season. I know I can always learn a lot from you guys.

Brother Curt has been a big help to me with the MKII. He's a CAD wiz and was the one who put my plans together. He's always been willing to lend his skills when needed.

Really though, brothers Clay and Curt are far better builders than I. I just hide everything with paint! These two and my dad flew pattern hot and heavy in the 80's. Unfortunatly I was out of the hobby then trying to get my career off the ground. I really wish I could have gone to contest with them, it would have been fun. They have talent for sure. Maybe someday I'll talk them back into the game . Clays currently building a Mach 1. The fuse so far looks like a work of art. Hopefully when he's a little further along, he'll post pics in the classic section. It's definatly worth a look.

Curt said it all in his mention about our dad. We were, and are, fortunate to have a guy like him for our dad. When our freinds were out getting in trouble, we were in the shop building planes with him. He taught us a lot about this hobby and it's kept us all close over the years. I'm really fortunate to have 3 brothers and my dad as best friends.

Todd

Hey Todd I too owe so much to my father. He passed his passion for this sport off on me. I lost him about 6 years ago. We were extremely close and shared something special. I know so many guys that are in the sport today because of their fathers. He built my planes in the 60's and 70's and I flew them. It was a perfect match.
It's cool that your brother is building a Mach1. I had the 2nd Mach 1 ever built. We flew with Norm Page. I also had one of only 3 Mach 3's that were ever built. I hope you can get some pics of it when it's done.
I'll be sure to get down south for a couple of contests next summer. Mike

Finally had a good weekend for flying. Saturday in the high 60's and calm. Today in the low 60's with about a 10mph SSW wind.

I was able to get 8 flights total on the new bird this weekend doing 4 on Saturday and 4 again today. Saturday went without a hitch. Everything held together and the YS 160 ran strong. Triming for straight and level only took 3 clicks of right aileron, everything else was okay. Knife edge flight took just a little up elevator to rudder mix which is pretty normal. I may try and move the CG a little forward to see what happens. Down lines are good and the plane locks on and rolls really well. Slow and point rolls are very easy.

I guess to sum it up, I'm very happy with how things went. There's still some tweaking to do, mainly rudder throw, but the new bird seems to be promising. I'm really looking forward to getting more time on it.

Todd Schmidt

Todd,

Congratulations! It's wonderful when a new bird performs as good as it looks!



-mark

Hi Todd

Wonderfull plane. Have you put the name DEFIANT II with letters on each side of the fuse. Have you somes pics ?
Regards
Claude from France (Europe)

Hi Claude,

The only place I felt the name of the plane looked good was on the verticle fin. The paint job didn't leave much room on the side of the fuse. I'm currently stripping down the first MKII I built and will paint it like the new one but may incorporate the plane name into the side stripe. The red color on the first plane was hard for me to see. It will also get new wings due to the right panel has a slight twisty. I struggled with the airplane all last season until I found out what was going on.

Hey Mark,

Thanks for your comments. You do a great job with your designs and I know you can appreciate how it feels when they fly up to your expectations!!

Thanks,
Todd

Hey Todd,
Really like the new scheme on your plane...sorry didn't get to see it in action last year....Good design idea though.... Did Jerry get his flying?? Charlie

Todd,

I would leave the other wings alone if I were you, I kinda liked the way you flew it with the "twisty" wings.

wink, wink.

Dan

Hi Charlie,

I believe Jerry is in the finishing stage so he'll have it ready for next season for sure. Hope to see you around next season Charlie!!!


Hey Dan,

Twisted wing or not, you ain't got anything to worry about!!

Todd

Hi Todd,

Congratulations. As usual your planes are perfect. Good to know that the plane is triming well and the engine is running well also.

Happy Thanksgiving to all,

Vicente "Vince" Bortone

Defiant MKII built by Jerry Voth.
Nice job Jerry!

Todd

I'm ready for the first flight on my new Defiant.

Here are a few pictures


Joe Dunnaway

Looks great good luck with it. Mike