I am curious why I have not seen any threads surrounding Don Smith planes. Is there something wrong with his plans? Or perhaps some other reason no one seems to be building any planes off his plans?

Hi Mel, I myself have not built from Don's plans, but there are quite a few Don Smith builds
going on over at rc scale builder. www.rcscalebuilder.com

Mike

Mike,

I had seen those builds over there, I was just wondering why no one in this forum seemed to be working on one.

RCScalebuilders is a great site for lots of scale build threads.

I have built from a few of Don's plans. Never had any problem at all. I found them very easy to follow, with common sense built in.
I talked to Don a few times, and he was always there to help out if needed.

Scratch building is indeed going the way of the almighty dodo. The overall costs of very large projects is definetly a big concern.
Don's plans are all big, so obviously be ready to throw in a few thousand to get one of these biggies in the air.

You have to ask yourself right from the start, , , , how much are you willing to spend.

Mel2498,

I have a few of Don's plans, and have been slowly working on his Hellcat. Overall his plans are good, but very simple. Typically his fuselages are built flat on your building surface in halves. Considering that most giant scale builders have their own preferences on hinging, servos, etc., Don leaves all of those details to the builder. If you have specific questions about one of his plans let me know. I currently have his Hellcat, LA-7, Tucano, Mosquito and DO-335 plans.

As has already been mentioned, there are several build from Don's plans on RCScalebuilder.com

Thanks!

Paul

Mel2498,

I am finishing up on a 1/8 scale Top Flite F4U-1A Corsair with all the mods I plan on using when I start my Don Smith 1/4 scale 10 foot wingspan F4U-1A Corsair. There are 2 other builders that have agreed to do a group build of this plane when we finish what were working on now. I have everything for the build except the retracts, wheels, radio gear, and misc. odds and ends. It will be powered by a 3W 200 cc 20 hp gas engine swinging a 32" diameter 3 blade Solo prop. The other post was correct. It is going to be close to $7,500.00 and maybe more before it's all said and done. It will be a while yet but there will be a Don Smith build on here soon. Keep your eyes open for when we start. This has been my dream and I finally took the plunge for a Big Bird!!! I will also have a Thread on RCSB site.

Gibbs
Corsair Brotherhood #4