Planes 1 to 50: Foamflyer's Project History
1 Cox Eagle 1977

This was a one-channel (rudder) foam beginner glider kit with a 48" wingspan. Interestingly the receiver and servo were combined on the same board. It came with a rubber band launcher. This plane quickly became a mass of unrecognizable foam since I was just 12 years old at the time and had no help available from anyone. As I remember it didn't fly very good, but I had some mild success throwing it from hills.

2 MRC Hawk 1988

This was a complete foam kit including an Enya .15 glow engine and a transmitter. The glow engine was almost impossible to start, then almost impossible to keep running correctly. Some limited flights were made on a dry lake, but damage resulted from every (crash) landing until the plane became more epoxy than foam.

3 Midwest Cardinal 1988

This was a foam semi-scale kit of a Cessna Cardinal. It had the same Enya .15 glow engine on it which ran poorly. Again, some limited flights were made on a dry lake, but damage resulted from every (crash) landing until the plane became more epoxy than foam.

4 Sig Kadet Senior Jun-1990

This was the famous Kadet with 78" wingspan. It was not a kit, but was built from borrowed plans that came with a kit. Assembly was done entirely with wood glue or epoxy, so it was a little heavier in weight than it could have been (7.3 lbs). Covering was Monokote. I had an OS .40 on it which was just enough to fly it. This is the plane I soloed on (alone) and actually became a pilot with. My first solo flight was made north of Lancaster, California, on Avenue C near Sierra Highway, and the propeller came loose and was lost during flight. I flew this plane for a few years, and the poor landings became marginal landings, then with time, good landings. Eventually it became worn out and oil soaked.

5 Adamant 1991

This was my first original design, constructed of balsa and Monokote. The cowling was a poor attempt at fiberglass, but I made the pilot's head turn in conjuction with the rudder, which seemed kind of cool at the time. The plane flew poorly due to a warp in the wing that I wasn't able to fix.

6 A-10 J4F 1991

My second scratch-build was an attempt at an A-10 Warthog, J4F (Just for Fun). The first flights were made before the engine nacelles were added. It flew poorly.

7 L'il Swell 1991

This was a balsa flying boat with an .049 glow engine, built from plans out of Model Airplane News. It was only hand-launched, but it made really good landings on wet grass fields. It flew pretty good, but the .049 engine was noisy and messy. I took this plane on a trip to Lake Mead, but it was damaged in transit.

8 P-40 Warhawk 1991

This plane was built from plans out of Model Airplane News. It was big and impressive, required a .40-.60 4-stroke, but all I had was a .40 2-stroke so I went with that. It flew well but was underpowered.

9 Bee-tween 1991

This plane was built from plans out of Model Airplane News. It was powered by an .049 glow engine, and was unusual in that it was rudder and elevator only as a low wing (no ailerons). However, the generous dihedral made it a good flier.

10 XP-1 1992

This was my first original design .049-powered plane. It was fast and responsive, exactly what I needed to grow my piloting abilities at the time. This was also my first use of a plastic soda bottle as a canopy, although this one was not heat-formed.

11 RSVP 1992

"Remote Sensing Vehicular Platform" was a purpose-built aerial photography platform with a 35mm autowind camera internally. I got a lot of great pictures from this setup, and calculated the altitude of each shot by triangulation. This plane also had a three-piece wing using aluminum tubes and hardwood dowels as connectors. Flew very well.

12 Mule A Nov-1992

This was a purpose-built "workhorse" platform to experiment with different wings and bomb-drop mechanisms. Flew very well.

13 Stingray Apr-1993

A large delta flying wing from Model Airplane News plans. Was supposed to be foam cores cut by hot wire, I didn't have a hot wire cutter so I made ribs out of Sturdyboard and covered the plane with balsa. An excellent flyer with a .40 glow engine. Notice the old Futaba gold case transmitter in the photo? By the way, this photo (and a few others in this collection) were taken at the old Uniroyal test track north of Lancaster, California, which is now fenced off.

14 Mule B May-1993

The second variant in the Mule series, this plane was my first twin with a pair of .40 glow engines mounted on the wing. Flew great until the wing folded during a loop.

15 XG-1 1993

My first original design glider. Was too heavy and did not fly well.

16 Pole Star 1993

A tailless design from RC Modeler plans. I modified it to include functional air brakes just for fun. Crashed on its first flight.

17 Something Else Dec-1993

A second attempt at a glider of original design, but wasn't any more successful than the first one.

18 Face Up Jan-1994

An original design of a basic plane. Flew very well.

19 Sig Four-Star-40 Oct-1994

Built from the Sig kit, this plane was an excellent flier and taught me many aerobatic maneuvers.

20 Contraption Oct-1994

This was a flying saucer-type plane with a .40 glow engine in the middle. Constructed of foam board and cardboard, it had large vanes in the propwash to hopefully counteract torque. It made a few not too successful tethered hovers, and had no gyro.

21 Senior .75 Dec-1994

This was a Sig Kadet Senior scaled down to 75% of original size. Flew great with a .40 glow engine.

22 Senior .75 AF May-1995

This was another Sig Kadet Senior scaled down to 75% of original size, this time with ailerons and flaps. Although the plane doesn't really need flaps, they were fun to build and experiment with. They certainly made a difference in landings even with this design.

23 Basic Canard Jun-1995

Built from Model Airplane News plans, this had a .40 glow engine on the back and a functional canard in the front. This plane crashed on its first flight.

24 Force One Jul-1995

Built from RC Modeler plans, this delta with a mid-mounted engine was fast and looked cool.

25 Gitan 1 Oct-1995

First in the original "Get In The Air Now" series, this plane used an existing wing from a previous plane, therefore reducing build time. The fuselage was sheet balsa with no film covering, but was painted with Pactra Formula-U. Remember that stuff?

26 Coyote Feb-1996

An original design of a sort of pattern plane, it was an excellent flier.

27 Gitan 2 Mar-1996

Second in the original "Get In The Air Now" series, this plane used an existing wing from a previous plane, therefore reducing build time.

28 OV-10 Bronco Mar-1997

My second twin, built from Model Airplane News plans. This plane used a pair of .25 glow engines. It looked cool and flew OK.

29 Blackjack Mar-1997

Built from some obscure kit manufacturer, this was a "Quickie 500" type plane. I won the kit in a flying contest.

30 Goldberg Gentle Lady Apr-1997

Bought as a kit at a swapmeet, it flew great, and was modified to have an .049 glow engine on a pylon above the wing. Very good glide ratio, definitely gentle. One day I hand-launched this plane and forgot to turn on the receiver. It gently circled higher and higher as I waited for the Cox .049 Black Widow to run out of fuel. It was found with help after a few hours search.

31 Gitan 3 Jun-1997

Third in the original "Get In The Air Now" series, this plane used an existing wing from a previous plane, therefore reducing build time. I made several hundred flights with this plane.

32 A-10 FS Sep-1997

Another original A-10 Warthog, this time with a .25 glow engine on the nose. First flights were made without engine nacelles. Plane flew well but was a little underpowered.

33 Bee-tween Nov-1997

Another Bee-tween from Model Airplane News plans.

34 Dirty Dog Feb-1998

An original design with an unusual wing. Wing was made from thick sheet balsa with a bend in it (Saratov airfoil). This plane flew well but didn't glide well (draggy wing) so landings were hot. First time I heat-formed a plastic soda bottle for the canopy.

35 JL-310 Jul-1998

This was a prototype trainer given to me to evaluate the kit. The name was simply the manufacturer's part number. Was a heavy plane, but actually flew well, not necessarily for a beginner.

36 Slo Motion Jul-1998

Another tailless design from Model Airplane News plans. Flew quite well.

37 Ace All-Star Sep-1998

Built from the Ace kit, this was my first biplane. The top wing struts were attached to a fuselage hatch which worked very well. The plane crashed on its first flight.

38 Goldberg Eaglet Nov-1998

Built from the Goldberg kit, this plane was powered by a .25 glow engine and flew very well. Was surprisingly aerobatic.

39 Vultee V-72 Feb-1999

This was my first foam plane and use of paper covering of the World War 2 attack plane. It flew very well and looked good.

40 Iris Apr-1999

Named after the family cat by my Daughter, this was my second paper-covered foam plane, and first V-tail. Flew OK.

41 Force Half Aug-1999

A scratch-built smaller version of the Force One, the Force Half was powered by a .049 glow engine. It was underpowered.

42 Global Hawk Aug-1999

A semi-scale attempt at the unmanned aerial vehicle, it was powered by an .049 glow engine at the back. It was underpowered.

43 Russian Cargo Plane Sep-1999

Designed by my oldest son, we built this as a chuck-glider first to check the CG and viability. When satisfied, we scaled it up in foam and had a .40 glow engine on the back. It crashed on its first flight.

44 Stingray Sep-1999

My second Stingray built from Model Airplane News plans. This one was actually built per the plans since I obtained a hot wire foam cutter, but the wingtips were extended a little beyond the original design. It could also drop bombs. Flew excellent.

45 Flying Saucer 1 Oct-1999

My first flying saucer, made from a paper-covered foam disc, powered by a .46 glow engine. Took a little time to learn how to fly effectively, but was an extremely maneuverable plane, very fun to fly. A big attention getter too, especially by people who believed it wouldn't actually fly.

46 Slo Motion Nov-1999

My second Slo Motion,a tailless design from Model Airplane News plans. Didn't fly as good as the first one.

47 Cilantro Nov-1999

An original design, my first swept-wing plane. Was fast with a .25 glow engine, but had a nasty tip stall habit.

48 Bravado Feb-2000

An original foam flying wing, flew poorly.

49 So.1 Feb-2000

My first electric plane! A foam delta flying wing with a Speed 400 on 7 NiCd cells. Flew very poorly.

50 Flying Eagle Mar-2000

This was a "dime-store glider" converted to RC. It had elevator and rudder controls with a Speed 400 on 7 NiCd cells. Flew marginally.

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