The Reliant is one of my favorite vintage planes, its also one of the few vintage aircraft I got some decent flight hours in.

In the 90’s and early 2000’s the Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon had aircraft rides in a few aircraft, one of them N1942A was owned & flown by a very nice man named Larry who sadly passed away a few years ago. He Knew I was a pilot and once the aircraft was off the ground I got to fly it around Oregon’s scenic coast line on trips my family made to Oregon every 2 to 3 years. 

Flight characteristics are quite easy going with well balanced controls.

One of the best attributes of the Reliant is its “realistic” cockpit, cabin and useful load. It’s a common sad joke in the US that many general aviation aircraft when you divide useful load by seat plus small cabin sizes you end up having to be 5′ tall and 100 lbs per person. Not with the Reliant there is plenty of room and capacity to spare.

Here are some mint condition Reliants I saw at Oshkosh 06

Here i am standing next to one for scale.

 

Some of the Reliant’s where powered by a Guiberson A-1020 Air Cooled Radial Diesel engine, I came across this interesting video of them running one on the Cars and Engines YouTube Channel

There are some good RC options as well.

125″ Span by Dick Barron on Outerzone

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=5680

57″ Span from Sterling on Outerzone

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=2385https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=11765

Top Flite made a real nice 100.5″ version, its out of production but there are quite a few un-opened kits floating around.

One of my favorite Hobby Shops, Garves RC In Orlando has one you can order online, and they show up every now and then.

https://www.gravesrc.com/top-flite-stinson-reliant-sr-9-kit-1-08-1-99-100-5.html

Some Canada options for the same kit

https://www.greathobbies.com/productinfo/?prod_id=TOPA0310

and a good write up on the build and details

https://www.rc-airplanes-simplified.com/rc-model-airplane-kits.html

Søren Steinicke Sørensen YouTube Channel has some good videos on the Top Flite version

Some Interesting Finds about the Stinson Reliant on Amazon:

Hallmark Keepsake Ornament – 1936 Stinson SR Reliant

I Think I have this one, my mom bought it for me years ago.

Gearbox STINSON RELIANT GULF Airplane Coin Bank

1/48 Stinson Reliant Airplane

Plastic Model Kit

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