Jeffair Barracuda – Aircraft of the Month

Geoffrey Siers was a former RAF pilot and engineer for Boeing developed the Barracuda in the 1970’s.
Its all wood construction and Geoffrey was inspired by de Havilland Mosquito
For those with an EAA membership you can check out all the sport aviation articles online for this aircraft. here is the EAA page on the Barracuda: https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/kits-and-plans/00—c/barracuda
According to the EAA web page plans and kits are no longer available but existing projects may be on Barnstormers (www.barnstormers.com), Trade-A-Plane (www.trade-a-plane.com)
Not too many videos on YouTube for it due to the development fan fair being decades ago and not too many are built.

There is a small FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1108372082521169/

Sun-n-Fun in Lakeland has had one on display for decades now:

When I was in EAA chapter 99 (Vero Beach Fl / 04 – 08′) one of the chapter
members Ernie was building one, here is a few under construction photos from
him:

 

I could not find any RC options on outerzone but with a good amount of photos of it on the Internet Cad’ding one up would not take too long for someone with the right skills.

A-10 Warthog – Aircraft of the Month

With the recent War in Ukraine I was thinking about how the A-10 is still a very relevant and highly effective weapon system. While I’ve worked on several military aircraft the engineering behind the A-10 has always impressed me more than anything I got a chance to work on. It was born from bloody lessons learned in the Vietnam. The design was driven by the needs of the solders on the ground, the aircrews and maintainers. A lot can be learned from this mindset when it comes to military hardware design.

The first flight was in 1972 and it entered service in 1977, the production run was only 8 years with over 700 built.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II

There is quite a few videos on YouTube about the aircraft here are a few:

Of course the A-10 has quite the attitude, here some classic memes:

The A-10 is also a popular R/C model with many brands, sizes and power available:

E-Flite has 2 options, a 30mm EDF and a 64mm EDF

30mm EDF,
64mm EDF
Amazon has a ton of A-10 Merch as well:

For starters how about a 30mm dummy round as a conversation starter, ender or just general pilot cave decoration

Lets not forget some proper air show attire:

Revell has a very detailed 1:48 Scale A-10 with over 160 parts:

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Republic RC-3 Seabee – Aircraft of the Month

The Seabee was introduced just after WW2 with over 1000 examples built. Not the most common sea plane built. Most may know it from 1974’s 007 Man with the Golden Gun. James Bond fly’s a Seabee in south east Asia to Scaramanga’s hide out on a Island. N87545 S/N 105.

More on this particular aircraft can be found at: http://www.seabee.info/rc3_105.htm

While working on Engine component designs for FlyCorvair, one of the guys name Gus had a Seabee restoration project going, it was very interesting to see the construction of this aircraft in its disassembled state.

Quite a few YouTube videos of this aircraft can be found, here are a few captivating ones;

For RC options, Outerzone has 4 plans listed but the 1977 from RCM is likely the best:

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=946

Spartan Executive – Aircraft of the Month

The Spartan Executive is one of my Favorite Vintage aircraft, there where only under 40 of them built between 1936 to 1940.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartan_Executive

There is usually one or two of them that show up to Airventure or Sun-N-Fun each year.

Back when I was at ERAU I designed a Spartan Executive inspired modern aircraft on Catia powered by a M-14P Radial Engine:

Hallmark has a nice Christmas Tree Ornament that can also be a good desk model of the Spartan Executive:

Wings of Texaco has a larger model of the aircraft:

Current RC options are limited, outerzone has 1 plan and its actually from 1938 about half way through the production run of the actual aircraft.

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=599




LCKA in Australia has a 93″ Plan at:
https://lcka.com.au/product/spartan-7w-executive-15-plans-jb/

& the Laser cut kit: https://lcka.com.au/product/spartan-7w-executive-15-laser-parts-kit-jb/

With global shipping challenges this may be a difficult product to get into the states however for readers down under it’s a good option.

Of course with modern CAD systems, a ton of images of the aircraft it would be an easy job for a modern 3D printer to make a very detailed RC version. The Anycubic Chiron is an excellent large format 3D printer for PLA, LW-PLA, ABS and other filaments. I did a write up of this printer almost a year ago: https://gouldaero.com/2021/01/06/anycubic-chiron-3d-printer-product-of-the-month/

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Sabrent SATA Dual Bay Docking Station

An excellent Amazon find for anyone who needs to use multiple hard drives. A great option for YouTube content creators that need to manage a large amount of video files.

Sabrent 2 bay SATA read / write / clone https://amzn.to/3FNcxzQ

Sabrent 5 bay SATA https://amzn.to/30j7qam

Kingston 480GB SSD https://amzn.to/3AIvRdS

Amazon Basics USB 3.0 3M Extension https://amzn.to/3vdRzoV

APC UPS 1500VA Battery backup with digital readout https://amzn.to/2YS8str

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How to store lipo batteries

Hobby king put out a great article on storing lipo batteries, there are some steps needed to reduce / eliminate fire risk as well as making a sable condition for the batteries to reside

Read more at the Hobby king article

Lipo storage bags are a must even for charging, check out these options

The Zeee Lipo Safe Bag offers storage for a full day’s worth of batteries with a zipper and caring strap.

Ive used small “brick bags” for years for my multi rotors and aircraft, DerBlue sells them in a 2 pack

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Brügger Colibri – Aircraft of the Month

The Brügger Colibri is a small low wing, tail dragger aircraft powered by Volkswagen 4 cylinder engines. Its a Home Built that was designed in Switzerland by Max Brügger in the 1960’s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%BCgger_Colibri

For those interested in a RC version outerzone has a free plan for a 46″ version

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=11707