Aviation & Car tech: Reviews, How to's, Products, Shows, Design & Manufacturing, photography, video, Home built aircraft, UAV / RC, General Aviation, Car fix & mod
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.
This Aircraft of the Month is the Ultimate Biplane, while its not too common to see one of its 4 variants at the local airport, it likely has the highest count of different RC options of any aircraft Ive seen short of WWII War Birds. Type in “Ultimate Biplane” into google or YouTube and most of what you will is RC aircraft.
3 of the variants are on power and the related increased structure required (100, 200 & 300hp) along with a 2 seat option of the 300 hp version.
I think its one of the sharpest looking biplanes out there (beyond my favorite the SNS7 Hyperbipe) and its totally baffling on why this aircraft is not more popular with the IAC crowd that’s dominated with Pitts, Extras & Decathlons.
There are not too many videos of the actual aircraft but here are a few I was able to find.
As mentioned above the RC options are plentiful, one of the few scale kits I had was a Carl Goldberg Ultimate Biplane
Here was my UB in the back, While I still have the air frame I think this may be the only photo I have of it together.
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.
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:
The Osprey 2 is a 2 place side by side sea plane featuring wood construction and was created by the same designer (George Pereira) of the GP-4 (see previous Aircraft of the month article)
This aircraft first flew in 1973 with over 500 examples built
I won a Seamaster 40 ARF at an auction back in the mid 2000’s not a bad performer but a higher power motor like a 60 or a modern electric setup is really needed for best performance.
As a side note the Anderson Kingfisher is also a similar homebuilt to the Osprey however not as many have been completed. I did a article on the Kingfisher in march 2020
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/
The Jetson One Manned Multi Rotor (X8 configuration) looks like one of the more likely multi rotors to go mainstream in the new market of manned aviation. Electric flight propulsion favors smaller & lighter platforms. Each new jump in battery technology will only make it better.
A perfect solution for decal removal on sensitive surfaces like Paint, Tinted Windows and many more.
They also work well on removing old peel ply from composite surfaces
The long metal handle gives extra leverage when trying to remove difficult things
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Don’t forget to get spares as well,
Plastic razor blades 200 pack double edged included. Plastic blades is made of high-quality plastic with strength and rigidity, providing you with greater durability and flexibility for your tasks.
Plastic scraper blades with sharp double edged that are excellent for use where a metal razor blade will cause damage. Safe and effective alternative to metal razor blades.
Plastic scraper blades safety clean glass without scratching surface. Use the razor blade tool to meet all your scraping and cleaning needs, as well as plastic blades , it’s safer for your fingers and surfaces.
Plastic razor blade with standard size and designed to fit most standard razor blade holders, such as Titan Scraper. Also you can searh foshio plastic razor, more option you can choose.
Plastic scraper blades Perfect for scraping labels, stickers, window film, decals, and other adhesives from car windows and windshields.
The One Design was created to make a high performance acrobatic aircraft on a low budget. It was designed to get the most out of a O-360 Lycoming motor. The Wiki page has a brief overview of the aircraft at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rihn_DR-107_One_Design
YouTube has a bunch of videos on this aircraft, here are a few
This video has a real good 3D cad overview of the structure
Quite the interesting article on the history of many airports in the Denver area that are no longer there. Growing up in the area it’s impressive to see the rich aviation history. Most of the airports in the article have been take over by urban development.
Gould Aero 