Proctor 1/5 scale Albatross DVa

[davegee]

Hi All: I don't know if this is the appropriate place for this thread, but a good friend of mine, now 84, still builds (from sticks) WWI era aircraft in 1/5 to 1/6 scale. They all fly. I help out a little with some of the detail work like machine guns, engines, control panels, etc. He recently finished a Proctor DVa, really did a nice job on it. I'll post a few pics of some of the details on the model. For what it's worth, here are a few pics of it.

Cheers

davegee

[SanExup]

It's beautiful! I aspire to fill my retirement years with biplane builds as nice looking as that!

[davegee]

It's beautiful! I aspire to fill my retirement years with biplane builds as nice looking as that!

Thanks, he is a retired architect and has a need to keep his hands busy in retirement. He also has several other beauties that still fly. I just help out with some detail stuff.

[davegee]

Thanks, he is a retired architect and has a need to keep his hands busy in retirement. He also has several other beauties that still fly. I just help out with some detail stuff.

A pic that I took of my friend's maiden of his 1/6 scale Curtiss Jenny painted up as The Great Waldo Pepper on its successful maiden. All flight control surfaces are operated from servos in the fuselage that then run with scale pulleys and cables as in the real thing. Flew very well.

[SanExup]

Aaah, that Jenny looks incredible! He's building these from plans not a kit? Where is he getting the plans from? I guess the other question is where is he getting the balsa from?

[davegee]

The Jenny I believe, was a Proctor kit. It includes all fittings and wood, I think mostly spruce and plywood. The guy who owns Proctor now waits until he gets a confirmed order before starting to put together the kit for the customer. He includes rolled plans so you can put it together much like the real ones were. I helped my friend by painting the muslin skin yellow, did the fake engine detail, and a few other things. It took a year for my friend to finish the Jenny, at a pretty fast pace.

My friend is the same age as Robert Redford. He sent Redford a letter about the project, and included a few extra 8x10 prints, asking him to sign and return them. That, he graciously did, and I have one of the autographed prints, which was cool.

[SanExup]

That's excellent!

[SanExup]

davegee Do you know about the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in upstate New York? I wasn't aware of it until I saw a somewhat recent documentary about it. It's creation is an interesting story and concept. Some quirky folks passionate about aviation and restoration of early biplanes. And I think they still do regular "airshows" at the museum site.

Actually, I found the website.

https://oldrhinebeck.org/category/collection/

[EA-6B Geek]

Hey Dave, that’s completely appropriate! Great looking airplane, and the engine detail in particular is fantastic. How does it fly? When my Dad passed a few years back I inherited most of his RC collection, and have been doing my best to resurrect planes that haven’t flown in years. Some in decades. I’ve been flying this 1/3 scale Pup recently. On the short list is a Proctor Mini Monoplane, which I’m hoping to convert to electric power. Back in the day he built a beautiful Proctor Biplane. Wish it was still around.

[davegee]

Hi EA6-B geek: Nice looking Sopwith Pup, there! I'll list his WWI planes as I recall them. I have moved to NW WY from Denver where he lives, so we have a deal where he sends little projects up to me that we talk about, and then I work or make them, often scratchbuilt parts, and then send it back to him for final assembly. Before that, it was easy to coordinate doing parts as we lived closeby to each other. But it is still doable, and I admire him, at age 84 still doing some very complex airplanes. Since he's retired, he's in no huge rush, and gets them right.

He has a Fokker Eindekker with warping wings for controls like the real one. He recently maidened it and it flew, but came in hard with some substantial damage. He is repairing it carefully to static condition; it probably won't fly again. It is truly a work of art!

Others he has are: Fokker Dr.1 triplane, Fokker DVII, Fokker DVIII, Curtiss Jenny painted up as The Great Waldo Pepper, and is currently working on a Proctor Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, probably not all that well known but did fly a lot in WWI. His is the pilot and gunner version. I did the rear gunner gun and mount from the kit.

All the above planes have flown, and they fly pretty well. There are no tailwheels, just the scale skids, so if you land on pavement which his field is, things can get pretty sporty! I'll attach a closeup of the fake engine detail, hand carved exhaust stack, and radiator frame that I did, among other things on detailing the aircraft. My friend did all the magic and hard work. There are dozens of scale turnbuckles, all of them have function, and as I mentioned before, the controls all work through a pull-pull system that uses scale pulleys and wire cables. It is remarkable. We did an article on it a while back for Model Aviation News. This one has flown a number of times. A real sweetheart of a plane with that huge wingspan!

I'm glad you're carrying on the memory of your dad's fine model work. It's important to do that, I think.

[davegee]

davegee Do you know about the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in upstate New York? I wasn't aware of it until I saw a somewhat recent documentary about it. It's creation is an interesting story and concept. Some quirky folks passionate about aviation and restoration of early biplanes. And I think they still do regular "airshows" at the museum site.

Actually, I found the website.
https://oldrhinebeck.org/category/collection/

Hi SanExup: Yes, I have been there once with my wife several years ago. It's amazing, we were in Manhattan, rented a car and drove out to the country. It didn't take long to get to places like Sleepy Hollow, and other beautiful little towns on the way to Old Rheinbeck. It was a real hoot, and they flew a ton of planes, having to make approaches and departures from the grass field over some imposing tall trees! What a place!! Highly recommend it for those interested during the summer months.