The Binghamton Aeros, my home club, held their 36th annual Festival of Giants event this past weekend at the Chenango Bridge Airport in upstate New York. This event brings some of the largest RC aircraft from around the northeast.
The event also tends to bring several seldom modeled aircraft. One example is the yellow and black Acro Sport IIS biplane done at 40% scale. The plans were hand drawn and the aircraft built from scratch. This aircraft took top in it's class at Top Gun last May.
Another rarely modeled aircraft spotted at the event was a FJ-1 Fury. The model was scratch built. The builder made his own plug and hand laid the fiberglass fuselage. It was powered by a Jetcat 120 turbine engine.
You also get to some unique designs. Two such aircraft are the white and red high-wing and the white and red with the elliptical mid wing. Both of these aircraft were designed and scratch built by the same designer. Each is in the 140" - 150" wingspan range. Both are powered with DA 100cc twin gas engines. The high wing weighs only 26 lbs AUW and the mid wing at a very light 29 lbs. Both of these aircraft are skillfully flown in a very graceful, aerobatic manner. The designer/builder has never given either design a name.
We event got to see a couple of the next generation of giant scale pilots guiding their big birds through the skies. We even had a rare spotting of the elusive fellow Squawker OV10 . Great fun had by all!