Road to
top Gun
Each year, we give our readers and a
sneak peek at some of the amazing
airplanes that will be competing at
the annual Top Gun Scale Invitational.
Hosted each year by its creator,
Frank Tiano, the 2012 Top Gun event
will again be held at the Paradise
Field near Lakeland Linder Airport in
Lakeland, FL. Be sure to stay tuned
for more photos and exclusive inside
information at ModelAirplaneNews.
com. Here’s just a taste of some of
these amazing planes and their pilots
and builders who will compete at the
2012 event.
An exclusive sneak peak of this year’s
competitors and their planes
Dave Wigley > Westland Wyvern S4
Dave Wigley from smithtown, ny, is again planning on competing at top Gun with his amazing
Westland Wyvern s4. Dave is a past “mr. top Gun” winner with his Wyvern and this will be
the Wyvern’s fifth and final year. Built to 1/5 scale, the Wyvern features custom-made fully
functioning, shock-absorbing retractable landing gear and functional fowler flaps. The power
system consists of a Bme 100cc twin cylinder gas engine driving Dave’s homemade contra-rotating propeller arrangement. The wingspan is 100 inches,
the length is 96 inches, it has 2,150 square inches of wing area
and weighs in at 51 pounds.
Mark Frankel >
BeechcraFt t-34B
Hailing from Gladwyne PA, Mark Frankel will
be entering Team Scale with John Glezellis of
Cambridge MA, as pilot with his “tried and true”
Beechcraft T-34B Mentor. The plane took first
at the NATS in 2009 and second in 2011). John is
a world-class aerobatic pilot but this will be his
first major scale competition. Mark designed the
T- 34 from Beechcraft production drawings. It is
scaled to 25% and has a wingspan of 98. 5 inches,
overall length is 77. 75 inches, and the dry weight
is 41lbs. The model is powered with a Zenoah
G T- 80 swinging a Zinger 22x12 prop, (the Zinger
blade shape is almost perfectly scale in outline).
Frank Tiano >
Monster P- 47 Thunderbolt
The father of the top Gun scale event, frank tiano, never
ceases to amaze! last year, frank developed a truly amazing,
1/3.4-scale P- 47 Thunderbolt and powered it with a massive
rCs 400cc radial engine. With a wingspan of 12 feet and a
flying weight of almost 123 pounds, frank’s Wicked Wabbit
sets a new standard for giant scale. in fact, several of these
monster Thunderbolt projects are in the works.
frank says, “if you are a builder, and have some time on your
hands, it makes a very worthwhile project. We stuffed a ZDZ
420 in the nose of Brian o’meara’s bird and it is an animal!” for
more details on price and availability, contact John rivrud at
scale rC all Composite at John@rcscaleallcomposite.com
