"Big Otto and Bernie's Xtreme .049" !!

Ken Cook wrote:            I stepped outside today only to run back in. The wind is blowing a steady 10-15 which doesn't make flying 1/2A any fun. Typically that translates into 20-25 at our flying field. I find myself always looking at the flags. Call me weird but it makes my decision on what and when to fly. Flags are a great tool and we have some in the background of our flying field that pretty much explains where to do your maneuvers. I find them very helpful especially if I'm flying at a field or place I never have flown before. Seeing that the winds are up and the temps are down this pretty much makes this day a engine running day. I do enjoy that as well. Were really a bunch of nuts standing around looking at engines running on a stand. I find it completely amazing to take a engine for example which has been sitting around for 40 years or more and watch it light up. I don't know why we do this, but I do enjoy it. Once the tank runs out were all standing around chuckling saying stuff like THAT WAS COOL!!!!!!

Nothing wrong with that! I wish there was a "we" in my equation. I'd be much more active with building/running engines/flying.. if I had some local hobby buddies to hang with. I used to use a small multi-colored windsock attached with string, to a fiberglass snow-plow marker for a wind indicator.

Nuts Wee are but it sure is FUN !! I thought that gray didn't look like Ken but I do understand needed material , what's the wing span on that ? Our weather is roller coastering now as it does this time of year . Eric

Eric, the wingspan of Big Otto is 24". As Kim mentioned, this was a better flying model as it has a good amount of wing area and thickness over the other offerings. Walt visited our club some years ago and he explained that many of his designs were considerably shortened to make them fit within the packaging. Big Otto was never designed for TD power but the wingspan and airfoil lends itself to the need for more horsepower. I can't even see flying this plane on the recommended engines offered on the plans. I'm certain it would be quite a let down. A Babe Bee is going to offer so much and for this size plane in my opinion it would be struggling especially built with the wood supplied. I took some extra effort to remove and supply lighter wood. While my choice of covering may not be the lightest, my days of silkspan on 1/2A's ARE LOOOOOONG gone. That is pretty much about the most useless and wasteful thing one can do on 1/2A's. My son was just having a laugh about the time I spent on one particular model and the clip popped off the glowhead and went right through the wing of a plane that never even saw air time. Ken

I could never bring myself to cover with silkspan.

All that work making a nice model and you could barely touch the covered surfaces.

Instead, I used silk and (I suspect) some sort of lightweight synthetic nylon and my planes flew just fine, including my Guillows Super Cub free flight.

Kinda miss the smell of dope however!

Here is the big otto with Bernie' all red Extreem on the nose from Kim

I think there are a few others here who have run and flown some of the #numbered Cox International Specialty engines