It started w/a 3-view..

I took a series of shots with a 1:18 scale 1949 Mercury that were fun to stage! The Merc was a father's day gift I gave my Grandfather.. some 30 years ago. He was the quintessential Mercury Man; having owned a 1957 Turnpike Cruiser, a 1962 Monterey convertible, a 1965 Montclair Marauder and lastly a 1974 Cougar XR7. After he passed away.. the "49" was returned to me.

Super-Slick!!!!!!!!!!!! Man.. that's outrageous! A "Colony Park".. (later Villager) Imagine being a worker at FOMOCO back then..

I had become increasingly interested in the way some modelers painted their "profile" model airplane canopies. The one's that caught my eye were painted a "sky-blue"; some with framing-detail. Done wrong isn't pretty.. but it isn't difficult to mask and spray the "blue"..

Here's a few of my "canopy-paint" candidates..

A flight attempt (the 2nd..) was made a couple years ago. No dice.. no joy.. Lynne and I took several 1/2A C/L ships to an abandoned school/school-yard. We have video.. but we'll spare you.. Let's just say that there were gremlins that showed themselves. The engine "threw a prop".. at one point just after starting. I was trying a L/H (5"d X 4"p 2-blade) prop on the model. The engine kicked-back and off came the prop. The engine "ran-away" screaming before I was able to shut it down. I just looked at it and thought.. maybe the whole engine is work-hardened now? Wouldn't that be cool? The fuel we were using was Sig Champion "25".

I took photos on Aug. 4, 2019 (Sat.) and we went to the flying-field on Aug. 5, (Sunday) It was our 1st time "testing the waters" there. All was calm until the Cox engines started screaming their song..  

Here are some photos from Aug. 4th; (on the hood of Lynne's car)




same day.. on our driveway..




same day, on the deck (out back.. behind our house..)

oh yea... I swapped-out the 1st gen. wheels for the "woodies" that I sourced from the craft store. Sorry.. but I really liked the way they looked after I painted them black. (PM me if you want a pair..)

It's like black shoe polish here...




Can't really see the black wheels in these pics...




The wood wheels would be the last thing to break on this model... but that wasn't a deciding factor in fitting them. The original wheels I'd like to save for "show".. assuming the airplane survives the trials for proving air-worthiness.

I put a pair on my "Fulcrum Flyer". I think that I will paint several pair black and inventory them.

firstwordisee wrote:That is some art. Keep going back to look at it. Awesome creativity my man.

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your praise.

duaneh wrote:Man, I never get tired of looking at that Rare Bear. Thanks Roddie, for posting the pictures, and the back story. I've seen pix posted of this model, and a few others that were built for a "Reed Speed" contest, but that was before my time here. Always wondered what that was all about. I followed the link Eric posted, and found the contest rules. Sounds like a lot of fun! Design, build, fly, and a scale requirement as well. I'm sorry I missed it.

Thank you!!! Building the Rare Bear turned-out to be a huge undertaking for me.. but I enjoyed every moment. Many of the official AMA rules for the 1/2A C/L speed/profi/scale event were carried-over to the first annual CEF contest.

Try searching the topic with "discussion" in the title.. and click the "google" search button.

balogh wrote:Roddie that is a cool design overall..but what do you think is the problem that prevents this beauty from flying? You mentioned somewhere it is nose-heavy? Or the weight to surface ratio is too high?

I also had a severe stability issue with a bi-plane kit bought from a kit builder, where the short fuselage i.e distance between the wings and the horizontal stab may have made it air-unworthy, so she remains a shelf queen...

I wish Roddie can doctor his plane and make it fly...

Hi Ya' Andras, I have a few thoughts to share. Being that the main-gear is really close to the CG... it becomes a balancing-act. I've only tried launching via my pin-stooge.. and when the model is released, the tail lifts.. and the airplane comes off the stooge-pad near level. This shouldn't ordinarily be an issue.. but I'm thinking that there may be another factor that I hadn't accounted for.. and that is the cowling.

The cowling may be deflecting engine-thrust.. enough so to impede any elevator control while taxiing. The cowling that I'm using also has a spiral-shape molded into it.

You can see that molded-spiral design in the photo below..



It may very well be.. that fixing a radial cowling to a profile fuselage could deflect enough thrust to render any tailplane controls useless at sub-flight-speeds.. especially on a close-coupled design as this one.. Even at cruising-speed, there could be issues such as "hunting" (continuous input +/- to maintain level-flight)

One thing at a time.. though. It's a simple matter to launch without a cowling. If I can then achieve controllable/steady flight.. I may try reinstalling the cowling.. and have a mechanic do a hand/R.O.G. launch to test-out my theory. Will the airplane rise-off-ground launch.. and if so; will it fly level with little input from the handle.  

The cowling is pretty.. but in this case.. may be poison..

rsv1cox wrote:Yeah, I fell in love with it when roddie first posted pictures years ago.

The wings design, the fuselage extension beyond the rudder, the proud tail wheel, the aggressive angle of the front landing gear, the attention to detail, and of course the decals - over the top and deservedly so.  Perfection on a grand scale.

Flying it? I think roddie may be a little apprehensive.  Put Kim or Ken on the lines and it would do wonders.  

Hi RoBeRt! I got my "Air Classics" Feb 2022 hard copy in my mailbox tonight.. when I came home from work. It put a smile on my face.. THANKS! and there's a P-38 article too..

Thanks for your comments on my Rare Bear. I'll tell you something Robert; It was 2013 when the 1st contest was pitched. I started searching full-scale air-racing (Reno/Nevada/Pylon style) when I came upon the Rare Bear story of the rescued F8F-2. Then there were the vids of that airplane.. it was the one I wanted to build.

Below are links to "two" youtube vids that will give you insight.. into this airplane.  


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaiekUo-j3g


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWHjyAj_iNg

rdw777 wrote:Roddie,

I have to say that is a very pretty airplane with many innovative features…. A lot of work went into concept to completion….Excellent photography and I love the staging with the Merc…. You might try firing it up and hold it by the canopy about waist high and give it some control input to see if you detect any force from the elevator …. From your theory….

Thank You Rob. I appreciate your comments very much. I LIKE your suggestion for testing the elevator's authority with engine/propeller-thrust only. The elevator has a music-wire joiner for full-span deflection. I had noticed that many other Speed-models only hinge half-span.

My Rare Bear's tail-plane is quite a bit above the thrust-line.. as is the full scale Bearcat's. This helped with the illusion I needed to create when building a small model with totally flat surfaces. One can only wonder if this might have an adverse effect on flight characteristics of a model such as this.. along with my "cowl" theory..