Graupner Mini Piper Make-Over

I made over my Hobby-Lobby Graupner Mini Piper to look like the Grasshopper L-7 Army plane. My Piper is not 100% fully authentic in appearance, but I am happy with the outcome nonetheless.

I am not happy with how these pictures came out beneath the flourescent lights in my kitchen. I will take more photos outside on a sunny day, which will show you how nice the plane really looks.

The flourescent lights called attention to all the blemishes of the plane, whereas when you look at it with the naked eye you don't see them.


The video camera did not do any justice to how nice the plane came out either.

Bummed with the photos and videos!

Video cameraing a plane is not easy

With our new video camera Pilot Tom shot the film. It is really challenging to record a plane. I did not do any stunts in this video and tried to keep a slow speed for Tom.

I really recommend that the pilot and camera person discuss a flight pattern before take-off and the pilot will need to cue the camera person in on when he/she will speed up so the camera can zoom out first. The pilot needs to fly lower to the ground and closer to the camera than I did.

If the camera can be manually focused I recommend that. If not, for the sake of the auto focus the pilot should maintain the same amount of distance from the camera and the same speed in order to produce a crisp video.

The most amazing wreck ever

Since I began flying again four years I have destroyed at least two to three planes. I have had some seriously spectacular wrecks, where upon impact into the ground my planes have shattered into pieces leaving nothing but a stryafoam snow storm to fall down and bury my wreckage.
Pilot Tom is still learning the nuances of flying. His plane had previously suffered a broken wing and required a new servo. His repairs were perfect and he was airborne once again.
During Tom's past flight he attempted a loop from level flight, but lacked power. I told him to pick up speed and dive about 10-15 feet and then pull into a loop. He streamed across the sky and dove. The moment he pulled up elevator the entire park heard a BOOM! as the G-Force of the plane split his wing halves and the left side of the wing fluttered down slowly and safely . . . as pictured below.

Wile this was happening Tom killed all throttle and tried to straighten out his plane with mild input to keep it from the death spiral it was in. He was able to gain some control as it fell 40 to 5o feet to the ground. We were 30 to 40 yards from the plane and there was nothing anyone could do. It was a spectacular sight watching this plane spin out of control towards the earth -- like a WWII dog fight that ended bad.
I was skeptical that the fuselage would be able to be repaired. Tom surveyed the damage and over the next week was able to massage the plastic fuse back into shape, build a wood servo bay to replace the broken plastic one, repair the ripped plastic where the tail slips into, and replace the other servo. Finally, he used 5-minute epoxy to glue the seam where the wing halves meet to avoid the wings pulling apart under pressure again. His plane flew again as seen below . . .

Beautiful take-off Tom!