About a year ago I watched one of the members at our club fly a seaplane (off the grass) and it got a lot of attention.

I vowed to build one of those one day and a couple of weeks ago I moved it to the front of the line, putting off finishing my twin cargo plane for it.

I am happy with the outcome. The plane is one fast puppy, yet it can be flown very slow and has a speed range of 10 to 70mph.

The plane is documented at http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=922465 and there is a company that makes and sells kits for it, so I won't post the plans in the public forum, but if anyone is interested, I may make the SU file available for your personal use.

I finished my plane with Styro Spray 1000 and painted it in a pearl white with candy apple red accents.

The first maiden was a disaster. I was not prepared for how fast it can fly and did not have my servo throws setup properly. I ended up smashing the nose and had to rebuild a new one, but it turned out to be an easy fix.

I purchased the motor and speed control called for in the plans. I waterproofed all the electronics including the servos using 3M DP 270 and CorrosionX.

After getting the servos set properly, the next maiden was successful and I found it to be a very nice plane to fly. Attached files

 

Very nice, I also converted these for the PP but never posted due to the fact that they are a retail kit.
The only thing is, his plans are copied and resized from a fuel version that was in production before he made this plane so they plans are his but the right to the plane isn't.
He posted the plans on a public forum for free usage so we "should" be able to post the plans here for users personal PP usage in my humble opinion.
The gray area is the only thing that stopped me from posting them myself.

 

I had just replied to 3DMON's post and missed Marks reply, so I have deleted that response and will instead reply this way...

As I stated, I too thought it to be a gray area being as the PDF does state it is copyright.

But as you say, an SU file is an original document even though the content is essentially the same as that of the original document.

So as long as it is okay by M&T, I will go ahead and post it in the single aircraft section.

I believe Steve Shumate only wishes that if you build it, he wants you to post pictures of it on his RCgroups thread.

After all, he is sharing his work via a public forum, so the build method should not be the issue.

Jeff (Jnida63), provided a beautiful special ops logo which I am putting on the plane this evening as soon as the ink dries. New photos will accompany the SU files when I post them later this evening.

As to the Styro Spray, I used a simple foam brush to apply it as I don't have the special orange agent for cleaning the airbrush plus as thick as this is, I expect it would clog up in an airbrush.

I did not purchase the sealer which I now understand is provided for the purpose of preventing bubbles from forming from the minute amounts of moisture in the foam. There were a few of those bubbles present, but from a distance you cannot see them anyway.

 

Hey Flash, what is the approx. coverage and thickness of the StyroSpray? I'm thinking of using that to cover my observatory dome, and wonder how many coats it would take.

That is a great looking model, by the way. I wish I had a lake or stream nearby to warrant making one.

 

The SU file has been uploaded to the Single wing section (http://www.phlatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1490)... Enjoy!

6 tablespoons of StryroSpray were used on this plane in 3 coats of 2 tablespoons each.

A little goes a long way. You build up thickness by applying more coats. Over time, it cures and gets harder each day. I have a wing that I did about a month ago and it is rock solid with only one coat.

By the way, this plane flies off grass just as well as water! Snow is even better, so I hear. It leaps off the water with no effort.

 

That is a fabulous model Flash! Thank you for posting the files. I saw a video of one of these flying off grass and water somewhere and I think think your description of the takeoff being effortless is right on the nail. This thing rides the air over the water like one those Russian Ekranoplan's (caspian sea monster) In fact if you compare the design they look very similar in layout. So I guess they're flying in ground effect just before takeoff,

Great design... Thanks again for posting it.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

 

I fly with the owner of http://www.modelaero.com . I won't comment on the posting of plans, just because I'm on both sides. Anyhooo, check out their website for setup tips, and graphics packages made for the Polaris.

PS I'm also a friend of the sign maker who makes the graphics, lol, he gets free foamies, I get free graphics.

Jeff

 

Awesome Build... It looks quite a bit like the Laddie Mikalasko kits from the past... Sorry if I spelled his last name wrong

 

foamlvr, before you start "not-lecturing" about copying the design of other people's planes, you should look at this:

That's the original, the Northstar designed by Laddie Mikulasko back in the 1980's iirc.
Maybe modelaero (and a load of other companies) owe homage to Laddie? And Laddie owes homage to the Wright Brothers, and they owe to the design of ducks and geese, and so forth.
There is nothing new under the sun, just variations and adaptations of something that already existed.

 

Dennis, I agree. My attitude is( who am I to judge), so I try not to. I say cut away. If I decide to build a polaris, I will buy a kit, just to support a friend, not out of any sence of morality. I posted the link because they have some nice printed and precut graphics packs for the Polaris, and thought it might save some time for anyone who decides to cut and build one.

Merry Christmas

Jeff

 

Steve Shumate (who designed the Polaris) has got the blessing from Laddie to use the Northstar design (if you read the Polaris thread over at RCGroups Laddie himself has built a couple of Polarises), and Steve is kitting the Polaris through ModelAero so I think there are no homages owed anywhere in that case. Except the big one we all owe to the wrights

 

Personally, I don't see any difference whether you cut it out by hand by tracing a pattern from a piece of paper or you trace the pattern to a different medium such as Sketchup.

The plans are posted in the public domain for everyone to build from. Both Steve and ModelAero are getting plenty of publicity so who cares really?

There are some people who just plain don't want to go to the trouble of cutting out parts and for them, a kit provided by ModelAero is just the ticket, not to mention the decal set he sells.

If it bugs any of you, buy the kit or get out the Xacto knife and paper and do it the old fashioned way.

I'd be happy to take the SU file down. Its no big deal to me. I traced the plane to make it easier for me to cut one out and its only of use to those of us who have a phatprinter anyway.

Mark gave his blessings to post it and he has the power to remove it if anybody seriously objects.

Build the plane, give the originators credit for the design and enjoy the hobby. That's really what its all about.