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Spotlight |
Jiro Sugimoto's Amethyst Falcon
from Derek Buckmaster plans
(written by Derek Buckmaster)
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Jiro Sugimoto is
one of the true master craftsmen of Free Flight scale. His models
have been featured in the famous (but now defunct) Model Builder
magazine, several of Bill Hannan’s “Modellers and
Models” series as well as several internet sites (do a
Google search for Jiro’s name and you can see lots of
examples of his craftsmanship). So when I had an e-mail from
Jiro saying he was building my plan of the Amethyst Falcon,
I was thrilled!
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The full-scale Falcon is a single-place ultralight homebuilt,
designed for low-cost fun aerobatics. As far as I’m aware,
only one has been constructed, in Queensland, Australia. It’s
constructed from welded tubular steel and covered with fabric.
The cowling and wing-tips are fiberglass. The unique notched
centre-section of the upper wing (with the inner trailing edges
curling down to meet the fuselage) is a signature design trait
of the Falcon’s designer, Bill Whitney.
The simplicity of the Falcon’s layout (with both wings
attached to the fuselage and only a single inter-plane strut
struck me as a great candidate for my first rubber-scale biplane,
so I got to work with my CAD program and drafted a plan for
Peanut scale model, as well as a larger 22” span version.
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Working from a downloaded copy of my Peanut scale plan, Jiro
initially asked a few questions regarding scale details and
requested some more pictures of the full-size plane. I updated
the plan to add the details and make it clearer. As he progressed
with construction he forwarded several uncovered construction
shots, which are included here. Not only is Jiro a magnificent
builder, he is also a great photographer!
After several e-mail exchanges, I finally
received the news that Jiro’s Falcon was in the air:
“I already finished Amethyst Falcon and took her to
Ichinomiya gym for first flight. Put some weights into a nose
socket and checked CG. She turned right with just circle.
I did not check weigh of her and turns of rubber now, so I
send a report again.”
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