Tiporare : I still don't know what happened with this plane. I had been flying it for almost two years when it decided to call it quits. One day I took off, raised the gear, turned downwind, and then ..... nothing. It just kept flying at full throttle as it slowly rolled over and headed straight down. I killed the throttle and even turned the transmitter off and on. Nothing. It hit pointed straight down going at least 120 MPH. It made a respectable hole in the ground. The engine was buried a foot deep in dirt. The wing looks OK, but look again. It was a foam-core wing and was compressed chord-wise. It was unsalvageable. But the horizontal stab lives on in the ~Ultra Sport / Tiporare II. Post crash autopsy showed all connections to be intact and the battery to be well in the green. FLOWN - CRASHED

P-38/P-61/F-82/OV-10 Wanna-Be : This self-designed plane flew great for two years until I decided to get creative. I moved the engine to the back of the main body and added a nose cone with weights where the engine had been. I thought I had the CG correct. Nope. It was way too far back. The plane got to about 10 feet altitude while doing a great saber dance. It oscillated back and forth several times before deciding to head back to terra - firma. In this instance, terra - firma was blacktop and none too forgiving. The wingtips survived.  FLOWN - CRASHED

Conniption I/Conniption II : I designed and built this aerobatic plane and used the landing gear and engine from the crashed Hots II. The plane was a great success. It flew for over three years until I tried a Lomcevak about 40 feet off the ground. It did the maneuver fine, but I fumble - fingered it and smacked it into the desert. I took the pieces of that crash and built the Conniption II. It was the same design with a few minor changes. The wing center section was beefed up and the barn-door ailerons were integrated into the wing structure. This plane could do everything that its daddy could do, plus fly a lot faster. Unfortunately, the second weekend I took it out to fly, I smeared it all over the desert in about the same spot its papa had bought the farm. I was doing a series of snap rolls going upwards when the hatch lock came undone and the receiver battery went ballistic. I found the battery pack 150 feet from the crash site. The plane just kept snapping up and over in a nice arch. My kids thought it made a very nice mess on the desert floor.  The same landing gear and engine live on in the Conniption III, which I have been flying since 2002.  FLOWN - CRASHED

This story and picture won the "How mangled did you go?" contest at RCUniverse, for which I won a Fliton Flubber.

Javelin (sorta): Built from RCM plans to match a small foam-core wing I had.  My version has a longer body length -to- wingspan ratio than the plans, and the wingspan is smaller.  I finally got this plane in the air with a long run down the runway.  It just did not have enough wing area for its weight. After several circuits of the field, during which I discovered that the max speed was about 2 mph faster that the stall speed, I decided to land.  As I brought the engine back, it died and the plane dropped like a brick.  At 45 degrees nose down, no amount of elevator would slow the descent.  It hit soft sod and the damage could probaby have been repaired in less than an hour, but the flight characteristics don't merit a rebuild.  FLOWN - CRASHED

Sorta-Scale Northrop N9M Flying Wing : Built from my own plans, it has the same general planform as the N9M. It was built as a proof of concept (1/2 scale) airframe for my UAV flying wing project.  I had been flying it for a while, but something happened during its second flight of this particular day.  The plane was rock steady, but as it was moving away it started to pitch down.  I added back elevator and it pulled back up, but continued to pitch over.  I continued to add back elevator as it continued to pitch nose down.  It about 10 seconds I reached full up elevator and I could add no more.  It was almost as if the elevator center point was moving in one direction.  I had complete control over engine and ailerons : during those 10 seconds I had managed to turn the plane around and was aiming for an empty field (as I added up elevator).  I thought I had it made.  Not quite.  It hit the top of the last tree before the field and shredded itself.  There was a cloud of leaves and balsa as it acted as a tree trimmer.  It finally came to rest about 30 feet off the ground.  The battery power was on for the 1.5 hours it took me to go home and get some long poles.  After getting it down and arranging the pieces, the receiver and servos worked fine.   Even the main gear retracts still function fine too.  The elevon servos are centered where they should be.  I don't mind crashes when I learn something, but this is annoying because I have no idea what happened.   FLOWN - CRASHED

Vundango : This plane went through two forms before I found the version that flew well.  The second picture shows the version that flew very well.   It had a Speed 400, 2.5:1 gearbox, 12 amp ESC, GWS R-4P micro-Rx, and the controls were mixed ailerons and elerudders via electric elevon mixing and mechanical mixing.  It was large version of the Tiny.  I was showing off and flying low around some trees in my front yard.  It got behind one set of trees and I lost sight of it.  Next thing I knew it was on the driveway, with all the internal structure of the wings smashed to bits.   The only thing holding it together was the Monokote.  The motor, gearbox, and ESC were moved to a two meter electric flying wing camera ship for my Aiptek Pencam SD.    FLOWN - CRASHED

Kingbergh Wing x2 : I had been flying my 11' Klingberg Flying Wing for over 20 years with an OS 61 for power.  This was built from Klingberg plans blown up twice. It was originally powered by OS 61 engine, but I had also flown this powered by a TowerPro 3520 outrunner and 50 amp ESC, both in tractor and pusher configurations.  It was 11 pounds total weight and had mechanical retracts, controlled by seven channels [elevons(2), throttle(ESC), mechanical retracts(1), nose steering(1), split-opening drag rudders(2)].

In 2012 I removed the engine and stripped the covering.  I installed several hundred LEDs on the framework and recovered it with clear Monokote, and I also installed a 60 size outrunner electric motor and 70 amp ESC.  I took it, along with several other planes, to the Southeast Electric Flying Festival (SEFF) in Americus, Georgia. This was the second time I had visited SEFF, but I did not have any planes on my first visit, so I was looking forward to flying at SEFF.  It is a great fly-in with lots of fun.  The night bowling is particularly fun to watch, or participate if you have the right throw-away plane.

On the first flight the plane completely locked up about 3 minutes into the flight and was totally demolished.  The plane was straight in front of me, less than 200 ft away, turning to crosswind. I shouted 'LOCKUP' and people dove for cover.  It came down on the field, in front of the pits.  Based on my discussions with other people at that SEFF who had similar problems and lockups, we came to the conclusion that DSM2 was the most likely culprit for the lockup.  SEFF had rules in place that your radio should only be turned on if you were at a flying station, of which there were less than 50 total flying stations for the entire field. That may sound like a lot, but there were over 1000 registered pilots, and there only 80 available slots in the 2.4 Ghz spectrum for DSM2.  I had a solid link, and did a range check before I took off.  All it took was for enough people back in the all the RVs to turn on their transmitters, resulting in a completely saturated spectrum.  DSM2 will look for open slots, and then transmit when it believes it has found an empty slot. Since it does not hop, with every slot full, there will eventually be problems. After this, I restricted myself to only use DSM2 at my home field with < 10 active pilots, or at places where other flyers are not around at all.  At any big events with lots of flyers, I will only use DSMX, which has never given me any problems at SEFF or Joe Nall.  FLOWN - CRASHED 

Fun-Fly :  I took the wingtip plug-ins (2 feet each) from the crashed plane above and joined them to make this fun-fly plane, complete with carbon fiber tail boom.  OS 40, 4 channels [ailerons(2), elevator(1), rudder(1), throttle(1)] SOLD

Goldberg Electra :  I have built at least four of these over the years, crashed one and sold the others in flyable condition.  The second picture to the left shows an Electra that I built in 1989, which is still hanging up in a hobby shop in Colorado Springs, over 25 years later.  I can not compliment this plane enough.  I have used it to teach several people (including myself) how to fly.  It has simple construction, is available everywhere, will use any electric motor, and is easy to fix and fly.   3 channels [elevator(1), rudder(1), throttle(1)] SOLD

Trainer/Night Flyer : My own design wing on a second-hand used fuselage. The wing also contained 12 LED's for night flying. Four channels [ailerons(1), elevator(1), rudder(1), throttle(1)]  SOLD

~Ultra Sport : My own design with the horizontal stab of a Tiporare and the wing of an Ultra Sport.  The body was built to fit the available components. HP 61 Gold Cup with tuned pipe, mechanical retracts, five channels [ailerons(1), elevator(1), rudder(1), throttle(1), retracts(1)] SOLD

Dynaflite P-51 Mustang : Kit built. Mechanical retracts, five channels [ ailerons(1), elevator(1), rudder(1), throttle(1), retracts(1)]   SOLD

F-82 Twin Mustang : I copied the Dynaflite Mustang body twice as I built it, joined the two bodies and extended the wing. Counter-rotating engines, four channels [ ailerons(2), elevator(2), rudders(2), throttles(2)]  SOLD

F/A-18 : Built from Mike Pastro's F/A-18 pusher plans in RCM, heavily modified and ducting added. It was painted in Blue Angels markings.  OS 65 VR-DF & pipe & Turbax III fan unit, mechanical retracts, five channels [ ailerons(2), elevators(2), throttle(1), nose steering(1), retracts(3) ]  SOLD

Gee Bee Sportster - Fox 50, four channels [ ailerons(1), elevator(1), rudder(1), throttle(1) ]  SOLD

Fliton Flubber - I won this plane in the "How mangled did you go?" contest at RC Universe, for the crash picture and story of my Conniption II above.  I flew the plane for about a year and then moved on to smaller electric 3-D planes.  Speed 400 geared drive, 12 amp ESC, R-4P rx, four channels [ ailerons(2), rudder(1), elevator(1), throttle - esc]  SOLD

Hirobo Shuttle ZXX - I traded this chopper with engine, servos, and Telebee heading hold gyro to someone for two OS 91 VR-DF engines, three tuned pipes, two complete Dynamax fan units, and most of the pieces to a third fan unit. These were all installed in my SR-71.  OS .32, five channels  SOLD

Bridi Aerocommander Shrike : Kit built fiberglass fuselage and cowls, built-up balsa wing created from scratch to replace the original foam-core wing lost in a crash. (2) Magnum 40 FSR (counter-rotating), four channels [ ailerons(2), elevator(1), rudder(1), throttle(1) ]  SOLD

Gentle Lady : Kit built, modified wing and empanage.  I added dual flaps / speed-brakes to each wing and replaced the stock tail with a removable full-flying horizontal stabilizer.  Everything comes apart to fit into a box as checked luggage on commercial flights.  Speed 400, 3:1 planetary gearbox, 11x6 folding prop, 15 amp ESC, five channels [ rudder(1), elevator(1), flaps(2), camera shutter, throttle (ESC)]  SOLD

Klingberg Wing #1 : Built from plans. two meter glider, two channels [ elevons(2) ]  SOLD

Klingberg Wing #2 : Built from plans. two meter glider, two channels [ elevons(2) ]  SOLD

Astro Challenger : Kit built wing and empennage, body from scratch. Speed 400, 3:1 planetary gearbox, 11x6 folding prop, 15 amp ESC, four channels [ rudder(1), elevator(1), camera shutter, throttle (ESC)]  SOLD

Great Planes PT-40: Kit built. OS 40 FP, four channels [ailerons(1), elevator(1), rudder(1), throttle(1)]  SOLD

SIG Four Star 40 - This was repaired from a crashed Four Star 40 body found in the trash at the field.  The wing came from the X-29 Canard. Anakin Skywalker is the pilot. This plane was removed from the hangar at the Shadow UAV flightline on Ft Huachuca and never returned.  ASP 61, four channels [ ailerons(1), elevator(1), rudder(1), throttle(1)]  Missing In Action - Sierra Vista, AZ

Tiporare - Fiberglass fuselage, homemade foam core wing and stab. OS 61 RF w/ pipe, eight channels [ left aileron(1), left flap(1), right flap(1), right aileron(1), elevator(1), rudder(1), throttle(1), retracts(1) ] crow flaps & ailerons, mixed elevator->flaps, flaps->elevator, ailerons->flaps.  SOLD

Camera Plane #1 : The original fuselage was thrown away.  The wings and tail live on in the new, improved Camera Plane #2.  The two elerudders were secured by nylon screws and were removable for travel.  20x40 brushless inrunner, 6:1 gearbox, 18 amp ESC, four channels [elerudders(2), throttle(ESC), shutter]  FLOWN - retired

I cut out eight of these things and gave the other seven away to friends who fly RC.  I eventually gave the eighth copy to a friend.

Slow Stick II : I resurrected my original Slow Stick wing and fuselage, and added a V-tail and LEDs for night flying. Check out this page to see the LEDs and how to set up LEDs .   There were a total of 46 super bright LEDs on the plane; 20 blue + 6 red + 6 green on the wings, 8 blue + 6 white on the tail.  TP 2410-12Y, 18 amp ESC, three channels [elerudders(2), throttle (ESC)]   The LEDs were moved to my other night flyer, the UFO.  FLOWN - retired

Camera Plane #2: I took the wing, empennage, motor, and speed control from my original camera plane #1 above and built this new version.  It uses twin booms so it has a much stiffer tail assembly, and it has room for a digital video camera looking out the nose, and a digital still camera looking out either side under the wing.  The whole thing comes apart into small pieces to fit in small box for traveling, and the full foam fuselage protects the camera much better than my old camera plane. Four channels [ elerudder(2), throttle(ESC), shutter] FLOWN - retired

NightOwls, versions 1 - 2 - 3 - FLOWN - retired 

Copied partly from the Phlatboyz website. Heavily modified, and several versions have been built to get it right. 
Version #1 was a tall single engine version with elevons and a single rudder.  Himax 2025 w/ gearbox and 18 amp ESC.
Version #2 was a short single engine version with elevons and a single rudder.  TP 2410-12Y and 18 amp ESC.
Version #3 consisted of a second engine added to #1 as a testbed for counter-rotating engines. Videos at YouTube here, here, here.  Info at RCGroups here.