Stinson Model A Trimotor 1935

This attempt at modeling a 1935 Stinson Trimotor was forced upon me by good friend Chuck Backman. If this is one of his favorite planes from the 30's he in need of some serious psychological help. I suspect he just wanted to see if I'd was dumb enough to build it. Well, being rather stupid, design and construction was begun in late spring of 2016 and was completed by December 2016. The original drawings were Cleveland rubber band plans blown up to 1/4 scale giving it a wingspan of about 180". My good friend Bob Walker designed and built the retractable landing gear. Power at least initially was DLE-40 twin cylinder engines. However, the engines were upgraded to DLE 60 twins. First flight was on April 12, 2017. Was a very short flight with an abrupt totally distructive end. Hopefully, I will rebuild a new one by the spring of 2018.

Well here it is May of 2018. Spent most of the fall and winter building another Trimotor. Tested it on April 29th. Flew very nicely and completed two flights with Rich Behrend doing the filming.

Press here for the crash video by Rich Behrend. Taken on April 12, 2017.

Press here for 1st flight of Stinson 2 taken on April 29, 2018.