Hi John:

Sorry to tell you this, but the Stunt Machine is not a Classic legal airplane. It was designed in 1970 and built over the Winter of 1970-71. The model was presented in Flying Models magazine as a construction article in  December of 1971.

More sorry to inform you that the plans that were presented in Flying Models along with the article were no where near accurate. How do I know this? Gene gave the Stunt Machine to me. I moved into an apartment and didn't have room to keep it there, so Lou Wolgast kept it for me at his house. When Lou moved to Tucson many years ago, he took it with him. Warren Tiahrt, who also lives in Tucson, decided to build one. When I told him that the magazine plans were not accurate, he went over to Lou's house and borrowed the original Stunt Machine in order to do a check between it and the magazine plans. Warren and I did this together during one of my VSC visits, and then Warren drew in the changes over the original plan in order to make an accurate replica of Gene's ship.

I now have a copy of those corrected plans and will soon have a new, accurate set of plans available for that ship.

As a brief aside, I cut the wing for the original Stunt Machine, and even helped a bit with its construction, as Gene and I did a lot of designing and building together in those days.

Gene designed another twin-rudder ship before the Stunt Machine. He designed that one in 1969, making it Classic legal. We call it the "Oosa-Amma." Bill Simons coined that name when he saw the very large "USA" on the left wing and the equally large "AMA" on the ship's right wing. He asked Gene, "What the heck does Oosa-Amma mean. Gene, puzzled, asked what he meant. Bill said that was the name on the ship. Gene retorted that is was simply USA and AMA, but Bill's name stuck, and that ship has been known on the East Coast forever as the Oosa-Amma.

I guess you could say that the Oosa-Amma was actually the Stunt Machine I. Gene didn't name his ship's back in those days, and it was Don McGovern - Editor of Flying Models then - who came up with that name so the model would have a published name.

I borrowed the original Oosa-Amma from Ray Moore's widow (Gene had giving that ship to Ray when he left the hobby. Then Ray passed away.) and carefully measured and redrew very accurate plans. Bob Kruger has produced a set of beautiful plans from the pencils I drew, and it will appear in Stunt News this coming year (2015). Attached are a couple of photos of Gene's original Oosa-Amma and my replica.

Later - Bob Hunt  

Hi John:

The Oosa-Amma has a 620 square inch wing. You are very perceptive; I did indeed have a rear exhaust engine in that plane when those photos were taken. It was a PA 40 R Ultra-Lite Merlin (Again, that engine had more nicknames than Apollo Creed in Rocky IV...). I couldn't get that engine to run well in that ship for some reason, and that was excuse enough to convert it to electric power. Now it is one of my all-time favorite flying ships.

I installed an E-Flite Power 15 with a 2,500 mAh 4S Hyperion battery, a Hubin timer and a Castle Creations Phoenix 45 ESC. The all-up weight with the battery on board is 46 ounces! The original weighed 52 ounces without fuel on board, so you can just imagine how light this one feels! 

Bob Kruger has taken all my pencil drawings that were made when I had the actual original ship in my possession, and he has generated a beautiful CAD drawing. We are doing the final check of that drawing and will have the Oosa-Amma ready for publication in Stunt News very soon. I have asked the powers that be at PAMPA if we could track the plan sales and have all those proceeds go to the Junior FAI fund in Gene's name. I'm pretty sure we can accomplish that goal.

Attached are a few more photos that might be of interest.

Later - Bob Hunt 
   

Hi John:

Trust me, the OPS is far too much engine for this ship. It has a fairly thin wing and builds up lightly as there is very little wood in it. The Power 15 is by far enough for it in electric; a Power 25 would be too much. If I were still flying IC, I'd opt for an Aero Tiger 36 if I could find one. I sold the only one I had along with my Caprice.

I like the way this ship flies so much that I've stolen the basic wing planform and airfoils for a new twin I've designed. I love the size; it's not too small and not too big. The twin also has the twin rudders. They are a new design, but I feel that the twin rudders increase the elevator effectiveness. The new twin is called "Turning Point." Here's a sneak preview of the side view of that ship sans the nacelles. Like all the other twins I've designed and built, this one will be fitted with retracts. Note that I've increased the depth of the trailing edge to allow the flap to become an integral part of the airfoil. This yields flaps that are extremely rigid. Got that idea from Dennis Adamisin and Keith Trostle...

Later - Bob

   Thanks Bob , I do have an Areo Tiger .36.
  John