I started writing this on the Charles Ash contest thread but I'll start a new topic.
I've seen a bunch of Don Hutchinsons warbirds fly in the time I've been here in Texas: his Dauntless, Texan, Trojan, all designed and built by him, and they all flew well. I have also heard about Joe Gilbert whuppin' butt with his version of Dons T-6. It piqued my interest and I picked up a set of plans from Dennis Leonhardi.
While at the Saturday portion of the DMAA's contest this weekend, I was asked to judge profile stunt. Given a chance to not only help out the club, but sit and watch people fly their models
I happily agreed.
Joe Gilbert came out to the circle for his first round official, and jokingly told him that we weren't flying profile scale here
I was SHOCKED and just how well that model flew! It tracked as if on rails and had a grrreat corner. It took some concentration to remember to write scores down. I looked over at Don, whom I was judging with, and he was looking on like a proud papa, and proud he should be. He earned every point of the 550 that he ended up with.
After the officials, joe offered me a flight on it, and I jumped on his invitation. Wind was a comfy 5kts. I got everything I expected after seeing Joe fly it. There was n-o-t-h-i-n-g wrong with it other then the fact it was trimmed for Joes hand and not mine. And it was just a FUN airplane to fly!! I didn't know what to say other then "I want one!"
There is no discounting Joes ability as a modeler of course, but HUGE kudos goes to Don Hutchinson. His models aren't charachers; they look very scale, to the point that you wouldn't think it would make it through a wing over. His models are a work of art and engineering.
And yeah, I'm getting me one!