News:


  • March 28, 2024, 02:04:09 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Author Topic: Lew McFarland Designs  (Read 1039 times)

Offline Dan McEntee

  • 23 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 6824
Lew McFarland Designs
« on: January 21, 2023, 11:34:42 AM »
   Wake up all you old timers!! Especially if you knew or were familiar with Lew McFarland and his designs. The basic list for Lew was the Shark .45, Shark .15, Ruffy, and Dolphin that most are familiar with. While going through some old magazines I saw an article by him on "Flying Stunt for Beginners" that was in three parts. This was in the old, original Model Aviation newsletter that the AMA put out, but was also reprinted in M.A.N. I think. The first part showed a rib outline full size and then a smaller outline for a profile model that it was for. It is obvious to me, that this was to become the Jetco Shark .15. No name for the model design was mentioned. I don't think this model was ever published in any kind of construction article.

   The next was in part 2 of the series and again showed a full size rib, and an accompanying small drawing showed a full fuselage airplane with a constant chord wing and was called Poorboy. This also has a familiar look to it and it I think it became the Dolphin. The Dolphin was published in a magazine, again I think it was M.A.N. and an unusual thing about that was that the issue that it was in also featured and add for Jecto's release of the model as a kit offering, ( which in itself isn't that unusual because that has happened several times, ) but if you had purchased the magazine at that time, and went to the back pages to look for the add to buy the plan set the M.A.N. usually offered for all the designs that were published in that issue, it did not offer the Dolphin!! It was not listed in following issues of the magazine either. Just another little model aviation historical mystery.

   If anyone has any other history behind these designs, I'm interested to hear it, just for my own entertainment. I built a lot of the Jetco free flight kits as a kid when money allowed, and lusted after the Shark .45 and the Shark .15 while growing up. I finally found a Shark.45 kit and copied it to build my first one and followed it up 10 years later with another one that I called Jaws-2. The Jecto kit is just a bit smaller than Lew's original airplane, and I got to view mine next to his at VSC one year. Another example of a kit manufacturer altering a design to get a model to fit into a standard box! It took a few more years to find a profile Shark.15 kit and was really disappointed in how small it was. I, for reasons unknown thought it would be closer to a .35 sized airplane. So to have what I wanted, I took a standard SIG Twister kit and kit bashed into my desired Shark .35 profile I had always wanted. It was built using all the kit wood, with the Fancher modifications employed on it and extra wood was added to give the airplane the desired outline. l was getting ready to draw up some "sharkish" wing tips for the wings, when I grabbed the tip from the Shark.45 kit and held it up to the wing and it was a perfect fit!! The trailing edge of the tip hung over the trailing edge of the wing, so I just made that blend into the flaps. The finished model came out at 45 ounces, I thing, powered with a FP-40 and then the Brodak .40 when they became available. It still hangs in my garage and is in need of some TLC to the covering and such but is still airworthy.

    I'm glad I got to meet Lew McFarland at an early VSC and we talked about the Shark a lot but never though to ask about the other two. The Dolphin is on my build list just because I love the look, and it's a smallish model that doesn't use up a lot of wood to build or room to store when not flying. I have the M.A.N. plans for the Vega, and P-38, and have an Akromaster under construction. Retirement better last a while for me so I can have a crack at all these long awaited projects!!

  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee
AMA 28784
EAA  1038824
AMA 480405 (American Motorcyclist Association)

Offline Air Ministry .

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • ******
  • Posts: 4978
Re: Lew McFarland Designs
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2023, 06:54:46 PM »
Timely ,

Theres a C.A.D. plan of the shark 45 . Thought they mustve fiddled the ribs , as they seemed ' modern thickness '  .
So ere it is . the Umbler , squalo , shark 45 .



Online Guy Markham

  • 24 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Commander
  • *
  • Posts: 139
Re: Lew McFarland Designs
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2023, 07:11:10 PM »
Timely ,

Theres a C.A.D. plan of the shark 45 . Thought they mustve fiddled the ribs , as they seemed ' modern thickness '  .
So ere it is . the Umbler , squalo , shark 45 .


[/q

You are right! the Hobby helpers plans # 1061 mentioned in he American Modeler October 1661 (which featured Lew McFarland"s Shark 45) are not the same as the Jetco Version. I ordered the plan from AMA Plan service (Big mistake) came in parts. Wing section was incomplete and had to take one 1/2 of the good side to be printed and then splice it to the other to be complete. Now I have the original McFarland Shark 45 plan.
You only have to floss the teeth you want to keep!

Offline john e. holliday

  • 24 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 22752
Re: Lew McFarland Designs
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2023, 07:53:41 PM »
I was privaleged to get to a contest in Cincinnatti's Lumpkin Field for a contest while attending a telephone school.   Lew was their and flying the Shark that he flew at the world champs. You had to look close to see where he cut the woing for the trip.  Told him I had a kit and first words out of his mouth was use the kit for a pattern. D>K
John E. "DOC" Holliday
10421 West 56th Terrace
Shawnee, KANSAS  66203
AMA 23530  Have fun as I have and I am still breaking a record.

Offline Dan McEntee

  • 23 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 6824
Re: Lew McFarland Designs
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2023, 11:00:16 PM »
Timely ,

Theres a C.A.D. plan of the shark 45 . Thought they mustve fiddled the ribs , as they seemed ' modern thickness '  .
So ere it is . the Umbler , squalo , shark 45 .


[/q

You are right! the Hobby helpers plans # 1061 mentioned in he American Modeler October 1661 (which featured Lew McFarland"s Shark 45) are not the same as the Jetco Version. I ordered the plan from AMA Plan service (Big mistake) came in parts. Wing section was incomplete and had to take one 1/2 of the good side to be printed and then splice it to the other to be complete. Now I have the original McFarland Shark 45 plan.

   Guy;
   The Jetco Shark.45 is different from Lew's models, and if I'm remembering correctly, even between each of Lew's airplanes there were some differences. If you use the Jetco plans, you need kit parts to make templates for ribs , formers and such. One knock on the kit was they engineered it so that you had to glue several die cut parts together to makes thick enough blocks for certain parts of the construction, and all that glue adds up t excess weight. I substitued light blocks at those places. I think the year that I got to meet him, RSM had come out with their kit and it was supposed to be closer to Lew's original than anything else. Lew's model was originally called "The Humbler", as a little jab at George Aldrich's "Nobler", and the Ruffy was in answer to the Veco "Smoothie." Charlie Reeves had a set of hand drawn plans for the Humbler and I have been begging him for years to let me borrow those to copy!! I will have to check my files but I don't think I have run across the original Hobby Helper plan for the Shark. I have been collecting the original plan sets from the magazines for years and have quite a few but it's time to do a new inventory after several recent acquisitions. Hobby Helpers plans were almost always in several two sided sheets, or plates, sometimes as many as 8,  unless the models were small enough to few enough to fit on the two sides of a single sheet of paper. Paper doesn't grow on trees, ya know!! If you got a batch from some estate or something and a sheet was missing, that screws you up in several ways!! There have been some of these that have been redrawn onto one sheet and cleaned up for accuracy. I think you will find that the Shark .45 will fly very well for you with good power up front. I used the later ST. G.51 and many have used ST.60's I've built two, and i think I may do one more in an effort to get one under that magic 60 ounce weight!! I almost made it with Jaw-@ as it came it at 62 ounces I think. The advantage of using the St.51 is that you don't have to do any special modifications to get a 7 or 8 ounce tank inside if you use a .60. I used 5.5 and 6 ounce tanks and it was still pretty cozy in the tank/engine compartment!
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee
AMA 28784
EAA  1038824
AMA 480405 (American Motorcyclist Association)

Offline Jim Rhoades

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Lieutenant
  • ***
  • Posts: 124
Re: Lew McFarland Designs
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2023, 04:21:59 PM »
     In response to Air Ministry's comment on the airfoil possibly being fiddled with, that is not the case here.  I have built a Jetco Shark 45 and have a set of the magazine plans and a print of the Humbler also.  That modern thickness airfoil on the plan is really as it was.  That is a big reason that the Shark was, and is a very good flying model.  If you also notice the stab and elevator are also quite large for the era it was designed in.  As noted before there are some minor differences in each of the plans.  The stab and elevator on the Humbler, for instance, is noticeably different from the others and the kit has a few minor changes to suit kitting it.
     The kit Shark I built in the mid 60's was powered by an OS Max 49 and weighed 56 -57 oz.  Yes I think I did replace the L E sheeting but for the most part the rest was all kit wood.  The OS 49 ran pretty well but had a rather raspy exhaust sound.  I feel that the Shark 45 is definitely one of the best flying Classic era stunt models.  The nose is fairly long so you need to try to use a light engine with a muffler or you will be adding tail weight.  I think one could build one to 53 or 54 oz and use a L A 46 with a light  (tongue) muffler and be absolutely tickled with the performance.

Jim Rhoades

I fly at 4500 ft elev, so that is why I feel so much that light weight is so important.  However a heavy engine compounds the weight issue.  I have seen several PA 60 powered Sharks fly well at 60+ oz but the need the power.
     
« Last Edit: January 22, 2023, 04:40:52 PM by Jim Rhoades »

Offline Steve_Pollock

  • 2019 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Commander
  • *
  • Posts: 252
Re: Lew McFarland Designs
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2023, 06:17:40 PM »
He also did an Acromaster, designed to be suitable for both CL and RC.

Offline Air Ministry .

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • ******
  • Posts: 4978
Re: Lew McFarland Designs
« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2023, 06:59:48 PM »
Was just wondering , Id seen on the computer SOMEWHERE a two sheet ? plan with ALL the Wing Ribs shown , and thought they were meaty rather than the thin 18% ? youd perhaps expect from that era .

Offline Dan McEntee

  • 23 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 6824
Re: Lew McFarland Designs
« Reply #8 on: January 22, 2023, 09:07:33 PM »
He also did an Acromaster, designed to be suitable for both CL and RC.

      I've been "working" on one of those for for several years and mentioned it at the end of my original post. I have talked with Kenny Stevens about it, as he used to fly with Lew a lot during that time. He told me that Lew would work and work with that model, and trimmed the heck out of it, but then when contest time came around he would fall back to his trusty Shark!! I think it may benefit from a bit more power than the ST.46 could put out, and I'm planning on a ST.51 for mine. This coming year if I stick to my plan. I have been a fan of the real airplane since I saw it at a local airshow as a kid, flown by Charlie Hilliard. Lew really captured the real airplane well as a stunt model.
    Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

   
AMA 28784
EAA  1038824
AMA 480405 (American Motorcyclist Association)

Offline Pat Johnston

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Commander
  • ****
  • Posts: 373
Re: Lew McFarland Designs
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2023, 06:57:57 PM »
I’ve drawn both the Shark 35 and Shark 45, which are used by RSM for their kits. The last “45” I built has a Magnum 53 and weighed 52 ounces. Needless to say it flew well. I’m flying a Shark 35 now on electric and it is fun.
My Shark 402 ( kitted by Brodak) was designed by inspiration of Lews designs. The Shark 35/45 has been my favorite design since the late 60’s.
Pat Johnston
Idaho Skunk Works


Advertise Here
 


Advertise Here