One more shot of mine right after the paint shop.  She looks a little rougher now after a couple of hundred flights but is still a blast to fly.  She lives in my trunk and gets flown alot.

Hah—I knew that you would jump!  That’s good ‘cuz now I don’t have to feel guilty about free laser time.  Drew just signed up to build one, too.

Just to sweeten the pot for anyone else, I can tell you a little about the Shumate designs.  My son Drew and I each built a Shumate T38 early last year.  The boy was 11 at the time and he had no problem tackling this project with just a little guidance.

We built our Talons from Dollar Tree foam poster board.  That means that the airframes cost about $5 each including the CF wing stiffener.  What can I say—I’m a tightwad.

These things scream, though.  We run 2200kV motors on 3S for unlimited vertical.  But the best part is that they are nimble enough fly on a softball field and they will slow to a walk.  In fact, they are so easy to fly that Drew maidened his by himself.

I expect the Polaris to perform similarly, but it will have the ability to scoot off of the grass/water/snow.  Should be fun.

Here is a pic of our Talons right after Drew and I knocked out back to back maidens.

Hey fellas,

I was challenged the other night at the Board Meeting to start posting here on our forum.  I gave it some thought and I’ve come up with a plan that might be kind of fun.

I’m going to build a 29” WS (note--previously I said 38", but that is the length) foamie water plane called a Polaris.  It was designed by Steve Shumate as a simple foam knockoff of the Northstar.  Here’s a link to Steve’s build thread on RCGroups:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=922465&highlight=jetset44

Judging from the video on the build thread, this thing is going to rock!  Steve claims that his has a useful speed range between 10 and 70mph.

You can find the plan free online.  They build up really fast and the airframe is so cheap to build that it is practically free.  They are inexpensive to outfit, too.  I’m planning on having mine ready in time for the first Float Fly in May.

So here’s the trick:  if a couple of guys are inspired to build one of these then I’ll prepare the cut files so that Red can cut them for us.  Red has already generously agreed to do so.  

Any takers?  Here’s a photo of the finished Polaris: