Cousin John's Amazing RC Jets

John's latest project - his A-10 Thunderbolt
affectionately known as the 'Warthog' tank-killer.

It's nine ft long with two 20lb+ turbines.
It weighs about 50 pounds fully loaded.

In addition to being a fine rocket modeler, John has another silly little pastime making model airplanes. Sure, they fly, and they make a substantial amount of noise, but... oh the heck with it. These babies are impressive no matter what anybody says. What John is able to make out of fiberglass is unbelievable.

Just to avoid any confusion, NONE OF THESE PLANES COMES FROM A KIT! John builds them from a picture in a magazine, practically. He carves them from foam, creates the molds, then casts the parts. To those of us who have worked a little bit with fiberglass, this seems just shy of creating the universe in six days.

From left to right: Saab JAS-39, MiG-21, X-3, TT-1 Pinto.

John with his 12-foot Boeing 757. The pilot and copilot are Chuck Norris and Dan Akroyd action figures.

John with his MIG-21.
Nice picnic table.

Miller Genuine Draft Saab Drakken. The decals were made from 35mm photos John took of the TV commercial.

21 foot long Concorde. John was hired by the company that makes the jet engines to build this behemoth.

Concorde nose

Concorde wing mold in his garage

All the fiberglass pieces of the Concorde

F-8 Crusader