What is your all time favourite planes (top 3 only)

[pmackenzie]

Come on, Pat!!  Hot's Elliptic!!!

It is up there.  We needed the "top 5" list, ala High Fidelity 

(Its all one word BTW, Hotselliptic )

[piker]

I wish I could get my Hi8 video into digital.  Then I could share the awesomeness of the "Hotselliptic" with the "kids" (those newer to the hobby  ).  Of course, as great as that plane was, it was your piloting skills that made it shine.

For you "kids" out there, people like Pat, and Keith Shaw, were building and flying high performance planes with electric power in the 80's and early 90's when most people in the hobby figured electric flight was stupid and useless and was barely useful enough to get one climb to 300 feet with a powered glider.  Most couldn't even do that.  Those who knew how to optimize for electric flight were enjoying spectacular results.  If it wasn't for these guys, electric power for model aircraft use might have died, or at least wouldn't be what it is today.  That was back in the day when good quality BRUSHED motors and electronic speed controls were NEW, and 1200mah to 1400mah Nicads were the power source.  Even with that, specifically, Pat's Hotselliptic would rival the performance of most planes at the field today.  Just with shorter flight times 

[pmackenzie]

I wish I could get my Hi8 video into digital.  Then I could share the awesomeness of the "Hotselliptic" with the "kids" (those newer to the hobby  ).  Of course, as great as that plane was, it was your piloting skills that made it shine.

For you "kids" out there, people like Pat, and Keith Shaw, were building and flying high performance planes with electric power in the 80's and early 90's when most people in the hobby figured electric flight was stupid and useless and was barely useful enough to get one climb to 300 feet with a powered glider.  Most couldn't even do that.  Those who knew how to optimize for electric flight were enjoying spectacular results.  If it wasn't for these guys, electric power for model aircraft use might have died, or at least wouldn't be what it is today.  That was back in the day when good quality BRUSHED motors and electronic speed controls were NEW, and 1200mah to 1400mah Nicads were the power source.  Even with that, specifically, Pat's Hotselliptic would rival the performance of most planes at the field today.  Just with shorter flight times 

At the risk of going off topic, scroll ahead to 36 minutes, and bear in mind this was 1992:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V36iZNy4Rj4

Lots of other interesting stuff on this video, and lots of old friends.

The model is still hanging on my shop wall. Needs a new battery hatch after having the flight pack do an unplanned exit at a Kingston fun fly (about a decade ago?).
With no receiver pack (BEC) I had no control, but somehow after a couple of gliding circuits it ended up landing itself on the runway with no other damage.

As I walked back to the pits Keith Shaw said "Nice Landing" 

[gmcnic]

I wish I could get my Hi8 video into digital.

I think I can help you with that.  If there are not too many, bring them to the next pilots meeting/build class and I will see what we can do.

Graham