After seeing a C-130 at AirVenture in 2019, Marymoor, WA RC Club members Bryan Connelly, Hailin Truman, EAA 1299650, and Ian Morrow, were inspired to begin their dream project of building and flying the largest RC ever flown at the Marymoor Field.
“About a week or two before Oshkosh, we had this big group chat for the whole Marymoor Field and someone posted this new plane kit that came out, I think it was an eight-foot Liberator, and we were like, ‘Oh wow, that’s cool, we should try to build something like that!’” Hailin, 15, said. “So, we were already thinking about doing a large project, and then going to Oshkosh we really started thinking and when we saw the C-130, we thought, that’s we have to do!”
The idea was to build an eight-foot C-130 model RC, but as they started drawing up the plans, building, and adjusting, the RC quickly became larger and larger.
“It ended up turning into a 15-foot plane,” Hailin said. “Originally, it was supposed to be a C-130 and going from scratch with no plans, it kind of just morphed into a C-133. We weren’t going for an exact replica, we just wanted to have that sort of concept.”
Hailin built the airplane with 17-year-old Marymoor member Ian, with the mentorship and guidance of long-time RC builder Bryan.
Ian doesn’t recall where his passion for aviation came from – for as long as he can remember, his head has always been up in the clouds.
“I got really interested in airplanes when I was seven years old,” Ian said. “Zach Sweetser, [President of Marymoor RC Field Club] I think he was 15 at the time, he taught me how to fly RC through the club’s program at Marymoor and I became the youngest to solo RC out at Marymoor at seven years old.”
Bryan was first introduced to RC in 1983 by his father, who also enjoyed it. It has been his passion ever since, and he has built 76 models to date (including the C-133). Bryan has been involved with Marymoor RC Field for quite some time, and has dedicated himself to sharing his knowledge with young, inspiring enthusiasts at the field.
“I never saw two kids that age stay that dedicated for that long without quitting or asking, ‘When are we going to be done?’” Bryan said.
There is no doubt that the build was a group effort. A common theme among hearing the three talk about the project was the camaraderie. While Bryan gave a lot of credit to Ian and Hailin, it was equally reciprocated.
One of the first aspects of the build that Bryan distinctly remembers is Hailin walking up to his building board with balsa wood and some kite string and drawing a large circleand saying, “I want the airplane fuselage to be this big.”
Having only built smaller RCs, Ian said his favorite part of the project was learning on a larger scale how weight and other design decisions can quickly change the airplane’s handling.
“RC is just a scaled down version of the real thing,” Ian said. “The concepts are the same, and it really gives you a better understanding of how airplanes fly with a lower risk to get into it. It’s really cool to see all the intricate parts, like each of the wing ribs, you can really see on a scale like this how much of an effect it has, and the different types of wings we can put in to make it fly differently. It was just so crazy to see how the weight of the airplane effects how it flies. Bryan taught us how to build insanely light, and on a scale like this, every little bit of weight counts, like the amount of glue that you put on needs to be pretty precise. Every part of the plane was taken into consideration, like how strong we had to build it, and choosing strength over lightness, or lightness over strength. It was a matter of finding the correct center of gravity.”
Bryan said meeting the weight requirement was the biggest challenge.
“Because it’s 15 feet long, the great challenge would be to meet the specifications for AMA, which means they won’t cover you unless airplanes are under 55 pounds,” Bryan said. “Our club has a limit of 45 pounds. So, we had to build something this big, airworthy, and be 43 pounds, which is what we ended up with. Typically, you see airplanes at that size go to 180-350 pounds. So, it was a bit of a challenge, and it was ok if the airplane didn’t quite look like a C-130, so it gave them a license to kind of do whatever they wanted, add in their own designs and ideas of what it should look like.”
Testing the final product
“We had some engineers come from Boeing to take a look at it to give their input on if it would work,” Ian said. “We then had Zach fly the first test. My favorite part of building was not being able to see the true scale while your building until it comes together, because there are so many parts. When you put it together, that moment is cool to see all your hard work pay off. There’s absolutely no way this would have happened without Bryan’s expertise.”
The power of RC
Hailin said that getting involved with RC building and flying was a great first step to navigating the aviation world.
“Before that first day at Marymoor, I had no idea about anything with airplanes,” Hailin said. “The first time I stepped in there, I fell in love with it, every day building it, and working on it, and flying it, and understanding more and more about what little details affect how the plane flies or how the plane is shaped can change the weight.”
Building and flying RCs at Marymoor has given Hailin the encouragement and inspiration to build full-scale airplanes.
“EAA has been a great resource,” Hailin said. “I wanted to build an airplane, and so I did some research and I found out about EAA. I joined and found a chapter, and I went to a couple meetings, met a bunch of people who were really nice and showed me where to start and how EAA works, and the community is really, really cool. Someone at the chapter pointed me to one of his friends who has built a similar plane to the Mini-Max that I was interested in building and he gave me his contact information and I reached out to him and we went from there.”
Hailin started building the Mini-Max last summer and is hoping to finish up by the end of this year.
Zach said RC is a great way for anyone of any age to explore what may feel like an intimidating industry to get started in, simply because there are many facets and associated costs and knowing where to start can be challenging. “Radio-controlled flying brings a lot of people into the aviation industry and I feel like if we didn’t have it, it would be more difficult to get people involved in the industry especially with that steep up front cost,” Zach said. “But if you can get kids hands-on, scratch building out of popsicle sticks and wax, the RC and model industry is the most direct and effective way through my experience to get youth involved in the industry and spark that passion that may not have known they had. For me, radio-controlled was how I got into aviation around 10 or 11 years old, and that was also through Bryan.”