By Stan Alexander [email protected]

As seen in the January 2023 issue of Model Aviation.

The King Air taxis back to the pit area after another successful flight in Team Scale during the 2017 Nats.

WHEN YOU ATTEND any Scale contest, there are always a few models that stand out in the crowd. Sometimes it’s a model of an airplane you’ve never seen, while other times, the model’s craftsmanship just stands out among the rest. While you walk the flightline, you sometimes just say, "Wow!"

This month’s model meets both criteria and is a true standout of fantastic workmanship: Mike Barbee’s Beechcraft King Air or, as the U.S. Navy calls it, the T-44A or C90. For multiengine aircraft, electrics are often the way to go for reliability.

The fiberglass airframe molds were laid up by Bob Patton. Bob has designed numerous successful aircraft in the past, including many of the Beechcraft T-34 and Scottish Aviation Bulldog models you’ve seen in the last 12 years or so.

Mike made several modifications and changed the powerplants from gas to electric. He started with retract parts from Bob, as well as Robart Mfg. He then added components to it, making modifications along the way.

Mike also changed some of the structure in the nacelles to accommodate the electric motors versus gas engines. By changing the mounts and setup to electric, Mike removed a lot of weight near the front of the nacelles, which helped with the balance. Changing from a DA-50 engine to electric motors and mounts brought the weight down near the front of the nacelles by approximately 2 pounds each.

Watching others fly 50-pound helicopters with similar battery and ESC setups, Mike did the calculations and reasoned that he could fly this large twin with German Kontronik KSG 4:1 geared motors and a Kontronik Kosmik 200 HV 200-amp ESC for each. Horizon Hobby’s Gary Wright helped with the gearing of the motors. Each motor has its own complete setup with batteries and an ESC and can be controlled separately from the transmitter.

Mike discussed the propeller sizes with Brock Shannon from Horizon Hobby and they came up with adjustable 21.5 × 16 three-blade Kontronik propellers. When turned on, the propellers never spin at less than 400 rpm and are adjustable from the ground. That gives a beautiful "spin" to the propellers when the aircraft comes in for landing.

The four batteries for each motor are 5,000 mAh six-cell LiPos with two wired in parallel and two wired in series, giving Mike 44 volts of power for each. The batteries for the motors are mounted in the leading edge of the wing halves and are accessible from the scale cowling panels. Three flight batteries mounted in the nose of the model power all of the control surfaces and are accessible by scale panels. Another battery controls the air retracts and light system in the model. Mike said that he uses a bavarianDEMON Cortex three-axis gyro to keep the model happy in flight, but stated that it flies like a trainer.

While at the U.S. Scale Masters, another modeler, Brian Shannon, talked to Mike about the T-34 he was flying at that contest. Mike mentioned the King Air and that he had one photo of a U.S. Navy King Air but that was all. Brian flew that very airplane and said it was the Heritage paint scheme and was flown at air shows at that time. He sent Mike plenty of photos inside and out of the full-scale King Air that he wanted to finish and model. Under the designations T-44A/C90, this Beechcraft served the U.S. Navy well. Mike used these photos and three-views to document the airframe.

Mike is a fast builder, and he had the model finished in approximately two years. His good friend, Frank Noll, has flown the model to several first-place finishes in Team Scale. In fact, they have won the last five RC Scale Nats in Team Scale with the King Air, as well as four successive Team events at Top Gun, so it is definitely a proven winner in any Scale competition in the US. Mike has also flown the Bob Pattondesigned T-34B to a first-place finish in the Expert class at Top Gun.

Mike Barbee (L) and Frank Noll won the 2018 AMA Nats in Team Scale (again) with the King Air!

A scale fuselage panel allows access to the batteries for the landing gear and lights in the nose. Cowling panels are for access to the motor batteries.

FAI F4 Scale Team Selection

There will be an FAI F4 Scale Team Selection at the 2023 AMA Scale Nats, July 6-9. Flights will be flown on Friday through Sunday. The probable location of the 2024 FAI F4 World Championships for Scale Model Aircraft is Romania, which has an excellent site and facility.

For more information, check out the National Association of Scale Aeromodelers (NASA) website for updates.

Fair skies and tailwinds.

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