About your RCScratchbuilders.com team

Dave Fuller - Editor, Webmaster

Dave started out with a love for planes at an early age, cutting out airplane shapes from paper as early as age 3, and (as his mother tells it) without drawing a plane first! Graduating to paper airplanes was natural, but it wasn't until his early teens that he first attempted radio controlled planes. Two channel radio and Cox .049 powered ultralight plane in hand, he learned very quickly the meaning of "If you fly r/c planes, you will crash them!" and crash that plane he did. Over and over until it was unrepairable.

Undaunted, a Cox .049 powered Ace High Mark II sailplane was purchased and built, but sadly, never flown. Radio controlled off road cars became the norm for quite some time, to learn control reversal and other basics of the hobby. Several hovercraft were built (from scratch, of course!) in the interim as well. Then, with the advent of less expensive equipment and lighter batteries, the game changed.

In early 2006, Dave converted a 54" wingspan Toy's R Us foam glider using a GWS EPS 350 geared motor unit, a NiMh battery and a simple 3 channel radio. Success! The scratchbuilding hasn't let up yet from then on. Since then he has built many scratchbuild planes, both from others designs as well as his own, including a Wicked Witch, a flying pig, and a foam - and later balsa - J1-31 Despretz Flash canard plane, all from scratch! (Check out his blog at RCGroups.com.) Since there was no centralized website dedicated solely for scratchbuilders interests and needs, he decided - along with Donald Ferguson (see below) - to start a website where scratchbuilders of all stripes can learn from others and find information and plans more easily - both for foam and balsa and other construction materials.

Dave works in sales and also does design engineering for a custom converting company. His other interests include writing and playing music (guitar, bass and piano), astronomy, community theater and spending time with his wife and two daughters. He and his family live about an hour south of Chicago.

Donald Ferguson - Assistant Editor

Donald's love of airplanes began early in his life. His grandfather, father, two uncles (later, a sister and a brother) were all pilots, flying in the great state of Alaska. Growing up with pilots in his family, the move to flying radio controlled airplanes would prove an easy one.

Donald has been involved with this hobby since 2004, initially learning to fly with a factory-made foamie called the Tipsy. He used this plane as a template to design a plane himself, as building things with his hands was something he always enjoyed. It flew well, but not understanding why it flew well (after some of his other designs didn't), he went in search of answers.

Learning from many builders and fliers at rcgroups.com, in the scratchbuilders forum, the missing info was acquired, and Donad's designs began to be more successful, and subsequently, built and flown by other people. This is a hobby which he has always wanted to a part of since he was a little boy, and now shares it with a few of his young nephews.

Donald lives with his wife and two daughters in Kotzebue, Alaska. He is an Inupiaq Eskimo, an ivory carver, a firearms enthusiest, a Patriots fan, and for the past three years, works nights at alcohol recovery center.

Thanks for your interest in RCScratchbuilders.com - we are seeking to supplement the many sites available across the internet for scratchbuilders. Since we have very little advertising listed on this site (that's intentional - we don't want the appearance of any bias towards or against any company or individuals), if you find this site useful and helpful, please consider making a donation to us. All our efforts are 100% volunteer at this time, so any donation you can offer is immensely appreciated.

Keep the skies alive with new and amazing flying machines - it's the best way to build on the original dream of Wilbur and Orville.