First of all I'd like to say Hi to everyone. I'm new to the forum. I've got an interesting background in aviation...both model and full scale. I took 5 almost 6 years away from aircraft for the most part due to an accident in wich I lost the majority of my vision. I completely lost vision in my right eye, and lost about half the field in my good eye with the remaining field's acuity being slightly worse than 20-200. The legal limit for blindness. So, yes I can see...just not well. =0) I won't be flying my models, yes I miss it a great deal. However, I went from a very well paying career to making less than 10k a year overnight. I've decided to start designing aircraft again. It's something I love to do, and it's something I'm really talented at doing. So in the future you have the following to look forward to from me.

I'm starting a company called Blindnut Aviation (sorry for the corny pun...it just seemed to fit). I will be designing and kitting giant scale aircraft. I am starting with a 50% scale M1 Midget Mustang. It will hopefully be in kit form in time for the building season to start. It will feature a fiberglass/epoxy carbon reinforced fuselage with lite ply formers, a wingspan of 111", a length of 98.5", aluminum landing gear (optional CF gear will be made available), and I am working on a scale spinner that will be included in the kit. The spinner will be 8" diameter at the backplate and 9" tall or long. The aircraft will be able to support a wide range of engines. The proof of concept model will employ a DLE 222cc 4 cylinder 21.5 HP monster. It will swing a 28" diameter scale prop with 3 blades. I'm looking to nail the 200 MPH mark off the building board. The plane will also feature foam core sheeted wings and stabs. I'm trying to keep the dry weight of the aircraft under 30 lbs. The engine I am using produces over 200 lbs of thrust. It should be an impressive thing to see fly.

I look forward to hearing from you all and will start a build thread soon. I will post pictures of the entire process from making the plugs for the mold all the way to the first flight of the airplane. Wish me luck and I look forward to being a member of the FG forum.

Matt Compton
Portland, OR

welcome to flyinggiants matt.it,s to bad you lost your sight and can,t fly no more,but at least you will still be in the hobby .can,t wait to see some of your pics in your build.marc

Welcome to FG! Sounds like a neet plane! Good luck with everything! I'll be following your thread.

Welcome to Flying Giants Matt. I look forward to following your build. I built a couple of Midget Mustangs back in the 80s. They were scratch built, with a wingspan of about 79" as I recall. One had a O.S. 91 Surpass, and the other had a O.S. 120 Surpass. Both had flaps and retracts. They were a lot of fun. I still have the one with the 91.
Good luck with your endeavor.

Welcome Matt. I wish you the best for your Blindnut Aviation and good luck on your
M1 project. You are a good example of how to keep going trough the difficulties in life.
That build thread will be great.
Alfred.

Thank you for all the words of encouragement. I hope my picture taking ability is up to par...=0) Blind guy with a camera...makes me smile.

Have a good day all!

Matt Compton

Good luck on the new venture Matt! It is great to see more folks interested in building!!!!

Best of luck with this Matt. I hope you do well.

Did you get it done?

Originally Posted by Micah Lindstrom

Did you get it done?

His last FG activity was almost 4 years ago.
I have no idea what happened to him.
Maybe someone knows.

His plane sounded like it would have been a beast... Too bad if something kept him from it....health or what not.