AB Models was founded in 1989 when the demand for my power scale soarer, the "Impala" (Aermacchi MB-326), grew in Cape Town, South Africa. The prototype was built a year before and still exits today, it belongs to Dietmar Wesemann. The first ready-to-fly Impala was built in August 1989 and was sold to Selwyn Sechi. This model still exits today and is now owned by Charlie Blakemore. Some modelers who bought ready to fly Impalas and kits in the early 90's, and who are still active on the slope today, are Andre Wagner(Captain), Martin Venn, Mark Siegelberg, Marc Wolffe and Alex Selkirk.

My next design was a semi scale Bae Hawk, based on the same size as the popular "Rivington Hawk" of about 80cm. Plenty of combat was undertaken with this popular little flyer and none exits today, as it seems fiberglass is not very durable! Next, I came up with the first combat slope model on Signal Hill, a Sabre f-86 of about 1 meter wingspan. The fuselage was made from polystyrene and masking tape and the wings were covered with cardboard, making them very durable. Only 20 was built. These models were used for fun combat flying. Andy Imrie was the last person to own one.

Next came another semi scale Hawk design of 1 meter, slightly bigger than the first design and less sensitive on the sticks, making it more popular. The tooling still exits but this model is not produced anymore. It has been replaced by the more scale and smaller A. Shmidt designed hawk.

The next design became very popular, the 'Toucan'. Today's Toucan has a redesigned fuselage with the original wing, but different wings are available as an option. After this design, slope soaring on Signal Hill grew even more popular and it was somewhere in 1991 that Dietmar Wesemann and myself started talking about forming a club, the Atlantic Flying Club. It was necessary to control the flying on Signal Hill due to the growing number of paragliders joining us in the North Westerlys.

Next on the drawing board was a powered propeller version of the Impala. It had a redesigned wing and was mainly handlaunched. These kits were sold in the Johannesburg area. The prototype still exits today and so does Martin Venn's Impala, which was built in 1993. Production rights of this Impala kit was sold to a Bloemfontein based manufacturer in 1993.

Next came a smaller version of the Toucan, the Lavi. It was designed at the same time as the the 'big Toucan' and is very similar in lay out, except for the size. It had a 1.3 m wing span. The next kit was based on the original combat Sabre f-86, except it is bigger and has a standard glass fuselage and foam veneered wings. It has a 1.2 m wing span and is similar in scale as the Impala.

Some non commercial designs, I came up with, was the 2.2 m B-52. Construction was foam and veneer, for both fuselage and wing. It flew in surprisingly little lift for it's size and weight. It had fiberglass nacelles that could be knocked off in a landing. The big Impala of 2 m was of very simple design, the foam fuselage was covered in glass and the wing with cold glue and veneer. Martin Venn's Impala was done in the same way . He eventually made a kit of the same size and fitted his with a turbine.

My next design was the "Big Hawk". She stands in at 2.7 m and the wing at 2.8 meters and weighs 15 kg. The design was drawn on brown paper and about 20 templates was cut from card board for the fuselage and wing. The fuselage was cut in 7 sections and simply glued together and then covered in glass. Only 2 was built, Martin Venn owns the other one. What's next?......Keep an eye on the Models link for the latest designs and projects.