History

STEELHEAD PRODUCTS started out in 1991 designing sailplanes and small fuel powered craft. These were mostly balsa rib and Monokote aircraft, but we experimented with fiberglass fuselages and fiberglass reinforcement of our earlier designs.

The fiberglass techniques and materials knowledge came from several years of repairing surfboards and fishing equipment. The foams used for surfboards and other water sporting equipment are similar to the foams we use today on our aircraft, and many of the tools are the same.

In 1991, foam based model aircraft were made from white styrene beaded foam, and were often available only in a molded form. They were very cheap, flimsy, and occasionally only lasted a few days worth of flying. The few companies who sold foam wings charged too much, and only had a narrow selection of airfoils. Most of the airfoils were not actual airfoils based on what we know today, but more on the idea that "any airfoil flies"

As pilots, we purchased several of the available foam designs and the various manufactured foam wings. We were not happy with any of them. Most were designed to be sheeted with balsa which meant that most foam based wings were expensive to build- and took a lot of time to lay up correctly.

In 1994, Our local club, the REDWOOD SOARING ASSOCIATION, had a contest. The club designed a simple radio control slope soarer made from PINK FOAMULAR- The FLOYD- The design was simplicity, the materials inexpensive, and they designed a contest around it. The design was excellent, and our club started manufacturing them.

The FLOYD proved to be a huge success, and with the advent of foamie COMBAT, there was only one other plane at the time of low cost that flew well, but it was made of white foam, and it broke easily. The FLOYD brought forth a new era in Radio Control airplanes. The Foamie aircraft was invented. It's price allowed anyone to try foam aircraft without worrying about time investment. People began using a FLOYD to test new flying sites and even to try out new ideas and avenues of soaring such as Dynamic Soaring.

The ideas and materials of the FLOYD sprouted new companies and new aircraft around the nation, some even copying the planform. The design was public knowledge, with a contest and construction article printed in MODEL AVIATION magazine- and so started the Era!

Armed with this new foam material, Steelhead Products began creating our own designs and post them for others to use. The company was building foam cutting equipment and making custom templates. We designed 60" pylon racers with foam wings and fiberglass fuselages for the new 60" class slope racing associations. After a year or two of designing and manufacturing racers and aerobatic aircraft, we began manufacturing the club airplane. That was also when we went on the INTERNET with a simple website.

It was then the club decided it was time for another contest. This one would be the second duration record attempt our club was a part of. Earlier, club member Jess Walls broke a duration record of 12 hours. The club wanted to see how many club members could hold records at one time.

Dean Thomas, Steelheadproducts.com flew his creation, the PANTHER.
Into the night and 11.5 hours after starting, Dean held a record.

The design worked perfectly. During the event, this foam, balsa and tape covered foamie aircraft survived gale force winds, freezing temperatures, direct punishing sunlight and periods of heavy rain (the typical springtime conditions of Humboldt County, CA) without any failures. We believe the PANTHER is the first Foamy type aircraft to be used in a National Record. After the Record event, we set forth to manufacture the plane, and now have 3 different versions available.

With the increase in radio control slope pilots, and the newer materials and airfoils, Flying Wing type aircraft were soon introduced. We began flying every flying wing available, and knew we could design one better. We carefully selected an airfoil, and tested several planforms before settling on the best all around Flying Wing we could. This plane is the FLYING VEE. Winning several club combat contests, as well as several in the Bay Area, the FLYING VEE turned some heads. People often asked us how we got the plane to fly faster, turn sharper and recover sooner than their favorite wing design.

When we stepped up production in 1999, we increased our workspace and began working on much larger aircraft as well. Several colleges and private aircraft companies contacted us over the next few years to help them design or manufacture various aircraft components. Many of these components included full size ribs, wings and tail parts for human carrying aircraft such as rigid wing hang gliders and ultra-light aircraft.

The year 2000 was exciting. New companies and new foam based aircraft brought out new ideas. New designs and ideas were tested and marketed by hundreds of companies. During the next three years, we designed many aircraft. There are at least 8 new aircraft waiting to be placed on this web site in the near future that was designed during this time.

In 2002, the shop space was increased to 600 square feet. We now posessed CNC foam cutting equipment and specialty tools at our disposal. Storage for hundreds of sheets of foam and area for back stock are now available.

Over the next 2 years, we really began designing aircraft for various scientific and photographic purposes. Contracts with government and private organizations brought forth some incredible planes designed to complete their tasks flawlessly. Payloads of cameras and radios to atmospheric testing equipments and whatever else anyone needed to carry were designed in. These were very serious designs, for very serious payloads. We enjoy working on both ends of the aeronautical spectrum- inexpensive hobby type sport planes to specialty contracted high end scientific research aircraft and human carrying planes.

In 2003, the EUREKA sloper and the BLITZ 400 were introduced to the public and they have becomea mainstay of our product line. Beta testing and prototyping of these planes enlisted the help of over 50 radio control enthusiasts from around the world. No plane was released until the development was completed, and final versions had been tested. These two planes are becoming widely popular in a flooded market of various aircraft companies and new foam cutters.

We released the modification of the PANTHER to a Speed 400 Electric PANTHER. The PANTHER continues to be a great workhorse and an excellent plane to teach new pilots as well as experienced pilots to fly- in 3 versions.

During the summer of 2003, we decided it was time to put some well deserved energy back into the web site. It was hard to set aside time for the web site when we were doing so much design and manufacturing work, but we found it. We enlisted the help of two friends to do some of the artwork and formatting of this site. A very busy Christmas season held off the release of the web site until February.

Many new aircraft designs have been thought up, and a few are found today on the web site. These were designed to be simple and fun. The goal of STEELHEADPRODUCTS is to design and produce planes that are low in cost, durable in use and fun to fly. All new designs will conform to these standards.

Today, we still come up with new and exciting aircraft and continue to thank customers for their continuous stream of ideas and needs. We have always and will continue to work very closely with the customer to ensure they are getting just what they want.

We are looking forward to 2009!

Thank You!