My Dad and brother are pretty into flying/soaring and my Dad dreams of building his own kit plane during his retirement. So, a few months ago, he called and said he'd like to build a pedal plane (like an old-fashioned pedal car) for the boys as practice (of course!) for building his own real plane some day. He sent me a link to the company website and asked which plane I thought they'd like. I showed Punk the pictures and he pointed to each one and said, "I like dat one....I like dat one....I like dat one." His final synopsis: "I like aw dem." So my dad chose the TopCat--modeled after Tom Cruise's plane in Top Gun--a good blend of easy-for-the-first-time-plane-builder and the sheer cool factor. Well, Dad just finished building it and sent me these photos--check it out!

In case you can't read it, on the side of the cockpit there, it says:
Pilots: Punk - Pence
Crew Chief: Grandpa


The nose-cone is half a football that Dad painstakingly "colored" with a black Sharpee! That sounds like a lot of work. I hope he got a good buzz from it!

Two more football halves will go in the rear bulkhead (those red circles) for the jet engine tailcones (yes this is meaningless to me too).

Are we gonna be the most popular house in the neighborhood or what?! My dad "test-piloted" it on the 4 and 6 yo neighbors. They didn't want him to take it back home!

Grandpa and Uncle Matt are planning to drive out here with it the week after Easter! We can't wait to see them and to try it out! Look out world!