It was a Gee Bee R-2 and I was in way over my head, but I figured it out somehow and even enjoyed the challenge. I decided to build more, just because, and rather than repeat the same process, I decided to embrace the challenge by ditching the kits and started designing my own custom planes. Turns out, it's much more satisfying to build something totally unique, something that no one else has, than to build the same thing that everyone else has. So my collection grew, and in 2017 a friend working for the Experimental Aircraft Association asked if I would be willing to haul my growing collection to Oshkosh AirVenture the following year to try and set an unofficial world record for the largest parade of pedal powered airplanes. I agreed, and "PedalVenture" was born. As a huge bonus, the EAA planned to keep the planes on display in their museum. That is, until Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman donated his personal items to the museum that now occupy the exhibit space planned for my collection. Getting bumped was a huge disappointment, but what can I say when it's to make room for a guy that's been around the moon? AirVenture 2019 saw the second annual PedalVenture grow into an attempt at an official Guinness World Record and another agreement to display my planes in the Oshkosh museum, but disappointment came again, and in two's this time. While we had enough planes participate in our parade, 56 in all, but the kids weren't able to maintain the tight formation required by the strict Guinness rules, and the museum was again unable to display my collection. As all of this parade planning was going on, I continued building custom pedal planes until my basement storage was bursting. Rather than try for a third promise of exhibit space from EAA, I decided it was time to offer some planes up for sale. My inventory started to diminish almost immediately and once word spread that I was selling my custom builds, I started getting the question, "Can you build me a ______ pedal plane?" And so "Custom Pedal Planes" came to be. If you look at some of the examples of my work on this page, you'll see several things:
1. I specialize in custom air racers of all kinds...Golden Age, Reno past and present, etc. I've also branched out and built a WWII Mustang, J-3 Cub and a tricked-out two-seat Beech 18 now and then too.
2. While the planes are not a scale model, I'll go to extreme efforts to make them as accurate as possible. I believe this is what sets my builds apart from the others, attention to details!
3. Researching a subject can take 6-9 months to gather enough documentation to have exterior details such as paint schemes and decals recreated. Building time typically takes roughly 5 months. When possible, I like to have two projects in the research stage and two in the build stage at the same time since each step is only marginally more time consuming when a second subject is added. Right now I have several completed planes available immediately. If you have a specific plane in mind that you would like me to build, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss it due to the lead time required to design and create a custom pedal plane. I currently have a short waiting list. I would be happy to explain the process and answer any questions you might have. Thank you,
Rob Peterson
