My name is Stoycho Nikolaev, founder of Ston Models and creator of the Shaman series.

By education, I am a mechanical engineer, but by passion and profession I have almost always been a designer of radio-controlled gliders.

My journey in aeromodelling started in childhood.
My first steps were with free-flight models, and I later became a member of the Bulgarian junior national team. Over time my interest naturally moved toward radio-controlled gliders and the technical challenges they offer.

For more than twenty years I worked at NAN Models, where I had the opportunity to contribute to the development of the world-known Explorer series – first in the F3J class and later in F5J.
The Challenger F5J glider was my final development during that period.

Eventually the time came for a new beginning, and I founded Ston Models.

The Wizard project initially served as a platform for exploring new technologies and improving structural and aerodynamic concepts that were later applied to larger gliders. That work soon led to the creation of the Shaman series, into which I have put all the knowledge and experience gathered over decades of working with composite materials and aircraft design.

Developing world-class gliders is what I have always done best – and it is exactly what I will continue to do in the years ahead.

Bulgaria

Ognyan Nikolaev is the youngest member of our team.

His first flights with a small, homemade one-meter DLG happened when he was just six years old. Even at that age he was already capable of flying a full-size F3J glider.

Later he stepped away from aeromodelling to focus on training and competitions in artistic gymnastics.
Recently, however, his passion for flying returned.

Ogi is not driven by competitions results or podium finishes. What truly excited him is the joy of flying itself. He plays an invaluable role during testing, helping explore the limits of our models in real flying conditions.

He enjoys pushing his Shaman to its boundaries – looping, flying inverted and experimenting with everything that comes to mind.

For Ogi, flying is simply pure fun.

Austria

We are pleased to welcome Christian Brandner to out team for the 2026 season

Christian became Junior World Champion in 2022 and Junior Vice Champion in 2023, established himself as one of the most promising young pilots in the sport.

He has already moved to the senior category, and we are excited to see him competing with our models.

We hope that our gliders will support him in achieving many more successes in the years ahead.