Phil Oestricher <  > announces:

The Fort Worth PLANESMEN invite all SMALLnet enthusiasts to a Small Steps Fly-In on Saturday, September 23rd at the club field from 8 AM to 1 PM. The usual SMALL rules apply, and all types of power are appropriate.

Caution: There is no paved runway and the field's surface is somewhat rough. This will be a slightly-organized sport flying session (formal frequency control) with no fees, prizes or raffles. Food, drinks and Porta-Potty facilities will not be available at the field. AMA membership is required.

Directions to field: Take Highway 377 SW from the town of Benbrook (on the SW side of Fort Worth) for about 6 miles to the town of Wheatland. Pass the Highway 1187 intersection (cluster of gas stations there) and proceed about 0.4 miles on 377 and turn LEFT at the clearly-marked indoor gun range. Proceed about 0.3 miles on the Caliche Road and you're there.

For those blessed with GPS, the field's coordinates are: N 32 36' 12", W 97 32' 33". Come on out and enjoy the fellowship of modelers with the same ideas about how "Good things come in small packages".

Point of contact: Phil Oestricher, (817) 244-7486.

Bill Thomas <  > asks:

I need some advice and would like to throw my question out to anyone on the SMALL list who might offer some advice.

Over the last ten years or so I have accumulated almost two shelving units full of model kits. I have come to the realization that even if I live to be 100 years old, I will never have time enough to build them all. That, plus a recent job change which has limited my disposable income has made me decide to try to sell a bunch of these kits which I have lost interest in.

I'm not in a huge hurry, but I will be going through them sometime in the next month and will make a list of the ones I want to sell.

Putting an advertisement in a magazine would be too time-consuming and expensive. I don't belong to a club where I could possibly use a club auction to thin out the "crop". I have been hearing a lot of bad things about on-line services like E-Bay.

Does anyone have any suggestions or experience in doing this sort of thing? I would appreciate advice. Bill Thomas

Joe Papasso <  > wrote:

I just picked up an Ace Pulse Commander R/C system on 27.145 MHz. It is in very good condition, but when hooking it up, I found that the magnetic actuator does not cycle.

The Transmitter and Receiver batteries are new and fully charged. The actuator was tested on another set that I have and worked fine. If I reverse the polarity to the actuator the arm does swing to the other direction.

It seems that the Receiver is not switching the signal properly. Does anyone know any place where I can get this checked out and repaired? Most repair centers will not work on a system this old.

Thank you, Joe Papasso

Al Lidberg <  > inquires:

Can anyone tell me anything about an ARF called the Airstrike? Found some props for it at a local Hobbytown (Awatukee, Arizona -- i.e. way south of Phoenix): propeller diameter about 7.25", pitch about 5-6". I'm really wondering what motor/battery is supplied. Anyhow, the US $1.18 (each) price is nice, and the clerk threw in the spinner (15/16" diameter X 1 3/16" needle nose) free when he couldn't find a price for it.

The back of the prop and the spinner both have a hex-nut shaped opening -- I'm guessing that this gives a positive drive. He did say that he thought the plane was a 'beginners' 4-channel electric model, but that it wasn't really suitable for beginners.

I'm planning a work trip/vacation to Washington DC and Maryland in about a week. Are there any hobby shops that cater to FF or small/slow R/C nearby? Would like to show them some kits, to see if they would consider stocking my stuff. AL

(On-line catalog at < http://members.aol.com/aalmps >.)

Gray <  > submitted:

A quick message to SMALLsters everywhere, to update the wonderfully flattering introduction that my old pal Dereck Woodward gave me in Posting #339.

I can now confirm that I will be starting a new sport modelling column in the British magazine 'RC Model World' as of December 2000. The column will be entitled 'The Sport Channel', and will feature a similar mix of modelling topics to that which Dereck's excellent 'Weekend Pilot' has brought us in the past.

But as Dereck accurately predicted, the column will incorporate broad 'aeromodelling' coverage, and in line with my own interests will include C/L and F/F items.

This then is a plea for material! I intend to keep the virtual community of the 'Small Model Association' well catered for, and would be grateful for good quality colour pics and some descriptive text of what you're currently flying or building. I'll also be running regular and occasional mini-features within the column which will cover such subjects as own-design models (particularly first-time projects), and perhaps profiles of 'all-rounder' modellers who have unusually wide modelling tastes.

A prize will be given at the end of the first year for the best photo evidence of the most eclectic model fleet, e.g. one guy over here flies R/C ducted fans, gas turbines, large scale, small models, slope and thermal plus C/L stunt, combat and scale! That's been one of the more interesting recent contributions, but I'm sure you know better!

We will also be running an item called 'Tales From The Trade', which will feature stories from 'the other side of the counter' from model shops, kit manufacture and trade display flying. Some of the material I already have for this one is highly entertaining! Know any good tales? Please pass them on.

Thanks to SMALLnet for giving me the space to make these announcements. I will keep everyone updated on progress with the column. Please send all contributions to:

Gray,
'The Sport Channel',
c/o RC Model World,
Traplet Publications Ltd,
Traplet House,
Upton-upon-Severn,
Worcestershire,
WR8 OJL,
England.

E-mail correspondence for the column to:
<  >

Thanks, happy flying, and hope to hear from you all soon!

'Gray', Small Model Association, Gloucestershire, England

Steve Morris <  > reports:

I purchased an Enya 06 and what follows is a crude attempt at an engine review. The Enya 0.06 with muffler weighs 4.2 ounces, which is fairly heavy for its size. It has radial and beam mounts built onto the crankcase and looks to be very rugged. The muffler is large and hangs off the back of the engine. It would be difficult to mount this engine in a tightly-cowled model because of the muffler size and location.

The engine cylinder screws into the case (like a Cox) and the head threads onto the cylinder. I used an OS #8 plug and found that a standard NiCad glow battery will not attach due to the small clearance of the cylinder head, so a glow clip must be used instead.

The carb has a large upright throttle arm and has only a high-speed needle. There is an air bleed hole, but no adjustment for it.

I ran the engine on Sig 15% fuel, and after an hour of break-in it turns an APC 7x3 at 14,000 RPM. An APC 7x4 produces just over 11,000 RPM on this engine. For comparison, my Thunder Tiger .074 gets 12,200 on an APC 7x3, so the Enya 06 is more powerful.

The muffler is very effective but does not include a pressure tap. There is a metric-threaded hole for one, so I tapped that to 6-32 and added my own.

The engine runs about 12 minutes on 2 ounces of fuel with normal power settings.

I test-flew the motor in a Rogallo wing 3-channel model I recently built. You can see pictures of the model and its engine at:

< http://www.sirius.com/~mlbco/Rog1.JPG >
< http://www.sirius.com/~mlbco/Rog2.JPG >
< http://www.sirius.com/~mlbco/Rog3.JPG >
< http://www.sirius.com/~mlbco/Rog4.JPG >

Please don't e-mail me asking for plans to this model. It's scratch- built, and you can probably hack one together in 4 hours if you'd like to try a Rogallo. Use an old fuselage with rudder, elevator and motor controls. The wing is made of birch dowels with a 4-mil polyethelene sail taped to them. There is 5 degrees of 'billow' which means the sail nose angle is 10 degrees wider than the frame. (I.e. cut the sail at 110 degrees if the frame is built with a 100 degree nose angle.)

The engine works well, but dies when idling for more than 20 seconds. It appears to load-up because it is too rich. I've bored-out the air bleed hole just under 1/16" diameter, and the idle is much more reliable now. (An adjustable air-bleed would have been nice.)

Overall, this engine is built like a tank, looks like it was designed in 1960, has decent power, is very quiet, and needs work to get it to idle well. I give it a C+.

That's it! Steve Morris

Boris Sverev <  > wrote:

Check out his site! Todd also has a battery/thrust chart associated with the four different gear ratios available.

Boris

Sam Brauer <  > reports:

SMALLnet seems to be a wonderful environment for coincidence.... Some 15 or so years ago I built a Flyline Megowcoupe and powered it with a Golden Bee with throttle and a 6x3 prop. (Yes, now I know about head spacers and bigger props.)

I enjoyed flying the airplane, but the flight duration was relatively short, the tissue kept getting poked full of holes and got saggy, and the glide was pretty lame since I had 6 ounces of radio gear and an all-up weight of over 17 ounces. After a couple of rebuilds (always check for washout!) I hung the airplane up in my folks' basement.

I guess I'm one of the people that's getting bitten by the electric bug, since I pulled the airplane down, carved some holes in the firewall and installed an MTM (Mike's Tiny Models) S-300 with a 5:1 gearbox. Other equipment is a Pixie 7 speed control, an 8 x 3.8 slow flyer prop (what I had handy) an 8-cell 350 mAh nickel metal hydride pack (again, what I had handy: the 6-cell Nicad pack wouldn't lift the airplane), one Cirrus CS-10 servo, one FMA S-80, and an FMA Fortress Micro receiver. All-up weight is now down to 14-15 ounces.

(This is the coincidence part, with Gary Gullikson wondering about what power system to use in Flyline kits.)

The wind was pretty calm last night, so I took the airplane out to the local park. This park has all sorts of folks ranging from kids to lots of motorcyclists and other unsavory looking characters. The first take-off was aborted -- I didn't open the throttle enough and wasted too much runway; but the second attempt proved successful.

A little bit hairy as I sorted things out and dodged obstacles, i.e. trees, power lines, light poles etc. Eventually I got the airplane trimmed out and I calmed down and began enjoying the flight.

The climb is somewhat better than with the glow motor, and the airplane now gets much higher than it ever went before. (Longer duration.) Furthermore, the glide is vastly improved (maybe I moved the CG back?) I wound up overshooting the landing by a couple of hundred feet and had a nice walk.

Anyhow, the airplane flies slowly and majestically, just like it always has, but now I don't have to wipe off the gook. The worst problem is that recharging takes 30 minutes or so and requires pulling off the wing.

Since time is limited when I go flying after work, the solution is simple: bring more airplanes....so I flew my Sopwith Triplane. The Tripe is slightly more maneuverable, has a better rate of climb, flies maybe a touch quicker -- but doesn't glide as well. Needless to say, I had something of an audience -- the most common question was, "How much?"

Future changes to the Megowcoupe include a larger prop (i.e. 9 x 4.7) to see if it'll fly on six cells for more duration. However, it's clear that these geared electric motors do have lots of advantages over glow in terms of ease of use, shorter learning curve, and the ability to swing large props happily.

Now if the some of the big companies would actually sell something in a box with a radio and charger that would work well, (translation: fly like my Megowcoupe) -- then maybe we'd get some more of these folks out there flying instead of watching.

Sam Brauer, Norwalk, Connecticut

Ron Fikes <  > adds:

1/3 AAA 100 mAh NiMH @ $1.62 per cell
single cells
double packs
triple packs

seven-cell packs: 0000000  or   0000
                                                  000

eight-cell packs: 00000000  or   0000
                                                   0000

2/3 AAA 200 mAh NiMH @ $3.24 per cell
double packs or triple packs

Jim Tait <  > asks:

I need advice to get a Cox Venom engine to maximum perfor- mance for Mouse I racing. Thanks, Jim Tait

Denis Wolff <  > complains bitterly:

Our U.K. magazines often mention Starspan, Clearspan etc. Said to be obtainable from FMK. No-one can find FMK. It makes me cross, these chaps blowing their own trumpet, while withholding information -- whilst disseminating waffle. DWW -- U.K.

Scott Winans <  > agrees with Don Garry:

I don't like shelling out a bunch of money for a kit either, and tend to follow the same route as Don. HOWEVER, if you start looking at all of the costs involved in kitting a design in limited numbers, it adds up quickly.

Things like good wood selection, laser-cut parts, CAD drawn plans, the darn packaging (!),... it all adds up. If you don't like their prices you don't have to buy their kit, but take a look at what you might get for your money.

Scott Winans

Don Garry <  > updates us:

Tower Hobbies and Omni Models are now listing the Sig R/C Rascal for the price of $65.95, to be available in late September.

Don Garry