SMALLnet post378

...Sorry for the long delay between Postings. I'm getting over a cold that's just hung on and on and ON. That, plus a couple of other "detrimental circumstances", have held up SMALLnet work until now. Luckily, there hasn't been a great deal of input. Maybe the recent evil weather around the country has been responsible for that. But SPRING is on the way! Really!! [JW]

We are planning another SMALL Fly-In here in San Antonio on April 21st. One day only.... You are invited...

The Maumelle Community center, where we had our indoor flying at last year's SMALL meet, is under major modification and is not available for us this year.

Since indoor was so popular in 2000, I have made arrangements with the Central Arkansas Christian (CAC) schools for use of their gym for indoor flying.

The CAC gym is located about five miles from the Maumelle flying field. The building is about 70 feet wide by 95 feet long, and has about a 20 foot clearance below the lights. Bleachers are located along one side, with the other side clear.

The lights are hung by a single conduit to each light, with about 10 feet above the lights in the center. So if you don't mind flying around pylons, it is possible to fly above the level of the lights. Since this is a church-affiliated school, a few restrictions apply: 1. No alcohol. 2. No smoking. 3. Street shoes may not be worn on the gym floor.

...Got that, gang? Less than THREE MONTHS to go! [JW]

San Diego Mid-Winter Meet had some really interesting small models flying. There was a C-130 flying on 4 Kenway geared motors. Flew very steady. Hard to tell the size without a visual reference. Video on my site: < http://members.nbci.com/insandiego/RadioControlProjects.htm >.

Your recent mention of Marvel Mystery Oil causing problems may be the answer to why my PAW's sometimes seem to flip right over and sometimes don't. Every engine gets a liberal dose of Mystery Oil after use and stays gum-free, but now I will reserve it for glow engines only. Thanks for the information; please give more details on this. J.B. Ford

...Marvel Mystery Oil contains anti-oxidation ingredients. That's great to prevent rust -- but in model diesel operation you NEED oxidation, to trigger combustion.

You need oxidation to occur in glow engines too; but in those you have a glowing coil of platinum wire to initiate the action.

Diesels need all the help they can get during starting; but anti-oxidants interfere with ether's ability to ignite at low temperature.

I once worked on a handful of miscellaneous diesels that a friend of mine had collected on his travels, and stored away with liberal amounts of MMO to prevent corrosion.

I couldn't get any of these motors to even POP ! Had to take each one apart and rinse out all trace of the MMO. After that they were fine. All eleven of 'em.

As a check, I recently dosed a PAW .06 with MMO; let it stand a few days; then tried starting it. NO luck. Had to rinse it out with WD-40 (didn't take the motor apart this time) -- and all was well after every trace of red oil had been washed away. [JW]

I have been a subscriber to SMALLnet for a long time. I am a lurker there, as I have never felt I had anything to offer. I have never managed to start and run a gas engine for example, and the only times I have tried electric, I screwed that up too!

( Modeler is charging small electric airplane; cat attacks a wing on a building board; distraction etc... What was that "pop" ? What is that smell? Yikes!!!!! ) A typical scenario for me!

I enjoy SMALLnet a lot; I just haven't figured out many of these models yet. I am pretty good at HLG and catapult glider, but that is about it. I am working at learning more. CO2 is going to be a biggy this year, and our club's Model of the Year event: Old Time Gas powered by CO2 motors -- is promising to be a good one.

I will try to keep you posted on what are good fliers and who is doing well, and how they are doing it.

I have been flying models for about 3 years now after building a few as a child that never flew. As I recall, they were Guillow kits, and I had no one to let me know how to do it. I kept them for years as mementoes.

When I got into this hobby, I decided I would start with one type of model, and learn from there. I picked HLG and catapult glider because they were easy and fast to build. Little did I know!

I persevered, and got to be at least fair to good at trimming and launching them. I agree with you that gliders are a perfect way to start out. If you don't know or understand decalage or the effects of small changes in the rudder and stabilizer, you will, and fast! I have a big box of dead HLG in the basement, the "Crash Club". HLG is still the most fun you can have with the least time spent making the things. And the cheapest.

If you are not possessed with a good arm, (which you HAVE to have to throw HLG) then go the catapult route. I cannot understand why more people don't fly cat gliders at every contest.

I am swamped at the moment with projects, mostly dealing with CO2. I like that a lot.

We have had a lot of R/C fliers come to our indoor meets and some of the outdoor ones. They appear to enjoy the flying, but when pressed to try it or build one of the planes, almost always say, "I could never do that."

I almost forgot to say that I have been so busy with Free Flight airplanes, I have never finished the R/C glider that is down in the basement. I have it just about all done, radio etc., and it is just sitting up on a shelf!

...Right, Capt. Ed -- but look at the difference in wing area. A peanut-sized J-3 (13" maximum span) has only 23 1/2 square inches of wing. A clipped-wing Cub at the same span is 30 square inches. 6 1/2 square inches isn't a lot, granted -- but it represents an increase of over 27%... [JW]

Now that Joe has sent you to the sewing department at K-Mart, pick up some "Bond 527 Multi-Purpose Cement". It is really good old model airplane cement hiding in a white, 3.2 ounce tube. It, too, is reasonably priced. I keep it in a Murine Eye Drop bottle with the spout drilled out for a 2-inch piece of the plastic tubing that comes with Hot Stuff.

A piece of .020 wire makes a good stopper. It is easy to put a drop right where you need it, and since the bottle is clear, you can see when it's time for a refill.

In posting #377, there were notes about the goodies that can be had at Office Depot etc. Another tool for the shop is available. I got mine at Office Max. A hanging postal scale. Has both ounces and grams scales. $1.19. Must get them at the check-out, since the "kids" were buying them to weigh funny tobacco and that white stuff..

Was in K-Mart yesterday. Saw something for the shop which I don't have. Bought one for about $12.00. A remote-controlled AC outlet. With a little control pad like the one for your auto.

Am open for suggestions as to what use I can make of it. Well made by Stanley. Charlie

Finally got around to taking pics of this free-flight design. It was designed and built to fly indoors at the Moffett Field Hangar #1, but we lost that site.

It has a 24" span, 4" chord, powered with an 8-gram motor, two 110 mAh NiMH packs and a U-80 prop from "TakeOff 2000" *. It weighs 1.5 ounces RTF. Fuselage is 1/8" sheet balsa, the wing is tissue-covered over cracked rib construction. The whole thing is given two coats of Nitrate dope.

It is a great flyer (even outdoors if the wind is light) and quick to build. Enlarged, it might make a great small-motor R/C?

I built a LiteStik, modified it, flew it, enjoyed it, sold it. Decided that the motor/gearbox assembly is a great set-up for other slow-fly designs. Bought two more LiteStik's, sold the wings and tails (someone always needs replacements) and put together a couple of my "shapes".

Let your imagination run rampant -- that's what this hobby is all about (well, for me anyway).

Well, my very good "old friend", of sixty some years, (JW) has done it again. I received my copy of his newest endeavor, the "SMALLnet Postings CD" from #1 to # 376 yesterday, and it is fantastic.

It gives a late-comer to the SMALLnet like me a chance to catch up on the past Postings.

...Thanks, Zach! Another SMALLster inquired about the contents of the SMALLnet CD, and just for the heck of it I worked out what that would amount to in "hard copy".

If all the Postings were to be typed up single-spaced on letter-size paper, one-inch margins all around -- they'd make a pile close to ONE FOOT TALL. That's a LOT of information content! [JW]

About the Free Flight model called the TOMBOY, whose full-size plans were included with the November 1950 issue of Aeromodeller:

My Robart incidence meter gathers dust on the wall because it is too heavy for many small models. But looking over my files I saw a model construction article by Pete Mathis in the February, 1999 issue of Flying Models. On the plan drawing he gives details for constructing a lightweight incidence meter of balsa sticks and 1/64" ply, using a tiny plastic bubble vial glued on top.

This provides a level indication, and the degrees of deviation must be measured and calculated.

The method you described would require the straightedge touching the stabilizer to be held against the side of the fuselage by tape or rubber bands to support its weight. (Did I get this right?)

That seems fine to measure the incidence at the root of the wing, but the more important and difficult task is measuring the angle near the tip to detect warps or to set washout.

While scanning the ad for Central Hobbies in the April issue of Model Aviation, I noticed a listing for "bubbleless fuel tanks" which have an internal bladder. I contacted Central Hobbies for details and they sent me two files -- one a table of dimensions, and the other a drawing of the cross-section of the tanks. (I will try to send these files to you.)

The smallest tanks are 3-ounce and 4-ounce sizes. They are rather expensive at about $16. Has anyone had any experience with these? This design might solve the problem of stiff clunks for engines larger than 1/2A.

I have sent individual thank-yous, but would like to send a big public "thank you" to all those who responded to my request for Tomboy plans, and engines for sale. I have organised the plans and sold the two PAWs (but not the Foxes).

A member, Malcolm Logan, has intimated that the Tomboy replies may be of interest to other members; and so when time permits I will post them to the list. I only suggested direct replies to me so as not to jam-up the list with chit chat.

There has just been released, as many of you will know, a half- size version of the Elfin .5cc -- i.e. a .25 cc diesel. Does anyone have any information as to its performance, quality of manufacture etc. ?

Now you will have to excuse my ignorance here, due to my being out of the hobby for 30 years, but where is this 1/2-size Elfin manufactured? The article did not say. (The article in question was in the English publication Model Flyer for January 2001.)

I've obtained plans for a .25-size "Playmate" from Model Aviation. It's a 3-channel as designed; notes indicate a .15 would work fine. I'm curious if anyone has built and flown one in this configuration. If so, what was the performance, aerobatic or otherwise?

I've received some advice to use a small 4-stroke, but what I have on hand are plain-bearing .15 and .25; don't care to incur expense for another engine.

I'm also curious if anyone has converted one of these Playmates to electric; and if so, what was needed to obtain reasonable performance. Curt

Does anyone know if a plans service exists for plans that were advertised through Model Builder magazine?

I am particularly interested in finding plans for the "Dragonfly" designed by Bob Lee and Tex Newman. Joe Ross

...Plans for ALL the models that appeared in Model Builder -- including the peanut-sized rubber-powered free flight scale models mostly designed by the late, great Walt Mooney -- are available from Bill Northrop's Plans Service, 2019 Doral Court, Henderson, Nevada 89014 --- (702) 896-2162 (Mon-Fri, 10 AM - 5 PM Pacific Time) --- e-mail: < >.

These plans are accompanied by copies of the original magazine article. I just bought a set of Waco SRE plans from Bill -- this is George Clapp's big rubber-powered free flight scale job, plenty big enough for say .10- or .15-powered 3-channel R/C -- and the drawings are blackline on white paper. [JW]

I am working on a SIG RC Rascal, the Electric version. This is my first attempt to go back to something small in a long time. (Try back to 1936.)

In trying to keep it as light as possible and still have a good covering, I have looked for a very light film that doesn't require a separate glue, unless Balsarite would work for an iron-on.

I have also considered heavy silkspan, which I have plenty of -- but seems that it would be too heavy after doping.

My question is: What do you recommend? and where would I be able to buy? Maybe I haven't looked in the right spot, but Tower and Hobby People do not seem to have enough information for me, and the Monokotes may be heavy. Or am I just a worry wart? I will appreciate opinions, recommendations, and best wishes.

...I can tell you one thing, Ken: modern "silkspan" isn't the same as the good old stuff from the 1940's and '50's. I don't know what the difference is, but the modern material seems to become brittle extremely fast. [JW]

I was hoping one of you could help me locate a Webra Sport 10. I have checked all my sources and turned up nothing. These have been discontinued by Webra, so it will have to be some old stock in a shop or one you are willing to part with. (Horizon has none left either.)

Just goes to show, you should buy the nice little engines when they are around. (Like the Super Tigre X11, the Enya CX12, the O.S. FSR 10, it's a sad, long list.)

I have approximately 1200 model airplane magazines for sale, dating back as far as 1952 and running to current issues. Interested readers may e-mail me for a current listing, or visit my web site: < http://communities.msn.com/AeroClassix >.

Titles include Aero Modeller, Air & Space, Air Enthusiast, Air Trails, Air Trails Annual, Air Trails Hobbies for Young Men, American Aircraft Modeler, American Modeler, American Modeler Annual, Aviation Modeller, Flying Models, Grid Leaks, Model Airplane News, Model Airplane News Annual, Model Aviation, Model Builder, R/C Modeler, R/C Modeler Annual, Sport Aviation, Young Men. Dennis V. Leonhardi

I enjoyed your story about the Cox head gaskets. Any association with C*x these days promises the imminent loss of human dignity.

Some years ago, 10 or 12 probably, I'm not sure whose regime that would be at Cox, I needed some Pee Wee head gaskets which I couldn't buy locally. I wrote to Cox and in a very short time received an envelope with about twenty washers, no charge. I was initially quite touched.

Unfortunately this public relations triumph was diminished by a staple that managed to go through every washer. Some were cut right through. My feelings towards Cox have remained ambivalent ever since.

This leaves the question, how do you intend to make the washers yourself? Is it a job that is obvious to a skilled machinist but impossible for the rest of us or is it worth describing in SMALLnet?

A similar problem is the fibre washers in some diesel engines. Is it possible to patiently file them from tap washers? Is the material the same or just the same colour (red)?

...John, I've made a lot of aluminum head gaskets for various model airplane engines, using a draftsman's compass containing a sharpened bit of music wire instead of a pencil point. A firm support underneath, plus light pressure and many, many repeated "passes", will produce burr-free and flat ring gaskets.

I have used several methods for holding the "stock" (heavy aluminum foil or pop can material) while the compass-cutting operation proceeds. Two of the best are to rubber-cement the metal onto a sheet of aircraft plywood, or to use full- sheet pressure-sensitive "label material", sticky side up. (You release the finished ring gaskets with solvent.)

Always cut the gasket outside diameter first! Whenever I tried cutting the I.D. first, I ended up with poor concentricity.

However, I won't have to do that drudgery after all, because of the following information from George Aldrich... [JW]

It's really a shame how Estes now regards the REAL modeling community. I ran into the same kind of 'don't bother us' attitude when I inquired about the purchase of C*x Texaco Glow Heads. How can they sell Texaco engines and then not support replacement parts as vulnerable as glow heads?

I have over fifty C*x engines that I purchased, or swapped over the past fifty years. There are others who have similar nests, I'm sure! Every time one dismantles the engine and tank for cleaning or de-gumming, the venturi gasket should be replaced.

Look what folks have had to do to 'fabricate' that item alone! Anyway, I'm just venting my frustrations.

I have two "Small" type airplanes I'd like to sell. First is an Ace "Simple Series" Beechcraft Staggerwing kit for an .09 to .15 motor. This is N.I.B.

The other is a Global "Schoolboy" A.R.F. It's also N.I.B. and for an .09 to .15 motor. I will accept the best reasonable offer. Please reply direct to < >. Bill

SMALLnet Posting post378