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Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 01:04:11 -0600
< http://www.eskimo.com/~smallnet/ >
...The following item was a bit too long to fit in the previous
Posting. Ed Booms passed along this information, which had
been forwarded to him by Stephen Polles:
"In the past year many thousands of modelers have built and flown their first electric Park or Micro Flyers. During the past two years I have designed, built, and successfully flown several of these models.
"Conventional balsa & plywood construction is used in these models. "Shipping: $3.95 per order, US Priority Mail tube. Overseas add $10.00. Check or money orders OK, no credit cards yet. "Make Check Payable to: Jim Zare : < > 5123 Summer Drive, Sylvania, Ohio 43650" Andy Woitowicz < > sent: Regarding the foam delta and foam material I wrote about in recent Posts: Foam posterboard, apparently, is made not just with paper covering but also with a plastic covering. Thanks to samples from Harry Stewart, I see that the plastic version is very easy to peel off, yielding a very nice, textured surface. Harry's trying to find out the source for me, but has anyone else encountered this stuff, and can they advise who makes it? Andy Roy Clough < > writes: This recent talk about the Galloping Ghost recalls to mind a gadget I devised for one of my early RC planes. I called it a "Spoon" because it looked vaguely like a ladle sticking out of the back of the plane. This was simply a small surface attached to a music wire shaft. It was angled to produce an either up, left, down, or right trim tab effect -- and rotated continuously in the slipstream. Keying the transmitter dropped an escapement detent into one of four notches in a disk on the rotating shaft. Sorry, no choice; then if when the "spoon" stopped it was not in the right position to make the plane give the desired response, you keyed it again and hoped the tab would stop in the position you wanted. The trick in setting up was to make the surface rotate slowly enough to give you a chance to guess in which position it was most likely to fetch up. The escapement was a spring-return solenoid that was energized only when the rotation was stopped -- so a dead battery would let it spin free and not lock in a control setting. I also tried a "spoon" with a rubber band driven shaft at an angle such that in the "parked" position it trimmed neutral. The other three points were left, up, right. This escaped in the regular way, but after take-off in the neutral position, there was no sure way to crank in a desired motion. All you could do was punch, observe what the plane did, and punch the button again until you lucked out with the response you wanted. If the rubber band ran down you were stuck with the last control motion, and Murphy's Law didn't allow that to be neutral. Systems like these made me agree with the wag who said that, "Radio Control was just like free flight -- only heavier." Most of my efforts in those days were confined to free flight and control-line, until proportional multi-channel started to come in. Later, after proportional became commonplace I liked to fool around with things like the Cox FailSafe single channel systems, just to see what I could make them do. With the Cox electric FailSafe I finally got right, left, up, down, and on-off motor control. It all worked, and I wrote it up for Flying Models. But when it became apparent that Cox was deep-sixing the Failsafes, I pulled the article back before the magazine could publish it, and filed it under 'Stuff to Forget'. My most successful single channel adaptation to rudder and elevator was the "MultiWiz" system I used in an MAN article, August 1992. People still ask for diagrams of the mechanism. Roy C. Don Matlack Sr. < > announces:
They weigh about 2 ounces. I get them from a surplus dealer and modify them for the Tiger Moth or any system that runs on 3 amps or less at 7.2 volts. I test them and install JST male connectors on each pack, and fully charge them before shipping -- so I know you will get packs that will work. If you get a pack that doesn't work, send it back and I will replace it free of charge. I am selling 2 packs and a charger for $45.00. Extra packs at the same time are $10.00. I take Paypal, checks, or money orders. Send to: Donald Matlack Sr., 435 Petunia Place, Millville, New Jersey 08332-5733. For Paypal use my e-mail address. Don M. Geoff Northmore < > reports: Just for the interest of those who've been discussing various polyester type covering materials: Some 2 years ago whilst with my wife in a local dress-making store, I noticed a material named Vilene, at least in the U.K. and possibly under a different trade name in other countries. It's obviously a polyester type, and it's used as a stiffener for collars, lapels etc. Now the interesting thing is that it comes in many different weights, plus being available with or without a heat-activated backing adhesive. I bought some of varying grades. It does not shrink with water, but it will tighten a trifle when ironed. But don't expect a heat film result on compound curves. The iron needs to be fairly hot to get Vilene to stick to the airframe. I've also used the non-adhesive backed material and found that ordinary full strength P.V.A. works quite well as an adhesive. After any covering, trim the edges carefully, as sanding makes the material go all woolly. I then apply one thinned coat of dope with a well-filled brush. Don't try to brush right out as it can raise the material and create small balls and bits of fluff which have to be picked off -- very tedious. I then cover over with lightweight tissue, water shrink it, and when dry use one coat of ordinary dope to finish. It certainly makes a strong covering and resists digit pounding reasonably well. The material is much cheaper than the normal modelling types. It only comes in white, and I should imagine it would need some real expertise to dye it. Lastly, I wrote a small article for a British model magazine describing the use of Vilene -- I'm no plagiarist. Any feedback from other users would be interesting to me. Geoff Northmore ...Geoff, a few years ago a painstaking friend of mine in South Carolina made an exhaustive survey of model-covering materials available at fabric shops and sewing supply departments in and around Charleston, SC. At first it seemed that there was a fantastic variety of usable lightweight, smooth fabrics, and in many colors. He bought a batch of samples and began testing. The first thing he found out was that most of these fabrics -- e.g. dress-lining material -- had been pre-shrunk. He also discovered that some of the nicest-looking colored fabric was incompatible with dope. After about a month of testing and trying different materials, my friend gave up. He hadn't found anything that worked better than Sig's Koverall. [JW] Hollis Fenn < > replies to Scott Allison's query about the "Little Guppy": I appreciate Bill Lee's efforts toward maintaining the SMALLnet web page, but some of the photos have been there several years. Jim Petersen, aka foamguy, has his Little Guppy on that page. I have a photo of one I built for him for evaluation on the page also. I have not heard from Jim in a couple of years and don't even know if his posted email address is still valid. Unfortunately, people see my photo and since my email is still good, I get inquiries about that plane about once a month. It was a nice flying little plane; I sold mine though. I don't know if Jim still sells plans or not. I believe he was located in Washington state. I was happy to see the announcements of the SMALL events in North Little Rock, Tullahoma, and Shreveport. Don't forget, there is also one in Ottawa, Canada at the end of July. I have plans to attend North Little Rock and Tullahoma, but Shreveport is about a 12-hour drive for me as well as to N-L-R, so I can't make it to both of those. My SMALL Reports column in R/C REPORT magazine will come to a close with the August 2002 issue. I have enjoyed doing it, but won't be able to continue. However, you will see me at the SMALL events whenever possible. Hollis Fenn Mike Gillihan < > wrote: Having just returned to giving flight instruction in full-scale aircraft, I decided to browse the web for resources. One of the sites that I found has an excellent page detailing the basic principles of flight. The page covers a diverse range of topics including airfoils, drag and drag reduction, forces acting on an aircraft, pressure distribution, etc. That which applies to full- scale aircraft also applies to our models, so I thought the page might be of interest to some. < http://pilotsweb.com/principle.htm > Notice that I use the term "full-scale" to describe aircraft that carry people. I hate it when people say "real airplanes". They are ALL "real" airplanes, and thus are subject to the same forces and physical principles. My experiences have taught me that training a model pilot to fly a full-scale airplane is very easy. Ironically, the transition of full-scale pilots to R/C can prove difficult until they break that barrier of flying the airplane from OUTSIDE the cockpit. Mike S. Gillihan Dennis < > replies to the query as to what kind of models he flies with Rapier (small rocket motor) power: I have a reaction-powered variation of Barnaby Wainfan's Facetmobile < http://members.aol.com/slicklynne/facet.htm > in the works, and an old British plan for the ME-163B -- and a much smaller ME-163B from SAMS; plus I was toying with a RAK.1 < http://www.ig-scale.at/rak1.html > but much smaller, of course. Just received some Hot Socks from Ron at < >. Good price; superior product with a clever design that works great, and they're nice people to do business with. Here's the data: "Three for $5.50, or seven for $11. This includes postage to anywhere in the 48 states. Canadians add another buck for postage. Mail check to: Ron Law, 987 Beverly Drive, Alcoa, Tennessee 37701 -- Will ship same day check is received -- We are trusting souls, LOL." (And they did.) Dennis in New Hampshire Al Lidberg < > contributed: A correspondent of mine wrote: "I have several friends who are very unhappy and/or at loose ends in retirement. They all have something in common -- no hobbies or passions. Their passion was their work life, and it is gone." Some years ago at work, we had a consultant who was there to advise in personnel matters. One line of his has stayed with me: "If you are what you do, what are you when you don't?" We modelers are indeed fortunate. Those of us who are model- building 'lifers' can hardly understand others who don't have hobbies! I have no idea where Target stores may be located, but here in the Phoenix, Arizona area they are having specials on: Airhogs 'Firestormer' @ $15.88 [compressed air FF model] E-chargers @ $7.88 [small electric FF] Set of 4 wood, 'TV' tray type tables, good for use at home or the field @ $29.95 AL A. A. Lidberg model plan service ff/rc kits and plans < http://www.aalmps.com > now with on-line ordering through PayPal Marciano < > submitted: My name is Marciano. I live in Argentina. I had the pleasure to meet the master Randy Randolph some time ago, and I want to share with you some pictures of my latest project: an electric Speed 400 version of the Falcon Junior. Weight ready to fly: 14 ounces with 8 600AE cells. You can check the photos on < http://www.marcianocantero.com.ar/interiores.htm > Regards, Marciano Sam Brauer < > returns with: I am having too much fun with these little electrics -- airplanes I always wanted to build somehow get bashed out in a hurry. My newest is a Cannonshot -- slightly modified. This is a compact biplane with about an 18" span, with low aspect ratio undercambered wings. High on the cute factor, designed by Ken Willard, and flown on TD 020s (I'd bet an 010 would work too) with Cannon R/C gear. Showing that what goes around, comes back at ya, I got the Cannonshot plans from a fellow SMALLster who had requested a copy of plans for the Wren that I built a year or so ago. I enjoy flying the Wren, (a small aileron-equipped biplane) but it is anything but relaxing.. After much hemming and hawing and reading that the foamie version of this airplane was kind of marginal with GWS gear (plus twitchy) I decided I would go for a slightly heavier, more powerful version. (I didn't think too hard about the foamie -- it was expensive, made of foam (I really prefer working with balsa) and I'm not fond of ARFs.) Rummaging through the scrap wood box and adding some glue produced a framed-up airplane without too much aggravation, and I opted to use an MG-1 motor that I had lying around. (This is the Johnson 250 setup designed by Dick Miller, now sold through Penn Valley Hobby Center.) I had originally thought about buying another Astro 010, but I couldn't justify it for this airplane. Providing the energy requirements, I've used both a 6-cell 350 mAh nicad pack (more oomph) and a 6-cell 500 mAh nickel metal hydride pack (more duration -- over 7 minutes). I started with a Graupner 6 x 4 prop which proved marginal; a slightly cut-down 7" black plastic prop with spinner as sold by John Worth does much better. I'm using the GWS R4P receiver with an Azarr antenna -- it does OK if you keep it well away from the batteries! -- and a pair of Maxx servos (I think they are the MX-30s -- they're the functional equivalent of Hitec HS-50s, only less expensive) with a Castle Creations Pixie 7. All-up weight is about 8 ounces, and yes, I put the landing gear on. I lightened the structure slightly by deleting most of the plywood, changed the landing gear mount, and added about 1 1/4" to the aft end of the fuselage. I'd heard that these airplanes could be a little twitchy; I wanted something damped out a little more. Flying: very cute. It's still a twisty little devil-- I think I'm going to have to use a radio with dual rates for it. Takeoffs can be hairy, since it is responsive. However, it does fine in a little breeze (around 5-8 mph with leaves blowing around) and will track hands-off in still air. Like most biplanes, the glide is nothing to get excited about. Stalls with power on can be disconcerting: it will drop a wing readily. Gentle stalls are no problem. The airplane will loop readily from a slight dive, and sortof rolls -- but it does it quickly with the amount of throw I've got. It's also easy to fly in a tight space: a nice combination with its ability to handle some breeze. If you're looking for something with a bit more zing than the typical "parkflyer" but still able to fly in a schoolyard easily, plus handle a little breeze that would ground the real lightweight stuff, and be easy on your wallet, you could do worse than build one of these. Plus, it's real easy to pack. On a somewhat related note, I recently picked up a Hitec CG-340 charger. I've had miserable luck with the little Jeti mini chargers. I've blown two of them. This Hitec unit looks to be pretty versatile: it should handle nearly all the types of packs that a SMALLster should want. I paid about $40 for it -- which has to be the best bang for the buck I've seen in a charger yet. The one downside: there's no LCD screen to monitor how much charge your batteries have actually taken. You're at the mercy of its charging circuitry, which just blinks a light at you when done. Assuming that it uses some decent circuitry (depends on whether you believe the hype, but it seems to operate like it does), this should work fine. It's also apparently reasonably idiot-resistant, and tolerates a wide range of input voltage. If you're looking to try electric flight, but the $100 plus price tag of a good charger was a stumbling block, you're down one excuse. Oh yeah, you can also use it to charge either a Transmitter or a Receiver battery -- as I said, it's hard to argue with the bang for the buck. Sam Brauer Stamford, Connecticut
Ron Fikes < > passed along this query
from Mike Nicewonger
< http://www.toddsmodels.com > has almost all the GWS motors.
Bookmark this site for great service and prices on GWS stuff, and
Perry is a great guy to deal with. If he gets your order before
3 PM, it goes out that day! < http://www.aeromicro.com/ >.
Ron Fikes
Ken Park < > exuberates:
Yippee! I've been having a ball with a new design of my own
making. I call it the "Jet Fighter Target Drone -.10". It's loosely
based on the shape of the ACE GLH II. Mine has longer wings
and longer fuselage, and has a jet-like appearance with intake
and afterburner and a boom style tail.
Well, it flies great! In fact, it went through a radar gun at
over 80 mph. Zoom Zoom. I am planing to touch up the plans
and do a construction article. On a two-ounce tank you get
about 15 minutes of flying thrills. When I get some photos
done I'll post one. Ken
Bob Peterson < > wrote:
I've started back in HLG, even tho' my arm has evidently aged
at an even faster rate than the rest of me!! I do wish there was
someplace to fly FF gas that was closer to me -- I really enjoyed
free flight for a lot of reasons.
Just looking up at a well-adjusted model, with the sun shining
through transparent tissue, was really almost religious!!! I'm
probably not remembering the cut fingers, and the awful
"wwwhhhhuummpppp!!" of a particularly bad crash; but
memories do distort what really happened.
The first time I lost a model in a thermal (a Jasco Phoenix with
an Anderson .049), it stayed in sight for over an hour. That
was both a disaster and a triumph! I think I paid $7.95 for the
engine and $1.75 for the kit. It was as though the god "Hung"
had personally come and picked my airplane for a sacrifice..
Yeah, life is good... Be Well, Bob Peterson
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