SMALLnet post466

You mentioned PAW Diesels. I have an .049 PAW that I bought from Aerodyne in Hesperia several years back. I also bought a pint of his Diesel Fuel in a metal can. That fuel can't be fit to use, can it?

What about adding some ether like that "starting fluid" you can buy at the local auto parts store ?

...Bill, diesel fuel lasts longer than is commonly supposed. I've used to the last drop a gallon of fuel that took me ten years to empty. ( I mostly fly the smaller engines -- .09 and under.)

Although ether evaporates extremely fast -- anasthetic ether will evaporate past the seals in its metal can ! -- once ether is mixed with kerosene, its vaporization rate drops way down.

Also, the percentage of ether's not that critical. Eric Clutton says that if you can smell the ether in your fuel; there's enough. Well, that's not strictly true -- smaller diesels, such as the Bambi, Kemp Hawk, Kalpers, etc. need about 50% ether or they won't start. But PAW's are more tolerant.

I like 40% ether for my PAW .03's, and 25% or so is fine for everything else.

However, if you DO need to add ether to your fuel, the best source I know of is John Deere Starting Fluid. That has WAY more ether content than any of the other starting fluids. Eric recommends it too. [JW]

Glad to hear you are feeling better and SMALLnet is up and running again. I've never actually contributed to the Postings but always enjoy reading through them.

A lot of my modeling time is spent flying slope soarers these days; not exactly small, but I am having fun a lot with a fairly small (36") all-sheet electric model. It is a Nigel Hawes design called a P.R.A.T. -- which stands for Pylon Race Aerobatic Trainer. (Used to be called a Smart Dart.) It's a lot of fun for small outlay.

Best regards. George ( Broomhill Drive, Monifiet, Dundee DD5 4TB Scotland, U.K.)

A question for you: What covering material do you favor for small airplanes ? I still really like the look of Japanese tissue and clear dope, but recognize the fragility of using it. Silk is gorgeous but costs almost as much as moon rocks and still doesn't have the "staying power" of iron-ons. I guess old favorites die hard...

With the cost coming down on ARF's and RTF's I just wonder how long kits and materials are going to be around as well. While not hard to get, the number of small props and engines also doesn't bode well for our end of the sport. On the positive side, though, is the small radio equipment and new battery technology that's available. It's amazing when you consider that you can now have receivers, servos, and batteries that weigh less than one or two of the servos alone that we used to deal with!!

I never met Roy Clough, but remember lots of his designs -- all interesting! Didn't he design the helicopters that Berkeley sold? He sure had many unusual interests and an inventive mind.

Pat Tritle is also "one of a kind" ! He turns out beautiful designs almost weekly. I've never met him but I'm just constantly amazed at the enthusiasm that seems to drive him!! His electric DC6 was/is gorgeous, the WACO that Dumas offers, the Bamboo Bomber (UC-78) was great, and the numbers go on and on and on.

...Bob, I like clear-doped Jap tissue and silk too, despite their fragility. The only problem is in getting dope any more. Most hobby shops stopped carrying it long ago.

As for its cost, an outfit called "Thai Silks!" carries dyed silk in many colors, in a lightweight grade suitable for model covering. In a previous Posting, I described the slightly special technique needed for covering models with Thai Silk! material.

Briefly, because Thai Silks! main product line is dress fabric, most of its silk has been pre-shrunk. For model covering, where maximum tautness is needed, it's necessary to wet the silk thoroughly with water first, and keep it wet until it's been stretched tight over the model's framework and anchored down well with plain nitrate dope.

(Dope and water can mix in any proportion. Although the dope will probably turn milky as it dries, that milkiness will disappear after the first coat or two of clear dope used to seal the silk pores & make the covering airtight.)

Roy Clough did indeed design a pair of 1/2A free flight helicopters for Berkeley, back in the 1940's. They flew fine, when properly balanced and adjusted.

However, they depended on a tricky stamped-steel "hub mount" for the engine and rotor blades.

I never built one of Roy's helicopters, but I do have the plans for one. From that I can see that if one or more of the rotor blades should hit something while rotating, it could throw the entire hub assembly out of alignment. And it would be TOUGH to fix that kind of damage. The steel was about the thickness of a tin can... [JW]

Been busy getting the 1/8 scale L-4 finished up. While waiting on Sparky to get the cowl worked up I've been adding a few details here and there. I would love to add a full cockpit, but because of that old "practicality" thing -- read "Battery Access", I decided to keep it simple, and well within the vein of a good old-fashioned every-weekend style Park Flyer.

The colors I did are of the full scale L-4 that an old family friend bought in 1948 and restored back to a J-3 since there was NO call for "Warbirds" in those days.

Can you add me to your list ? When the next Posting comes out, would you ask if anyone has original instruction for a KeilKraft Minimoa ?

Hello from Belgium; welcome back in the world after your pill diet. Thanks for your informative message; we all understand now. I assume that the SMALL site is active again, or should we wait for things to settle?

I could not agree more on the subject of small diesels. Last year I built a BeeTween equipped with a Schlosser 1cc R/C diesel swinging an 8x4 prop, instead of the Cox .049 Randy designed the craft for. My combination is very satisfying to fly indeed.

At the moment I am finishing a plane from a free plan out of AMI magazine equipped with a Schlosser 0,25cc. The wing (span just under two feet) is waiting to be covered and I hope to do this as soon as possible, depending on household chores and taking care of grandchildren.

...Ronald, So far SMALLnet is operating just as it did up until 2 years ago. I hope to keep it that way, at least for a while. [JW]

I use SIGMENT and am very happy with it. Yes I gave up on the new Ambroid 2 years ago. I still have a little of the old amber stuff which is fine. I had 2 quart cans of it originally. Nearly gone. Green tube Testors cement was pretty good, but the shop I got it from originally says he can't get it now.

"Try the brown tube; I have that." Not good: worse than new Ambroid. I think he was conning me to get rid of it.

Small diesel stuff: Been having fun with some Mills .75/.045 diesels, originals plus K/India, and Russian. Lost my best original at Muncie flying in the SAM Champs Tomboy event in 2006 and so bought an Indian Mills which works well.

Also got a Russian Mills which ran nicely -- faster and faster on a 7X4 until, on its last droplet of fuel, it threw a rod, breaking out the big end. My friend Greg Tutmark who was here then from Seattle, took the pieces home and made a new rod from some aluminum sheet.

Had some difficulties getting it started the first time, but the repaired engine runs very well now. Any ideas why the rod gave way at that point in time?

...Al, the most likely cause for your rod failure is gradual "work-hardening" and eventual fatigue of its metal, from the many-times-repeated push-pull forces the rod sustains in operation. I don't know what the aluminum alloy used was, but several types of aluminum suffer fatigue failure rather easily.

That's why special "aircraft grades" of aluminum were developed. 2024 and 7075 alloys work well in applications such as connecting rods. Others don't... [JW]

After reading your revelation in Model Aviation about Dawn Power Dissolver, a friend and I searched for months in every supermarket, hardware and home store in two cities. We'd about decided that California might have banned its sale. I was about to E-mail you asking the source, but in the end it was simple.

...Bob, it's good to hear from you again ! I did get several inquiries about D-P-D from readers of my column. I referred them all to Wal*Mart. One guy said there was no Wal*Mart near him; so I bought a squirt bottle of the stuff for him here in little ol' Ozark, Alabama.

What's hard to find around here is Evapo-Rust. That stuff is absolutely incredible. It can return rusty steel & iron items to their original appearance & finish !

Supposedly, Auto Zone markets the stuff in quarts and gallons. But none of the local auto parts stores around here (in southeast Alabama) carry it.

Maybe the local A-Z folks cannot believe how a non-toxic, harmless-in-every-way chemical can possibly do what's claimed for it. But Evapo-Rust CAN. It restored the rustiest (inside and out) Fox .36 I've ever handled, to full running condition. [JW]

Thanks, Joe. I think I now remember your Evapo-Rust column. When you mentioned it yesterday, I was thinking spray-on stuff. That's what Kroil is. Bob

...Bob: Just a detail: Evapo-Rust is a unique product. It doesn't exactly destroy rust; what it does is reverse the oxidative action that formed the rust originally.

Evapo-Rust works slowly, by a chelating process. It's non-acidic; has no aroma; and can be re-used quite a few times.

To renew my horridly-rusted Fox I took it apart as much as possible (I could NOT get the wristpin out nor the ball bearing) and used detergent & hot water to remove any remaining oil film from the parts.

Then I submerged the lot in Evapo-Rust and let it soak for a couple of days.

At first I couldn't see that anything was happening. As I said, Evapo-Rust works slowly. But after ten or twelve hours (I agitated the parts gently from time to time) I could see a noticeable reduction in the rust... After 48 hours it was gone.

In my column I provided before-and-after pix of the Fox parts, and there was NO rust left anywhere, nor any visible pitting.

This stuff works equally well on ANY rusted items ! Tools, for example. Check with your local Auto Zone store & see if they carry Evapo-Rust. You'll find plenty of uses for it if you have as many steel tools as I do... [JW]

I've been busy with many engine experiments on the diesel front. I've found that a number of volatiles can burn in a diesel engine, including WD40 and Biodiesel. You can see all of that here, < http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=3Dhopeso&p=3Dr >

You mentioned big engines; and before I got sidelined for most of last year, I cobbled together a dieselized gasser. I got a very brief run out of it before the case blew. I had trimmed too much material from the front end. The next one will be stronger and this will allow use of some huge lumber along with eliminating the heavy flywheel and electricals. I'm hoping that it will run on a no-ether fuel and still throttle well.

With the advent of the new micro radio gear and electric motors & batteries, we are getting a lot of R/C customers who are converting our peanuts to R/C Planes. And we still have the Mini Bell and have even upgraded that to laser-cut contest wood just like the rest of our kits.

SMALLnet Posting post466