Control Line: Scale
Bill Boss
Texas month — Jack Stolly's P-38
It's Texas month! Not only are we showing the work of a couple of Texas newcomers to CL Scale with the photos of the Miniplane by Charles Ash of Garland and the profile P-39 by Bill Bischoff of Dallas, but we also have heard from Jack Stolly of Dallas, a past contributor to this column.
Jack treats us to a look at the inner works of a P-38 Lightning he expects to have at the 1986 Nationals. Jack is a very innovative model builder; you may know him by his previously published P-39 (May 1982 issue of MA). His P-39 featured such things as a mid-plane engine mount and long propeller driveshaft as on the real P-39, and it also featured an internal liquid-cooling system for the engine. His P-38 will be no exception for innovative ideas and will incorporate the use of his own Janaco Jackscrew Servo for scale operation of Fowler flaps and gear retraction.
The accompanying photo (shown in the original article) displays the P-38 in skeleton form and the positioning of jackscrew servos for flap operation and retraction. Jack is operating the servos from the handle via two of the three lines of a Roberts system (insulated), with the third line uninsulated as a common return. This is the same circuitry described in my February and March 1984 columns on the Electric Servo System. While Jack didn't pass on full details of the Fowler flap operation, he did provide information on how the P-38 landing gear and wheel-well door operation will be accomplished.
Gear and wheel-well door mechanism (two-bellcrank arrangement)
The sketch Jack provided shows a two-bellcrank arrangement (Bellcrank A and Bellcrank B) that will be used to retract the gear and, at the appropriate time, close the wheel-well doors.
- Stage 1: The operating pin position keeps the gear locked down and the wheel-well door open.
- Stage 2: The servo-driven operating pin moves Bellcrank A to a position that raises the landing gear to the full "Up" position, while the wheel-well door remains open.
- Stage 3: Further travel of the operating pin pulls the wheel-well door closed.
Note: The sketch was intended to present the idea rather than full fabrication details. This mechanism is not a beginner's project; it requires a good degree of precision in making, fitting, and mounting the various parts for a smooth, trouble-free system.
For more information on the Janaco Jackscrew Servo and its many uses, contact: Jack Stolly 11323 Cotillion Dallas, TX 75228
WRAM Show 1986
As is my usual practice every February, I attended the WRAM Show in White Plains, NY, which is considered by many to be the biggest hobby show of its kind on the East Coast. My purpose in attending is twofold: to see many modeling friends I haven't seen since the end of last year's competition season, and to see if there is anything new that might be helpful to us in our Scale modeling.
While I didn't find anything out of the ordinary, there were a couple of items worth mentioning.
Electric conversions
Easy Built Models, an Ontario-based company, has a line of Free Flight rubber kits in the 50-inch wingspan size that it has converted for electric motor installation. Among models being offered for electric conversion are:
- Spitfire
- Fairchild Ranger
- Stinson Voyager
- Westland Lysander
Prices for the kits range from $25 to $30. For a complete listing, write to: Easy Built Models 15 Ontario St. Grimsby, Ontario L3M 3G8 Canada
Major Decals additions
Major Decals (Northeast Screen Graphics) has added items to its line of water-transfer and pressure-sensitive decals:
- Stars in 10 colors and nine sizes (1½" to 3")
- Three new flags: U.S., U.K., Confederate
- Insignia of Australia, New Zealand, and Russia, available in the .40 and .60 sizes
For full details on Major Decals, write to: Northeast Screen Graphics P.O. Box 302 21 Fisher Ave. East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Scale Plans and Photo Service
We are always looking for data for our Scale modeling projects. The Scale Plans and Photo Service (SPPS) has Photo Packs on more than 1,500 aircraft. In addition to providing photo packs, they have a large assortment of scale plans and three-view drawings, and they can provide plan enlarging and reduction services.
A $3 request to SPPS will get you a 25-page catalog listing their complete line of scale documentation. Write to: SPPS 3209 Madison Greensboro, NC 27403
A letter from overseas
A copy of a letter from Mr. Zbigniew Luranc of Poland recently arrived in my mailbox. Mr. Luranc's letter, originally sent to Francis Paszkiewicz of the Flying Bisons, Tonawanda, NY, explains that he has had a long-standing interest in aviation, especially after World War II, and has an ever-larger collection of magazines and other publications on aviation and modeling.
His collection is limited to European publications because he cannot obtain U.S. publications in his country. He is therefore looking for someone in the U.S. who might be interested in exchanging publications. If anyone is interested in making an exchange with our Polish modeling friend, please write to: Zbigniew Luranc Ul. Starotowa 13a6 80-461 Gdansk Polska
Send ideas and photos on CL Scale to: Bill Boss 77-06 205th St. New Hyde Park, NY 11040
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
