CONTROL LINE SCALE
Bill Boss 77-06 269th St., New Hyde Park, NY 11040
WRAM Show '93
WRAM SHOW '93 was a great spectacle. Modelers and visitors swarmed through the Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York, like an army of ants over a sand dune covered with molasses. The show took place on Saturday and Sunday, February 27–28, 1993.
For the entire two-day period exhibitors were busy answering questions about their products, giving advice, taking orders, or otherwise entertaining the multitude of visitors. People were still arriving after 3 p.m. on Sunday; the show's normal closing time was 5 p.m.
As usual, my purpose at the show was to find models, tools, workshop items, or products that — at this mostly RC-oriented show — would interest the CL scale modeler. Below are items and finds that may be useful in your workshop.
Workshop finds
- Lite Flite Wheels (Dave Brown Products, 4560 Layhigh Rd., Hamilton, OH 45013)
- A novel approach to getting the proper shape and size scale wheel is to "Freeze n' Shape" a Lite Flite wheel. Mount the wheel on a long bolt, fasten with a nut, and put the wheel in the freezer for at least 20 minutes to harden it. After freezing, mount the wheel in a lathe, drill press, or hand drill and shape it while spinning by applying light to medium sandpaper. Add treads by using a fine-toothed jigsaw or hacksaw blade on the tread area. Refreeze as necessary to keep the wheel hard while working. Sizes range from 1-1/2 inches to 3-1/2 inches.
- Eldon J. Lind Co. — Duplicator MKI deluxe package (Eldon J. Lind Co., 3151 Caravelle Dr., Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403)
- Deluxe package contains two Duplicator Slider Card Paks (different sizes), a six-foot roll of Stickback Sandpaper, and 47 hardwood patterns for duplicating rounded edges on flat sheet balsa (180°), leading edges (135°), and rounded edges/corners (90°). Patterns allow shaping balsa from 1/8 inch to 1 inch.
- Calico — saw and sanding attachments (Calico, 8825 Juniper Court, Orland Park, IL 60462)
- Saw attachments that turn Dremel (or similar) rotary tools into small table saws. Also a Lucite table sanding attachment with a miter gauge for more precise sanding of balsa and plywood. Request a fact sheet and current prices.
Soldering pastes and torch
Unival Corporation (498 Nepperhan Ave., Yonkers, NY 10701) offers a line of soldering pastes packaged in easy-to-use applicator syringes, which minimizes waste and extends shelf life. Types include:
- Aluminum silver-bearing paste for aluminum-to-aluminum joints (useful for lightweight aluminum stock — flat, tubular, and oval shapes).
- Copper-bearing paste for electrical wiring and plumbing.
- Zinc-metal paste for pot-metal applications.
- Silver-bearing paste with automotive applications.
Procedure for soldering with the paste: align the pieces, apply the paste, and heat to about 400°F, at which temperature the paste flows and joins the pieces.
Unival also offers a refillable butane pencil torch available separately or in a kit that contains the various pastes and the torch — convenient to carry in the flight box for field repairs.
Models of interest
- Waco E by Easy Built Models (Easy Built, Box 1059, Beamsville, Ontario, L0R 1B0, Canada)
- A 52-inch span model designed for RC and electric power; a smaller-size version (.25–.40 engine) would make a good CL prospect.
- Fun Scale® P-51 by Dynaflite (Dynaflite, P.O. Box 1011, San Marcos, CA 92079)
- Available in .60 (62-inch span) and .40 (51-inch span) sizes. Easy construction and fine detail make these good candidates for Sport Scale events and Sunday demonstrations.
Decals
Major Decals (P.O. Box 304, 21 Fisher Ave., Longmeadow, MA 01028) had new items including decals for Axial and Dowty Rotol propellers in sizes from 1/8 to 3/4 scale. Checkerboard decal sheets are available in 3-inch, 1-inch-wide, and 1/2-inch-square sizes with white or orange backgrounds and red, green, black, and blue squares.
When writing for information about these products, please tell them you read about it in the CL Scale column in Model Aviation.
Contest activity
- Orbits Eagles 21st Annual Contest — June 12–13, 1993 (Omaha, Nebraska)
- Events: Carrier, Stunt, Combat, Team Racing. Profile Scale will be offered on Saturday, and the Profile Scale event will be held on Sunday, June 13. There will be a banquet and raffle on Saturday night. Aerotowing and other field events open to all pilots.
- Contact: Bob Rutt, newsletter editor, 8147 Read St., Omaha, NE 68122 for full contest details.
Send material
Please send ideas, notices of upcoming CL Scale events, contest reports, and especially photos of CL Scale activity to the address at the top of this column.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
