CONTROL LINE SPEED
Glenn Lee, 819 Mandrake Drive, Batavia IL 60510
Celebration of Eagles
A stupendous event is planned to help initiate our first National Championships at the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana, July 6–7. Competitors have flown at the Nats for 70 years, and many of the older modelers whose names have become legend will attend the planned banquet and party.
If you would like to meet fliers you have only heard of, plan to participate in the show during the weekend before formal competition starts. Demonstrations of many types of older models will take place, so if you have any of your old Speed models still in flying condition, bring them along and fly them again for fun.
I still have a McCoy .60‑powered delta and a Dooling .29‑powered swept‑wing B model. I'll clean the varnish out of the bearings, make new pen bladders, find some lines, and see if they'll still run. Maybe we'll have to demonstrate our method of hand‑launching again. Many of us used to fly on baseball diamonds or grass fields, so we never had takeoff dollies; we just relied on our flying partners to toss them into the air.
I even have some old "This Is It" fuel left, but it contains nasty chemicals considered dangerous these days. It has nitrobenzene in it, which gave it that famous Shinola shoe‑polish smell but is rated as one of the worst carcinogenic compounds around. I'll probably brew up a batch of semi‑hot fuel that will let the engines run okay without damaging them.
Parts and Suppliers
Modern hobby shops have numerous items for building model airplanes, but sometimes you need special or exotic parts and equipment that few shops carry. Speed fliers must often locate specialists who make items such as magnesium pans, spinners, props, and similar parts.
- North American Speed Society (NASS)
- The NASS newsletter carries ads from specialty suppliers and publishes an annual "parts finder" list that is necessary for serious competitors (and useful to sport fliers). Worth the price of yearly dues.
- Write to: NASS, Box 82294, North Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5C 5P7
- Small Parts, Inc.
- Catalog contains hundreds of items: metals, plastics, bearings, tools, taps, books, tubing (round, square, telescoping), bolts, aluminum‑oxide grit for lapping engine parts, and Viton tubing for long‑lasting fuel lines.
- Write to: Small Parts, Inc., Box 4650, Miami Lakes, FL 33014‑9727
- Model Research Labs
- Supplies carbon‑fiber materials for ultralight composite fuselages, stiffening wings and stabs, strong wing spars, exotic covering materials, and fluorescent pigments.
- Address: Model Research Labs, 25108 Marguerite Pkwy, #B‑160, Mission Viejo, CA 92692
Molds and Materials
Do you ever make molds for fiberglass wings or fuselages? I saw some great carving foam at the Chicago Model Show that would make excellent master patterns. Several densities are available; the stuff is easy to carve, saw, or sculpt—much easier than basswood or balsa. It can be sealed and painted, is non‑toxic, and comes in many standard sizes. It's called Balsa‑Foam and is manufactured by Jiffy Foam, Inc., 221 Third St., Box 3609, Newport RI 02840.
Props
We used to use Rev‑Up props in several Speed classes, but many of the older designs are obsolete since we reduced fuel nitro to ten percent. Less nitro means less power, so we need a new set of lower‑pitch props.
Rev‑Up is tooling up for a new run of Speed props to suit current requirements. They are experimenting with plastic‑impregnated maple, which has about three times the beam strength of untreated wood, so hopefully the props will withstand the high RPMs we are running. Samples should be available this summer.
Closing
Get off the couch and get building! There are many Speed contests this summer, and the Nats should be a grand turnout.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
