Free Flight: Duration
Jim Haughton, 3069 Sovereign Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45251
Good stuff
A recent Florida Modelers' Association newsletter mentioned a source for clear Mylar. Dayton Plastics stocks several ultrathin films and is about 45 minutes from my house, so I checked them out. I had been looking for 1/4-mil Mylar for covering Nordic stabs and thought it might be useful on small models.
- 1/4 mil — 12-1/2 in. wide; sold by the linear foot; $0.006 per linear foot (six-tenths of a cent per foot)
- 1/2 mil — 42 in. wide; $0.05 per linear foot
- 1 mil — 56 in. wide; $0.10 per linear foot
Minimum mail order is $15 plus handling; walk-in sales have a lower minimum. Write Dayton Plastics, 2554 Needmore Road, Dayton, OH 45414; call (513) 276-3921. Toll-free (Ohio only): 1-800-762-2342.
I tried the 1/4-mil on a Grave Digger 1/2A ultralight experiment. Using Sig Stix-It as adhesive, the film unrolls easily, shrinks well, and takes spray enamel paint fine. The real test will be how it stands up to summer heat and stubble, but so far everything looks good. I’ll report back on long-term durability.
A couple of cautions about ultrathin Mylar:
- You will get virtually no torsional rigidity from the Mylar. The 1/4-mil-covered Grave Digger stab is considerably less rigid than an identical structure covered with 1/2 mil.
- Handling requires extra care. Thin Mylar generates serious static electricity; it clings to itself and picks up dust. To use that to your advantage, lay the Mylar on a Formica-topped board when trimming. The static will hold it in place and the Formica provides a relatively clean surface so balsa dust isn’t sealed in.
Indoor modelers familiar with Micro-Lite and other polycarbonate coverings will recognize the special handling required.
Dumb things
No matter how long you’ve flown free flight, you can still do dumb things.
- At the recent FF Team Finals I left my Nordic stabs attached to their fuselages between flying days to save repacking. I didn’t account for warm weather (about 90°F) reducing rubber band tension. On Day Two the hold-down bands didn’t provide enough pulldown to drop the kicker (auto stab) into glide, and the model stalled to the ground. Lucky it wasn’t a team-losing disaster, but it was a stupid mistake.
- Jean Pailet lost a Shuriken at Muncie on an out-of-sight flight. He later realized he had inserted the batteries in the Walston locator backwards, so the locator couldn’t be used. Dumb, costly, and a reminder to double-check basics.
Starline International
Proprietor Sal Fruciano reports several new items in the latest catalog:
- Superba F1A glider line:
- Complete, ready-to-tow unit — $650
- Front-end pod only — $150
- Pod-boom unit — $210
- Pod and pod-boom units include three-function tow hook, timer, and molded nose assembly. The pod-boom features a Kevlar-carbon/Kevlar boom, preattached rudder assembly, and all bunt hardware.
- The full glider is a Lithuanian import with “typical Lepp” construction: D-box carbon inside, carbon-reinforced spars and rib caps, laminated balsa/carbon trailing edge, wing wiggler, and Lepp airfoil. Sal notes similar models sell for $1,000–$1,100 from Moscow sources.
- I ordered a full-treatment fuselage; photos and a review will appear in my next column.
- Andriukov-style laminated carbon/balsa prop blades — $45 per set.
Sal is always finding new sources and hardware. Starline International: 6146 East Cactus Wren Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85253; (602) 948-5798.
Coupler/tie-wrap tip
I’ve noticed occasional coupling leaks and have reduced them by using two tie wraps on each end of the coupler. With the heavy, dark blue coupler, extra insurance helps.
Snugging the tie wrap without tearing things up gave me fits until I watched John Hill. Procedure:
- Secure the tie wrap loosely around the coupler.
- Grasp the free end of the tie wrap with needle-nose pliers.
- Rotate the tie end against the fixed portion of the wrap, using the fixed portion as a leverage fulcrum.
- Reposition the pliers as needed to maintain leverage and gradually snug the wrap.
Once you get the feel for it, the technique is simple and effective.
Membership: PAMPA
A reminder to join PAMPA (Precision Aerobatics Model Pilots Association), our arm to promote precision aerobatics flying. Contact Tom Morris at PAMPA, 1019 Creek Trail, Anniston, AL 36206.
Balsa Bugs
The Balsa Bugs have many free flight accomplishments: members on FAI teams (10 different members), several national team championships, SAM champions, Mulvihill winners, Stout Indoor—Cabin and Commercial—winners, and numerous other awards.
The club is multigenerational. Early member Ernie Shailor’s sons Paul and Bill are now active; Paul’s daughter Jennifer was recently a high-time winner at a local contest. Paul Shailor’s wife Gail is the daughter of another Balsa Bug, Paul Simon. It’s truly a family affair.
The club meets each Friday at the Victory Inn in Warren, Michigan. Meetings are more than shop talk; members look out for each other and have even helped each other find work during hard times.
Marlene Stoll’s postscript to the club history captures it well: “For over a quarter century I have been on the sidelines as a support system for my modeler husband, Ed. So have many other wives of modelers. What has held this group together for so many years? It is love of aviation, love of excellence in craftsmanship, love of competition, and love of their fellow modelers. Happy birthday to all Balsa Bugs, past, present, and future!”
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
