Free Flight: Scale Sport
Bill Warner
The Appeal of FF Scale
One of the reasons you can get really hooked on FF Scale is the fact that even the failures are magnificent. Some of the least flyable planes are the ones that get talked about the most and bring their builders more praise and admiration than some of the "sure-shot" winners. Planes like Bob Barker's electric-powered Me 323-D2 with six buzzing props, or Jack McCracken's new Moore-drive DH Comet racer for rubber power may never break the magic minute, but WOW!
Walt Mooney's geared Grumman Skyrocket did five seconds in Peanut, and Fulton Hungerford's incredible Ford Trimotors—maybe 20—but what great inspiration to wean ourselves away from the Laceys and Fikes!
The true Renaissance builder, one who likes to be really well-rounded, probably came to a conclusion long ago that all challenges are fun. Every once in a while one makes a model certain that it has little chance of flying, and it turns out to exceed any reasonable person's dreams. Don Srull's champion jumbo Shinden or Dave Smith's P-38 far exceed what anyone would expect—flights well over a minute, and gorgeous in the air.
Variety in Building and Flying
One of the pitfalls of being too specialized in what we build is that we miss out on the real pleasures of our endeavor: experiencing it as a sport, an art, a craft, and a social happening.
- A sport flier may put a quickie together in an evening and have a ball flying it the next day, but never have the pleasure of hearing, "You sure did a nice job on building that!"
- An artist, guided by creativity and total aesthetic effect, reaps plenty of positive comment even if flight characteristics are not perfectly realistic.
- A meticulous craftsperson, making even the simplest Peanut kit plane, will get positive strokes from anyone who looks closely and notices great fit-ups and clever mechanical tricks.
The Social Side
The social part of the whole thing comes from being an appreciated member of the worldwide community that values the finest in all areas of FF Scale. This group does not laugh at failure. Trying a Dornier DO-X with 12 Brown CO-2s is a no-lose proposition. By undertaking a project such as Walt Haurand's four-engined Farman Jabiru, one gets all the attention from fellow modelers one could ever need. So it doesn't fly—you tried, and it was great! But in the off-chance it does fly passably, all the more glory to its creator.
Bring a Mix to the Field
Maybe the real way to get the most out of modeling is to come to the field with several types of models:
- One that flies superbly but is no great shakes scale-wise.
- One that is a tough subject that no one has had the courage to try yet.
- One in the middle: a compromise that flies well and has enough difficulty to make it interesting.
Club Appreciation and Awards
Pat Daily, stepping down as editor of the DC Maxecutters newsletter Max-Fax, received a very nice token of appreciation: the club gave him a framed D-V Albatross picture from the Smithsonian, accompanied by a one-inch square of fabric from the real D-V.
Flightmasters has also recently honored outstanding members with magnificent drawings of the recipients, done by such greats as Mik Mikkelson and Ken Johnson. Any club that appreciates its hard-working, underpaid officers and outstanding members might consider this very personal and much-appreciated way of showing it.
Peanut Meet Results (Flemalle, Belgium)
From Roger Aime in France comes the results of the recent Peanut meet at Flemalle, Belgium. Christian Frugoli of Marseille took first with a Condor Mojave, while E. Fillon of St. Raphael won second and fourth with Gossamer Condors. Three out of four top places in a field of 50 would lead one to believe that the adoption of the 9‑in. fuselage (or "overall") length has led to a new trend. Instead of Fikes winning every time, now one may see more and more MacCready designs in the indoor meets. There is another dimension, however: the same guys who are winning with this design used to win under the old rules, too.
Products: Campus CO-2 Motor
The Campus CO-2 motor for Peanuts is here! Bill Brown has the Campus A-23 wee wonder out for a mere $40, to make the hearts of penny-pinching Peanutters jump with joy. Sounds like a lot, until you price RC gear. Get them from your local supplier, or direct from Bill at:
P.O. Box 77 Pine Grove Mills, PA 16868
Two bucks extra for postage and handling. Of course, if you are into multi-engine operation, it could run into a small fortune.
Hardware: Prop Shafts and Hooks
Prop shafts that hold onto your motor when the power runs down are worth their weight in CGs. Some people try deeper throats on the hooks, others try ogival bends—or even complicated locking gates—to prevent a tired old motor from leaving its place of business. There's one thing about keeping it geared up, too: it would be nice if someone came up with a hook-up that would prevent long motors from climbing up front as well.
George "Von Toot" Meyers sent a hook guaranteed to solve many problems, provided, of course, you do not pick up a few new ones as part of your logical nature trying to be clever about it. Pres Bruning of the Detroiter Geschwader consented to help out and snapped into action on this knotty problem. The result is that anyone following Pres' diagrams can't go wrong. Once your little steel mandrel has a couple of well-done hacksaw cuts in it, the rest is a cinch. Try it!
Wish Books and Suppliers
For your collection of "wish books" to rank with the biggies and the legendary Peck-Polymers catalog, you might add a new one from "Che" Hobbies:
Che Hobbies 10900 Eastwood Ave. Inglewood, CA 90304
They carry lots of hard-to-come-by items, such as tiny nylon screws, nitrate dope, Trexler airwheels, rubber and balsa strippers, batch-tested rubber and special-brew lubes, and kits from Peck, Peck, Flyline, Micro-X, etc. Send them a buck and be pleasantly surprised.
Lest we forget, the gumband-twister's longtime favorite, Peck-Polymers, has the most complete line of goodies for the FF Scale devotee, ranging from 1/20 square balsa sticks to the most exciting Peanut plans and kits anywhere in the world. If you can't get excited by the Peck catalog, you should be making RC tanks. By the time this magazine gets to you, their new attraction, the Butch Hadland Peanut Lacey kit, will be on the shelves. Take it from Uncle Bill—this will be a winner for the beginner! A devalued dollar to:
Peck-Polymers P.O. Box 2498 La Mesa, CA 92041
will get you catalog No. 22.
Bill Warner 423-C San Vicente Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90402
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
