FREE FLIGHT: SPORT and SCALE
Bill Warner, 1370 Monache Avenue, Porterville CA 93257
LUDDITES AND CYBER-BEAVERS
There seem to be two emerging groups of Free Flight (FF) Scalers: The Luddites (named for Ned Ludd's machinery-smashing followers from the early days of the Industrial Revolution) contend that time spent on the computer is time away from the building board and the flying field. The Cyber-Beavers treasure their computers and fingertip access to plans, online catalogs, research, pictures, worldwide correspondence with other FF Scalers, and news.
My heart is with the Luddites, but my head is on line with the Beavers. If you don't own a computer, many colleges, libraries, and copy stores have them for use. If you do own a computer, you can add a modem to hook up to your telephone line. The Yellow Pages can put you in touch with a computer service or "server" who can tell you all you need to know about going on line; online services will cost about $20 per month, and flat-rate local telephone service will put you in touch with the world! E-mail (typed messages sent anywhere in the world, at the same cost as calling the corner grocery) is included in the price of online services, and it can come by itself for free if you don't mind commercials.
Once you have E-mail access, you can contact modeling buddies here and abroad; you will be able to share information so quickly and cheaply that it will be hard to imagine life without it.
Finding new Web sites (electronic pages) on the Internet brings you a wealth of treasures, including pictures, news, modeling supplies, documentation, and other interesting items. One day I got on line and found a "newsgroup" of about 20 Flying Aces who share stories, tips, and philosophies. When one member was looking for a way to make 80 louvers in his latest model, he put out a query to the group via E-mail, and a dozen suggestions from some of the world's best builders landed on his screen the same day!
I checked out Hannan's Runway's new Web page at http://pages.prodigy.com/runway/runway.htm and tried some of its links associated with FF Scale and full-scale aviation. That address connected me to many hours of neat browsing!
Many businesses now give Web site addresses in their ads so that you can access their catalogs and order merchandise with amazing ease! Even the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) is on line, and you can send messages expressing your views.
After a little cyberspace tour, even the most staunch Luddite may have to admit that there is plenty of worthwhile stuff out there!
Oh! That's Cold!
I received an E-mail message from Cyber-Beaver Ralph Hebron in England.
One day he was enjoying a perfect flying day at his favorite grassy field, testing his new CO2 model. Walking back from a retrieval, Ralph felt a sudden tingling sensation on his leg, which became a burning pain! It immediately dawned on him that the white cloud issuing from the area of his trousers pocket might have had something to do with his discomfort.
"In the panic mode," he dropped his trousers on the spot and shook the CO2 charger out onto the grass, breathing a monumental sigh of relief because his "... own personal undercarriage had been saved from a very chilling experience." A lady who was walking a dog happened to pass by at that moment. "Nice evening," Ralph offered suavely, but he was hot and flushed with grass falling out of his trousers. He hurriedly covered himself. Red-faced, he grabbed his charger and his model, hopped on his bike, and pedaled home at high speed. Following an inquiry by his wife as to why he had come home all hot and flushed with grass falling out of his trousers, he confessed all.
Ralph's lessons-to-be-learned are as follows:
- Always ensure that your CO2 bulb is secure in the charger.
- If you want to continue furthering the species, never store your charger in your pocket.
- A "perfect flying day" has the uncanny ability to bite you when you least expect it!
(Ralph lost the model the following weekend on a nine-minute OOS [Out Of Sight]!)
Droopy Silk
Nat Comfort sent me a note saying that Thai Silk (April column) tightened up nicely on his model, but drooped after doping. I had the same experience about 10 years ago with the leading brand of expensive Japanese silk. I have also had good results with that brand, so I am not sure whether to blame the silk, the dope, or what. When the silk drooped, I loosened the "applied damp" silk (attached with nitrate dope) with thinner on a brush and pulled it tight again; the result was fine.
If you are having difficulties caused by drooping, make sure that the dope is not of a "non-tautening" variety. A brand of dope I once used was supposed to be raw nitrate, a maximum-tightening product, but it acted like a plasticised dope, which reduces tautening to prevent warps! Aside from retightening the silk after doping, as I did, you could apply hair-dryer warmth if it is cold and/or damp where you live.
All Silk Seems to be Chinese Silk
Jim Adams wrote that Thai Silk (cheap) and Japanese Silk ($14.75/yd.) are made in China. He opines that the Japanese Silk's high price is attributed to the middleman's commission. Though praising Thai (Chinese) Silk, Jim bemoans the fact that the new product does not approach the quality of the silk from a few years ago that really came from Japan.
Jim quotes Sal Taibi as saying that Thai Silk is "so tightly-woven that it is a little hard to shrink it further." Still, Sal uses non-tautening dope. Hmm.
Polyspan Update
Sal Fruciano of Starline International, the company that sells Polyspan (that highly-touted synthetic heat-shrink covering), asked me to correct the impression I gave concerning the price. Polyspan comes in a roll for $15, with a per-yard price of about $7. If your local hobby shop doesn't carry it, call Sal at (602) 865-3220. He sent me a sample, and it is only slightly heavier than Japanese tissue but much tougher! It looks like silk on the model.
Airspan Report
Bill Baker sent a report, from Dave Larkin of Ottawa, about a new product called Airspan; it is a synthetic fiber heat-shrink covering that is 20%–30% lighter than Polyspan, and comes in eight colors. It requires about two thinned coats of dope (do not use more; it makes Airspan brittle), and is suitable for models on which you'd normally use Japanese tissue. Since Airspan is porous, it can be attached with dope. Dave says that it is not as torsion- or puncture-resistant as Polyspan. I don't know where to get it in the U.S., but I'm sure one of the major hobby suppliers has it (see Cottage Wings).
Cottage Wings Resource Guide Will Continue
Cottage Wings is an invaluable source of plans, materials, documentation, clubs, and other information that you can't find elsewhere. It is constantly updated and annotated to be of maximum value to Free Flight Scale modelers.
Thanks go out to the modelers who offered to continue the guide. Carlo Godel (5726 Case Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91601) is the new editor, with no policy changes. A dollar (which barely covers printing) and a self-addressed 9½ x 4 envelope with 55¢ postage will still get you a copy. I understand that a couple of modelers have posted Cottage Wings on the Internet, which is great, but it may be out-of-date; neither Carlo nor I are involved with it.
Pet-with-Model Winners
Congratulations to all who entered the photo contest! The pictures were inspiring, and I wish we had space to print them all. Special mention goes to Len Sherman for his Douglas O-47 and his dog Mollie (next time I'll include a dog on the panel of judges); Bill Funcke and his Corben Ace, faithfully guarded by his feline friend Queen Sammi; and Count Alex Pisano for his Auster Autocrat being eaten by his pet shrew Eric.
Until next time, take plenty of cold drinks to the flying field, keep your Tan II out of the sun, and squint down those wings to make sure you haven't picked up any warps from Ole Sol! Send military-related model photos, etc., to my co-columnist Fernando Ramos (19361 South Mesa Dr., Villa Park, CA 92667). I'll take the rest!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
