Free Flight: Sport & Scale
Bill Warner 423‑C San Vicente Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90402
Classic Models comeback
Good news! Classic Models is making a comeback. Those who remember Gene Thomas' superscale models with their magnificent documentation packages have cause to rejoice. Gene, having conquered a number of problems that would have stopped a lesser man, is presently offering plans and documentation booklets along with the accessories still in stock. Full kits are not presently available, but Gene assures us that full production is coming on his Church Midwing, Cessna 1911, Heath Super Parasol, Baby Bullet, and Alexander Bullet.
There is more: having seen the plans for the new additions to the line, I know you are in for some great treats. His new darlings are the Arrowsport biplane, Cessna CW‑6, Bellanca Columbia, Spirit of St. Louis, and my favorite, the Travelair Chevrolair racer. If you'd like to offer Gene encouragement on his reentry into the model biz, drop him a line at:
16 Scott Drive Melville, NY 11747 Telephone: 1‑516‑549‑5836
Let's hope Classic Models is back soon. Thanks, Gene! His new promotional literature is almost ready, so get on his mailing list.
Walt Mooney's Bag 6 and sub‑Peanut tips
Walt Mooney has new offerings to the sub‑Peanut builders of the world. He has reduced 36 of his best Peanut Scale designs to eight‑inch wingspans and put them in a new booklet called Bag 6. This volume is added to his line of Peanut Scale plan booklets, long favorites of Peanutters worldwide.
Recommended modifications and materials for sub‑Peanut models include:
- Replace covering with condenser paper.
- Use 7/16‑in. sticks for the longerons instead of 1/16‑in. square.
- Use .003‑in. transparent plastic sheet for windows.
- Consider styrofoam wheels to save weight.
- Walt cautions against overdoing the doping of the wee wonders.
There are many plans in model magazines which are reduced versions of the "send‑for" plans; these can be admirably adapted for sub‑Peanut‑sized models. The one thing that gives the most trouble in these little models seems to be finding just the right rubber size. FAI Model Supply sells 3/32‑in. rubber, which will work sometimes; Micro‑X and Indoor Model Supply can help with smaller sizes. The use of indoor wood is not necessary, but it is advisable if you are going for the "over‑a‑minute" model.
If you have a photocopier that can enlarge, Mooney's 8½ x 11‑in. sheets can be blown back up to Peanut (or larger) size with ease. Take it from me — he has chosen some dandies. I have personally seen most of them in the air as Peanuts, and they FLY!
Favorite picks
My pick of the lot would be:
- Waco SRE biplane
- Laird LC‑DE (Warner engine—haw‑w‑w!)
- Elias Aircoupe
- Miles M‑5 Sparrowhawk
- LWD Szpalc‑4A
- Wright WP‑1
- Tupolev ANT‑2
- Rearwin Speedster
- Avro 536C
- Racing Baby
- Compete AC‑12E
- Andreasson BA‑4B biplane
- Lublin RXII
- Udet Flamingo
- Druine Turbulent
- Gloster Gannet
- Jodel Mascaret
- Stahlwerk Mark MS II‑B
If I can't get inspired by this lot, you might try taking up matchbook collecting as a hobby!
Send Walt five bucks to: P.O. Box 231192 San Diego, CA 92123
He has the best bargain in modeling today. P.S. Some people call sub‑Peanut models under eight‑inch wingspans "Pistachios." I don't know why...
Free‑flying jets
A couple of months ago I told you about a military jet that did a bit of free flighting after its pilot bailed out. That was not an isolated incident. The Los Angeles Times of October 24, 1987 reports a Hawker Harrier belonging to the RAF that flew over 700 miles after the pilot, found dead in a field near Salisbury in southern England, ejected for an unknown reason. A C‑5A of the USAF found the free‑flying plane and accompanied it at 500 mph for over an hour before the Harrier crashed into the sea. Actually, that's pretty fast for a Free Flight Scale ship — in these parts, only RC models ever come close to that.
Why kids aren't coming into Free Flight
I've had many people write about why kids are not coming into Free Flight in droves.
- Paul Bowman (Horsham, PA) thinks part of the problem is "subsonic button‑pushers" in leadership positions who bow to RC to the detriment of a meaningful Junior program.
- Ed Lowe (Holdingford, MN) opines that aviation has lost the mystique and excitement it had when we were kids, when a kid's big dream was to get a ride in an airplane.
- Carl Fries, NFFS founder, thinks part of the decline is that people don't know about Free Flight, and that hobby shops are going to higher‑profit RC items to pay the rent. He feels we should shoot for the 24–35 age group who can get out to the distant flying fields where FF is now taking place.
- Bill Miller (Fairfield, CT) would like to see more simple Scale models on the market and available to kids, sort of on the order of the old 10¢‑ to 25¢ Keoghs models. He cites Jack Fike's Scale Flight kits and the Canadian Easybuilt line as helping where it counts.
- Bill Moore (San Marcos, CA), who has helped dozens of Juniors over the years, noted that some of them just walk into the hobby, and that maybe we just have to accept that "nothing is forever." The kids of today listen to different music and have different heroes; they should be allowed to go and find their own special joy. He figures his pleasure out in the sunshine with his model is enough for him.
Plenty of food for thought. Until somebody comes up with a philosophy we'll all agree with, let's keep the discussion going. I personally owe Free Flight and Scale modeling far more than I can ever repay in one lifetime, and I'm not willing to see them go to a quiet grave!
Hannan's Runway (recommended kits)
Hannan's Runway P.O. Box A Escondido, CA 92025
They have a couple of things in stock I might recommend: the little 4½" Bee kit and the 7½" Skipper kit, both inexpensive and suitable for beginners. They also carry a few other small kits and modeling items worth a look.
Dope (nitrate dope sources)
I've received lots of responses to my plea for sources of good, old‑fashioned nitrate dope — the staple of Free Flight!
- Bob Hatsheck (Douglaston, NY) reports the Sky Scrapers club has largely abandoned modern airplane dope, which lets your covering "go limp and virtually useless." They are going to "full‑scale aircraft" dope. Their source is:
Alexander Aeroplane Co. 900 So. Pine Hill Rd. Griffin, GA 30223 Toll‑free: 1‑800‑831‑2949 A gallon of Randolph high‑solids "non‑tainting" nitrate dope and a gallon of thinner costs about $30 for both, delivered in New York. Some modelers split the cost.
- United Airlines pilot and top‑notch scaler Ric Dittman has located a 55‑gallon drum of the real Mil‑Spec stuff (yellowed tin finish) and sold it cheap to the club. He may peddle it at about $3.50 a quart or $12 a gallon, plus $2.50 for UPS shipping. If you want "the real thing," write to:
E. W. Dittman Model and Supply 23322 75th Ave. W. Edmonds, WA 98020
- Doug Dahlke (Oshkosh, WI) recommends writing Randolph Products Co., P.O. Box 67, Rutherford, NJ 07072 and asking for their Aircraft Finishes Product Manual. He also suggests checking Cooper Aviation Supply Co., 2149 East Pratt Blvd., Elk Grove Village, IL 60007.
- Dick Davis and Rex Bixby recommend:
Aircraft Spruce and Specialty 201 W. Truslow Ave. Fullerton, CA 92632 Toll‑free: 1‑800‑824‑1930 (except CA and AK) CA/AK residents call: 1‑714‑870‑7551
Thanks much, gang!
Happy hints
- Rowland Root of the illustrious SOTS recommends smearing a film of zinc stearate on the bottoms of your floats to help get the plane off the water.
- Don Snell recommends adding just a little aluminum powder to the colored dope used on models of aluminum airplanes to add realism.
- Walt Mooney has an indoor‑scale model equipped with miniature light bulbs on the wings and tail, all operated by a cigarette‑lighter battery.
- For tiny lighting, see your model RR or doll‑house store for "grain‑of‑wheat" (and smaller) bulbs.
- Darwin Grigg is working on a Peanut‑sized lighting system using optical fiber and a battery actuated by pushing the model down on its sprung landing gear.
Until next time, keep butchering that balsa and twisting those gum bands!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
