Free Flight: Sport & Scale
Bill Warner 1370 Monache Ave. Porterville, CA 93257
Tattooed Tissue
When I was a kid, one of the favorite things to do was apply the little printed "tattoos" from the store: lick, press and a colored transfer would appear on your skin. Dick Howard, of Lake Havasu, Arizona, transfers markings to tissue in a similar way, starting with a photocopied artwork sheet.
Method
- Take the sheet of tissue to receive the image and dampen it with lacquer thinner.
- Before the tissue dries, position the Xeroxed artwork ink-side-down on the tissue and apply pressure.
- The inked copy image comes out reversed on the tissue; because the ink penetrates the tissue it can be seen clearly through the back side.
Tips and notes
- Start with Japanese tissue shiny-side-down. Practice gives a feel for how much lacquer thinner to use.
- The method avoids risking a tissue sheet being lost inside a copier.
- Asymmetrical markings can be done mirror-image—one on each side of the plane—by reversing the original artwork.
- Although Dick's samples were black line drawings, color should work as well. You can prepare master sheets and Xerox them to make transfers.
- Some sharpness is lost in the transfer; lettering as small as 1/16 inch is still legible and the overall effect is quite good.
- I tried brushing thinned nitrate dope on both sides of the transferred image; no smudging occurred even after repeated brushings on the same spot.
Color-coded Motors
Modelers are using small rubber rings cut from balloon necks to hold loops of braided motors together. An interesting variation used by Dick Howard and Bob Schlosberg in Arizona is using different colored bands to distinguish left and right motors on twin models to keep braiding equal. Different colors can also indicate different motor sizes.
Matching Tissue Color
You may have noticed that red tissue often looks washed out or pinkish when red dope or enamel is applied to nearby wood. Two ways to improve the match:
- Dye the paper using a bit of red aniline dye in alcohol to better match the dope’s brightness.
- Alter the paint color instead—add a little white and a touch of yellow to the paint until a balsa scrap matches the tissue.
Boeing Hawks Indoor Scale Meet
- Location: Kibbie Dome, Moscow, Idaho (informed sources call this the world's premier indoor site)
- Event: Four days of indoor scale plus microfilm events
- Prizes: Awards to fifth place in Peanut, Sub-Peanut (Pistachio), Profile, Kit Sport Scale, Coconut, Walnut, both seven- and 14-gram Bostonian, and Old-timer Indoor
- Fee: $40 for the experience; you may fly as many events as you wish
- Information: Jim Woods — 206/783-0134
AMA / Lee Renaud Research Library
One of the biggest problems for serious modelers is finding enough information on full-size aircraft before you build a model. The AMA library, directed by Georgiana Apple, holds some 30,000 publications and books on model and full-size aircraft and has attained the status of a recognized aviation research library.
Collection highlights
- Extensive model material from the Russ Barrera and Chet Lanza archives
- Aviation Weekly back to 1910
- Jane's All the World's Aircraft (except many issues from the 1930s)
Cooperation and trade
- The library trades information with the FAA, Navy (Pensacola), Air Force (Wright-Patterson), and the Smithsonian.
Needs and how you can help
- An optical laser-disc scanner to save, reproduce, and cross-reference the collection on a single disc
- Someone to scan and index materials page-by-page (old magazines are literally disintegrating)
- A color Xerox to provide color documentation
- Duplicates of magazines and books to stock the Muncie library
- Volunteers who have already cross-referenced their personal collections—your work could greatly speed the process
Research services and fees
- Finding and sending an article (from any magazine in the collection): free for AMA members for the first article ordered in any one month; $2.50 for each additional article that month
- Researching model plans and particular subjects: $10
When requesting information, provide as much detail as possible: year or decade, author or plan designer, publication, and any other identifying facts.
Contact
- Georgiana C. Apple — 703/435-0750
- Mail: AMA Library, 1810 Samuel Morse Dr., Reston, VA 22090
Guide to Cottage Industries, Plan Services, and Suppliers
I am compiling a guide to newsletters, small plan services, kit manufacturers, and other suppliers useful to Free Flight Scale builders. If you offer items of interest to FF Scalers and want to be included, send a brief description (a few words or less) and a catalog, brochure, or sample if you wish.
To receive the current list (over ten pages), send a large self-addressed stamped envelope and $1 to cover printing. This guide is a service to modelers and does not imply endorsement by me or the AMA; recommendations will be made where personal experience warrants.
New Book: Model Plans and Three-Views International (Bill Hannan)
- Format: High-quality paper, includes construction plans, three-views, and photos
- Contents:
- Peanut plans: Hannan's Bellanca Skyrocket, Takeuchi's 1928 Kawanishi K-12 Sakura-Go, M.E. Bollman's 1933 Farman/Renault F.380 racer
- Sub-Peanut/Pistachio plans: J.F. Frugoli's Farman Moustique 1, Tonda Alfrey's Fike E
- Three-views: Mark Allison's 1918 Veloz Microplane biplane, Hannan's 1919–20 Farman Moustique, Hannan's 1934 Fairchild 22 C-7A (includes NACA adjustable-dihedral wing), 1934 Nemeth Umbrellaplane
- Includes eight construction plans and 11 three-views plus photos
- Price: $9.95 plus $2 shipping
- Order from: Hannan's Runway, Box 210, Magalia, CA 95954
Bell Model Aircraft Co. Catalog
John Bell's catalog is worth a look. His rubber-scale and jet plans are exceptionally well drawn. Offerings include several World War II ships with spans around 20–30 inches, a Hughes racer, and a Lockheed Altair. His new kit for Duane Cole's Taylorcraft is particularly well done and worth considering for builders.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
