Free Flight Sport & Scale
Bill Warner, 1370 Monache Ave., Porterville, CA 93257
Engine & Bearing Lube
STA-LUBE Anti-Seize Moly-Graph Engine Assembly Lube is available in a 2 1/4-ounce tube — just the right size for your toolbox — at your local auto parts supplier. Not only does it protect reassembled engine parts on initial start-up, but it makes a great lube for nose and wheel bearings.
Since the lube is applied with a toothpick, one tube should last about 500 years. It's handy when using cyanoacrylate glue (CyA) near anything you do not want stuck — like a front motor bearing when you're gluing a prop to the shaft or to a hinge. Just apply a small amount where you don't want the glue to wick in. In all applications it seems to work as well or better than oil, and it stays put forever.
Workshop Humor
Truth is the essence of humor. See if you can identify with these extracts from Grant Carson's "In My Workshop" (found in the newsletter of the Thermal Thumbers via Bob Haight).
- Dihedral measurement: In my workshop, there are four increments. From least to most they are the height of a small dope bottle lying flat, the height of a small dope bottle on its side, the height of a small dope bottle standing upright, and the height of a big dope bottle. Anyone who needs a more incremental system is pretentious.
- Weight of balsa: In my workshop there are three weights. There is that so stiff that it can't be cut with a razor knife. When I find that kind, I use it for shims to level furniture. There is also that so light that it tears with the blade of a used razor knife, and one has to use a new blade. That's the best stuff. And then there's the rest, which is most of what I have.
- Size of working surface: In my workshop, a one-foot-square area. That's not what I would prefer, but the way Fate has decreed. If I'm about to build a big model, I clear my workbench. But within an hour of starting, the workbench is so littered with tools, dope bottles, beer cans, and so on, there I am again working in a one-foot-square area.
Boy, that gets me where I live...
Decal Preservation
Salvaging aging decals is easy when you brush on (or, better yet, spray on, so you won't mess them up) a coat of clear finish to prevent them from coming apart when applied. This hint, in the Air Trails Model Annual for 1954 (via the Michigan Antique Modelers' newsletter), suggests using Gloss Top Coat.
Check whatever you use on a small corner for compatibility, as there seem to be more and more finishes that don't agree with one another these days. Since most of my decal supply is well over voting age, this is a welcome idea!
New Videos
- FAC Nats 1992 — Harding Productions, 4782 Unity Line Rd., New Waterloo, OH 44445; Tel.: (216) 457-1600; $24.95 postage paid. This professionally made tape shows off the famous Flying Aces and their fantastic models. Highly recommended for schools, youth groups, or RC clubs — possibly the best FF scale video ever made.
- Joy of Flying Free — National Free Flight Society (NFFS), 1655 Revere Dr., Brookfield, WI 53045; $25 plus $3 S&H. Produced by Harding Productions, this moving documentary covers the entire spectrum of free flight activity, indoor and outdoor. The video combines beauty and excitement with nuts-and-bolts coverage such as how to make microfilm and how multifunction controllers, DTs, and circle-tow mechanisms work.
- Those Incredible Gee Bees — Studio 16 Video, 26 Ridgewood Terrace, Springfield, MA 01105; $24.95 plus $3 S&H. A one-hour program for vintage-race buffs combining documentary footage with interviews (notably Ed Granville, interviewed by FAC member Tom Nallen). You’ll see the Gee Bee biplanes, the Ascender, and the Sportsters.
If expense is an issue, consider pooling resources with a couple of friends or other clubs. The first two are great for club meetings, personal enjoyment, or PR work.
New Engine
Good news for scale lovers! One of the two most famous power plants of all time for FF scale models was the D.C. .036 Dart. The new .033-cubic-inch (0.55 cc) P.A.W. single-ball-bearing engine is ready and able to take its place, reports Dr. Diesel, 913 Cedar Ln., Tullahoma, TN 37388; Tel.: (615) 455-2265. It weighs 1-1/2 ounces, fits Dart engine mounts, and the conrod and wrist pin are interchangeable with the Dart. Cost is $58 plus $4.50 shipping.
Flying Aces Club News
From the famed Flying Aces Club, 3301 Cindy Ln., Erie, PA 16506, comes Plan Packet No. 2 — a set of thirteen 11 x 17-inch plans. At $8 plus $2 postage, that is a bargain! Packet No. 1 is also available.
Don't-miss FAC meets this summer:
- Geneseo, New York — July 10–11
- Muncie, Indiana — September 4–5
Scale Documentation
Bob Banka's new Scale Aircraft Documentation and Resource Guide lists 4,000-plus Foto Paks and 22,000 three-views. This year's catalog also includes articles on how to prepare for scale competition, how to shoot your own documentation photos, and more. Send $5 to Scale Model Research, 2334 Ticonderoga Way, Costa Mesa, CA 92626; Tel. (714) 979-8058.
SAMS Catalog and New Kits
The "Wish Book" used to refer to the "Sears Sawbuck" catalog, but the 1993 SAMS catalog now deserves that title. I've never seen so many goodies between two covers! You will find just about everything you knew existed for FF scale, and plenty you didn't. Even if you never order a thing, you'll spend hours drooling.
New Westwings series kits include a Lockheed Stealth fighter for rubber and catapult, and a Hawker Hind 24-inch rubber scale kit so appealing that you would build it on your honeymoon. Put two bucks in an envelope (just covers postage) and send it to George Wallbridge, SAMS Models, The Chapel, Sandon, Buntingford, Herts, SG9 0QJ, England. Phone: 076-388 384. Fax: 076-388 490.
Props and Airscrews
- Knight & Pridham three-piece electric and CO2 plastic props: These feature plug-in blades that pass through the center of the hub and overlap, making it nearly impossible to throw a blade. Available in six- and seven-inch diameters and are nearly indestructible. Available from SAMS.
- Superior Props: New addition to the almost-ready-to-fly balsa props line — a setscrew-mounted aluminum-collar freewheeler that works like a charm. A squared-off, U-shaped music wire driver passes through it and contacts a pin set into the prop. A flat filed on the prop shaft helps it hold, and it is easily removed to change props.
A new three-inch hardwood prop designed for the little HiLine and Kenway electric motors is also available. Send a large SASE for a free brochure to Ed Wickland, Superior Props, 2412 Tucson Ave., Pensacola, FL 32526.
Tools — Micro-Cementeur and Glue Gun
The Micro-Cementeur is now available from Harry Gever, 81 W. Bruceton Rd., Pittsburgh, PA 15236; Tel.: (412) 653-0178. It's an offshoot of Bill Bigge's indoor glue gun, with a built-in tip cleaner. It handles thin water-soluble glue or even R/C-56 with 5% water.
A similar glue gun could be made from a food-coloring bottle and some heated and stretched plastic tubing, but Harry will do it for you for $10. Much indebted to Penny Bates for turning me on to this valuable tool, to which I am now addicted.
Contest
Win a new Gasparin CO2 engine, a rubber scale kit, or a scale plan — prizes provided by SAMS, Peck-Polymers, Dave Diedels, A.A. Liberg, and others. To enter, put your name and address on a postcard with the names, in order, of the manufacturers of each of the following famous planes. Cards with 10 correct answers will be eligible for the drawing. Contest ends July 4, 1993. Winners will be announced in this column. Send entries to Bill Warner at the address at the beginning of this column (do not send to the AMA).
Who manufactured...
- the Wright Flyer?
- the Spirit of St. Louis?
- the Floyd Bennett?
- the Bonzo?
- the Winnie Mae?
- the Point d'Interrogation?
- the Southern Cross?
- the Woolaroc?
- the Glamorous Glennis?
- the Grosvenor House?
Cottage Wings Resource Guide
My annotated resource guide, updated daily on my computer, now lists around 150 suppliers, clubs, new products, etc., of interest to free-flight scale modelers. Send me a buck and a large SASE if you're interested.
Closing
Until next time, gang — remember the sunblock when you're going flying, take a junior with you, and the rest of the time, keep your models in boxes where the cat can't get 'em!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
