Letters to the Editor
All letters will be carefully considered; those of general interest will be used. Send to Model Aviation, 1810 Samuel Morse Dr., Reston, VA 22090.
A Disgrace?
The cover of the February 1986 issue is a disgrace to serious modelers. The labeling, in headline-type letters, of the flying monstrosity with wheels and a fuselage of near-equal diameter, split-axle gear, and a transparent fuselage as a Fokker D.VIII is ridiculous. I also object to the inference that such 7‑ft. flying "buzz saws" are scorching around the skies with six-year‑olds at the controls.
Please relegate your "cutesy" pictures to interior pages and use something like the beautiful models on pages 81–84 to really boost model airplanes and model fliers.
Harlan Tegt Bellingham, WA
Response from James E. Gilgenbach:
The Fokker D.VIII on the February 1986 cover was intentionally built with a non-scale fuselage cross section. However, because the features and dimensions of the full‑size aircraft were used extensively in my model design, I felt it appropriate to refer to the model as a Fokker D.VIII.
I sympathize with Mr. Tegt's quest for fidelity to scale; I, too, have spent many hours building true‑to‑scale aircraft. A good example is a SPAD XIII that took me close to 1,000 hours to complete, but after placing well in several scale contests I retired it because of the following:
- The large fuselage cross section and scale landing gear created a very high angle of attack at rest, making takeoffs and landings extremely nerve‑racking.
- The scale landing gear and interplane rigging would catch on the non‑scale grass of most flying fields and cause the model to flip over, usually resulting in appreciable damage.
- The scale camouflage paint scheme was vulnerable to hangar rash and minor accidents, resulting in frequent, time‑consuming repairs.
The vast majority of modelers will not subject themselves to this form of masochism. They want a model that they can comfortably fly and then store for the next flying session without frequent repairs. Resemblance to a full‑scale aircraft is just "icing on the cake."
I am lucky to have a family that supports and becomes involved in my hobby. I feel it is beneficial to promote this fact to other modelers and their families. Further, having a human on the cover helps establish the model's relative size.
James E. Gilgenbach Fond du Lac, WI
Computer Program for Analysis and Comparison of Aircraft Designs
Thanks for the article in the January 1986 issue. It renewed my interest in my son's Commodore 64 home computer. Unfortunately, after two long nights of one‑finger typing on the keyboard, I remembered why I had lost interest in programming (SYNTAX ERROR in 40). I found that it takes twice as long to debug it as to type it in the first place.
I've decided to go back to pencil, paper, and calculator for the time being—at least until you rewrite the program in Commodore BASIC or someone starts marketing it. At any rate, it was a great idea, and I'm sure most computer buffs have a much better understanding of BASIC than I do.
David Parker Kent, WA
Editors' note: Several readers converted the program to other systems and offered printouts or diskettes for modest sums. We have put Mr. Parker (and others) in touch with the people who modified the program. Information follows for others who may be interested.
Offer from Jim and Jim Brandon (Commodore 64):
- Diskette ready to run and a listing: $8.00.
- If you send a diskette, we will copy the program onto it and send a listing: $4.00.
- Program listing only (for typing or modification): $2.00.
All costs cover postage, paper, diskettes, diskette mailers, and handling. The program is not copyrighted; anyone wishing to modify it is encouraged to do so.
Jim and Jim Brandon 15644 Grevillea Ave. Lawndale, CA 90260
Lone Star Computer Co. (Stephen A. Risik):
The Model Analysis Program (MAP) by Dick Sarpolis and Bernie Raad is excellent. I 'ported' their HP BASIC program to Microsoft BASIC on an XT clone without difficulty, though conversion required familiarity with BASIC because HP BASIC contains commands not available in Microsoft BASIC.
I have ported MAP to MS BASIC with as few changes as possible and made it generic so it should type into any BASIC running on an IBM‑compatible computer without alteration. It should also work with AppleSoft BASIC, Commodore PET BASIC, and BASIC XE (Atari) with minimal changes.
For those who prefer not to type a program:
- Lone Star Computer Co. will make MAP available on disk for IBM MS BASIC and Atari BASIC for a donation of $2.50 (to cover disk and postage).
- We will send our program listing for a donation of $1.25.
Again, I commend Dick and Bernie on a fine job. This is probably the first program I have typed in from any magazine that was completely bug‑free. I look forward to putting it to the test as the building season approaches.
Stephen A. Risik, Proprietor Lone Star Computer Co. P.O. Box 882 Killeen, TX 76540
More Computer Talk
A reader, Pete Donatelli of Sewickley, PA, contacted us about an error believed to be in the Computer Program to Assist in RC Canard Aircraft Design, authored by Dick Sarpolis and Bernie Raad (June 1984). The problem was thought to be a minus sign in Line 760 which should have been a plus sign. We asked Dick Sarpolis about this; his response follows.
Since the canard program article was published, I've received a lot of mail concerning it. Modelers have sent copies of the program as they've modified it to run on various computers. Until Pete Donatelli picked up this mistake, no one else had done so.
I don't even have a computer yet, so I depend on my programmer friend Bernie Raad for input. He confirms there was a mistake: the minus sign in Line 760 should indeed be a plus sign.
The only reason this compiling error went undetected for so long is that the quantity E1/15/G1 is usually much smaller than the quantity L+S2/S1. As such, the small error it produced was probably not noticed or was attributed to geometric variations in an actual model. Mr. Donatelli may have used a design with dimensions producing a more severe imbalance.
So, Line 760 should read: P = L × S2/S1 + E1/15/G1
Our apologies for the error.
Dick Sarpolis Shrewsbury, NJ
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
