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.
European CL Champs
Please find enclosed my subscription renewal payment. I wish to compliment Gene Hempel and Model Aviation for including the report on the 1985 European CL Championships in its detail and accuracy—superior to Aeromodeller. Well supported by photos of technical interest, it made my 1985/1986 subscription well worth the money. Please give similar coverage to the forthcoming CL World Champs in Hungary. I know others in Australia share my point of view—but are lazy letter writers.
Ivars Dislers Brooklyn Pk., Australia
Editor: To be favorably compared with Aeromodeller is indeed high praise, for which we are appreciative. Yes, we are planning a major feature on the soon-to-take-place Control Line World Championships, and we hope it will live up to expectations.
Hobby Shop Robbery
On June 15, 1986 my shop, J & S Hobby Center, was broken into during the night. Enclosed is a list of planes, radios, and engines that were stolen. I thought that maybe you could publish some of these items in Model Aviation and ask readers to be on the lookout for them.
Joseph A. Lacourse 13 Sanborn Rd. Londonderry, NH 03053 (603) 432-7058
Editor: The list is too extensive for us to print, but we do ask everyone to be alert to the possibility of being offered "bargains" which may actually be stolen property. Should this occur, take no action yourself but report the particulars to Mr. Lacourse or the Londonderry Police Department.
Ironside
The picture shows my version of the Ironside design by Randy Randolph that was published in the January 1984 Model Aviation. You will see that I took some liberties, but the modifications were not severe, and the final result was highly pleasing to me.
The slight trailing-edge sweep at the outer two tip ribs allowed me to smoothly fair in the tip washout, which gives a more comfortable handling feel. I wanted ailerons for positive roll control at lower altitudes, so I used less dihedral. Everything else is as per the plans and instructions.
My RC experience is rather limited. My first plane was a Pronto built in 1979. It used the same O.S. .15 that is now in the Ironside. The Kraft receiver, Mini-Titan servos, and a 225 mAh battery pack made my Ironside a couple of ounces heavier than Randolph's prototype. Even so, it is highly maneuverable.
Paul E. Brown Marion, IN
Passed!
Look closely behind the "M" in AMA on the wings, and you will see that the local full-size flier is a monarch butterfly. Gerald's Air Trails Sportster is a nifty RC-assist Old-Timer—with four-cycle power—done in two shades of blue, red, and white.
Gerald E. Myers Redway, CA
Spoilers for FF D/Ting
I was intrigued by the discussion about spoilers for thermalizing in Bill Hartill's Free Flight Duration column (September 1986). My findings were mentioned in Bill Bogart's reporting of FF experiments, which showed severe trim changes until the spoiler was reduced to a surprisingly tiny size. Bogart is accurate in his statements (spoilers as utilized by full-size sailplane people are a different matter entirely and have no usable relationship to the development of thermalizing a FF ship).
Overkill spoilers required to DT a model produce a huge nose-down trim—unless a powerful offsetting trim force is exerted by partially popping up the stab. Obviously the normal pop-up tail is superior to using spoilers for DTing.
A small enough spoiler to avoid drastically nosing down (they may even cause a half outside loop) would be an extremely inefficient or erratic DT method. An extremely low-aspect spoiler—perhaps a rectangle hinged at its narrow end—would produce high drag as well, like a brake. In conjunction with mild spoiling (which may be of experimental interest), it is not very promising for DTing.
Bogart's remarks, however, gave me insight into my use of spoilers with power and in the glide. I use compensating up-elevator, since I use spoilers for RC flying (obviously the spoiler size and action has limits even here). What I realize now is that I am partially DTing the powered model, since the wing is held at a higher angle of attack and the up-elevator provides a limited pop-up tail effect.
My models (five with spoilers so far) can't be fully DTed, however, since no amount of normal elevator could attain or maintain the level required to equal a fully stalled wing held up by a pop-up stab as in FF (RC wing loadings are greater). But I unknowingly applied a modest measure of the FFer's DT mode. I hear some P-30 rubber fliers (who have lost planes when DTed) have taken to detaching the wing, which is then held by a string attached to the fuselage. (Editor: Coupe rubber models, too; see Chuck Markos' Terrible Coupe in this issue.) The spinning wing evidently gives a bit of parachute-like effect.
The bottom line: a spoiler dethermalizer for FF will take considerable development, and most probably the pop-up tail is more effective. If it works, why "fix" it (assuming the model design allows the usual pop-up stab to work without a great many modifications)?
Bill Winter Fairfax, VA
Big Comet Clipper
Enclosed are pictures of my latest project, a 10-ft.-span Comet Clipper using only three channels and powered by a Super Tiger .90 with the linkage hooked up to produce only about half power. The plane weighs exactly 10 lb. and will go straight up with full power.
I am 62 years old and don't seem to enjoy the "bombs" anymore. Brother, if you want slow, this is slow. The low passes are something. Everyone in our club can fly it—even my 11-year-old buddy whom I have taken under my wing to teach flying. The plane will ROG hands-off—and fly the same way.
The article a couple of months ago on the Comet Clipper Junior +35% prompted me to build the big one.
A.J. Serfass Brookfield, MO
Editor: We're printing a few of the pictures AJ sent. The big Clipper is resplendent in transparent yellow with bright red trim.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
