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.
Wife's Challenger
The snapshot is of my son, James. He is holding my wife's Challenger, built from your plans as featured in the November 1986 Model Aviation. Pamela ordered the plans as soon as she read the article, and so began her year-and-a-half project.
The plane is covered with Micafilm and painted Perfect-Chevron blue. Power and control are provided by a Golden Bee .049 and Futaba radio. We test-flew the Challenger in July, and all went very well. I am very proud of Pamela for her completion of this Old-Timer. She not only is a full-time mother but also a working nurse. Our other son, Art Jr., is now 20 months old, and our daughter, Allison, is just four months.
We also managed to finish a PT-13D that I competed with in our Scale Masters Qualifier in June. You can see that my wife's Challenger really was a challenge, and I am very proud of what she has done to help our family enjoy R/C. Airplane modeling can be a great hobby for the family.
Thanks for a great magazine. We look forward to it every month.
Arthur G. Newland, Sr. Camas, WA
Jack Port's Hi-Q
I have been looking for plans, etc., for Jack Port's Hi-Q RC model. Jack won the 1953 Nationals with it. Plans were published in one of the national magazines, perhaps American Modeler or Air Trails. I flew many times with Jack Port and Don Lowe at the Springfield Municipal Airport in the late '50s.
Anyone having plans or information on this unusual design, please contact me at 1-614-864-7053 or write:
Norm Hupp 2825A Citizens Pl. Columbus, OH 43232
Editor's Reply
We usually don't print requests for information about old plans because doing so would quickly take up all our space. However, many readers mistakenly think Model Aviation is the successor to Air Trails, American Modeler, and American Aircraft Modeler, so lots of folks write us believing we can supply the old plans. Here's the status, as far as we know.
Full-size plans for Air Trails were handled by a firm named Hobby Helpers. This company appears to be out of business, and mail was returned undeliverable from the last known address.
Plans in American Modeler and American Aircraft Modeler were for a time sold by Sport Model. Sport Model apparently went bankrupt in 1983 when its publisher, Sport Models, went through several ownership changes; the last owner did not resurface after the doors were closed. We can only speculate whether the originals still exist; many may have been destroyed in the process. Lots of modelers still have an interest in these old plans, so if any reader can shed light on the subject, please contact the editor/publisher.
Dihedral
Enclosed is a copy of a letter which I have sent to Blaine Baron‑Rawdon. He is to be thanked for the fine articles which discussed dihedral. You are to be congratulated on having the guts to publish them. There must have been a sizable number of people who argued that such stuff hasn't any place in MA.
Rest assured there are a few of us who enjoy the truly technical side of this hobby. Perhaps we are a minority, but our enjoyment is not less than that of the devotees of runway-ready kits. There are probably a few of us who understand the loneliness of a designer. Editors will wonder if there is anyone out there who reads anymore—anyone but a critic.
One does!
W. L. Kincheloe Magnolia, CA
Without Fuel!
The Christmas weekend has given me a little time to catch up on my MA reading—in particular the RC Scale rules proposals on page 135 of the December issue. My eyes fell on the SC‑09‑9 proposal by my compatriot, Dave Platt.
The word down the grapevine is that Dave feels, since gas models are weighed "less fuel," the battery in an electric‑powered model should be weighed "less battery."
With all due respect to Dave's expertise, I beg to differ. In the case of an electric-powered model I firmly believe that the battery is the model's fuel tank, so therefore the model should be weighed with the battery in place—but fully discharged!
Jim Newman Hobart, IN
Editor note: Too bad this isn't the issue that comes out on April 1.
Third-Order Harmonic Reduction Program
Certain readers may be interested in the computer programs I have developed for arranging flight lines and frequency use to minimize third-order-harmonic interference. Doing this is really essential for anyone who puts on large events or contests. It's easy to spot the harmonic pairs with a small number of fliers—not easy at all without computer help when six or more planes are to be airborne at a time.
These programs were used at the 1988 Flying Circus put on by the Greater Cincinnati RC Club, an event involving over 100 airplanes, 200 club members, and 3,000 spectators. In previous years the maximum number of planes which could be aloft at a time was six—the most the frequency coordinator could handle. My programs in 1988 enabled us to run many events with eight planes in the air at once; experienced show-team pilots commented on the greatly reduced number of radio problems.
I'd like to share my programs with anyone who can make use of them. For $5 I'll send the compiled programs and user documentation on a 360K diskette for the IBM‑PC and compatibles.
R. Minnich 763 E. 93 Drive Indianapolis, IN 46240
Conversion for Hams
As an amateur radio operator (Ham), I have always wanted to use the Ham six‑meter band for RC airplanes, but the cost and availability of six‑meter equipment kept me on 72 MHz. Since I had a Futaba FP‑74L transmitter that had lost its flight pack, I decided to try converting it to six meters. By using an Ace RC RF deck and a Silver Seven receiver, the project was a success. While I have not converted a Conquest series transmitter, it should be very similar. Any Hams wanting an instruction sheet, please send me a pre-addressed, stamped envelope.
Robert Seeber 14207 Kuehster Rd. Littleton, CO 80127
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
