Letters to the Editor
Guess Who!
If you see this license plate on a 1990 Chevy Z71 pickup truck, you'll know that Jim Schmitz (LaSalle, Illinois) is around.
A poet is among us:
My Blue Wallet
The sky is blue and I am gray Oh how I wish to fly away To soar on RC wings 'Tis such a wonderful thing.
In the air and on the ground I am both of these when I fly The thrill of flight is mine With none of the normal fears For I cannot die in a crash I just end up spending more cash.
The plane in the photo is my Carl Goldberg Models Ultimate biplane. Power is a Saito 1.20 four-stroker. It is covered with (are you ready?) Coverite, MonoKote regular, EconKote, and Black Baron film. The cowl was airbrushed with Model Master red and white mixed to make pink paint.
Victor L. Payne Emerado, North Dakota Flatlanders RC Club
Promoting the sport
I have built RC planes for about nine years and never did fly them. I wanted to, though. But I just sold them or put them up in the basement and let them get dusty. Two years ago I moved north of Minneapolis and found out that there was a model club there, the Anoka County Radio Control Club, Inc. I started going out on weekends just to watch. Pretty soon I got the bug: I wanted to fly.
I want to thank all of the flight instructors who are in AMA. They are very special people who take their flying time and a lot of their patience to keep the sport going. If you want to fly right, or if you want to build right with safety first, join AMA and join an RC club—and you will.
I am flying now. Being in a club is the only way to go.
David Workman Coon Rapids, Minnesota
A modeler in the USAF
This is a picture of Sgt. Shannon K. Alexander, who is stationed in Germany but is currently participating (this letter was received at AMA on May 8, 1991) in Desert Shield/Storm. He is holding his Sig Kobra. He was introduced to the hobby while at Chanute AFB, Illinois, while attending technical school there. He has been an avid RC modeler for six years and is currently the president of the Bitburg AB Eifel Aeromodelers.
(Letter not signed)
A Polish modeler wants a pen pal
I'm a modeler and would like to correspond in Polish or English with modelers and computer enthusiasts who would like to help me build models of helicopters, airplanes, and electric cars. I am writing to you in the hope that this letter in your magazine will help me find a few pen-friends in the U.S.A. (and perhaps even other countries). I have seen a few old copies of Model Aviation and would like to have more in my library—other model magazines, too. But I am not permitted to send money out of my country. Perhaps I can exchange Polish model plans and model supplies with foreign modelers in return for model magazines and modeling supplies?
Let me say a little about myself. I am 35 years old, and my hobbies include building models of RC helicopters, airplanes, and electric cars; steam engines; computers; music; philately; photography. I am collecting airplane kits of all types: balsa, fiberglass—and especially ARFs; Polish stamps and FDCs; LP records; bank notes from all over the world.
I have a good collection of scale plans for Polish airplanes and ships named Plany Modelarskie and some brochures for building paper models named Mały Modelarz which I would like to exchange for modeling accessories—or to sell at cheap prices if anyone wants them. I have a great collection of Polish stamp sets (both mint and used) printed from 1965–1990, also some FDCs.
I need an ignition engine in the size range of .10–.15 cu. in. (such as a Maloney 100/125, Tartan 22cc, Zenoah G-23). Maybe someone who reads this letter will exchange one of these in good condition for something of mine? I can exchange a copy of a three-hour VHS videocassette of the 11th FAI World Championships for Scale Models—Warsaw, Poland 1990. Unfortunately it is in PAL format and narrated in Polish. But it is an exciting program.
I am looking forward to making new modeling friends. Who will take the time to correspond with me?
Marian Nazimek Lesna 11 46-250 Wolczyn Poland
A Simitar by any other name . . .
Out here on the West Coast we tend to do things a little differently. Enclosed are a couple of pictures of some new planes my son and I are flying. They are both Bill Evans Slow Motions. The smaller one is my son Greg's and was built from one of Bill's kits. It is powered by a K&B Vee .19 and uses an Airtronics Vanguard four-channel FM radio. To say the least it flies great!
Greg really enjoys flying it. He learned to fly the Slow Motion using a buddy box system and has completed several flights from start to finish on his own. Greg is 16 and will be a junior in high school this fall. Besides model airplanes we also ride off-road motorcycles together—and if that's not enough Greg makes time for high school and AYSO soccer.
I was so happy with the Slow Motion that I retired the fuselage from my Desperado 3000 and scaled up the Slo Mo's fuselage to match the D-3000 wing. The power comes from a SuperTiger 3000 swinging a Zinger 18 x 8. I'm using the Airtronics Vision radio system with its computer-based transmitter.
The plane's CG is exactly the same as on the D-3000, and in my opinion it flies as well as or better than the D-3000. The larger rudder gives the Slo Mo-3000 the added capability to do stall turns. I have yet to make it stall or spin, but I'm still playing with it. I think if the CG is moved back a little it should snap quite well. The Slo Mo-3000 has the same stall characteristics as the standard Slow Motion. When it reaches full stall it just drops its nose and starts flying again. (No such thing as a tip stall!)
As far as the Airtronics Vision radio is concerned there is only one word to describe it: "Incredible." The radio can do just about anything. I mix the elevons and couple the rudder to the ailerons for coordinated turns all from the transmitter, and it meets or exceeds all 1991 requirements.
As I said before we do things a little differently out here. Keep up the good work at AMA and have a great flying season.
Andy Borgogna Laguna Hills, California
And now from Germany:
Pornographic magazine?
Keep pornography out of Model Aviation magazine! I'm writing in hopes of putting a stop to a definite pornographic trend I see developing in the magazine. Imagine my great shock and utter disbelief when I opened my July 1991 issue and found it contained no Microhenrys. The magazine appeared stark naked!
In these days of high-tech infusions to our hobby, zillions of frequency changes and decibel debates galore, please don't make us do without Microhenrys, which portray so much the real heart and soul of a model flying club. Add another page—don't leave out a paying client's pitch—or don't send Ed Henry his check. But never, never leave out Microhenrys!
Jacque Harvey St. Louis, Missouri
He had me worried there for a minute! Ah, the trials of a publisher! You see, in the July issue push came to shove. We had 189 pages of material to squeeze into a 188-page issue, so something had to go! Since I am very greedy, I couldn't kick out a paid ad—or rip a page out of one of the articles. So I left Microhenrys out this one time.
Oh, how I wish I could "just add an extra one or two pages" at times like these. However, the facts of life in the world of printing won't let me do that. If I wanted to add one extra page, I'd actually have to add eight more pages—and that's hard to do at the last minute.
RMCm
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
