Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Send your Letters to the Editor to: Model Aviation, 5151 East Memorial Drive, Muncie IN 47302

Cover Correct

The April 1996 cover was photographed by Ruth Chin of Muncie, Indiana.

Fathers and Sons

I am a member of Seattle Area Soaring Society, which has a membership of nearly 125. As I look around the hall during our monthly meetings, I am dismayed — the average age would appear to be, say, 45 to 50 and only one teenager.

When I was a kid the flying fields (around Tulsa, OK) were populated by teenagers and college kids. Scarcely a gray hair to be seen. That's why this picture appeals to me, even discounting that they are my boys. The theme is "Start 'em young."

For the record, the young man launching his electric is my grandson, Kyle Hinze. His father, and my son, is Karl Hinze. He flies RC gas. They both live in Renton, Washington.

Mountlake Terrace, Washington T. G. Hinze

Recently my family and I attended the 1995 Rhinebeck WWI Jamboree. I have been attending this event for the last 19 years and this year was the best by far. The events were well organized and the flightlines kept moving. The only unfortunate part was that we had some rainy weather early on Saturday, and it was very windy on Sunday.

The Jamboree was special this year because three generations of my family flew. It was the first year that my eleven-year-old son Danny joined my father (Harvey) and me in the competition. He flew his giant Taube with a YS 120.

On his third flight he had a midair and lost a third of his wing. We were able to land his plane; unfortunately the other pilot was not as lucky. Many of the other fliers offered different parts and were able to get his plane repaired and back on the flightline again.

The help and support of the other fliers was outstanding — this is what makes this hobby so great. Thanks to them, my son was able to have several more flights, and he ended with a greater number of points than his father and grandfather.

Our entire family had a great time, and we look forward to next year's Jamboree.

Richard A. Landis New York City, New York

Triplane

I thought you would be interested in seeing Ed Woolley's masterpiece (although the guns aren't on it yet). It is Ed's third or fourth triplane. He is 72 and has been flying since he was 12 years old. Lots of changes. Ed belongs to the Eureka R/C Club, Eureka, California.

Rose Woolley McKinleyville, California

Senior Twin

I thought you folks at Model Aviation might like to see what I did with a Sig Senior kit. I call it the Sig Senior Twin.

I extended the nose, added ailerons, removed most of the dihedral from the wing, and built nacelles into the wing to accommodate two O.S. FP .40s. Wow! You talk about a powerful Sig Senior! The nose will rotate almost immediately upon punching the throttles; even on a grass runway, the aircraft is airborne in about 15 to 20 feet.

Believe it or not, other than being somewhat heavier than the original Sig Senior, it handles and flies almost identically. On the first test flights, when I started feeling comfortable with the airplane, I passed the radio around to other people in the club to let them get their twin-engine ticket punched.

What I am most amazed at with the plane is that it is not only docile with either engine out, sometimes I have to pull the aircraft into a straight-up climb to figure which engine has quit. Normally after one engine quits, if I have enough fuel remaining, I go into a series of loops and barrel rolls—even into the dead engine. I have found even after one engine quits you do not need to retrim the airplane.

Although the plane is not capable of taking off single-engine from a grass runway, due to high-power low-speed yaw problems, it will do so on a paved runway.

I built this airplane as a retirement gift to myself after 23 years flying helicopters for the United States Coast Guard. At present I have eight radio-controlled airplanes, five of which are Sigs. I have taught 23 people to fly radio control aircraft and am thoroughly convinced that anyone who can learn to ride a bicycle and is responsible enough can learn to fly RC using a Sig Senior as their first trainer.

I read an article several years ago in Model Aviation on twin-engine RCs in which it stated that most twin-engine RCs do not last through their first ten flights. The Sig Senior Twin was built in the spring and summer of 1991. It has compiled over two hundred flights. It has only been put down in the soybeans once (with no damage at all) and that was because I misfigured the wind on a deadstick approach. This summer will be its fifth year, and with luck I hope to fly this model many more years.

I congratulate the folks at Sig on the fine models they design. I currently am beginning work on a Cessna Skymaster (push-pull O.S. .25s) using a Sig Senorita kit as my basic aircraft.

Jerry Leonard Hertford, North Carolina

Worth It

When my brother, John Bartlett, and I both received a thank-you card and a box of rubber bands for Christmas from an eleven-year-old boy whom we spent time teaching how to fly on a trainer cord last summer, it made the time spent worthwhile.

Spend some time with the young — it's worth every minute.

Vernon "Tunk" Bartlett Norwood, New York

Sandy Peck

This is just my own view on modeling and what it does for the young people who are involved with the hobby.

The world of model aeronautics helps to open a realm of possibilities. Ideas can be explored that might not otherwise be pursued. What once was a half-formed vision can go through the process of planning, laying out the physical relationships, choosing materials, building, rebuilding, flying, and then making modifications and improvements. These skills, and seeing the entire process, can only benefit a person later in life.

At the Riverside Nats, the first year of production on the Busy People Kits, a girl, about nine years old, bought a profile kit. She knew nothing about models or planes and her father was a very new modeler. She built it on a table in the gym that day. The next day she consistently flew 60-second flights and won the contest. The next project she starts will have a higher success rate because she knows she can make things work.

We all have these floating visions and sometimes it's nice to let them just hover and be enjoyed for the moment. But there are other times when it would be exciting to develop them and see them materialize into fact. A background in modeling can give you the tools needed to accomplish this.

The modeler of today may become the engineer, designer, or artist of tomorrow. As proof I offer a small unscientific poll of my own:

I have been to many model meets and hobby industry conventions. If you ask the modelers in attendance what they do for a living, engineer, designer and entrepreneur are some of the most-heard responses. These are people capable of turning their visions into reality. (I'm sure they also have in common a closet, garage, or room that is full of unfinished projects.) What matters is they have a willingness to try these ideas, and see some through to the conclusion.

In Dave Thornburg's book, Do You Speak Model Airplane?, he refers to the modelers of yesterday beginning in the hobby because of the great public interest in flight. Charles Lindbergh had just completed his flight over the Atlantic. Today the heroes of the nation are actors doing simulations of great acts with computer-aided graphics and a publicity firm to guide them.

It's not as hopeless as I may make it sound. There are still those who wish to form and develop an idea into a physical, functioning item. They strive for that sense of accomplishment. My little nephew has been around model planes in a very small way for most of his life. Although he has shown interest, I made some mistakes guiding him into the hobby. The first plane or two were Stringless Wonders and ROGs; those were built and flew together, and they flew well, and his enthusiasm was high.

When we started on a One Nite 16, he found the building process too long to hold his interest. That was a couple of years ago. This year he discovered the little Russian CO2 plane of foam. It went together fast and flew. Yes, it was quickly bent and a new engine had to be installed, but it served its purpose and enthusiasm is now high again.

Perhaps it's time to start on the One Nite 16 again. This time his attention span is a bit longer.

These are just some of the things I feel can be gained from an exposure to model airplanes. A chance to create is always an opportunity to learn.

Sandy Peck Peck-Polymers Santee, California

Superstitious

I think you are to be highly commended in bringing superstition out of the closet and onto the flying field where it belongs. ("The Haught Corner," March 1996)

Superstition, like pi, the Carnot cycle, and the Pythagorean theorem, has survived all onslaughts because experience has proven it to be a valid tool in man's never-ending contest with the natural cussedness of reality.

Perhaps it will be helpful to the cause of the committedly superstitious to explain it as a natural function of the human mind to recognize when things generally regarded as inanimate and mute are trying to tell you something. My own experience is filled with hundreds of examples of the proof of this postulate.

Why most valuable superstition is that when any minor thing goes repeatedly wrong with a new experimental model, don't fight it. Be sensible. Give it up for the day; pop a top and check it out later.

Recently, while taxi-testing a new plane, the tail wheel gave all sorts of problems: wouldn't track properly, bent its steering linkage, rolled the tire off its hub, etc. Finally, instead of sensibly calling it a day, I fixed it. I lined the model up with the runway, opened the throttle, and immediately blew up the engine!

Obviously the tail wheel was trying to tell me to knock it off and look things over.

I'm superstitious about color. For example, when a plane I'm building looks like it's going to come out a little overweight, I cover the wings white. I mean, seagulls have white wings, and anybody knows that white is the lightest color there is.

The tips of propellers should be painted yellow or white, even orange - but never red. Red draws blood!

Where we Winnipesaukee RCers fly there is one spot just off the runway where practically everybody has lost control, snap-rolled out of a shaky takeoff, hung up in a tree, or crashed—for some undefinable reason. Repeated radio tests have failed to confirm a fact we all know to be true: an invisible cloud of bad vibes sits in this area. If superstition gets the results you want, use it!

Roy Clough Jr. Pittsfield, New Hampshire

Suggested Reading

I would like to see some articles in your magazine covering the following topics:

• Engines: how to care for them, and in particular how much to adjust an engine for altitude and how to compensate for power loss due to altitude by proper propeller selection. I live in Denver, altitude 5,000 ft., and sometimes fly in Leadville, altitude 10,000 ft.
• Propellers: how to select the prop you want for more power or for more speed, or both.
• Radios: how to care for them, how to check them for hot and cold weather operation (hot = 100°F; cold = below freezing and even below 0°F).

These are three topics which I have never seen mentioned in any book or magazine. Most of the emphasis is on building, flying and contesting, and not much on engines, props, & radio systems, which are the heart of flying.

Phil Klos Lakewood, Colorado

The October 1995 issue had an article by Don Brooks about measuring prop thrust for electric models at high elevations; a future Model Aviation will have a follow-up by Don on prop pitch. Although the articles are about electrics, "wet" power fliers can get some useful insights from these articles.

Junior FF Team

The 1996 USA Junior Free Flight Team is as follows:

• F1A: David Ellis, Guilford, CT; Allen Porter, Fresno, CA
• F1B: Dorothy Fee, Oceanside, CA
• Team Manager: George Batiuk, San Luis Obispo, CA

The team will compete this summer in the Junior World Championships to be held near Krakow, Poland, 17–23 August 1996. The team members have been identified as dedicated, capable free flighters, and they deserve our support. Contributors should forward their funds to AMA with specific notation on their checks or accompanying paperwork identifying the funds as support for the Junior Team.

Blaine Miller Junior Team Administrator Orlando, Florida

Airfoil Information

When you publish plans with written material for model aircraft, please include somewhere the airfoil that was used. If possible also include the designer's reasons for using that airfoil. Many of us have computer programs that are capable of drawing airfoils if we know which one (spars and all). Part of the fun of model building is trying different airfoils, and trying different airfoils is one of the fun aspects of the design. Good designers could help if they passed on some of their experience with various airfoils. Bill Winter's PDQ in the March issue shows the engine used with the prop diameter and pitch. The airfoil looks like a NACA 0015 at first glance, but a trial-and-error approach using the full-size plans seems to be the only solution.

Henry Hain Green Valley, Arizona

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.