Letters to the Editor
Send your Letters to the Editor to: Model Aviation, 5151 East Memorial Drive, Muncie, IN 47302
Impressed
After a 45-year hiatus from model building and flying, I finally decided I had enough time to get back into my all-time favorite pastime (I'm not about to jump into the hobby/sport controversy). In order, I bought and built a cheap Cub rubber-powered kit (which quickly reminded me how much one can forget in 45 years), put together a Caprice outfitted with a Magnum .19 and HiTec radio, joined AMA and a local club, then received my first issue of Model Aviation.
I'm impressed! The diversity, quantity and content of our publication are superb. Congratulations to your staff and the many fine contributors.
As one who has written for and been involved in the publication of several technical association magazines, I do have one comment. I found several articles and discussions difficult to follow because the authors succumbed to the common temptation to use acronyms, abbreviations and buzzwords. That's fine for the veteran in the particular area of expertise, but it can leave the novice out in the cold—and the novice or apprentice is the life-blood of any organization.
Viable solutions are to make it mandatory for authors to define abbreviations and acronyms at least once early on, and to encourage the use of sidebars or editorial comments for additional background and clarification without interrupting the flow of the article.
Thanks for a great magazine. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next issue.
Malcolm D. Campbell San Diego, California
Friendly Club?
We are trying to further our sport/hobby. We do this by helping newcomers and supporting their attempts at entering our hobby.
I recently had occasion to stop by a flying site while on business. I was there with a friend for approximately 30 minutes. During this time, while wandering around looking at the models, no one spoke to us, acknowledged our presence, or even looked at us. I feel that this is probably not the way to introduce new people into our hobby. Is your club friendly to newcomers? Think about it.
Jim Deatsch Victor, New York
Nats/Eagles Tapes
I just received my "Two Video Collectors Set"—70th Nats Highlights 1996 and A Celebration of Eagles.
After viewing both tapes, I want to congratulate whoever is responsible for the COE tape—it was excellent. A good documentation of model airplane history. Thanks to all.
The Nats highlights tape was a disappointment. I think it could have shown more of the models at the Nats and the winners. The tape showed very little of the overall Nats. But one out of two isn't bad.
W.P. Martin Garland, Texas
Flight Box
In response to the article on construction of a flight box a couple issues back, I thought you might be interested in a picture of my custom flight box. If you are interested in a construction article and more pictures of it, I would be happy to submit one. The application of the duct tape is not easy but it can be done by most experienced modelers. It also takes quite a while for the fuel drippings to completely impregnate the cardboard. This box is over 20 years old and still going strong.
Ted Maciag Clearwater, Florida
He Likes ...
Some like fast birds. Some like slow birds. This is my collection of slow birds.
Clancy Lazy Bee: Power .25 two-stroke. Construction—balsa and Litespan. 40-inch wingspan. In a breeze it flies like a kit, it just sits there, lands like a helicopter.
Mud Duck: Power 1.08 two-stroke, nine-foot wingspan. Construction—1/4-inch artist's foam board. Flies slow, even on a high-speed pass; never wants to come down. Lands like a feather on those 10-inch balloon tires.
Big Bird: Power Super Tigre 3000. Construction—3/4-inch foam board, 16-1/2-foot wingspan. Is a leftover from the ancient Jurassic period. I cannot even remember where I got the kit; dismantles into eight-foot sections. Requires eight-foot van to get it to the airport. It's big enough to see in the air.
Slow enough to see. Big enough to see.
Hugh Wayman Salt Lake City, Utah
Delta Dart Curiosities
In case nobody has noticed, you can make perfectly good tailless airplanes out of Delta Dart kits by covering the wing on the bottom instead of the top. Enclosed is a picture of two that I made, one tractor (sort of like a Dyke Delta) and the other a pusher. I like the tractor best, because it is just a stock DD except that the horizontal tail is left off and some downthrust is added to avoid loops at high power.
The pusher is less DD-like but uses the DD wing mounted to the motor stick and no fin at all. The pusher wing is separated from the motor stick by a piece of 1/8-inch square balsa to lower the wing a little compared with the thrust line (works better than downthrust). The prop bearing on the pusher is aluminum tube with zero downthrust or side thrust.
Both fly on a single loop of 1/8-inch Tan II and will climb and glide better than the stock DD. They are lighter and have less wetted area for drag than the stock DD. No warps or tabs are needed anywhere. Both airplanes fly left-left with zippy climb and a stable-but-steep glide. You may need some clay ballast to improve pitch trim.
Dick Baxter Laguna Niguel, California
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
