Letters to the Editor
All letters will be carefully considered; those of general interest will be used. Send to Model Aviation, 815 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
160 Miles Per Gallon!
I'm enclosing a couple of photos which I hope you may have room for. One is a House of Balsa 1/6A Thunderbolt which I built. It is powered by a Cox .09, which makes it very quick. The other is a Balsa U.S.A. Swizzle Stick .40 which I've dolled up with roundels and red, white, and blue stripes on the rudder. It has a Fox .45 up front.
I enjoy your magazine very much, and would like to see some articles and plans for .15-size scale models, such as a J-3 Cub, and maybe a Spitfire or a Corsair. The industry doesn't offer enough kits for .15 engines. I particularly like the Cox .15 Medallion with throttle, which starts easily and idles beautifully.
I have a Sig Colt with a Cox .15, and I have calculated that it gets 160 miles per gallon! That's not bad with today's fuel prices.
Charles Ricci Pompano Beach, FL
Thanks for the suggestion, Charlie. We will have a Spitfire RC construction project coming up soon. —Ed.
Spark Ignition and RC
I was delighted to read in your June Letters column that my "Project Time Machine" article (February) appears to have solved the ignition/engine/RC interference problem for Roger Schroeder. Doubly delighted, I should say, since Roger is a highly respected engine man who for years authored "Engine-uity," a column in Engine Collectors Journal. Without knowing it, he has helped me as much as I've helped him. Glad to be able to return the favor.
Thanks to Roger's experiments we now know that the EK LRB radio shows promise of ignition compatibility when a resistor-suppressed spark lead is used (in addition to the W.E. Expert system I've been flying). He's also added the Aero Spark coil and Smith condenser to the list of ignition components that "work" with RC. I've heard of other successful unshielded ignition/RC combos recently—MRC, Cannon's Mini and others—but have no details. Since I'd like to compile a list of what works with what, anyone with any experience flying unshielded ignition with RC is invited to correspond at the address below.
Incidentally, credit where credit's due: the idea for resistor suppression came from the instructions to one of Howard Carman's electronic ignitions and (simultaneously but independently) from fellow Bucks County (Pa.) RC Club member Frank Stanton whose work you've published and whose RC experience goes back to the ignition era.
Dave Ritchie 2908 Truman Dr. Hatfield, PA 19440
Orbit Electronics
A month or so ago I wrote a letter to Orbit Electronics. It came back undelivered. I hope you can help me.
I need batteries for the receiver and transmitter, but hardly know where to look. If Orbit is out of business, can you tell me the firm that produced the Orbit or Micro-Avionics (parent company, I believe)?
Leo Scrivens East Andover, NH
Not all of Mr. Scrivens' letter is reproduced. He related that his modeling activity, until recently, has been dormant—which is why he hasn't kept track of the Orbit company. We sought help for Mr. Scrivens from Harold DeBolt, who had operated an Orbit Service Center. Since DeBolt's response may be of interest to other readers, we reprint it here.
What has become of Orbit Electronics is really not a mystery. It is just a sad ending to one of the RC pioneers. Through the concern's operational life they produced excellent equipment, so Orbit owners should have confidence in the quality of their equipment.
Orbit Electronics was Bob Dunham's baby. He dedicated the company to premium quality, and progressed it from the single-channel days to proportional equipment. He pioneered the use of digital proportionals as we know it today, and showed the rest of the world how to produce it successfully.
In the early '70s, Bob Dunham sold Orbit to one of the space industries of that time, and it was bounced around with several of them. It was then acquired by an individual who operated it for several years before closing the doors. It was finally acquired by a major hobby industry, and disappeared completely when that operation went out of business. Right to the end, Orbit never forgot how to produce quality.
The problem appeared to be the lack of ability to live through all the major managerial changes. When Orbit went, we lost a major supplier of American-built equipment which had supported our RC growth; we could ill afford the loss.
The Orbit equipment of the '70s used circuitry which is similar to that in use today. It is not difficult to service. Orbit owners should find any reliable service center to be capable and willing to fill their needs. Obtaining fresh, new equipment is impossible, of course, but there should be substitutes.
Harold DeBolt Buffalo, NY
Telemaster Mod Does the Trick
Even though I had less than a year of RC experience, thanks to the help of Clayton Cox and Bob Luhrman, I was able to modify the 12-ft. Telemaster by lengthening the nose to get the center of gravity in the right place, and it turned out to be an excellent flier.
After spending some eight months constructing the plane, we realized that it would require about 6½ lb. nose weight to get the balance in the right place! To cure this problem, we redesigned the nose, extending it 8½ in.—using a 3-in. aluminum tube with a firewall header welded to each end. One end was mounted to the original firewall, the other mounted to the engine. Additional slope was added to the windshield, and framework was added to cover the tube and give it the proper appearance.
As modified, the plane has some 30 to 40 flights ranging from 5 minutes to 1 hour in duration. The plane is equipped with rudder, elevator, ailerons (with boost tabs) and barn door flaps. It is powered with an Evra 190 engine, and it has a 1 qt. gas tank. We can get an operating time of about an hour without refueling. The dry weight of the plane is 30¾ lb.
The plane easily does loops and spins; however, it rolls with difficulty. Touch-and-goes on one wheel are easy. When this plane flies, all other activity at the field stops. Everyone is interested in seeing it fly.
Tom Smith Griffin, GA
Getting Juniors into Action
Want to share a neat little thing I recently heard about—believed to have originated with Ben Sassett?
At the next contest your club sponsors, make entry free to anyone who brings one Junior flier who is ready to go. Juniors would always fly first. Variations on this are possible, of course.
Doug Dahlke Oshkosh, WI
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
