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.
Thanks, Charles
Every once in a while, we in the hobby of RC modeling have an opportunity to give more than we receive. We of the Hamilton RC Modelers of Indianapolis have recently had such an experience, and we would like to share it with other clubs.
About two years ago, Charlie Mann was looking for a hobby that would provide a challenge with a minimum of physical effort. Charlie was suffering from emphysema and arthritis, which prevented him from continuing in his beloved hobby, hot rodding. While a hot rodder, Charlie was instrumental in getting hot rodding off the streets and onto the supervised drag strips in the Indianapolis area. He has spent a lot of time and effort helping young people.
Charlie got interested in RC modeling. He called a local hobby shop where Dan Brett, one of our club members, works. Dan steered him toward a Sig Kadet for his first plane. Charlie was a typical beginner, except for the care that he had to take to avoid breathing dust and vapors. He was on oxygen most of the time by then.
The Kadet was the first airplane to roll off Charlie's assembly line. By this time, he was having more and more trouble getting out of the house. When he did get out, he had to use a walker. So he designed an aluminum field-box sling that allowed him to carry it.
Dan suggested that Charlie join our club and the AMA. Soon, Charlie arrived at our field with the Kadet, his flight box, and the oxygen tank he needed to have with him at all times. Walt Stokes and Walt Tarr helped him break in his engine, and other members helped Charlie enjoy his first field session.
Back at his workshop, Charlie turned out a Pica Rapier. It was beautiful, featuring some extra hatches to get at important parts. Charlie hates to build anything that is absolutely stock.
Charlie made it to the club picnic. He was only able to stay a short time, since he was tiring quickly. That was the last time Charlie was able to get out to the field.
He kept building. The next creation was a Pattern ship, an Arrow. It was magnificent. All of Charlie's planes had won club awards.
It was becoming obvious that Charlie would never have the chance to fly his planes or even to get out to the field to watch them fly. Dan and I decided to take videotapes for Charlie of his planes in flight.
Now, during Charlie's flying sessions, I shoulder the video camera and wander around the site, pointing the camera at people and announcing, "Hi, this is Charlie Mann." I tape club members flying their planes and shooting the breeze.
Charlie's Arrow? It flew beautifully. We got a great sequence of vertical out-of-sight rolls, Immelmann turns, and every other maneuver in the book. Dan put in some beautiful flying—worthy of Charlie's plane.
Now, Charlie can go flying anytime he feels like it. He tells me that he has been living to see his planes fly. Dan and I feel super. We plan to continue to tape club activities so that Charlie can be a full member even if he is totally housebound.
There may be hundreds of other people who could benefit from our experience. It's a wonderful thing for a club to do. It pays off in other ways, too. Charlie has given his Kadet to a young would-be flier and given his Rapier to the club. Thanks, Charlie, for allowing us to share our hobby with you.
William B. Carr Indianapolis, IN
Neat Trophy
The enclosed photograph shows the High-Point Trophy to be given at the Western New York Free Flight Society contest scheduled for July 21 and 22 at Pike, NY.
Since so many model aviation meet trophies tend to look alike, perhaps your readers would be interested in seeing that it is possible to create a striking award that is out of the ordinary, inexpensive, and one that any modeler would be proud to display. The trophy was made by Vet Thomas, a member of the WNYFFS, and depicts a 1910 Bleriot monoplane resting on a grassy "field." The model Bleriot was built from a plastic kit.
Bob Clemens Rochester, NY
Computers and Modeling
The article "Computer Program for Canard Designs," in the June 1984 issue came as a pleasant surprise to me. I have been involved in designing, building, and test-crashing my own stuff (CL, FF, and more recently RC) since the middle Fifties. The techniques I have used are more of the cut-and-try and "if it looks good it'll fly" type, even though I have an aeronautical engineering degree. (Perhaps because I don't really like to mix business with pleasure.) However, I always knew that the "right" way to do it was to make as many mistakes on paper as possible before committing time, effort, and bucks to my latest Belchfire 8 project. Therefore, after reading the article, I couldn't wait to get at my computer and try it out.
Needless to say, everything went just fine—after I made some minor mods to the program to accommodate the version of Microsoft BASIC built into my machine. My interest in canards as it presented was not too high, but the "conventional" techniques included in the program got me to thinking (a sometimes very dangerous process!). What if...?
Please send the resulting printouts, enclosed, to the authors of the article. The program mods are just a SMOP (Simple Matter Of Programming) and took only the effort of three or four evenings on the keyboard (coupled with hints of an evening out to my computer widow). I have added a couple of calculations for conventional designs which I've thought are useful, along with a modification routine in case the first guess is too far off base. I also print out a hard copy whenever I'm reasonably satisfied that what I see on the screen is what I want.
I am, by no stretch of the imagination, an accomplished programmer. Therefore, the software design is not professionally perfect, but it does the job.
I think the interesting thing about articles like yours was mentioned in the text: a simple program can be run on some very inexpensive computers, such as the Sinclair—and will do just as good a job as on computers costing orders of magnitude more.
Anyway, my thanks to Model Aviation, and to your contributors, Sarpolus, Raad, and Van Putte.
Don Burke Stanton, CA
Judging by the mail already received about this article, it seems that there are many people with home computers eager to try them out with modeling uses. More computer-related articles are in the works.
Firebolt Revisited
Since I submitted the Firebolt article for publication, I have gotten more flight experience with it, and additional information has come from my friend, Nick Nicholson, who has been flying his Firebolt in Georgia. This information may be of interest to MA readers.
In the article, I mentioned the aircraft's tendency to go into a nose-high attitude when the power was cut. I had handled this by holding in some down-elevator during the landings, or putting in some down-trim with the transmitter. There is a better way: set the engine thrust line up 3° by shimming the engine or the engine mount. (I used the molded nylon engine-mount thrust plates by Ernst Mfg. Co.) After slight retrimming for level flight under full power, the aircraft now remains in trim when the power is cut.
I discussed spins in the article, but I had not tried them until recently. Nick reported that he had spun the Firebolt several times, and it will recover. He's right! I have now snapped and spun the aircraft a number of times with no problem. In a spin, if the controls are neutralized, the plane continues to spin. With opposite control, it comes out of the spin within a turn or two. The snaps and spins are fun.
Since I made the twin fins and rudders of firm 1/8-in. balsa and anchored them securely, I've had no trouble with them. Nick reports that his Firebolt has, again, lost a complete fin/rudder assembly while flying. He landed safely, dead-stick, with the remaining fin/rudder intact. His airplane has a lot of flying time. I assume the vibration, and possibly some kind of aerodynamic loading, is really tough on the twin fins—and I urge that they be made of firm wood with reinforcing where they are built into the fuselage. Possibly thin fiberglass cloth and epoxy could be used around the fin/seal joints for strength.
Dick Sarpolus Shrewsbury, NJ
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
