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.
Fleet Biplane
I thought you might be interested in the enclosed pictures. This is a model of the 1930 Fleet and was built from Model Aviation plans.
One interesting thing about my airplane is that I arranged the tail assembly to be completely removable from the airplane by simply taking out three 4-40 bolts and nuts. The stabilizer is adjustable, as shown on the plans.
My Fleet is painted a cherry red, similar to the color of the full-size Fleet aircraft as produced in the 1930s. Power comes from an O.S. .60 four-stroke.
It may interest you to know that I took my first flying lessons in the full-size 1930 Fleet, a great plane to fly. This would have been in about 1938 or 1939.
Thanks for presenting the plans for a great little plane.
Mack Stevens Lake Havasu City, AZ
Our presentation of the 1930 Fleet Biplane appeared in the September 1980 issue—article and plan by Gary E. Brown. Full-size plans are $6.25 from the MA Plans Service (Plan No. 310).
Thirty Days Aloft!
Every time I see drawings of Hank Clark's J-3 Cub on floats, I'm reminded of Clyde Schlieper and Wess Carroll, who stayed up 30 days and nights over Long Beach (and on up to the Mojave Desert at nights).
We used to ride our bikes down to Seal Beach Airport after school to watch them refuel (as per the sketch). They would come in flying as slowly as possible, and the Lincoln Phaeton would tear down the runway underneath. The guy in the back seat would hand up 5-gal. cans of gas to put in the floats, then they would use a wobble pump to transfer the gas to the regular tank at night, change plugs, magnetos, etc., all mostly at night over the desert.
I was going to Long Beach Junior College then. We really had a lot of good times out there back in those days.
Wm. Hill Staunton, VA
Modeling on Guam
Aeromodeling is alive and well where America starts its day—Guam, U.S.A. The members of the Guam Aeromodelers Club are a hearty and dedicated bunch. We have to be—virtually every item of gear needed for this hobby must be mail-ordered from the mainland, with weeks or even months of anxious waiting for that new kit or part to come. Needless to say, this does make for some very well-thought-out orders so as not to forget that one crucial part. Despite all of these hardships, our club is beginning to take its first "giant step."
Projects underway include Terry Nolan's Ziroli AT-6, Louis Martinez' 1/4-scale Tomahawk, Ray Weiss' 1/4-scale Cap 21, and my giant Antic. For a club out on an island in the Pacific Ocean, where the nearest hobby shop is about 7,000 miles away, wouldn't you agree that this bunch of modelers has caught the bug?
Here are a few pictures of the first of our projects to take to the skies. After having built a Proctor Antic a year ago, I was so pleased with its easy handling and stable flight that I chose it for a Giant Scale project, a choice which has proven to be very rewarding. Construction was a straightforward two-times enlargement of the regular Antic kit with, of course, the needed changes in the engine mount area and heavy-duty rigging. After waiting for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the raw materials, the actual construction time covered two months and about 500 hours. The only locally purchased items on the plane are the 12-in. bicycle wheels from a local bike shop.
The Antic 2X spans 163 in. and weighs 38 lb. Power is provided by a Quadra 50 swinging a Zinger 24-8 prop. Takeoffs and landings are achieved easily within our small strip (only about 40 yards in length). Being one who prefers a more relaxed pace (speed) in flying, I would recommend a project like this to anyone wanting to build a plane with super flight stability and an airspeed low enough to allow one to enjoy relaxed (but attentive) flying.
After the plane's first low slow pass over the field with that big banger purring away, we were all hooked. Big is impressive!
Larry D. Corman Tamuning, Guam
Snicker!
The second paragraph, left-hand column, page 55 of the February 1985 issue ("Setting Up a New RC Sailplane" by Pancho N. Morris) contains the "snicker." Pancho says that washout in the wing tips makes the wing tips stall, or stop flying, before the center of the wing stalls. Just the exact opposite is true; washout prevents, or delays, wing tip stall. The wing tips keep on flying after the center sections stall, or stop flying.
Chester W. Smith Wasco, OR
We plead guilty to making an editing change to Pancho's original text which altered his meaning 180°. On reflection, we think this was mighty strange for us to have done, because we know that washout of the tips delays their stall due to the lower angle of attack that is produced by the washout. The opposite is true for wash-in, a condition when the leading edge is higher than the trailing edge.
Looking for Plans
I am writing to you, "my association," in hopes you might help me in my hour of need. My need, specifically, is for the wing and tail plans for a Sorrell Kestrel 19 sailplane. I have lost mine somehow, and dearly want to complete my model. Can you, please, help?
E. G. Lehmann 1330 24th Ave. San Francisco, CA 94122
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
