Radio Control: Scale
Jeff Troy 200 S. Spring Garden St. Ambler, PA 19002
THIS COLUMN is my first as your new monthly RC Sport Scale correspondent. Apart from offering a sincere thank you to Publisher and Executive Editor Ross McMullen for my totally unexpected appointment onto Model Aviation's hard-working team, I'll not waste your time with the usual new-guy introductions. I'll simply let you know that I intend to make these Sport Scale pages as interesting to you as they can be and that if I can ever help any of you in some way, just let me know and I'll do my best.
One of the most effective means of achieving a high level of reader interest is to utilize the column for the exchange of valuable information. Since useful exchange generally involves two-way communication, please know that my mailbox is available to you any time you might want to share something with me. If you write, your letters will either be personally answered or their points will be acknowledged here in the column. If you would like to make it easier for me to get back to you, please be kind enough to include a stamped, self-addressed envelope with your letters. This will help to keep me out of the poorhouse and much more genuinely eager to hear from you. Now to the good stuff: talking about Scale modeling!
In the past few months, I've gotten a fair number of letters from enthusiasts around the country who seem to be having difficulty locating accurate information on specific airplanes they want to model. After having gone through the documentation chores for a few obscure subjects myself, I've come to feel a tremendous empathy for those who just can't find the proof of scale they need. Some airplanes seem just too tough to hunt down! Sure, a J-3 Cub or a Cherokee 140 may be routine documenting tasks, but what about in-depth details for those airplanes that only a few people ever heard of?
You might be asking why documentation is necessary if contest flying isn't going to be in your model's future. Documentation isn't only for contest-circuit fliers; it's for anyone interested in building precisely detailed models. Even if contest flying isn't your goal, building precisely detailed models is still one of the most rewarding accomplishments the hobby has to offer. That's the search for good proof of scale. So go find accurate documentation.
Resources for documentation
- Lee Renaud Memorial Library, AMA's National Center for Aeromodeling, 1810 Samuel Morse Drive, Reston, VA 22090.
The AMA library is quite good; its curator/librarian, Hurst Bowers, is as helpful as anyone you'll ever find. AMA members have a drop line to Hurst; he will check what might be available. If you live near or are planning a trip to the Washington, D.C., area, you're welcome to drop in and check out the unique library yourself. Otherwise, mail what you need and hand copies of information can be made available at very reasonable cost. I have found helpful items at AMA's Lee Renaud Library and I'm sure you will too. Colonel Bowers understands what scale modelers need.
- Scale Model Research, 2334 Ticonderoga Way, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.
Bob Bankas' 72-page catalog has listings of over 10,000 three-views and some 3,000 sets. Excellent photographs — photos shot the way a modeler would shoot, some paying attention to specific details, others showing overall views of subjects. Photos of full-scale aircraft and other models can be counted as contest-quality proof of scale. Bob's catalog is four dollars well spent; a copy should be in scale modelers' files. Bob's service has helped out several projects at least to track down kits not available in the U.S.
- Scale Plans Photo Service, 3209 Madison Avenue, Greensboro, NC 27403.
Jim and Ann Pepino have a hundred-page catalog listing an amazing number of both popular and obscure aircraft. They have three-views and photo packages available — thousands of models as well as complete plan sets — close to a hundred. Another hard-to-get service happily offered by Scale Plans Photo is plan enlargement and reduction. If you have a need to scale your favorite plan up or down to suit the intended project — a Guillow plan tripled or a Ziroli plan cut to one-tenth its size — Jim can handle it. The Scale Plans and Photo Service catalog is only five bucks, but a phone call is the best way to handle the plan enlargement service since the price can vary according to the job you want. This catalog is another absolute must for your files.
- The National Association of Scale Aeromodelers (N.A.S.A.), Bert Dugan, 11090 Phyllis Drive, Clio, MI 48420.
N.A.S.A. is an organization devoted to any and every form of scale aeromodeling, whether Radio Control, Control Line, or Free Flight. A listing of useful information concerning hundreds of models has been compiled and is available to all N.A.S.A. members, making this a very worthwhile group to belong to. Coincidentally, the N.A.S.A. organization is also the voice of scale modeling to the AMA, giving you just one more reason to tune in to this group. Dues are only eight bucks and a highly informative newsletter, Replica, is included in the fee. Join this one, my friends — you can work very well together.
So, Scale buffs, whether you need help with color, three-views, markings, or just some simple surface details that seem to be escaping you, try any or all of these sources. Maybe you'll hit your mark right away and maybe you won't, but at least you'll have made the best possible start — and that's got to bring you a lot more action than just sitting around wishing for the accurate material you'll need to work from!
Finishing and detailing are a couple of my favorite subjects, and fabric covering is right up there at the top of my list. Unfortunately, fabric covering on most sport scale models has traditionally been something of a nightmare. Our available materials have been either too temperamental to work with or just plain too heavy once the painting and sealing chores were completed. Well, at last there is salvation.
Covering materials: Coverite's 21st Century Fabric
At the Toledo Show, Coverite of Horsham, Pennsylvania introduced their new 21st Century Space Age Fabric and, believe me, this material is just fantastic. The weight is only slightly more than film coverings and the finish is paint, not plastic. This stuff is nothing like Permagloss was to work with; 21st Century goes on as easily as Supershrink Coverite, yet doesn't need to be painted or sealed at all. You can even iron fabric over fabric without bubbling, gassing, or wrinkling. Key colors are in the 21st Century line-up and each color has a most realistic hand-rubbed look to it. A covering job with 21st is pure pleasure, not pain, and the stuff stays down, stays tough and stays drum tight — big time. Coverite's 21st Century products (there are equally amazing paints and film coverings, too) were expected to be available by October, so you'd better start planning that special project for it now. Can you imagine a fabric-covered Cub that doesn't need to be painted? It's about time, isn't it?
What are you people out there working on? Have you got pictures of your latest RC Fun Scale, RC Sport Scale, or RC Precision Scale creations? Got a new bird ready, or just about ready to go? How about those top-secret scale-modeling techniques you've been keeping locked up in your workshop safes? Do you have a special technique for matching color? Weathering? Panel lines or rivets? How do you calculate scale speed? Why not share 'em all with the rest of us? I'd certainly like to have your input and I'm sure that a lot of other modelers out there would too. Send your photos or tips my way and I'll do my best to get the general-interest ones printed. After all, we can each learn from the other, and if we see something we don't like, we can learn from that too; we can learn from it what not to do!
Well, that's it for now. Nothing could be more tedious than reading (or writing) too much, too soon. Next issue I'll bring you some great shots of the scale birds at the 1991 Weak Signal Toledo Show and, in the issue following that, I'll bring you some pointers and photos from a few of the more colorful subjects — models and pilots — of the 1991 Top Gun Invitational at Palm Springs, Florida.
So, hang in there, scale fans. Build straight and fly safely.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
