Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
Ron Van Putte III 111 Sleepy Oaks Rd. Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32548
Sharing Model Aviation with others
For several months I've been reporting on clubs providing gift subscriptions of Model Aviation to local schools for only $9 per year. I just received a letter from Ed Hunter (District 5 Associate VP) who had an additional suggestion on how to share Model Aviation with others. The suggestion was printed in the September 1988 issue of the newsletter Ed produces for all the AMA charter clubs in his state (Mississippi).
In Ed's words: "What do you do with your old copies of Model Aviation magazine? Chances are that all they are doing is lying about the house getting underfoot, gathering dust, and making someone else at home very unhappy. Why not put them to good use? I propose that your club adopt a program to distribute them around to various places people gather (doctor/dentists' offices, hospital waiting rooms, etc.) in an effort to gain some PR for the hobby and for your club. Before you begin to distribute them, prepare some self-adhesive labels to identify your club as the donor and show information on when and where your club meets."
Sounds like a fine idea and would take little time or gasoline to spread the magazines around, especially if club members were encouraged to bring hoards of old magazines to meetings to simplify collection. Thanks for the idea, Ed.
Clarifying the April '89 column and competition priorities
I don't know about you, but I like to get credit for the things I do right and I don't really mind getting the blame for the things I do wrong. What really ticks me off is getting the blame for something I didn't do.
Lately I've been catching flak about part of the April '89 column. Critics accused me of promoting "voting AMA-style versus Turnaround-style Pattern flying for the U.S." That wasn't in the column. I had received a letter from an anonymous writer (anonymous at his request — I know who he is) who suggested a vote "to determine the priority of world championship competition relative to competition within the U.S." The result of the vote would point AMA competition in the direction desired by a majority of U.S. Pattern fliers.
Such a vote would not be AMA-style versus Turnaround; it would be about the effect the world championships would have on what we fly here. Turnaround would survive regardless of how the vote went. The only real issue would be whether we would be gearing our competition toward producing a world-championship team.
The level of competition in the world championships is too high for us to put together a team every two years and expect to have a chance to win unless the emphasis in the U.S. is toward producing a world-championship-winning team. This means not diluting the flying/judging with differing rules for AMA competition versus FAI competition.
If a vote favored the priority of the world championships on competition within the U.S., then competitions within the U.S. should use FAI maneuver descriptions to preclude confusing pilots and judges. It would probably be best (but not mandatory) to have only different levels of Turnaround competition to provide a smoother progression for advancing pilots.
On the other hand, should a vote favor de-emphasizing the priority of the world championships on competition within the U.S., we could still field a world championship team since the world championship competition would be a primary goal of competition within the U.S.; we should not expect to win. As I wrote in the April column, Turnaround "would survive," but as your Turnaround, not "their Turnaround."
What I really believe the vote would be about is whether we want our competition geared toward producing a world championship team or toward providing a strong domestic program. If we choose the former, we can no longer have it both ways.
Fuel-tank leak: Charlie Castaing
I'm willing to bet that, in time, another of you will have a fuel-tank leak that soaks the fuselage with fuel. This recently happened to Charlie Castaing of New Iberia, LA. He competed in Baton Rouge and afterwards sent the following letter (edited a bit):
"At the contest last weekend my engine stopped running during two rounds for what has bizarre reasons. In the first round the engine killed on the first maneuver — the engine reduced to idle. During the second round the engine killed on a different maneuver — the engine speed reduced. I knew the problem quickly. Examination of the interior of the fuselage revealed fuel leaking from the tank. The tank was a YS tank; since I had previously experienced leaking tank problems I had gone to great pains to prevent recurrence — I had bound the tank with fiberglass and tape lengthwise, wrapping tape between two stoppers."
In analyzing the problem, my friend Ronnie Segura and I decided to use a hand pump (like a football pump) to put the tank under pressure. When we placed it in a basin of water to see where the tank was leaking, we immediately found that the leak was from the unused third hole in the rubber stopper.
As you know, many tank stoppers come with three holes that are molded only partially the length of the stopper. (Some have two holes molded all the way and one which is molded only partway through the stopper.) In the past, I have punctured only those holes which I used. In this case, I pushed only two brass tubes through the stopper and ignored the third, partially molded hole. It was the unused, partially molded hole that was leaking.
The solution was to plug the third hole with some silicone sealer and a piece of brass tubing which had the ends soldered shut. I also wrapped a couple of rounds of fiberglass tape around the tank to make sure the pressure in the tank would not push the plug out.
Thanks for the suggestion, Charlie. It could save many fliers who use highly pressurized tank systems from a lot of grief.
Club newsletter items and quotes
I still get a few newsletters from around the country. Not nearly as many as when the staff at AMA HQ was sending the RC-oriented ones to me, but they stopped sending them a couple of years ago. When I run into one from a newsletter, I like to share it.
Recently I received Sky Writing, the newsletter of the Mid Mississippi RC Club (Jackson, MS), which is edited by Mike Laumann (the very same Mike Laumann who is famed for his contest scoring system). One of the features was "Notable Quotables" by Andy Minor. Here are three of the Notable Quotables:
- "The throttle is your friend! Use the #@$%* thing!" — Spoken to this writer by Mike Laumann during an attempt to perform a sharp right bank with no airspeed.
- "They were as big as pie plates!" — Said to John Burt when his Butterfly and Mike Laumann's Ugly Stik met while violating each other's airspace.
- "See if landing on the paved runway will help!" — Spoken to this writer by Mike Laumann when asked what would help prevent the high grass from popping holes in the MonoKote.
Did you notice that Mike Laumann made it into all three of the above quotes? There were four more quotes in that issue, but Mike was involved in the funniest three.
If you think your club's newsletter has published something you'd like to share with us or our readers via this column, please send it to me.
OS long-stroke engines: bearing problems and solutions
By now everyone knows that the OS long-stroke engines are tough on bearings. I received a letter from Lewis Schwab (LCS Performance, Box 1273, Melville, NY 11747) who claims that the bearing wear is due to the radial load on the rear bearing being higher than the bearing can tolerate, regardless of the type of construction. He claims that a new, larger-diameter bearing is the only way to solve the problem.
Apparently OS agrees, as the new engines have a new crankcase and larger rear bearing. You can retro-fit older engines by getting the new crankcase and new rear bearing. Tower Hobbies lists them as:
- OSMG4355 — crankcase ($66.95)
- OSMG3108 — rear bearing ($11.00)
Lewis also has some tips for those who don't want to do the whole conversion but want to extend bearing life. Tips include:
- Use his bearings and install the rear bearing with the exposed balls facing the front of the engine.
- Use lower nitromethane percentages in the fuel to reduce or eliminate detonation, which hammers the bearings.
- Keep engine speed down by using props which keep the rpm below 11,500 on the ground (11,000 is even better).
- Idle the engine for half a minute prior to going to full power to ensure full lubrication to the rear bearing before putting a heavy load on it.
Obviously some of the tips will also extend bearing life for fliers who do make the conversion. Thanks for the information, Lewis.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
