Weird Flying Stuff
By DUKE IDEN
We are all intrigued by gadgets that fly—that's why we read Model Aviation. These devices can be full-scale or scale models of Piper Cubs or B-29s. They can also be birds, flying wings, maple seeds, fish, squirrels, and more.
- Full-scale or scale airplanes (Piper Cubs, B-29s)
- Birds and flying wings
- Maple seeds
- Fish and squirrels
Wait a minute. This is beginning to sound like another Glenn Stucker story. Stucker, Stucker, let's see... oh yes! He's the guy from Cincinnati who cuts up perfectly good Styrofoam (the heavier blue stuff), sticks an .40 in it, refuses to use a computer or newfangled radios, and flies fish, shirts, saucers, and stop signs. He's the fellow I said has 52 models in his basement and garage.
He does have 52 models; I saw them myself. Glenn gave me a tour, and we counted each and every one of them. Yes, some of the models are a little out of the ordinary. The truth is, some are downright weird.
There are some "normal" models, such as a Bud Nosen P-51 or a Sig Senior Kadet. His collection includes RC, control-line, and rubber-powered free-flight models. But the man does have 52 models, a wife, and three cats.
Glenn is retired from General Electric and the Cincinnati Hurricanes AMA Show Team. Now he and several cohorts travel around the countryside and entertain people with his creations.
To dream up these contraptions, you have to be a little strange and exceptionally resourceful. Once, after having built a Sig model (although probably not according to the instructions), Glenn was on his way to put the box in the trash when a voice said:
"Glenn, hey Glenn!"
"Yes, what is it?"
"Glenn, listen up. I don't want you to throw that box away."
"You don't? Why not?" Glenn asked.
"Because, you fool, your landfills are filling fast, and you can build another model with the cardboard. Save the box and keep the landfills from taking over the Earth. I worked six long days to create."
Glenn thought for a moment and asked, "You mean I can have another model, save some landfill space, and it won't cost me anything?"
"Right."
Well, Glenn did an about-face and immediately went back to his basement and constructed a trainer-type model using the box. It sits in his basement today, complete with cardboard formers and sides, instead of taking up space in a landfill.
That's being resourceful. What about inventive?
Most of us balsa hackers are used to putting a power unit on the front of a fuselage, mounting a wing with an approved airfoil about one-third back, and hanging some kind of tail section on the rear of the craft.
If all goes well, it will fly with varying degrees of success. Some bold ones will stick the tail on the front and call it a canard (French for "duck"), and sometimes these fly, too.
A few others don't want to be bothered with tail surfaces and just try to fly the wing. If you hold your mouth just right, this will work also.
Still others spend hours and lots of shekels to find the lightest and strongest balsa known only to a privileged few Ecuadorians. Then they laboriously construct their somewhat conventional craft with dreams of winning international contests.
Glenn's right at home with blue construction Styrofoam, birch dowels, cardboard, and strange flying wonders. His pterodactyl presents his biggest challenge. The fifth series has a year's development and has flown twice; the problem was a long nose. Glenn has solved it by coupling the nose, rudder, and ailerons.
Since the long-ago time man made the scene, no human has seen a pterodactyl fly. Due to Glenn's age, however, there is a rumor he may have seen several fly, but again this is just a rumor.
Stucker says the pterodactyl will fly next year; many who have seen the model on the ground want to see it in the air. For more information on flying the pterodactyl, see the August 1986 issue of Model Aviation.
The shark is another show-stopper. While making a low pass downstage center, the hinged jaw is attached to a servo so the shark's jaws open and close. Now it's one thing to design a fish that flies, but making a shark's jaws move is sheer genius.
So if the cash flow is down but your inventiveness is up, scrounge some Styrofoam and such, find an old, worn .40, a four-channel radio, and start hacking. Just use LAR (Looks About Right) engineering, and come up with your own creations. Perhaps here is an idea for a contest.
Who can come up with the weirdest flying thing? Put on your invention helmet, come up with something totally weird, cry out "Oh, joy!" and start creating. Maybe — if we're good — someone at Model Aviation and the AMA will see if such an event can be held.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
