I’M ALWAYS PLEASED to be able to
publish the first works by new authors on
almost any modeling subject. Being a
designer myself, I’m especially pleased to
publish first construction articles. New
ideas and original thinking are manifested
best in such articles, in my humble
opinion.
This month we are featuring a
construction article which is neither the
first published work by the author in
question nor is it his first original design.
It is his first design of its type, however,
and I believe it is significant in its interest
area—so significant that I want to write a
bit about the author and his creation here.
The name Phil Granderson will
certainly be recognizable by a large
segment of our hobby/sport. He is a
longtime CL Combat competitor with
extremely impressive credentials.
In the early 1970s Phil was designing
and winning with original Combat models.
His Tarantula was a state-of-the-art design
in an era that was noted for an explosion
of new technology in that event. To
produce a standout Combat design then
was something big—and stand out it did.
Phil used his original weapon to win the
1978 National Championship crown in
Fast Combat.
Phil was also a world-class competitor,
giving the United States its first medal in
FAI Combat competition in 1980 in
Poland. I was on that team as an F2B (CL
Precision Aerobatics, or Stunt) member
and vividly remember the exciting
matches that Phil flew. He was in
contention for the win right up to the last
few flights.
What the record doesn’t show is that
Phil was extremely ill during the entire
trip. It’s hard enough to fly at that level
when you are in peak physical condition.
Phil showed us all a fantastic performance
under extremely tough personal
conditions.
What most modelers who knew about
Phil probably didn’t know is that through
all of this he was also designing and flying
CL Stunt models. In fact, he designed his
first original Stunter in 1960 at age 11.
And he flew an original design in his first
competition. How many of us can say
that?
All of Phil’s original Stunt designs
were different from the norm. His
airplanes featured extremely long tail
moment arms. Some of them were as
much as two-thirds longer than the
conventional models of the era.
I asked Phil recently why he did that.
His answer was so matter-of-fact that I
was stunned. He said that when he started
to design, he would look at full-scale
airplanes as they flew over. They seemed
to have much longer tail moment arms
than the models that he’d seen. His
reasoning was, “There must be something
to that.”
Of course, the rest of us who were
flying and designing Stunt models in those
days sort of ignored such extremes in
design and felt that Phil just wasn’t
“getting it.” Let the record show that the
modern trend in aerobatic design is toward
ever-longer tail moments, and all of a
sudden Phil’s airplanes don’t look strange
anymore. Can you say “visionary”?
Phil’s Diva design—which is presented
this month as a construction feature—has
gained a large following, not just because
of its aerodynamics, but also because of
Phil’s philosophy on power-plant
application and usage. Phil is using a
relatively inexpensive engine package in
the Diva, and it is beginning to turn some
heads.
I was privileged to be able to spend
quite a bit of time flying this airplane. I
visited Phil awhile back and went to the
Golden State Championships with him.
We shared his Diva for the weekend, and I
found it to be a friendly, easy-to-fly, and
consistent model. Many others who have
flown it agree with those points. This
design, and Phil’s thoughts on its
development, have been much anticipated
by the CL Stunt community. It makes
great reading for anyone who has an
interest in designing, no matter what the
discipline.
In addition to the magazine article, we
are publishing a portion of Phil’s material
as the first of our MA “Web Extra”
features. Sometimes an article is too long
to print in its entirety in the magazine.
Instead of cutting out meaningful and
interesting portions to make the article fit,
we have decided to feature these on our
MA Web site.
There will be a small MA Web Extra
graphic at the beginning of each article for
which this is offered, and there will be a
reminder at the end of the magazine article
alerting the reader that more is available
on the Web site.
I have always believed in “printing all
the news that’s fit to print” instead of just
“printing all the news that fits.” This new
policy will allow us to do just that more
often.
Need to contact me? My address is Box
68, Stockertown PA 18083. My telephone
number is (610) 614-1747. My E-mail
address is [email protected]. Til next
month, have fun designing, building, and
flying. MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/02
Page Numbers: 7,183
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/02
Page Numbers: 7,183
I’M ALWAYS PLEASED to be able to
publish the first works by new authors on
almost any modeling subject. Being a
designer myself, I’m especially pleased to
publish first construction articles. New
ideas and original thinking are manifested
best in such articles, in my humble
opinion.
This month we are featuring a
construction article which is neither the
first published work by the author in
question nor is it his first original design.
It is his first design of its type, however,
and I believe it is significant in its interest
area—so significant that I want to write a
bit about the author and his creation here.
The name Phil Granderson will
certainly be recognizable by a large
segment of our hobby/sport. He is a
longtime CL Combat competitor with
extremely impressive credentials.
In the early 1970s Phil was designing
and winning with original Combat models.
His Tarantula was a state-of-the-art design
in an era that was noted for an explosion
of new technology in that event. To
produce a standout Combat design then
was something big—and stand out it did.
Phil used his original weapon to win the
1978 National Championship crown in
Fast Combat.
Phil was also a world-class competitor,
giving the United States its first medal in
FAI Combat competition in 1980 in
Poland. I was on that team as an F2B (CL
Precision Aerobatics, or Stunt) member
and vividly remember the exciting
matches that Phil flew. He was in
contention for the win right up to the last
few flights.
What the record doesn’t show is that
Phil was extremely ill during the entire
trip. It’s hard enough to fly at that level
when you are in peak physical condition.
Phil showed us all a fantastic performance
under extremely tough personal
conditions.
What most modelers who knew about
Phil probably didn’t know is that through
all of this he was also designing and flying
CL Stunt models. In fact, he designed his
first original Stunter in 1960 at age 11.
And he flew an original design in his first
competition. How many of us can say
that?
All of Phil’s original Stunt designs
were different from the norm. His
airplanes featured extremely long tail
moment arms. Some of them were as
much as two-thirds longer than the
conventional models of the era.
I asked Phil recently why he did that.
His answer was so matter-of-fact that I
was stunned. He said that when he started
to design, he would look at full-scale
airplanes as they flew over. They seemed
to have much longer tail moment arms
than the models that he’d seen. His
reasoning was, “There must be something
to that.”
Of course, the rest of us who were
flying and designing Stunt models in those
days sort of ignored such extremes in
design and felt that Phil just wasn’t
“getting it.” Let the record show that the
modern trend in aerobatic design is toward
ever-longer tail moments, and all of a
sudden Phil’s airplanes don’t look strange
anymore. Can you say “visionary”?
Phil’s Diva design—which is presented
this month as a construction feature—has
gained a large following, not just because
of its aerodynamics, but also because of
Phil’s philosophy on power-plant
application and usage. Phil is using a
relatively inexpensive engine package in
the Diva, and it is beginning to turn some
heads.
I was privileged to be able to spend
quite a bit of time flying this airplane. I
visited Phil awhile back and went to the
Golden State Championships with him.
We shared his Diva for the weekend, and I
found it to be a friendly, easy-to-fly, and
consistent model. Many others who have
flown it agree with those points. This
design, and Phil’s thoughts on its
development, have been much anticipated
by the CL Stunt community. It makes
great reading for anyone who has an
interest in designing, no matter what the
discipline.
In addition to the magazine article, we
are publishing a portion of Phil’s material
as the first of our MA “Web Extra”
features. Sometimes an article is too long
to print in its entirety in the magazine.
Instead of cutting out meaningful and
interesting portions to make the article fit,
we have decided to feature these on our
MA Web site.
There will be a small MA Web Extra
graphic at the beginning of each article for
which this is offered, and there will be a
reminder at the end of the magazine article
alerting the reader that more is available
on the Web site.
I have always believed in “printing all
the news that’s fit to print” instead of just
“printing all the news that fits.” This new
policy will allow us to do just that more
often.
Need to contact me? My address is Box
68, Stockertown PA 18083. My telephone
number is (610) 614-1747. My E-mail
address is [email protected]. Til next
month, have fun designing, building, and
flying. MA