Aero Mail
Bend the Frogfoot
I enjoyed reading Dave Garwood’s article on airbrushing techniques in the April 2008 issue. It was especially intriguing to me since I recently scratch-built a Su-25 Frogfoot at the request of my grandsons for RC slope soaring.
One of the things that surprised me was that, despite the effort to recreate scale paint patterns, panel lines, etc., one unique feature of the Su-25 was not incorporated. The full-size Su-25 had anhedral wings. When incorporated into the sloper it makes for a plane that looks menacing in the air with its drooping wings and results in very stable inverted flight.
Was there a reason for not building this distinctive feature into the model?
Jim Randall Palos Verdes, California
The straight wings on the Frogfoot allow the model to fly more neutrally through positive and negative maneuvers. As I’m sure you know, we can’t fly upside-down all the time.
Sport-scale designs incorporate compromises in features and outlines to make a better/easier-flying model. Slope soaring pilots have specific requirements, and the design of the Su-25 that Dave Garwood built suits those needs very well.
I think that Dave helps make up for the menacing outline with a serious paint scheme, don’t you?
Michael Ramsey MA Editor
Corrections
I noticed that my email address in Dave Johnson’s short article (in the March “In the Air” section) on the 2008 FAI Scale Championships is incorrect. It should be [email protected] instead of [email protected]. All other address info is correct.
As Dave mentioned in the article, the World Championships are the Olympics of Scale Model Aviation. We have a great team for the upcoming World Championships and the best chance we’ve had in years to do well in the competition. All of our pilots are experienced competitors and will do well against the other entrants.
Bruce Bretschneider 2008 Scale Team Manager
Bill Oberdieck took the photos featured in the piece “Former President Dave Brown Honored,” on page 9 of the April issue.
Jack Moses was given credit for many of the pictures in the FAC = Fun2 article (in the March issue). He did not take the pictures; they are from his collection of photos taken by others whose identities are forgotten or unknown.
Masters Points
I was pleased to see yet another photo of my 1/3-scale Ercoupe in the Scale Masters Championships report in the March issue of MA. (Yes — the one on floats in last April’s issue!) The caption didn’t mention that we won 4th place in Team Scale, and there is a slightly dramatic back-story to this.
At the start of the last round, we were in second place, but the second, third and fourth place scores were all very close, so everything would depend on the outcome of the last round. Carl flew a beautiful flight, and got 94.75, his best score yet. However, the nice weather also enabled the other two close competitors to get good flight scores, so we dropped to fourth place, as shown below.
Team Scale Results:
- 2. Bill Adams / Wayne Frederick (Mesa, AZ), Fokker D.VIII: static, 98.500; average of best three flights, 89.250; total, 187.750
- 3. Dan Egelhoff / Larry Klingberg (Hesperia, CA), Farman Moustique: static, 93.000; average of best three flights, 94.583; total, 187.583
- 4. Carl Lindou / Oscar Weingart (Hemet, CA), Ercoupe: static, 94.250; average of best three flights, 92.917; total, 187.167
Note that we had a higher static score than the 3rd-place winner, and a higher flight score than the 2nd-place winner. The three total scores differed by less than 0.6 points.
Aero Mail
I assigned him to cover the event. Folks here around the AMA Headquarters building have traveled down to this one-of-a-kind event for years to meet with others who traveled even farther to just spectate as they planned. Dave’s article and photographs do great justice to the GAMA club and its efforts.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
