CL Combat
Rich von Lopez, 8334 Colegio Dr., Los Angeles CA 90045
IT IS THE COLD time of the year in Southern California, and it is a time when most of the competitive activity goes into hibernation.
This is the time of the year when you can go to your workshop and take care of those projects that have a low priority during the contest season. That may involve a little bit of shop maintenance or remodeling. It might mean purchasing a few new part boxes to organize the little odds and ends that are essential to our building and flying projects.
There is nothing more frustrating than knowing you have the part you are looking for and not being able to find it. You end up spending half of your shop time in search of the parts you bought last week for the project.
This is also the time to go through all of your lines and handles. Any lines with frays or kinks should be discarded or cut to another size for a different event. This off-season is the time to make extra sets of lines for the coming season.
My motto is that anything that can be done at home should not be done at the field unless it is an emergency. Field time is too valuable to spend on routine jobs.
We often neglect our handles simply because they rarely fail. Now is the time to change the replaceable cables on all of your handles.
While you are at it, take a close look at the safety thongs, and replace those that are starting to show wear. I like to use nylon venetian-blind cord because it is strong and cheap. Any hardware store will have a selection of sizes. One package will give you enough cord to last 10 years.
The method I use to attach the safety thongs is to drill a hole through the handle, then thread a length of venetian-blind cord through the hole. You will need to have two equal lengths of cord before you tie a knot close to the handle. Thread the two cord ends through an old prop hub that has been drilled out and sanded smooth, so that it is no more than 3/8 inch in diameter. Make a knot near the two loose ends.
Then you have a big loop with a slider (the old prop hub) that can be snugged up against your wrist. The size of the loop you make will depend on how big your hand is and how much you want to struggle to get the safety thong on and off your hand. I make mine just big enough to allow my hand to go through the loop easily but not with much slop. The tighter it is, the more chance you will have of recovering a handle that has been jerked from your hand.
Once you have tied off the loop, cut the excess cord away and melt the ends with a lighter or a match. This is done so that the nylon will not unravel.
Now is a good time of the year to experiment with new and innovative ideas. Many of us look at products produced for non-hobbyists as things that could be applied to one of our projects. You may even run into some type of material that could be lighter and stronger than what you are using. Give it a try; you may be pleasantly surprised.
I have had my eye on the colored wrapping material florists use around bouquets. It feels like the same stuff that comes on ready-made Czech, Ukrainian, or Russian models. Perhaps this winter I will experiment with this material.
Keep an eye out for any item that may look as if it has model-craft applications.
I was informed that Pete Athans won the Son of TopGun V8 Combat Contest in Tucson, Arizona late in November.
This was probably the first time Cyclon engines were used on 42-foot lines in a triple-elimination money contest. If you have not seen these little engines run, you are in for an awesome display of power. On 35-foot lines, they are too fast to fly combat with any level of precision. I hear they are just right on 42-foot lines.
The use of electric starters was permitted at this contest. The pilots liked the idea, so who am I to say that this is not the way to go?
Pete had not been in the winner's circle for longer than he cares to remember. This was an especially satisfying win since he had to beat Lee Liddle three times to earn the first-place honors.
I have purchased two of the Cyclon .049s but have yet to try them. This is one winter project I have scheduled for myself. The Southern California Combat Team may even hook up to design on a really slick foam model specifically for this engine. This will be an exciting project for the winter.
Speaking of winter, at the time I wrote this we were starting to gear up for our annual Beach Brunch and Fly V8 Combat outing on December 31. This is when a bunch of us get together to fly Tee Dees .049 Combat to see who will earn the title for getting the last kill of the year. In 2000 it was Pete Athans.
This tradition started some 15 years ago when Steve Hills, Pete Athans, Leonardo Silva, and I decided to go flying on the last day of the year. We didn't have the brunch partner that came after a couple years of having loads of fun, doing what we like to do best on the last day of each year.
The brunch part came a few years into this annual affair. One year we even tried champagne brunch and ended up wrecking a huge number of models. The strongest beverage served these days is Starbucks French Roast coffee.
I will let you know who got the last kill of the year for 2001.
This is the type of event that you might consider hosting on a specific date during the year. I am sure that the Bladder Grabber started with a few modelers sitting around the workshop, dreaming up a first-class competition. Some events live on and on while others have a short run of two to three years.
I hear that Brad LaPointe of Canada hosts a contest and posts a whole pig for the Saturday night feast. He also has a leg of someone and a beverage to wash the roast pork down.
You may want to dream up and plan an event of your own. Who knows? It may grow into the happening event of the year.
Safety issues are ever present in our chosen hobby and are not to be taken lightly. While there are individuals in our ranks who feel that shutoff devices are a nuisance and should not be required, the prudent modeler knows how fragile the acceptance of our hobby is in society. One serious accident could result in the loss of flying fields in an entire community.
I hope that as a modeling community, we can work on making fuel-shutoff devices cheap and 100% reliable. We certainly have the brainpower within our ranks to make this idea a reality. If we can create a device that is easy to use, cheap, and reliable, there would be no reason not to use it.
As a community of Combat pilots, we have created Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) Combats that run very well on 10% nitromethane fuel with four-millimeter intakes and with mufflers. These rule restrictions were once thought to signal the death of the FAI event. What we find is that this event is stronger than ever and is very competitive.
I hope we can approach the shutoff issue with more energy in 2002.
Also in 2002 I can see the speed-limit events growing in popularity and gaining an even larger following. The 75 mph and 80 mph events are some and are manageable for the novice.
The continued availability of Ready-to-Fly models will further increase the participation in Combat events.
Single-event triple-elimination contests will continue to be bigger than the Nationals. For those individuals with a limited number of days for vacation, using a large portion of them for a trip to Muncie, Indiana will lose favor when family desires are considered. Although air travel is more difficult these days, flying to a contest for a triple-elimination single-event competition will still look attractive to many pilots.
It looks as though Dennis Albert has purchased the Joe Harus operation that specialized in .40 H4 equipment. Joe had some very nice custom parts for Tee Dee engines.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
