CL Combat
Rich von Lopez, 8334 Colegio Dr., Los Angeles CA 90045
In Memoriam
THIS COLUMN begins on a sad note: Control Line (CL) Combat enthusiasts Bob "Bear" Bearden and Terry "Doc" Passen have passed away.
Both spent much time in the Combat community and supplied pilots with equipment.
Doc was opinionated and gruff; he acted that way on purpose, to get people to think about a particular issue or idea. He had been on the Internet recently, causing trouble in his predictably caustic style and provoking people into wanting to fly a match against him. Of course, one does not know the individual's condition on the other side of the keyboard, so one might reach a boiling point without knowing the whole story. Doc had been in a home, and he wanted to fly Combat with those who would take up his challenge on the Internet.
Doc sponsored many contests and produced kits for the Combat community. He will be missed.
Bob Bearden made model aircraft his living, and he traveled around the country with all of the products required to practice our discipline. He could fix you up with bulk wire and hard-to-find props, kits, and all the other stuff that most hobby shops could not or would not carry.
Bob was a fair man, who gave everyone a break. He came up to me in Austin, Minnesota in 1989, after I had earned a spot on the FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) Combat team, and said, "Rich, what do you need to get the job done? Just ask. It's yours."
Bob got into the kit-producing business, and kitted Steve Hill's SlySir design in several versions.
Bear was able to laugh at himself when he made a mistake. At one of the Nats in Chicopee, Massachusetts, he brought a bunch of models that only needed covering. He had precut all the tapered-wing covering panels, only to learn that they were all the same, and he could only cover half of each model. We all had a good laugh over that one.
The Bear has gone into the woods one last time, to hibernate for good.
Safety Proposal and Fuel Shutoff Devices
Bill Lee has been generating some conversation about a rules proposal dealing with a safety issue for FAI Combat. He is proposing a safety measure that will not permit a pit crew to enter the circle when there is a line tangle, until the line tangle has been cleared.
The pit crew can win or lose a match in this case, depending on how efficient or inefficient it is in starting engines, retrieving downed models, repairing models, and transferring streamers.
In an effort to save precious seconds, pit crew members often run into the circle to retrieve a downed model before a line tangle is cleared, and one model is still in the air.
Line tangles are a reality in model flying, and they inevitably result in damaged lines. The lines will break in a severe tangle. Control of the model is compromised, and unanticipated maneuvers abound.
At the World Championships in Shanghai, China in 1994, a Ukrainian pit-crew member was hit by a model when one airplane was down and the other was flying while still in a line tangle. The pilot of the flying model lost control, and the airplane flew across the circle and smacked the pit-crew member in the back, knocking him down. The prop did not hit him, but the tough Russian-style leading edge acted as a bat, to deliver its blow.
This proposal will face tough scrutiny from the various FAI representatives.
The use of fuel-shutoff devices is just around the corner for this event. I would welcome such a rule. The Europeans are very clever at coming up with reliable equipment and innovative ways of doing things. They could design some very efficient devices that would be reliable, and cheap to boot.
I wish Bill the best of luck in getting this measure through the channels of the international modeling community.
Upcoming Events and Travel
At this time in early June, I am preparing my equipment for the Bladder Grabber at the end of the month. Shortly after that, my family and I will be making our way to Landres, France, to the 2000 CL World Championships.
As a team supporter and a former member, I will be in a very good position to chat with fellow modelers, and to inspect their equipment closely. I intend to burn up many rolls of film documenting newsworthy items.
European Focus and Event Variety
It is amazing to see all the innovations that modelers can come up with when they fly one event all the time.
For all intents and purposes, the Europeans fly one event—F2D Combat, with .15-size engines. From time to time, you hear about the Brits flying 1/2A with .09-size engines and vintage diesel Combat, but those are not their main events.
This is where European pilots have a great advantage over US pilots; we have so many sets of rules for so many types of events, it is difficult to change tactics from one contest to another.
The variety of events we fly provides each of us with a category that is just right for our taste. The downside is that very few people can keep fleets of models for each event. This is where a case can be made for 80 mph Combat and Fast Combat events.
A pilot could use the same models for 80 mph and Fast Combat, by swapping engines or adding a venturi restrictor to a Nelson. The same fuel systems, lines, and handles are used in the events.
A good Nelson on a good model will storm around the sky at 120–130 mph, which is 40–50 mph faster than the same model in 80 mph trim.
80 mph Combat is a nice place for a beginner to start. He or she can get used to the feel of a .36-powered model, and not have to worry about adequate line tension.
Equipment, Tuning, and Modern Materials
The modern surgical tubing that we use is far superior to anything we had in "the good old days." It is easy to use, and it usually gives reliable needle-valve settings. By reliable settings, I mean the engine will run where you set it, and not change midflight.
You need a tuner who can set the needle to get optimum performance. I try to set my engines slightly rich on the ground, and see how they run in the air. In most cases, the engines will unload a bit in the air and run quite well.
An engine that is set dead lean on the ground will overheat, and even hurt itself in the air.
Many other factors impact the needle setting—head clearance, propeller selection, engine design, condition of the glow plug, and how well the engine is broken in.
A new pilot with little experience can obtain reasonable performance using modern bladder tanks, and not spend a fortune on a metal tank that will develop leaks and break.
The .75 mph and 80 mph events are catching on across the country, and they will have an impact on future fliers. I hope you can promote this type of contest, or put one on in your area.
1/2A Combat and the Launching Device
During the past year, I have been concentrating on 1/2A Combat. I have built up quite a fleet of Tee Dee-powered models that I sport-fly as often as I can.
Pat Willcox stops by on a regular basis, to build or fly. On one of his layovers, he built a launching device from the discarded foam wing core sleeves.
He cut an angle on the sleeves on a 16-inch foam-core sleeve. He started the angle 11 inches from the wingtip on the leading-edge side. The angle went to 15 inches on the trailing-edge side, as measured from the wingtip.
Pat covered the top and bottom wing core sleeves, and glued them together with cardboard reinforcement strips on the leading and trailing edges.
He glued a 16-inch length of arrowshaft to the cardboard front that extended out approximately five inches on the wingtip side. He glued this arrowshaft in the middle of the cardboard leading-edge reinforcement.
What Pat had then was a covered and angled foam-core sleeve, with an arrowshaft stuck to the front.
He made a roughly four-inch-long wooden fixture that fits under the handle of my flight box. He drilled a hole the size of the arrowshaft through this fixture, located it on the box so it would have a slight angle up, then proceeded to screw it into the box.
The last thing was to drill a hole through the fixture and the arrowshaft, so a pin could be dropped through to prevent the sleeve from rotating out of its slightly-up angle.
To use the device:
- Fire up the engine and place the outboard wing of the model in the sleeve.
- Run out to the handle.
- Slowly pull on the lines until the model jumps out of the sleeve.
Practice, Engine Care, and Data Collection
I have been going out to various flying fields during the middle of the week, to get a couple flights in at the end of the day. Some of the sites are as close as five minutes from my house, which makes it easy to test new props or modifications to a model.
I have been able to collect data on all of my 1/2A engines, with regard to performance. I store these engines with tags that give vital information about them. When you find a contest-quality engine, label it and oil it up well, and use it only at contests.
I take my contest engines out for a walk now and then—just to make sure they deserve that label.
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
