CL Scale
Bill Boss, 77-06 269th St., New Hyde Park NY 11040
I realize that this column will be published before the year 2000, but I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the new millennium. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to the column over the many years. I've greatly appreciated your help in keeping the "Control Line Scale" column before readers of this magazine. With your continued assistance, I hope I will be able to keep the column lively and informative in the future. To those of you who are into Control Line (CL) Scale and have not made submissions to the column, I urge you to get out the camera, take a few pictures of your latest project, or a contest, and send in a report. Building tips and ideas are also always welcome. Do you have an opinion on rules, judging, or a comment on any facet of CL Scale? I'd like to hear from you.
Contest Report
This month's contest report is on the Northwest Control Line Regionals, held at the Roseberg Regional Airport in Roseberg OR, during the 1999 Memorial Day weekend.
This contest report is unique because it was a two-part submission to the column. Grant Hiestand sent in a video of the CL Scale flights, while Fred Cronenwett sent in some pictures of the models that were flown. Since I am a couple of thousand miles away from the contest, it was great to be able to see the pilots flying their models in the CL Rise Off Water (ROW) and other standard AMA Scale events. All of the pilots did themselves proud in putting together some very successful flights. I was particularly impressed with how many fliers (roughly 12) tried their hand at the ROW pond; they did some very spectacular flying. While most of the flights from the pond were level flights, a few did three laps at 45°. All of the fliers tried their hand at touch-and-gos, and made some very nice landings. Extreme care and precision was required to bring the airplanes in and then become airborne again, in a pond that was about eight to 10 feet wide and about 1/3 of the circle long. I'm not sure if the ROW event was official, as placing results were not provided. However, the event is new and exciting, and sure to be held again in future Northwest CL Regional contests.
While most of us fly our models from grass, concrete, and macadam, it was a little strange to see the fliers and pitmen wearing boots as they worked to get the models into the air. For those of you who might want to learn more about the ROW event, please refer to the January 1999 issue of Model Aviation for the full story by Fred Cronenwett.
The standard AMA Scale events flown were Precision, Sport, and Profile. Again, all of the pilots did a great job in putting in successful flights. The video sent in by Grant provided the opportunity to see some fine demonstrations of taxi laps, good takeoff and landing approaches, retracting gear, and some great flying with good flight speed control. It was very impressive seeing most make realistic takeoffs, leveling off for level flight, throttling back for cruising speed, and then coming down from altitude for good landing approaches.
Results (first three places)
Precision Scale
- Lynn Boss, P-47D
- Grant Hiestand
- Bruce Tharpe, F-86
Sport Scale
- Lynn Boss, F4U Corsair
- Ken Burton, P-51D
- Fred Cronenwett, AT-6 Texan
Profile Scale
- Steve Davis, F8F Bearcat
- Fred Cronenwett, F7F-3N Tigercat
- Shawn Parker (no airplane given)
Photos and Model Notes
Photos are from the Northwest CL Regionals and were taken by Fred Cronenwett.
- Lynn Boss's P-47D is equipped with a multichannel electronic system that operates the flaps, retracts, throttle, and bomb and fuel tank drop. The color scheme of the model includes Mexican markings. The model was built from a Top Flite Gold Edition kit and is powered with an O.S. 91 four-stroke engine.
- The 81-inch wingspan Piper Cub is by Fred Cronenwett and was flown in the ROW event. Built from a Hangar 9 kit, the model weighs 11 pounds and is powered with an Astro 40 electric motor geared with a Super Gear Box that drives an 18 x 10 propeller. Floats are built from a Great Planes kit, and are fiberglassed and painted with Formula U polyurethane paints. DSC electronics is used for throttle control.
- The China Clipper by Grant Hiestand has an 88-inch wingspan and is built entirely from white foam, covered with EconoKote™, and painted silver. The model is powered with four Kysho AP-29L electric motors that lift the model off of the water very nicely. A Bill Young electronic handle (featured in the February 1999 and October 1999 columns) is used for throttle control.
Grant built the foam Clipper as a prototype to test out the motors, weight, and other factors before building a more-substantial and exact model. Grant also flew the Clipper from the paved circle using a dolly.
We’ll feature a couple more airplanes from the Northwest CL Regionals in a future column.
Joining Sheet Balsa
Joining sheet balsa to get the desired size for covering wing panels can present problems. Many of us apply sheet balsa to large wing areas by laying one piece at a time across the wing ribs; then you have the problem of sanding the glue joints. If excess glue is not thoroughly removed from the joints, and it’s allowed to harden, there could be high spots at the joint that are difficult to smooth out. You might even sand off too much balsa on either side of the joint, leaving unwanted indentations.
An item found in the Indy Sportsliners CL Club newsletter, written by John Nooyen, provides suggestions on how to join sheet balsa and avoid the problems mentioned above.
- When joining balsa sheets with cyanoacrylate (CyA) glue, join the sheets along their sides, then wick the CyA into the joint. While the joint is still wet, sand it. The sawdust from sanding will fill in any gaps in the joint.
- When joining balsa sheets with white glue, sand the edges so that the butt joint is nearly perfect. Then dust the pieces off and lay them flat on the workbench. Tape (masking tape works well) the two sides together and lift from the bench. Gently fold the two sides open and run a bead of your favorite glue down the joint. Lay the joined sheet back on the bench with the tape side down and join it with tape on the other side. Leave the sheets to dry, maybe weighting them slightly. When the sheets are dry, remove the tape and sand them to a reasonable finish.
Workshop Hints
Bob Furr says that most modelers may have heard about covering foam wings with brown kraft paper. Kraft paper has several other uses that you might want to know about.
- It makes a great cover for the top of the workbench, protecting it from paint and glue. Bob says to use a dispenser made from blocks of wood with holes in them to pass a piece of pipe through. The dispenser hangs below one end of the workbench so that you just roll the paper off onto the bench. A 24-inch-wide roll has enough paper for years and costs approximately $30 at an office-supply store.
- Another use of kraft paper is for making one-time patterns, or drawing plans for one-off models.
The best part is that after you have finished building you can pull out a new supply to give you a perfectly clean, dust-free surface to set your model on for painting.
This item was found in the Orbiting Eagles of Omaha newsletter.
1999 Directory of CL Scale Items in Model Aviation
January
- CL Scale rules review
- Designer, Profile, and Scoresheet
- Year 2000 World Championships
February
- New electronic CL handle
- Glow plug problems
- Brodak's models—PT-21
- Warbird Tech Series—P-61 Black Widow and U-2 Dragon Lady
March
- Spring checkup
- FAI Report on the 1998 World Championships—by Vladimir Kusy
- Workshop Hint—Epoxy over butyrate dope
April
- Visit to Lithuania—Dave Dulaitis
- Workshop Hint—on sanding blocks
May
- Building the First Full-Bodied Scale Model—Scott Boone
- Cleaning oil-soaked frames
- Wind Canyon Scale data
June
- Documentation—Too Little, Too Much—Russel Knetzger
- Using colored fuel tubing
- Cutting fiberglass
- Circle Master contest activity
July
- Flying biplanes
- CL Scale Web site
August
- Music wire—bending and soldering
- WRAM 1999 show
September
- Comments on changing three-views
- Photo comments on Kraftl Laird Solution and Profile Junkers 88
October
- Electronic CL handle update
- Circle safety
- X-Acto blade sharpening
- Book review—B-17 and F4 Phantom
November
- Documentation sources by Barry Murill
- P-40 Warhawk book
- Workshop Hint—Ceased engines
December
- Nationals coverage
Please send ideas, notice of upcoming CL Scale events, contest reports, and especially photos of CL Scale activity, to me at the address at the beginning of this column. MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
