Rich finds treasures while cleaning up for a move
Rich Lopez
I have recently had to clear out my old workshop in the family home in Daly City, California, because of the impending sale of the home. There is an extra vanload of old magazines in my garage. They date back to the mid-1970s and were neatly stored in binders.
The old Model Builder magazines contain some fascinating reading related to CL Combat written by Dirty Dan Rutherford on his manual typewriter. Today's college students have probably never seen a manual typewriter, or an electric typewriter for that matter. Dirty Dan thought it was humorous when he discovered that he could hold down the "x" key on his new electric machine to cross out words and sentences he wanted to delete.
I found many interesting photographs and writings by Charlie Johnson in MA. It is fascinating to see many active Combat pilots as they looked some 30 years ago. Greg Hill was just a kid, Chuck and Muffy Rudner were hippies, Steve Hill wore bell-bottom pants, Howard Rush wore a clown suit, and Mike Hoffelt built some incredibly labor-intensive Mono-Boom models.
Also included in this column:
- Pete Athans' new "foamie" models
- More about ZALP engines
- Fuel shutoffs
- Combat in Northern California
Many of those shown have long since retired from Combat, yet many remain involved to this date—albeit with white hair or no hair at all.
You can find some innovative ideas in these magazines that were being tested in the 1970s, one of which was a molded-fiberglass LE and bladder compartment made by Steve Sacco of New England. I first saw these at the Riverside National Championships in 1977 and thought they were unique and creative.
Current F2D World Champion Igor Trifonov used a similar idea this past year to earn a repeat title. He molded his LEs from Kevlar and incorporated a carbon-fiber TE and center rib. Volodymyr Vesych of Ukraine also used a molded-carbon-fiber LE on his models and a nonadjustable molded engine mount. At one time these were available through GRS Models.
The use of composite materials allows for more consistency in model weights from one aircraft to another. All-balsa airplanes and combination balsa-and-foam airplanes differ from one to the next because of the varying densities of wood components. You might not think foam would vary in weight, but it does from batch to batch.
I found a tremendous number of construction articles for numerous Combat designs for 1/2A, FAI, Fast, and Slow events in these old magazines. These days most pilots just buy aircraft and use their modelbuilding skills only to repair damaged airplanes. I will spend hours reading these treasured old magazines.
I also had to clear out a fleet of never-been-flown Matador and Samurai models. I remember spending quite a few hours building each aircraft in 1977 just before I moved to Los Angeles. These days it would be hard to find that amount of time to put into each model, given how much I fly and damage equipment. When I picked up the handle again a few years later, the foam era had begun so those models remained in storage all these years. Perhaps they will fly in the near future with vintage SuperTigre or Fox engines as "a trip down memory lane."
These days it is rare to see an all-balsa model. Combat pilots 30 years ago had to build their own airplanes unless they had a son like Jim McFadden who built Creamsicles for his dad Norm. I think he had to do it for room and board.
Pete Athans has, of late, resurfaced with a reinvigorated zest for building his own-design foam F2D models. I was among those who was skeptical of this venture, wondering why anyone should or would bother with building all-foam models when he or she can buy excellent equipment from the Ukrainians or Russians. I am impressed with the models Pete has produced. They are fast, light, and have accurate flying characteristics. This is a serious effort and could prove itself in the 2008 US Combat Team Trials. Pete is using the new Cyclon PC9 and PC8 engines to whip his foamies through the sky.
I do not know where the Team Trials will be held, but rest assured that it will be one tough shoot-out. There are plenty of pilots in the United States who have the capability to compete and be successful on an international level.
Securing a spot on the American team is an honor by itself. In some countries all you have to do to make the national team is raise your hand and say, "I want to go."
I have done further testing on the ZALP engines and have found them to be fully competitive with anything on the market. I entered the Red Flag F2D contest in Phoenix, Arizona, in November 2006 and had some good results with the ZALPs, finishing second in the Saturday and Sunday contests. Darrin Albert flew well and won both contests. Tom Siegler finished third on Saturday and Greg Hill finished third on Sunday.
The ZALPs were faster than most of the engines there and equal to the best. I now own six of them and have found the machining to be fantastic and the clearances to be consistent.
An example is the depth of the piston to the top of the cylinder, which was .003 on all six engines. ZALP builder Volodymyr Futlik sends them out at .006 through the addition of two .005 head shims, but I like to add another .004 worth of shims so the final head clearance is .010.
I have not yet experimented with a lower head setting. That is my next move in trying to get a little more speed out of these power plants.
As I mentioned in the January column, ZALP engines are being brought into the country on a limited basis by Bob Whitmey ([email protected]). He is charging roughly $160 plus shipping and some bank transfer charges he had to incur.
The six engines I have are running an honest 18.2 or 18.1 seconds for eight laps. I should be able to get them down to 18.0 with some additional propeller work and maybe dropping the head button a bit.
If you do decide to order a ZALP, make certain that you inquire about the availability of the head-clamp removal tool that is necessary to take the engine apart. They sell for $25 and have a socket on one end that fits the glow and the prop nut. This should be a one-time purchase unless it gets lost. You should also get a few more head shims. They come at .0015 and allow for some fine-tuning of the compression.
One of the subjects of conversation at the 2006 F2D World Championships was fuel-shutoff designs that could be adapted to the currently available RTF models. The guys from Denmark, led by Henning Forbech, have developed an interesting device that looks promising. Henning had a good World Championships and tied for fifth place.
The spring-loaded bellcrank slides toward the pilot when the model is flying and then slides toward the outboard wing, pinching off the fuel line when there is no tension. This system allows the pilot to retain full control of the model while gliding in for a landing.
Some of the line-tension devices create problems for the pilot while trying to land because of the extra stress put on the leadouts. The H&R bellcrank shutoffs eliminate this problem. You can expect the Europeans to continue with the development of simpler, low-cost shutoffs that will be adaptable to existing models.
I have recently been in touch with some new pilots in Northern California who are able to obtain state-of-the-art models and engines through the mail. Patrick O'Halloran and Paul Eagar pool their money to order equipment from Eastern Europe.
That is one way to save on shipping and bank-transfer charges. I trust that they will have good luck in getting everything to work. I have put Patrick and Paul in contact with my old flying partner Ed Bridant from the Flying Tigers club, who has recently taken up the handle again. He has been playing with 1/2A and F2D models.
I hope they will revive Combat in that area. Northern California was once a hotbed of Combat activity that slowly faded into hibernation. Perhaps Ed can find some of those snoozing Flying Tigers and get them to hunt streamers again.
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
