May 2010 127
IN JULY 1977, I
wrote an article titled
“Quick-Pit” that was
published in Model
Builder magazine.
Members of the
Flying Tigers model
airplane club got
together and built a
batch of pit boxes
that were identical.
The idea was to
have similar pitting
equipment so we
could easily and successfully pit for one
another in competition situations. I am still
using that same pit box, and it is still very
effective.
During the past 33 years, that pit box has
undergone a number of modifications.
Holders for syringes have been added. The
original compartment that was designed to
accommodate a big, heavy dry-cell doorbelltype
battery was replaced with a couple holes
that permit zip-ties to hold the Glow-Bee
battery in place.
Frank Sims had a bunch of glow plug
caddies made to hold six Nelson plugs. Two
of those beautifully anodized caddies were
added to the pit box.
The glow plugs are screwed into one of
the six holes in the caddies. It takes only a
few seconds to get a fresh plug out and ready
to replace the blown one that way. However,
there is an even faster and more effective way
to hold and retrieve fresh glow plugs: through
the use of magnets.
At the 2010 AMA Convention in January
this year, Utopia Tools was selling powerful
1-inch-diameter, 1/8-inch-thick magnets. It
takes quite a bit of force to separate two.
I made a couple of wooden rectangles
with 1-inch-diameter holes to hold the
magnets and attached them to the pit box with
small countersunk wood screws. I can have
them hold glow plugs or a variety of tools.
When flying Combat, you need to keep
spare fuel bladders handy in case you have to
replace one in a match. An easy way to do
this is by bending music wire in such a way
that it will slightly pinch the tubing and be
open at one end so you can quickly slip out a
new bladder. You can make a small loop at
one end of the music wire so it can be held to
the box with a wood screw.
Anything you might need for a
competition pit stop must not be buried in the
bottom of the box or in a drawer, which is
why the Flying Tigers’ setup makes things
easier during contests. You might know
where everything is in your pit box, but your
pit person must also know.
Making fast pit stops
[[email protected]]
Control Line Combat Rich Lopez
Also included in this column:
• Equipment maintenance
• World Cup F2D in Houston
• Foam scratch-built models
• Repairing tips
Above: Chris Renton
of New Zealand and
two-time F2D World
Champion Igor
Trifanov are shown in
the heat of battle.
The team from Moldova (L-R): Sergi and Natalia Dementiev, Stas Culachkin, Igor
Dementiev, their pit man, and his daughter, kneeling.
Right: Lester Haury
uses this take-apart
two-model holder to
keep his models clean
while in the pits.
05sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 3/24/10 2:10 PM Page 127
Equipment Maintenance: From time to time, I
remind you to look carefully at your battery
connection, glow plug clip, and the cord. With
the start of a new flying season upon us, this is
something we should all do.
I am guilty of not looking at the battery
terminals often enough. But recently I took a
vintage Glow-Bee apart to clean it and found
corrosion on the terminals, and the internal
ground wire had turned green.
I replaced the battery, terminals, ground
wire, and external cord that goes to the glow
plug clip. This should make an immediate
difference in battery performance.
I like to give my fueling syringes a close
inspection as well. After a certain period of
time, the plunger tips deteriorate and send bits
of black debris into the bladder that will, in turn,
force it to the spraybar, where it will jam against
the needle valve.
Syringes also lose their smooth operating
action and stick. Black streaks on the barrels of
the syringes mean that it is time to get rid of
them. They were not designed for our application
and are considered disposable, so save yourself
some agony by keeping an eye on them.
World Cup F2D in Houston: Mike Willcox
128 MODEL AVIATION
(2002 F2D World Champion) has sent e-mail
messages to a large number of modelers in
the US and around the world about his World
Cup contest at the Jetero R/C Club field in
Houston, Texas. It will be held May 1-2,
2010.
According to Mike, the current F2D
World Champion, Stas Culacuhkin, and Igor
Dementiev of Moldova will be there. It is
expected that the Mexican team of Fedrico
Quezada and Leonardo Silva will also make
the trip.
US pilots rarely get the opportunity to
have a go at the Europeans on home ground.
The last time I can remember is after the 2004
World Championships in Muncie, Indiana,
when we sponsored an FAI model
competition with the kill rule.
If you have any interest in participating in
a quality contest, make the effort to be at this
one in May. The “Sources” section at the end
of this column contains contact information
for the Jetero R/C club and Mike Willcox.
Scratch-Built Foam Models: Russ Hester
flew in competition many years ago in
Southern California and has recently been
bitten by the bug again. He built his aircraft
from scratch and is currently experimenting
with foam FAI designs.
Russ and I have had several discussions
regarding trimming and balancing these
models. His have required the addition of tip
weight so that the wings will be flat during
both level and inverted flight.
In an effort to keep the models light, Russ
cut big, circular lightening holes in both the
inboard and outboard panels. I have suggested
that he make these holes only on the inboard
panels so there will be more weight on the
outboard side, along with additional strength.
He uses a wingtip rib on the end of each
panel, both of which are made from the same
material.
The suggestion here is to make the
outboard tip from a heavier material such as
basswood. This way, the aircraft would have
additional strength and weight at the tip.
The pennies that Russ uses for tip weight
ride in the model as free passengers and
contribute nothing to the strength of the
airplane. The idea is to have every piece of
material contribute to the overall performance
of each model.
Repairing Tips: If you fly in either
competition or practice Combat matches, you
will probably break models. This is part of the
cost of doing business.
I like to save my new airplanes for
competition, but I do fly practice matches
almost every weekend. I end up collecting
piles of broken aircraft, some of which are
total write-offs and others that are reparable.
It is relatively easy to splice wing halves
together to make a good, usable practice
model. It is a matter of making sure you have
equal-length sections and that they are
thoroughly scraped clean throughout the
gluing surfaces.
I have butt-jointed wing sections using
Popsicle-stick material under the top and
bottom spars and extra TE material behind the
front spar. You can push the Popsicle stick
into the foam, up against the spar on both
sections to be joined. Then you remove them,
add your glue, and push both sections together
with the repair material sticking out of one
section. All of this presupposes that you took
the time to carefully sand and align the
sections of the wings.
For TE joints, I prefer long angle cuts
that give lots of glue surface. These joints
are then reinforced with carbon-fiber-tow
material and thin cyanoacrylate on both the
top and the bottom.
Russ Graves has become adept at
model repair and keeps his fleet
airworthy from weekend to weekend. He
has gotten so good at splices that
oftentimes he needs only to make a minor
adjustment to get them in perfect trim. MA
Sources:
Utopia Tools
(949) 369-0994
www.utopiatools.com
Jetero R/C Club
www.jetero.com
Mike Willcox
[email protected]
Pat Willcox
[email protected]
Miniature Aircraft Combat Association
www.maca.hobby-site.com:3535
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/05
Page Numbers: 127,128,129
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/05
Page Numbers: 127,128,129
May 2010 127
IN JULY 1977, I
wrote an article titled
“Quick-Pit” that was
published in Model
Builder magazine.
Members of the
Flying Tigers model
airplane club got
together and built a
batch of pit boxes
that were identical.
The idea was to
have similar pitting
equipment so we
could easily and successfully pit for one
another in competition situations. I am still
using that same pit box, and it is still very
effective.
During the past 33 years, that pit box has
undergone a number of modifications.
Holders for syringes have been added. The
original compartment that was designed to
accommodate a big, heavy dry-cell doorbelltype
battery was replaced with a couple holes
that permit zip-ties to hold the Glow-Bee
battery in place.
Frank Sims had a bunch of glow plug
caddies made to hold six Nelson plugs. Two
of those beautifully anodized caddies were
added to the pit box.
The glow plugs are screwed into one of
the six holes in the caddies. It takes only a
few seconds to get a fresh plug out and ready
to replace the blown one that way. However,
there is an even faster and more effective way
to hold and retrieve fresh glow plugs: through
the use of magnets.
At the 2010 AMA Convention in January
this year, Utopia Tools was selling powerful
1-inch-diameter, 1/8-inch-thick magnets. It
takes quite a bit of force to separate two.
I made a couple of wooden rectangles
with 1-inch-diameter holes to hold the
magnets and attached them to the pit box with
small countersunk wood screws. I can have
them hold glow plugs or a variety of tools.
When flying Combat, you need to keep
spare fuel bladders handy in case you have to
replace one in a match. An easy way to do
this is by bending music wire in such a way
that it will slightly pinch the tubing and be
open at one end so you can quickly slip out a
new bladder. You can make a small loop at
one end of the music wire so it can be held to
the box with a wood screw.
Anything you might need for a
competition pit stop must not be buried in the
bottom of the box or in a drawer, which is
why the Flying Tigers’ setup makes things
easier during contests. You might know
where everything is in your pit box, but your
pit person must also know.
Making fast pit stops
[[email protected]]
Control Line Combat Rich Lopez
Also included in this column:
• Equipment maintenance
• World Cup F2D in Houston
• Foam scratch-built models
• Repairing tips
Above: Chris Renton
of New Zealand and
two-time F2D World
Champion Igor
Trifanov are shown in
the heat of battle.
The team from Moldova (L-R): Sergi and Natalia Dementiev, Stas Culachkin, Igor
Dementiev, their pit man, and his daughter, kneeling.
Right: Lester Haury
uses this take-apart
two-model holder to
keep his models clean
while in the pits.
05sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 3/24/10 2:10 PM Page 127
Equipment Maintenance: From time to time, I
remind you to look carefully at your battery
connection, glow plug clip, and the cord. With
the start of a new flying season upon us, this is
something we should all do.
I am guilty of not looking at the battery
terminals often enough. But recently I took a
vintage Glow-Bee apart to clean it and found
corrosion on the terminals, and the internal
ground wire had turned green.
I replaced the battery, terminals, ground
wire, and external cord that goes to the glow
plug clip. This should make an immediate
difference in battery performance.
I like to give my fueling syringes a close
inspection as well. After a certain period of
time, the plunger tips deteriorate and send bits
of black debris into the bladder that will, in turn,
force it to the spraybar, where it will jam against
the needle valve.
Syringes also lose their smooth operating
action and stick. Black streaks on the barrels of
the syringes mean that it is time to get rid of
them. They were not designed for our application
and are considered disposable, so save yourself
some agony by keeping an eye on them.
World Cup F2D in Houston: Mike Willcox
128 MODEL AVIATION
(2002 F2D World Champion) has sent e-mail
messages to a large number of modelers in
the US and around the world about his World
Cup contest at the Jetero R/C Club field in
Houston, Texas. It will be held May 1-2,
2010.
According to Mike, the current F2D
World Champion, Stas Culacuhkin, and Igor
Dementiev of Moldova will be there. It is
expected that the Mexican team of Fedrico
Quezada and Leonardo Silva will also make
the trip.
US pilots rarely get the opportunity to
have a go at the Europeans on home ground.
The last time I can remember is after the 2004
World Championships in Muncie, Indiana,
when we sponsored an FAI model
competition with the kill rule.
If you have any interest in participating in
a quality contest, make the effort to be at this
one in May. The “Sources” section at the end
of this column contains contact information
for the Jetero R/C club and Mike Willcox.
Scratch-Built Foam Models: Russ Hester
flew in competition many years ago in
Southern California and has recently been
bitten by the bug again. He built his aircraft
from scratch and is currently experimenting
with foam FAI designs.
Russ and I have had several discussions
regarding trimming and balancing these
models. His have required the addition of tip
weight so that the wings will be flat during
both level and inverted flight.
In an effort to keep the models light, Russ
cut big, circular lightening holes in both the
inboard and outboard panels. I have suggested
that he make these holes only on the inboard
panels so there will be more weight on the
outboard side, along with additional strength.
He uses a wingtip rib on the end of each
panel, both of which are made from the same
material.
The suggestion here is to make the
outboard tip from a heavier material such as
basswood. This way, the aircraft would have
additional strength and weight at the tip.
The pennies that Russ uses for tip weight
ride in the model as free passengers and
contribute nothing to the strength of the
airplane. The idea is to have every piece of
material contribute to the overall performance
of each model.
Repairing Tips: If you fly in either
competition or practice Combat matches, you
will probably break models. This is part of the
cost of doing business.
I like to save my new airplanes for
competition, but I do fly practice matches
almost every weekend. I end up collecting
piles of broken aircraft, some of which are
total write-offs and others that are reparable.
It is relatively easy to splice wing halves
together to make a good, usable practice
model. It is a matter of making sure you have
equal-length sections and that they are
thoroughly scraped clean throughout the
gluing surfaces.
I have butt-jointed wing sections using
Popsicle-stick material under the top and
bottom spars and extra TE material behind the
front spar. You can push the Popsicle stick
into the foam, up against the spar on both
sections to be joined. Then you remove them,
add your glue, and push both sections together
with the repair material sticking out of one
section. All of this presupposes that you took
the time to carefully sand and align the
sections of the wings.
For TE joints, I prefer long angle cuts
that give lots of glue surface. These joints
are then reinforced with carbon-fiber-tow
material and thin cyanoacrylate on both the
top and the bottom.
Russ Graves has become adept at
model repair and keeps his fleet
airworthy from weekend to weekend. He
has gotten so good at splices that
oftentimes he needs only to make a minor
adjustment to get them in perfect trim. MA
Sources:
Utopia Tools
(949) 369-0994
www.utopiatools.com
Jetero R/C Club
www.jetero.com
Mike Willcox
[email protected]
Pat Willcox
[email protected]
Miniature Aircraft Combat Association
www.maca.hobby-site.com:3535
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/05
Page Numbers: 127,128,129
May 2010 127
IN JULY 1977, I
wrote an article titled
“Quick-Pit” that was
published in Model
Builder magazine.
Members of the
Flying Tigers model
airplane club got
together and built a
batch of pit boxes
that were identical.
The idea was to
have similar pitting
equipment so we
could easily and successfully pit for one
another in competition situations. I am still
using that same pit box, and it is still very
effective.
During the past 33 years, that pit box has
undergone a number of modifications.
Holders for syringes have been added. The
original compartment that was designed to
accommodate a big, heavy dry-cell doorbelltype
battery was replaced with a couple holes
that permit zip-ties to hold the Glow-Bee
battery in place.
Frank Sims had a bunch of glow plug
caddies made to hold six Nelson plugs. Two
of those beautifully anodized caddies were
added to the pit box.
The glow plugs are screwed into one of
the six holes in the caddies. It takes only a
few seconds to get a fresh plug out and ready
to replace the blown one that way. However,
there is an even faster and more effective way
to hold and retrieve fresh glow plugs: through
the use of magnets.
At the 2010 AMA Convention in January
this year, Utopia Tools was selling powerful
1-inch-diameter, 1/8-inch-thick magnets. It
takes quite a bit of force to separate two.
I made a couple of wooden rectangles
with 1-inch-diameter holes to hold the
magnets and attached them to the pit box with
small countersunk wood screws. I can have
them hold glow plugs or a variety of tools.
When flying Combat, you need to keep
spare fuel bladders handy in case you have to
replace one in a match. An easy way to do
this is by bending music wire in such a way
that it will slightly pinch the tubing and be
open at one end so you can quickly slip out a
new bladder. You can make a small loop at
one end of the music wire so it can be held to
the box with a wood screw.
Anything you might need for a
competition pit stop must not be buried in the
bottom of the box or in a drawer, which is
why the Flying Tigers’ setup makes things
easier during contests. You might know
where everything is in your pit box, but your
pit person must also know.
Making fast pit stops
[[email protected]]
Control Line Combat Rich Lopez
Also included in this column:
• Equipment maintenance
• World Cup F2D in Houston
• Foam scratch-built models
• Repairing tips
Above: Chris Renton
of New Zealand and
two-time F2D World
Champion Igor
Trifanov are shown in
the heat of battle.
The team from Moldova (L-R): Sergi and Natalia Dementiev, Stas Culachkin, Igor
Dementiev, their pit man, and his daughter, kneeling.
Right: Lester Haury
uses this take-apart
two-model holder to
keep his models clean
while in the pits.
05sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 3/24/10 2:10 PM Page 127
Equipment Maintenance: From time to time, I
remind you to look carefully at your battery
connection, glow plug clip, and the cord. With
the start of a new flying season upon us, this is
something we should all do.
I am guilty of not looking at the battery
terminals often enough. But recently I took a
vintage Glow-Bee apart to clean it and found
corrosion on the terminals, and the internal
ground wire had turned green.
I replaced the battery, terminals, ground
wire, and external cord that goes to the glow
plug clip. This should make an immediate
difference in battery performance.
I like to give my fueling syringes a close
inspection as well. After a certain period of
time, the plunger tips deteriorate and send bits
of black debris into the bladder that will, in turn,
force it to the spraybar, where it will jam against
the needle valve.
Syringes also lose their smooth operating
action and stick. Black streaks on the barrels of
the syringes mean that it is time to get rid of
them. They were not designed for our application
and are considered disposable, so save yourself
some agony by keeping an eye on them.
World Cup F2D in Houston: Mike Willcox
128 MODEL AVIATION
(2002 F2D World Champion) has sent e-mail
messages to a large number of modelers in
the US and around the world about his World
Cup contest at the Jetero R/C Club field in
Houston, Texas. It will be held May 1-2,
2010.
According to Mike, the current F2D
World Champion, Stas Culacuhkin, and Igor
Dementiev of Moldova will be there. It is
expected that the Mexican team of Fedrico
Quezada and Leonardo Silva will also make
the trip.
US pilots rarely get the opportunity to
have a go at the Europeans on home ground.
The last time I can remember is after the 2004
World Championships in Muncie, Indiana,
when we sponsored an FAI model
competition with the kill rule.
If you have any interest in participating in
a quality contest, make the effort to be at this
one in May. The “Sources” section at the end
of this column contains contact information
for the Jetero R/C club and Mike Willcox.
Scratch-Built Foam Models: Russ Hester
flew in competition many years ago in
Southern California and has recently been
bitten by the bug again. He built his aircraft
from scratch and is currently experimenting
with foam FAI designs.
Russ and I have had several discussions
regarding trimming and balancing these
models. His have required the addition of tip
weight so that the wings will be flat during
both level and inverted flight.
In an effort to keep the models light, Russ
cut big, circular lightening holes in both the
inboard and outboard panels. I have suggested
that he make these holes only on the inboard
panels so there will be more weight on the
outboard side, along with additional strength.
He uses a wingtip rib on the end of each
panel, both of which are made from the same
material.
The suggestion here is to make the
outboard tip from a heavier material such as
basswood. This way, the aircraft would have
additional strength and weight at the tip.
The pennies that Russ uses for tip weight
ride in the model as free passengers and
contribute nothing to the strength of the
airplane. The idea is to have every piece of
material contribute to the overall performance
of each model.
Repairing Tips: If you fly in either
competition or practice Combat matches, you
will probably break models. This is part of the
cost of doing business.
I like to save my new airplanes for
competition, but I do fly practice matches
almost every weekend. I end up collecting
piles of broken aircraft, some of which are
total write-offs and others that are reparable.
It is relatively easy to splice wing halves
together to make a good, usable practice
model. It is a matter of making sure you have
equal-length sections and that they are
thoroughly scraped clean throughout the
gluing surfaces.
I have butt-jointed wing sections using
Popsicle-stick material under the top and
bottom spars and extra TE material behind the
front spar. You can push the Popsicle stick
into the foam, up against the spar on both
sections to be joined. Then you remove them,
add your glue, and push both sections together
with the repair material sticking out of one
section. All of this presupposes that you took
the time to carefully sand and align the
sections of the wings.
For TE joints, I prefer long angle cuts
that give lots of glue surface. These joints
are then reinforced with carbon-fiber-tow
material and thin cyanoacrylate on both the
top and the bottom.
Russ Graves has become adept at
model repair and keeps his fleet
airworthy from weekend to weekend. He
has gotten so good at splices that
oftentimes he needs only to make a minor
adjustment to get them in perfect trim. MA
Sources:
Utopia Tools
(949) 369-0994
www.utopiatools.com
Jetero R/C Club
www.jetero.com
Mike Willcox
[email protected]
Pat Willcox
[email protected]
Miniature Aircraft Combat Association
www.maca.hobby-site.com:3535
