130 MODEL AVIATION
CONTROL LINE SCALE
Bill Boss, 77-06 269th St., New Hyde Park NY 11040
THE F-4 PHANTOM featured in this
month’s column was built by Dennis Slater
of Chicago, Illinois, from a Westcoast Radio
Control (RC) kit he found at a swap meet; he
had never seen one before and hasn’t seen
one since. The very yellow newspaper found
stuffed between the parts in the box was
dated 1972.
Dennis noted that the kit was in excellent
condition and easy to build, and it is a great
size for a Control Line model. It has a
wingspan of 44 inches, a length of 48 inches,
500-plus square inches of wing area, and
was designed as a tractor propeller. The
power is an Enya .60 III, and the model has a
standard three-line bellcrank system for
throttle control.
The fuselage is all fiberglass, the
horizontal stabilizer is solid balsa, and the
wing is sheeted foam covered with fiberglass
cloth and Z-Poxy. The dual-shock nose gear
comes with the kit. The model is painted
with Formula-U airbrushed in a vintage
Vietnam color scheme and markings. All is
topcoated with Minwax Poly-U satin spray.
The scale details were also easy. Bombs
and rockets are Great Planes kit accessories
for the Tomcat and the Eagle. The belly drop
tank was made from two Estes rocket nose
cones butt-joined at the bases. Cockpit
interiors were scratch-built, and the pilots are
modified action figures from a dollar store.
Added scale operations are the drop tank
and drag chute. Both are operated via
electric servos, controlled by sending power
up insulated lines. The servos are regular RC
with the electronics removed. The battery
power sent up the lines is supplied by four
nine-volt batteries in series to provide 36
volts. The voltage is required to overcome
the resistance of the lines and provide
efficient operation of the servos.
The finished Phantom weighs 5 pounds
and is a great-flying model. Dennis says that
it never fails to stop traffic on the final
landing when it taxis to a stop with the drag
chute deployed. What makes the drag chute
work is a small hardware/variety-store item:
a spring-loaded key reel. Not a heavy-duty
type for a pound of keys, but the smalldiameter
reel with a nylon or .021-inch
coated cable cord.
The reel is mounted forward near the
servo or wherever it’s easy to access. Dennis
extended the length of the cord with the
same nylon used for the chute shroud lines.
The cord is then run through an eyelet at the
tail of the fuselage, and a 1⁄2A line clip is
used to connect it to the chute.
The chute compartment is built with a
hinged door that is controlled by a control
Dennis Slater’s F-4 Phantom is powered by an Enya .60, and operational features—drop
tank and drag chute—are controlled via electric servos. Slater photo.
Installation of F-4’s drag chute. Spring-loaded key reel pulls chute out when door is
opened and acts like buffer for pull on chute when deployed. Author sketch.
horn and pushrod to a servo. The chute is
rolled and packed with the cord pulled out
through the eyelet to its full extension of the
reel. The closed door pinches the cord and
holds the chute in place. Simply opening the
door allows the reel cord to retract, and it
pulls the chute out of the compartment for
deployment.
An added benefit of the reel is that it acts
as a strain relief or shock absorber for the
deploying chute. Dennis cautions anyone
using this as an operational feature; the
deploying chute can give the airplane
different taxi characteristics. He suggests
only deploying the chute when the model is
rolling dead into the wind and will be
stopped within the next 30 feet or so.
I have presented a number of Dennis’s
models (he has 26), and you might be
wondering what he uses for handles and
lines. He has equipped his airplanes in such
a fashion that he is able to control all of his
models with three handle and line
arrangements.
1) He uses an electric handle with voltage
up the lines (four nine-volt batteries in series
for operation of servos with the electronics
removed) for his B-29, C-130, B-25, and F-4
Phantom.
2) The electronic encoder/decoder system
“signals up the lines” for his B-17 and P-61
Black Widow.
3) He uses a standard three-line throttle
only and maybe a “full down” nose-wheel
brake on multiengine tricycle-gear models.
Care taken during building and setting up
the control installations in his models allows
him to use handle type 1, 2, or 3 from model
to model without any adjustments. No matter
how many airplanes he brings out to a flying
field, he only needs the three handles and
line systems.
Documentation for the Phantom is
readily available. Warbird Tech Series
Volume 8—McDonnell Douglas F-4 Gun
Nosed Phantoms—has several pages of
Vietnam-era color photos, information about
the F4-E gunfighter version, tech-manual
excerpts, exploded views and cutaways, and
some fine detail and arrangement of the front
and rear cockpit panels and instrumentation.
The book is a product of Specialty Press,
11481 Kost Dam Rd., North Branch MN
55056; Tel.: (612) 583-3239.
A good selection of three-views for the
Phantom, and hundreds of other airplanes, is
available from Bob’s Aircraft
Documentation, 3114 Yukon Ave., Costa
Mesa CA 92626; Tel.: (714) 979-8058.
Good News: Stan Alexander, president of
the National Association of Scale
Aeromodelers (NASA), reports that the 2003
National Scale Championships will be held
at the AMA Headquarters site in Muncie,
Indiana, the weekend of June 27-29 and that
the 2004 Scale events will also be held the
last weekend in June.
Stan noted that this information should
help all competitors who work in planning
their vacation time and days off for attending
the national competition. The weekend
May 2003 131
schedule might also help get more Scale
competitors to the Nationals by cutting down
on the number of days off work that were
required with the former middle-of-the-week
dates.
It was also reported that the AMA
Executive Council has approved a plan for
the construction of a 200 x 400-foot paved
area to the north of the L-pad, where Control
Line (CL) Scale events will be flown in 2003
and thereafter. This will be a great
improvement with respect to the “overfly
problem.”
NASA is working on becoming a
nonprofit organization. However, it is quite
costly in legal fees, so NASA has set up a
special account for the project and is asking
all members and friends to make a donation
to the cause. Nonprofit status will help the
organization with mailing costs, keep the
dues as low as possible, and put NASA in a
better position to receive donations of
money, merchandise, etc. from sponsors. All
donations should be sent to NASA
Secretary/Treasurer Bonnie Rediske, 128
Darnley Dr., Moon Township PA 15108.
Field Tips: Bob Furr of the Orbiting Eagles
of Omaha in Nebraska says that if you’re
having the problem of a propeller nut coming
loose inside a spinner, one thing you can use
that works well is a jam nut. This is nothing
more than another propeller nut up against
the first one you put on. It locks the first nut
in place and keeps your propeller from
working loose.
Keep in mind that a wood propeller will
compress in time, and both nuts will need to
be retightened. Do this one nut at a time; get
the nut closest to the propeller tight first, then
tighten the other nut while holding the first
one in place. If a rounded propeller nut is
required for safety reasons, it can serve as
the jam nut.
With the spring and summer months
coming, Bob also has a tip for controlling
bees and wasps around the flying site during
those hot summer days. Bob said that this is
an item for the flying field, but it also works
well in the back yard at home.
You can make a simple flying-insect trap
by cutting off the upper one-third of a twoliter
plastic soda bottle with a hobby or
utility knife. Pour a few ounces of regular
soda—not diet—into the lower part, then
invert the top one-third and nest it in the
bottom. Leave a space between the neck of
the bottle and the pool of soda. The bees and
wasps are attracted to the sweet smell; they
find their way through the bottle neck but
cannot find their way out. Eventually they
get exhausted, fall into the liquid, and
drown.
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 top of this column. MA
Our Full-Size
Plans List
has hundreds
of models
to choose from.
See page 175
for details.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/05
Page Numbers: 130,131
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/05
Page Numbers: 130,131
130 MODEL AVIATION
CONTROL LINE SCALE
Bill Boss, 77-06 269th St., New Hyde Park NY 11040
THE F-4 PHANTOM featured in this
month’s column was built by Dennis Slater
of Chicago, Illinois, from a Westcoast Radio
Control (RC) kit he found at a swap meet; he
had never seen one before and hasn’t seen
one since. The very yellow newspaper found
stuffed between the parts in the box was
dated 1972.
Dennis noted that the kit was in excellent
condition and easy to build, and it is a great
size for a Control Line model. It has a
wingspan of 44 inches, a length of 48 inches,
500-plus square inches of wing area, and
was designed as a tractor propeller. The
power is an Enya .60 III, and the model has a
standard three-line bellcrank system for
throttle control.
The fuselage is all fiberglass, the
horizontal stabilizer is solid balsa, and the
wing is sheeted foam covered with fiberglass
cloth and Z-Poxy. The dual-shock nose gear
comes with the kit. The model is painted
with Formula-U airbrushed in a vintage
Vietnam color scheme and markings. All is
topcoated with Minwax Poly-U satin spray.
The scale details were also easy. Bombs
and rockets are Great Planes kit accessories
for the Tomcat and the Eagle. The belly drop
tank was made from two Estes rocket nose
cones butt-joined at the bases. Cockpit
interiors were scratch-built, and the pilots are
modified action figures from a dollar store.
Added scale operations are the drop tank
and drag chute. Both are operated via
electric servos, controlled by sending power
up insulated lines. The servos are regular RC
with the electronics removed. The battery
power sent up the lines is supplied by four
nine-volt batteries in series to provide 36
volts. The voltage is required to overcome
the resistance of the lines and provide
efficient operation of the servos.
The finished Phantom weighs 5 pounds
and is a great-flying model. Dennis says that
it never fails to stop traffic on the final
landing when it taxis to a stop with the drag
chute deployed. What makes the drag chute
work is a small hardware/variety-store item:
a spring-loaded key reel. Not a heavy-duty
type for a pound of keys, but the smalldiameter
reel with a nylon or .021-inch
coated cable cord.
The reel is mounted forward near the
servo or wherever it’s easy to access. Dennis
extended the length of the cord with the
same nylon used for the chute shroud lines.
The cord is then run through an eyelet at the
tail of the fuselage, and a 1⁄2A line clip is
used to connect it to the chute.
The chute compartment is built with a
hinged door that is controlled by a control
Dennis Slater’s F-4 Phantom is powered by an Enya .60, and operational features—drop
tank and drag chute—are controlled via electric servos. Slater photo.
Installation of F-4’s drag chute. Spring-loaded key reel pulls chute out when door is
opened and acts like buffer for pull on chute when deployed. Author sketch.
horn and pushrod to a servo. The chute is
rolled and packed with the cord pulled out
through the eyelet to its full extension of the
reel. The closed door pinches the cord and
holds the chute in place. Simply opening the
door allows the reel cord to retract, and it
pulls the chute out of the compartment for
deployment.
An added benefit of the reel is that it acts
as a strain relief or shock absorber for the
deploying chute. Dennis cautions anyone
using this as an operational feature; the
deploying chute can give the airplane
different taxi characteristics. He suggests
only deploying the chute when the model is
rolling dead into the wind and will be
stopped within the next 30 feet or so.
I have presented a number of Dennis’s
models (he has 26), and you might be
wondering what he uses for handles and
lines. He has equipped his airplanes in such
a fashion that he is able to control all of his
models with three handle and line
arrangements.
1) He uses an electric handle with voltage
up the lines (four nine-volt batteries in series
for operation of servos with the electronics
removed) for his B-29, C-130, B-25, and F-4
Phantom.
2) The electronic encoder/decoder system
“signals up the lines” for his B-17 and P-61
Black Widow.
3) He uses a standard three-line throttle
only and maybe a “full down” nose-wheel
brake on multiengine tricycle-gear models.
Care taken during building and setting up
the control installations in his models allows
him to use handle type 1, 2, or 3 from model
to model without any adjustments. No matter
how many airplanes he brings out to a flying
field, he only needs the three handles and
line systems.
Documentation for the Phantom is
readily available. Warbird Tech Series
Volume 8—McDonnell Douglas F-4 Gun
Nosed Phantoms—has several pages of
Vietnam-era color photos, information about
the F4-E gunfighter version, tech-manual
excerpts, exploded views and cutaways, and
some fine detail and arrangement of the front
and rear cockpit panels and instrumentation.
The book is a product of Specialty Press,
11481 Kost Dam Rd., North Branch MN
55056; Tel.: (612) 583-3239.
A good selection of three-views for the
Phantom, and hundreds of other airplanes, is
available from Bob’s Aircraft
Documentation, 3114 Yukon Ave., Costa
Mesa CA 92626; Tel.: (714) 979-8058.
Good News: Stan Alexander, president of
the National Association of Scale
Aeromodelers (NASA), reports that the 2003
National Scale Championships will be held
at the AMA Headquarters site in Muncie,
Indiana, the weekend of June 27-29 and that
the 2004 Scale events will also be held the
last weekend in June.
Stan noted that this information should
help all competitors who work in planning
their vacation time and days off for attending
the national competition. The weekend
May 2003 131
schedule might also help get more Scale
competitors to the Nationals by cutting down
on the number of days off work that were
required with the former middle-of-the-week
dates.
It was also reported that the AMA
Executive Council has approved a plan for
the construction of a 200 x 400-foot paved
area to the north of the L-pad, where Control
Line (CL) Scale events will be flown in 2003
and thereafter. This will be a great
improvement with respect to the “overfly
problem.”
NASA is working on becoming a
nonprofit organization. However, it is quite
costly in legal fees, so NASA has set up a
special account for the project and is asking
all members and friends to make a donation
to the cause. Nonprofit status will help the
organization with mailing costs, keep the
dues as low as possible, and put NASA in a
better position to receive donations of
money, merchandise, etc. from sponsors. All
donations should be sent to NASA
Secretary/Treasurer Bonnie Rediske, 128
Darnley Dr., Moon Township PA 15108.
Field Tips: Bob Furr of the Orbiting Eagles
of Omaha in Nebraska says that if you’re
having the problem of a propeller nut coming
loose inside a spinner, one thing you can use
that works well is a jam nut. This is nothing
more than another propeller nut up against
the first one you put on. It locks the first nut
in place and keeps your propeller from
working loose.
Keep in mind that a wood propeller will
compress in time, and both nuts will need to
be retightened. Do this one nut at a time; get
the nut closest to the propeller tight first, then
tighten the other nut while holding the first
one in place. If a rounded propeller nut is
required for safety reasons, it can serve as
the jam nut.
With the spring and summer months
coming, Bob also has a tip for controlling
bees and wasps around the flying site during
those hot summer days. Bob said that this is
an item for the flying field, but it also works
well in the back yard at home.
You can make a simple flying-insect trap
by cutting off the upper one-third of a twoliter
plastic soda bottle with a hobby or
utility knife. Pour a few ounces of regular
soda—not diet—into the lower part, then
invert the top one-third and nest it in the
bottom. Leave a space between the neck of
the bottle and the pool of soda. The bees and
wasps are attracted to the sweet smell; they
find their way through the bottle neck but
cannot find their way out. Eventually they
get exhausted, fall into the liquid, and
drown.
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 top of this column. MA
Our Full-Size
Plans List
has hundreds
of models
to choose from.
See page 175
for details.
