132 MODEL AVIATION
CONTROL LINE SCALE
Bill Boss, 77-06 269th St., New Hyde Park NY 11040
SCALES: How do you know that the scales
you are using to weigh your model are
accurate? And how about help from those
around you when it is needed?
Jack Sheeks, one of the foremost Control
Line (CL) Scale modelers, has a story about
what happened to him at the 2002 Scale
World Championships, held July 12-21 in
Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada. He wrote to
tell about his “little mistake” at the
championships and how it came about.
As most modelers know who enter FAI
(Fédération Aéronautique Internationale)
Scale events, whether CL or Radio Control
(RC), all models must stay within certain
weight limits. The Hawker Hurricane Mk II
that Jack was building was getting slightly
heavy, so he purchased a new digital scale.
When the model was weighed, the scales
showed that it was 10 ounces less than the
weight limit.
All was well until Jack got to the
championships. Things did not go so well
during the first flight. It was evidently quite
windy, and the model didn’t handle it very
well. The result was a belly landing, breaking
the engine mount and wing. Officials then
weighed the model, and Jack learned that it
was approximately 1 pound overweight.
After getting all of the pieces back to the
hangar, US team members and supporters
offered to help fix the model so that it could
be put back into the air again to at least help
the team score. At one point it seemed as
though five pairs of hands were in the model
making repairs.
When the cowling was removed, the
engine fell out, hence the broken engine
mount. Bill Logan and Neil Copeman, both
Piotr Zawada’s (Poland) Miles M.14 placed fourth. It’s made from balsa and fiberglass
and is finished with fiberglass and semimatte lacquer. Banka photo.
Jack Sheeks entered this Hawker Hurricane Mk II in the 2002
Scale World Championships in Canada. Sheeks photo.
The size, attention to detail, and good flight characteristics made
Bill Logan’s D.H.10 a crowd-pleaser. Bob Banka photo.
of the Canadian team, also offered to help.
Bill offered to drive 40 miles to a hobby
shop to obtain new engine mounts and a
propeller, and Neil volunteered glue and
whatever else was needed. The result was
that somehow the weight was reduced, and
Jack got his model back into the air for a
flight.
Jack wants everyone to know that the
effort put forth by all who helped repair the
model was a great example of the
sportsmanship that is demonstrated many
times on the model flying field. Jack thanks
the US team members and friends, and
especially the Canadian team members who
were so helpful. As a postscript, Jack wrote
“The faulty scale is gone.”
As noted in the preceding, the models
July 2003 133
were weighed after the first flight. It seems
strange that that wasn’t done before the first
flight at a world event. I wonder if the
outcome of Jack’s flight would have been
different had he known that the model was
overweight before the flight. We should all
heed Jack’s experience and be sure that the
scales we use to weigh our competition
models are accurate.
Scales that can be found in most homes
are the old-fashioned baby-weighing scales
and the usual kind kept in the bathroom.
The baby scales are a balance type that can
be zeroed and can accommodate as much as
30-40 pounds fairly accurately.
The other type of scales usually depends
on springlike action, and accuracy may not
be as good at low weights as it is for
measuring weights at the higher end of the
scale. Heat and cold may have an effect on
the spring mechanism and cause inaccurate
measurements.
Weighing ourselves on regular bathroom
scales may have no consequence if they are
a few ounces off, but the effect could be
significant when weighing our models.
When you are selecting scales, be sure that
they are accurate in the weight range you
will be measuring.
Refer to the rules of your event to make
sure that your model is within the weight
limits. In most cases, especially in CL,
keeping the weight down means that there
will be much less stress on the model during
the pull test of its control system.
Jack Sheeks’ Hawker Hurricane Mk II
was built from a Brian Taylor (of the United
Kingdom) design to a scale of 13⁄4 inch = 1
foot, it had a wingspan of 70 inches, and it
was 56 inches long, including the spinner.
The model was powered with a 90 engine
that swung a 14 x10 propeller. Retracting
landing gear was by Dave Platt, and all
control functions were controlled via an
electronic system by Ralph Burnstine.
Bill Logan of the Canadian team, and
one of those who helped Jack repair his
model, flew his spectacular de Havilland
D.H.10 to 10th place in the World
Championships. It spanned 114 inches and
was 70 inches long, which equals a scale of
1⁄7. The model weighed 14 pounds and was
powered by two Thunder Tiger .40 glow
engines swinging 11 x 5 Zinger propellers.
The D.H.10 was a great crowd-pleaser
because of its size and most realistic slow
flight. Bill had the highest flight score of
1,849.0, which was posted in the third round
of flying.
Another competitor I have mentioned in
past columns is Piotr Zawada of Poland,
who placed fifth overall flying a Miles
M.14. Piotr’s Miles spanned roughly 72
inches, had a length of 50 inches, and was
powered with an O.S. .91 engine swinging a
15 x 7 propeller. The model had finely
detailed cockpits and attention to external
features such as the hinged access doors to
the cockpits, windscreens, and storage
compartment. It also featured a pamphlet
drop.
Although Piotr’s static score was posted
at 1,570.0—the seventh best—his thirdround
flight score of 1814.5 (second best to
Bill Logan’s 1,849.0) allowed him to move
into fifth place. Marian Kazirod of Poland
finished first flying a Lancaster bomber, and
he had the high score of 3,506.3.
Russian competitors placed second
through fourth, and they captured the firstplace
team honors. The Polish team placed
second, Ukraine was third, the USA was
fourth, Canada placed fifth, and Germany,
with only one competitor, placed sixth.
Congratulations are in order for all
competitors. It seems that all are winners in
some way, especially when you consider
that all competitors had to prove themselves
worthy of representing their countries at a
world competition. A special thanks to Jack
Sheeks for sharing his unfortunate
experience with us. I hope we all learn
something about our choice of scales.
2002 Scale World Championships videos
covering the CL and RC events are available
from Aces Video, 22 W. F Ave., Kalamazoo
MI 49004. Aces Video offers a great
selection of other tapes and DVDs covering
previous AMA Nationals, Scale Masters,
Top Gun, a selection of full-scale aircraft,
and a tape called Crash Course 2002 which
covers some of the great model crashes. You
can get a full listing of tapes and DVDs by
writing to the address or by visiting the Web
site: www.acesvideo.net.
Workshop Hint from Bob Furr: Intricate
cuts and small, hard-to-reach places can be
easy to sand if you use emery boards. These
small files are easy to handle and provide
two sanding grits. For more of a range of
grits, glue different grades of sandpaper onto
wooden ice-cream or craft sticks.
Another way to sand hard-to-reach areas
is to attach self-adhesive sandpaper to your
fingertip. This will allow you to have a good
feel for the surface and greater control over
the work. To sand in a corner, apply the
sticky sandpaper to the blade of a stiff putty
knife.
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
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/07
Page Numbers: 132,133
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/07
Page Numbers: 132,133
132 MODEL AVIATION
CONTROL LINE SCALE
Bill Boss, 77-06 269th St., New Hyde Park NY 11040
SCALES: How do you know that the scales
you are using to weigh your model are
accurate? And how about help from those
around you when it is needed?
Jack Sheeks, one of the foremost Control
Line (CL) Scale modelers, has a story about
what happened to him at the 2002 Scale
World Championships, held July 12-21 in
Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada. He wrote to
tell about his “little mistake” at the
championships and how it came about.
As most modelers know who enter FAI
(Fédération Aéronautique Internationale)
Scale events, whether CL or Radio Control
(RC), all models must stay within certain
weight limits. The Hawker Hurricane Mk II
that Jack was building was getting slightly
heavy, so he purchased a new digital scale.
When the model was weighed, the scales
showed that it was 10 ounces less than the
weight limit.
All was well until Jack got to the
championships. Things did not go so well
during the first flight. It was evidently quite
windy, and the model didn’t handle it very
well. The result was a belly landing, breaking
the engine mount and wing. Officials then
weighed the model, and Jack learned that it
was approximately 1 pound overweight.
After getting all of the pieces back to the
hangar, US team members and supporters
offered to help fix the model so that it could
be put back into the air again to at least help
the team score. At one point it seemed as
though five pairs of hands were in the model
making repairs.
When the cowling was removed, the
engine fell out, hence the broken engine
mount. Bill Logan and Neil Copeman, both
Piotr Zawada’s (Poland) Miles M.14 placed fourth. It’s made from balsa and fiberglass
and is finished with fiberglass and semimatte lacquer. Banka photo.
Jack Sheeks entered this Hawker Hurricane Mk II in the 2002
Scale World Championships in Canada. Sheeks photo.
The size, attention to detail, and good flight characteristics made
Bill Logan’s D.H.10 a crowd-pleaser. Bob Banka photo.
of the Canadian team, also offered to help.
Bill offered to drive 40 miles to a hobby
shop to obtain new engine mounts and a
propeller, and Neil volunteered glue and
whatever else was needed. The result was
that somehow the weight was reduced, and
Jack got his model back into the air for a
flight.
Jack wants everyone to know that the
effort put forth by all who helped repair the
model was a great example of the
sportsmanship that is demonstrated many
times on the model flying field. Jack thanks
the US team members and friends, and
especially the Canadian team members who
were so helpful. As a postscript, Jack wrote
“The faulty scale is gone.”
As noted in the preceding, the models
July 2003 133
were weighed after the first flight. It seems
strange that that wasn’t done before the first
flight at a world event. I wonder if the
outcome of Jack’s flight would have been
different had he known that the model was
overweight before the flight. We should all
heed Jack’s experience and be sure that the
scales we use to weigh our competition
models are accurate.
Scales that can be found in most homes
are the old-fashioned baby-weighing scales
and the usual kind kept in the bathroom.
The baby scales are a balance type that can
be zeroed and can accommodate as much as
30-40 pounds fairly accurately.
The other type of scales usually depends
on springlike action, and accuracy may not
be as good at low weights as it is for
measuring weights at the higher end of the
scale. Heat and cold may have an effect on
the spring mechanism and cause inaccurate
measurements.
Weighing ourselves on regular bathroom
scales may have no consequence if they are
a few ounces off, but the effect could be
significant when weighing our models.
When you are selecting scales, be sure that
they are accurate in the weight range you
will be measuring.
Refer to the rules of your event to make
sure that your model is within the weight
limits. In most cases, especially in CL,
keeping the weight down means that there
will be much less stress on the model during
the pull test of its control system.
Jack Sheeks’ Hawker Hurricane Mk II
was built from a Brian Taylor (of the United
Kingdom) design to a scale of 13⁄4 inch = 1
foot, it had a wingspan of 70 inches, and it
was 56 inches long, including the spinner.
The model was powered with a 90 engine
that swung a 14 x10 propeller. Retracting
landing gear was by Dave Platt, and all
control functions were controlled via an
electronic system by Ralph Burnstine.
Bill Logan of the Canadian team, and
one of those who helped Jack repair his
model, flew his spectacular de Havilland
D.H.10 to 10th place in the World
Championships. It spanned 114 inches and
was 70 inches long, which equals a scale of
1⁄7. The model weighed 14 pounds and was
powered by two Thunder Tiger .40 glow
engines swinging 11 x 5 Zinger propellers.
The D.H.10 was a great crowd-pleaser
because of its size and most realistic slow
flight. Bill had the highest flight score of
1,849.0, which was posted in the third round
of flying.
Another competitor I have mentioned in
past columns is Piotr Zawada of Poland,
who placed fifth overall flying a Miles
M.14. Piotr’s Miles spanned roughly 72
inches, had a length of 50 inches, and was
powered with an O.S. .91 engine swinging a
15 x 7 propeller. The model had finely
detailed cockpits and attention to external
features such as the hinged access doors to
the cockpits, windscreens, and storage
compartment. It also featured a pamphlet
drop.
Although Piotr’s static score was posted
at 1,570.0—the seventh best—his thirdround
flight score of 1814.5 (second best to
Bill Logan’s 1,849.0) allowed him to move
into fifth place. Marian Kazirod of Poland
finished first flying a Lancaster bomber, and
he had the high score of 3,506.3.
Russian competitors placed second
through fourth, and they captured the firstplace
team honors. The Polish team placed
second, Ukraine was third, the USA was
fourth, Canada placed fifth, and Germany,
with only one competitor, placed sixth.
Congratulations are in order for all
competitors. It seems that all are winners in
some way, especially when you consider
that all competitors had to prove themselves
worthy of representing their countries at a
world competition. A special thanks to Jack
Sheeks for sharing his unfortunate
experience with us. I hope we all learn
something about our choice of scales.
2002 Scale World Championships videos
covering the CL and RC events are available
from Aces Video, 22 W. F Ave., Kalamazoo
MI 49004. Aces Video offers a great
selection of other tapes and DVDs covering
previous AMA Nationals, Scale Masters,
Top Gun, a selection of full-scale aircraft,
and a tape called Crash Course 2002 which
covers some of the great model crashes. You
can get a full listing of tapes and DVDs by
writing to the address or by visiting the Web
site: www.acesvideo.net.
Workshop Hint from Bob Furr: Intricate
cuts and small, hard-to-reach places can be
easy to sand if you use emery boards. These
small files are easy to handle and provide
two sanding grits. For more of a range of
grits, glue different grades of sandpaper onto
wooden ice-cream or craft sticks.
Another way to sand hard-to-reach areas
is to attach self-adhesive sandpaper to your
fingertip. This will allow you to have a good
feel for the surface and greater control over
the work. To sand in a corner, apply the
sticky sandpaper to the blade of a stiff putty
knife.
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