During a visit to Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of visiting the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, California. There I saw a new and flourishing collection of airplanes and aviation artifacts.
On display were Wright Flyer and Lockheed Vega replicas; beautifully restored originals of a Cessna 172, Howard DGA-15, MD-11 Winglet, Waco GXE Model 10, and Yak 3; handsome exhibits about Howard Hughes and the Douglas World Cruiser; and (for detail buffs) full cockpits of the Boeing 727-200 and the Lockheed T-33.
The Museum of Flying also has a delightful children’s section, complete with a K-3 program that teaches basic flight terms such as pitch, yaw, and roll, and how they affect flight. For art lovers, there is a magnificent new 20-foot-wide mural by aviation artist Michael Machat, depicting Douglas airliners from the DC-1 through the DC-10.
The museum regularly rotates its displays with items from storage and guarantees a refreshing new batch of exhibits for repeat visitors. If you visit Los Angeles, the Museum of Flying is a must see.
Connie Conrod
On the subject of must-see items, Dan and Carole Kane are marketing a new, all-sheet, fun model under the name of Connie Conrod—a 1950s model airplane cartoon character. The model is powered by the Jetex 50 rocket motor.
The whimsical kit features high-quality, laser-cut balsa, clear construction plans, and a colorful scheme. Priced at only $10, it will give you at least $100 worth of building and flying fun.
All-Sheet Balsa Event
The Flying Aces Club (FAC) plans to create an event for all-sheet-balsa models for the 2014 contest year. Details are being formulated for this intriguing event and will be based upon nostalgic sheet-balsa FF models such as those marketed in the 1950s and 1960s by Top Flite, Carl Goldberg, and Monogram.
Thought is also being given to opening the event to scratch-built, all-sheet, original designs. Flights from these models may not be long, but they captivate the FAC community.
Shorty’s Basement Products
George Bredehoft, doing business as Volaré Products/Shorty’s Basement, is marketing another new FAC product. It is a digital counter for use on Rees Scalewinders. Installation only requires gluing a small magnet to the larger gear, after which the counter assembly is slipped into place on the winder.
The counter comes with clear, detailed instructions for the setup and installation of this long overdue item. It will help you “organize” the process of accurately winding your FF Scale rubber-powered types.
Points for Using Power Tools
On the subject of organizing, you should periodically clean your workshop. Not only will it satisfy one of those things next to godliness, it will improve model building efforts and provide you with some delightful surprises.
While purging my inevitably messy and cluttered work space, I came across a list of points to keep in mind when using power tools. Based upon recommendations by Dremel Manufacturing, I have put together a two-page summary online for those of you who want to download it and perhaps post it in your work area.
For your online reading pleasure as well, I have unearthed an informative piece from the Tailspin newsletter (May/June, 2010) about trimming a triplane. You might find this helpful the next time you are bitten to build a FF Scale Fokker Dr. 1.[dingbat]
Enjoy!
