FF Sport

Author: Gene Smith

Edition: Model Aviation - 2008/11
Page Numbers: 152, 153, 154

FF Sport

Gene Smith

HOWARD LITTMAN sent an interesting account of the Black Sheep Exhibition Squadron's participation at the AMA Convention at the beginning of this year in California. From Howard's description, the club did a marvelous job of "marketing" stick-and-tissue FF.

The Black Sheep had an entire hall as a flying arena. The display and class area at one end was separated from the flying area by a safety net.

The display consisted of club members' finished and in-progress airplanes. There was a wide assortment of scratch-built projects and kit models from Guillows, Comet, Easy-Built, West Wings, Dumas, Herr, and Diels. Dave Gee constructed an Easy-Built kit as people watched.

The class area had free Sky Streak building and flying classes for kids (of whatever age). David Gee designed a "wing-cracker" fixture that gives the Sky Streak a polyhedral wing, which greatly improves its performance. A drop of cyanoacrylate glue on the cracked area secured the wingtips.

The Sky Streak's stock blue rubber band was replaced with a lubricated loop of 1/8-inch FAI Super Sport rubber. I can attest to this model's exponential increase in performance with polyhedral. It transforms a marginal flier into a great flier.

Dave Gee's wife and Howard manned one of five tables in the class area. During the six hours Howard was there, the two of them helped at least 70 kids and adults build modified Sky Streaks at their table. The Black Sheep gave away more than a shipping carton of the models each day.

The flying area had a table with a 10-airplane winding stooge. This ingenious device that was constructed from PVC pipe allowed 10 people to wind their Sky Streaks at once using the 5:1 winders that were chained to the stooge.

It didn't take most people too long to figure out that roughly 750 turns would get their models to level out just under the roof truss (nearly 40-45 feet up). Then if the wings were in the right place, the airplanes would float around for an amazing length of time.

Mass-launch contests (in which the last model down wins) were held every half hour, with a Midwest rise-off-ground (ROG) stick model kit as the prize. Before the launch, everyone wrote his or her name on the wing with a marking pen. One of the winners was an 8-year-old girl.

The enthusiasm of the kids and the adults was contagious. Sometimes there were more people flying in the Black Sheep area than were watching the RC demos in the next hall, much to the annoyance of the people who were performing the demos. Many RC fliers came in to watch and were amazed that they were flying FF indoors.

Most astonishing was how many of the RC modelers, who were there to look at and buy the megabuck ARFs, actually enjoyed "building" a model. Yes, they slip together, but you have to use the wing cracker and glue it together.

The RCers also enjoyed flying the model free flight with a rubber band.

Several people told Howard that they were surprised how much fun it was to fly rubber-powered models at the show, especially since they never could get "those things" to fly when they were kids.

There were no stick-and-tissue kit companies in the vendor area. The only place stick-and-tissue was showing was in the Black Sheep Squadron area.

Howard didn't know whether some of the stick-and-tissue kit manufacturers would find it worth the expense, in terms of immediate sales, to go to this show, but he thought that their presence would get many more people thinking about building these models again. I think the secret to success would be for the vendors to coordinate their efforts with those of a Black Sheep Squadron-type demonstration.

I was curious about the wing cracker that Dave Gee (MA "Safety Comes First" columnist) and his dad made for the modification of the Sky Streak. Dave said that the original plan was to market them, but because of the time required for their manufacture, the price would be $50—a bit pricey for the average individual.

Dave said that the current supply would probably be all that would be produced. However, if you are interested, E-mail him.

He and his father have done many model demonstrations. They have regular return invitations from varied groups, including schools for all ages, disabled adults, and even singles groups.

The demo requires a gym or a large room. Dave typically starts with a P-18 circling overhead to grab attention. He talks about the Wright brothers and aerodynamics while flying models to illustrate each point. His dad has some Bostonian-style monoplanes and biplanes that ROG nicely. They also fly a rubber helicopter and ornithopter. As a real crowd pleaser, Dave has a volunteer wear a runway hat for a Parlor Mite ROG.

Dave and his dad fly approximately 20 models and then set the kids up with Sky Streaks. Younger kids get gliders.

Everyone wants to see takeoffs and landings, and a crash is mandatory. If nothing hits the wall, Dave arranges some violence to show how harmless the airplanes are. Sometimes he wraps up the demo with an RC model, just to show an entry-level airplane before you work your way up to FF (smile).

Chris Wheatley built a slick Dime Scale Fokker D.VII from Comet plans. Its all-up weight is 15 grams, with a 6-inch Ternstyle propeller from SAMS Models and a single loop of 1/8-inch-diameter rubber.

Chris covered the model with Esaki tissue—green on the wing, yellow on the fuselage—and chalked white on the fin and rudder. Then he coated the tissue with one coat of nonshrink dope. The black stripes on the fuselage were made using black electrical insulating tape.

A K&P Aero adjustable thrust button was used to ease thrustline adjustments.

When I was a kid, there was a Navion hangared at the local airport. I thought it was neat. Perhaps because of the cabin configuration, it is seldom modeled. David Mitchell’s Navion caught my eye, so I wanted to put it in the column.

David’s model is based on the Earl Stahl plans as redrawn by Jim O’Reilly. Both the plans and a Bob Holman short kit are available from Jim O’Reilly Model Plans.

David modified the design by making the wings pop off, which helped prevent damage during the trimming stage. He says the Navion is a magnificent sight in the air.

Getting a Scale rubber-powered FF model to ROW (rise off water) is a difficult feat. David has had great success with a Bill Schmitt-designed Cessna that he built from the Dare Design and Engineering kit.

The model was fitted with a Herr Engineering float kit. It had a fantastic 80-second flight off the water at last year’s Kudzu meet.

David’s Cessna is his second-longest-lived FF model. He reports that it is a great flier and that it has accounted for the lion’s share of his tally of Kanones. A Kanone is awarded for a first place in an FAC (Flying Aces Club) contest.

In the summer of 2007, David was desperate to get something to fly off water at the Kudzu contest. He had a Herr Engineering float kit lying about, which was intended for the Herr Piper Super Cub. The floats seemed to be roughly the right size for the Cessna, so he framed them up, covered them with silver Litespan (which is 100% waterproof), and rigged up a removable strut mount so that the Cessna could fly as either a land model or seaplane.

The only modification David made to the Cessna’s trim was to cut the propeller down to clear the floats. It lifted off the water as pretty as you please after a 20-foot takeoff run, and it flew for approximately 80 seconds.

David was thrilled, and rightfully so. He had another flight that same day that was just as great, if not better.

To end each flight, the Cessna made a perfect landing; it was icing on the cake. Best of all, later that weekend, David replaced the floats with landing gear for the Modern Civilian event and won with the same cut-down propeller and motor he had used on the water.

Yet another online FF resource is the Stick & Tissue Web site. It allows members to post pictures of their latest projects and solicit help from other members.

Check out the AMA Glider site if you’re interested in FF Gliders, be they Hand-Launched, Catapult, Indoor, Outdoor, Towline, and even Indoor Towline. MA

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