The OPS controls were tightly enforced
by traveling inspectors and reports by the
public. The objective of keeping a lid on
prices and preventing the growth of a black
market was successful—mostly because of
the civilian population’s cooperation and
appreciation.
Prices were controlled after WW II
ended until the spring of 1946, when the
regulation was removed. Consumer prices
exploded almost overnight!
A Chevrolet that was $1,200 one day
sold for $1,800 the next, then for $2,500
within a few months, and so forth. Supply
and demand was allowed to find a new
price structure that was not artificially
controlled.
Inflation continued to erode the
purchasing power of the dollar in later
years, primarily because the federal
government overspent its income and
financed the deficit through public bonds
and notes.
This is hardly a column about
economics, so let’s take a look at
inflation’s impact on the kit manufacturer
to which I’m referring.
The company’s owner developed a
mind-set that modelers would not pay what
seemed to him like ridiculous prices for his
kits. In spite of rapidly rising costs of labor
and raw materials, he thought, “no one is
going to pay $25 for the same kit that was
$15 in last year’s catalog.”
His choices were limited to raising kit
prices or lowering quality. He held
March 2001 65
As pArt of the World War II balsashortage-
theme column of November 2000,
I reproduced a magazine ad for Modelcraft
kits that substituted “OHONOTE” wood for
balsa. I posed the question, “What was it?”
A letter from Dave Hendrex of Los
Angeles gives the answer.
“I was fortunate to know and work for
Barney Snyder, his wife Peg, and son Jim
during summer breaks while in high school
over 40 years ago.
“Regarding your question about Barney
Snyder’s alternative material for balsa, if
memory serves me correctly, he said he
used hemlock.”
Consider this: There is a true story I’ve
wanted to fit into a column for many years,
but I was never sure where or how to use it.
This came from the late Don McGovern,
and it involves a major kit manufacturer (of
not only airplanes, but boats and cars in all
disciplines) who employed Don for many
years. I will not use a name, out of respect
for the deceased owner, but many of you
will figure out who it is.
This firm started out in the mid-1930s as
a basement/neighborhood source of balsa
and supplies. It grew until it was the largest
of the large, with a line of products
numbering in the hundreds.
The aircraft kits were designed by a
true “who’s who” of successful modelers,
and the company reached the point where
any breakthrough design that did well at
an AMA Nationals was a cinch to be
kitted by it.
Prices of consumer items were tightly
controlled from 1942 to 1946, as part of the
war effort by the Office of Price
Stabilization (OPS). This was done to avoid
inflationary pricing of items that were in
short supply; that is, a “black market”
situation, in which you would have been
able to buy the items if you were willing to
pay high-enough prices.
D.B. Mathews
Flying for Fun
909 N. Maize Rd., Townhouse 734, Wichita KS 67212
The matched and prewired electric power system in the SR Batteries X250 model plugs
directly into the FMA Tetra receiver and three FMA S-90 servos.
X250 kit includes fixture for assembling a straight wing, carbon-fiber spars and leading
edge. Note paper clip and rubber-band clamps and the rib-spacer device.
66 M ODEL AVIATION
selling prices down by reducing costs
and the quality of wood and hardware in
his kits. The poor man could not accept
the idea that modelers would pay more
for quality.
The outstanding designs he had secured
the commercial rights to were being kitted
with wood so poor they were useless,
hardware that was essentially junk, and
boxes of very poor quality.
In the industry, the firm developed a
reputation for not paying its designers
royalties, then not even paying its
employees salaries.
The owner’s well-intentioned but
misguided choices held kit prices down, but
his sales declined and his profit margin was
compromised. Those things, combined with
a reputation for poor quality, led to the
firm’s eventual bankruptcy.
Most successful modelers will not buy
junk—regardless of how cheap it is!
You may recall those low-quality kits. If
you wanted to build one of those
outstanding designs (several of which still
exist in successor companies’ lines) you
bought the kit, used the wood for
transferring patterns to decent balsa and
plywood, bent up new wire for the landing
gear, etc., and bought new hardware.
No matter how much one paid for the kit,
it was actually very expensive.
the point? After some reflection, I see a
parallel between this story and many of
our experiences with Electric flight. I can
only speak from my own disappointments
with electric-powered models and those of
my flying buddies.
Although most model kits marketed in
the formative years of this facet of the
hobby are well-designed and nicely kitted,
they were supplied with cheap “can”
motors and low-quality batteries. They
flew like lead sleds!
Yet, some modelers enjoy excellent
performance and have a lot of fun flying
with electric power.
This caused me to analyze the situation,
and I came to a conclusion: because of
skepticism about this new adventure, we
have been unwilling to spend enough on
quality electric components to be successful.
Modelers have learned the hard way to
spend enough to get the expected results.
Most of us will not buy engines, radios, kits,
or supplies based strictly on cost. However,
we succumb to the appeal of “cheap” when
it comes to Electric flight.
Although I never thought I’d live to see
$1,500 kits, I must admit they are worth
the cost. Many modeling products sell for
what seem to be high prices, but they do
sell. There is a demand and a place in our
hobby for quality!
the Difference: Following this line of
logic and applying it to Electric flight led
me to ask myself: what are the successful
Electric fliers doing that is making the
difference?
Are they smarter that the rest of us? If
so, how?
If they have a secret, what is it?
Most of the experts get good results with
traditional Electric designs similar to our
“lead sleds.” The question becomes, where
did we go wrong?
The answer is, cheap batteries, cheap
chargers, cheap speed controls, and cheap
installations produce cheap results.
All RCers who cycle their flight packs
have learned that some packs charge to
much higher voltages/amperages, and hold
their charges longer than others. Simply put,
some packs are superior to others.
We have also learned that a high-quality
peak detection charger will “pump” up a
pack better than the cheap chargers. Less
obvious is the current loss across cheap
speed controls.
I ordered an SR Batteries X250 kit, a
prewired motor/gearbox with a Jeti speed
control, and most importantly, SR-matched
10-cell 500 Max battery packs. The package
oozes quality in every aspect. The model has
been completed, and suddenly I’m getting
flights that rival those of the experts.
The kit is noteworthy. The lasercutting
is excellent, the wood quality is
perfect, it is almost impossible to build
crooked, and is very light but strong.
Construction is all lock-tab with the
wing built in a supplied fixture that locks
the carbon-fiber tube leading edge and
spar in alignment. This may be the
straightest wing I’ve ever built.
A clever and easy-to-install tape-hinging
material is supplied, with a package of all
the hardware needed—I mean every piece
required. Even the “Z” bends are prebent in
the wire pushrods!
A Speed 400 motor with a 2.33/1
All sorts of access to components are provided by a removable hatch. The interior
doubler is laser-cut balsa. There is plenty of room for a small model.
The X250 was covered with red transparent UltraCote®. The canopy exterior was
masked, then the interior was sprayed black with Rust-Oleum™.
gearbox turns a Graupner 9 x 5 slim
propeller. A Jeti 350 speed control is
used, since it can handle four servos—
although I’m using three—and the brake
can be disconnected. Ten SR Batteries
575 mAh cells, matched for output,
impedance, and discharge curves, are
ideal for the X250.
Although the motor, speed control,
tiny switch harness, and Sermos battery
leads wouldn’t be difficult to connect and
solder with a pencil-type iron, they are
available in a preassembled, matched
component package.
I chose FMA S-90 servos, which I
have used before and know to be of the
highest quality. An FMA Tetra receiver,
which had previously performed
flawlessly, was used to complete the
guidance system.
With these components, my completed
SR X250 weighs 22 ounces “fueled.”
Since seven of those ounces are in the
battery pack, this four-channel model
weighs 14 ounces, for a wing loading of 13
ounces per square foot.
If one were to use glow or diesel power
instead of the electric system, an .049 glow
engine would be fine—but terribly noisy,
cantankerous, and messy. Electric motors
start so easily, and they are very
“neighborhood friendly.”
The electric-powered sport model’s
appeals are many, but far from the least
is that it opens up flying areas not
previously usable. I’ve been flying my
model in five- to 15-knot winds with no
problems, in roughly 1⁄3 the space needed
for wet-powered Radio Control (RC)
models.
Although the X250 flies a bit too fast
for “yard” or “park” flying, it certainly is
safe to fly on athletic fields or large
school grounds—and without bothering
anyone!
I know nothing about the tiny
electric-powered models suitable for
small places, but I would guess the
concept of “you get what you pay for”
applies to them as well.
My X250 is covered in transparent
red UltraCote®. I have had good
experiences with this material; it is
lighter than transparent MonoKote®, yet
every bit as rigid. The colors are
spectacular!
The airplane is designed with a tricycle
landing gear, which initially raised my
suspicions. I’d never seen an electricpowered
RC model rise off ground, and we
fly off a mowed buffalo-grass field; the nose
wheel is not steerable. And the SR X250
model has neat little ultra-lightweight Dave
Brown wheels.
Okay, so what makes me think I have
this electric-powered thing figured out?
The model literally jumps off grass,
and does neat loops, rolls, and spins in
full power. It will fly more than 10
minutes if I throttle back a bit between
maneuvers, and 12-15 minutes in a flyaround-
the-patch mode.
The previously used battery pack is
usually back to charge shortly after a
flight is ended.
Landings are similar to those of a
Kaos or a similar model—wellcontrolled,
but no floaters. Touch-andgos
are novel for Electrics.
I’ve learned a humbling lesson from
this: with quality the primary
consideration—as it should be in all
modeling—electric power can be
successful, easy, and great fun.
For more-detailed and expert advice and
recommendations for Electrics, get in touch
with SR Batteries at www.srbatteries.com,
or call (631) 286-0079.
If you have a “lead sled” hanging in the
workshop gathering dust, discard the
direct-drive can motor and the cheap RC
car battery pack it came with. Buy a
quality motor/gearbox, a quality peakdetection
charger, a quality speed control,
and quality batteries. Dust it off, and enjoy
watching it fly well.
If you don’t have a useless model, but
are interested in getting started in the
wonderful world of Electrics, consider
the X250 with matched high-quality
components if you’re a experienced flier.
For sport-flying, go to the new SR
Batteries’ Cutie parasol, which uses the
same components but is a more gentle flier.
If you need to save money on electric
power, borrow a kid’s bike to get your
model out to the flying field! MA
March 2001 67
