BANISHED TO the Boonies: In last
month’s column I expounded at length on
the advantages of presenting our modeling
activities to the public as a sport rather than
a hobby. Fundamental to that presentation
are exposure and demonstration—areas in
which we have some problems.
50 MODEL AVIATION
D.B. Mathews
F l y i n g f o r F u n
909 N. Maize Rd., Townhouse 734, Wichita KS 67212
BANISHED TO the Boonies: In last
month’s column I expounded at length on
the advantages of presenting our modeling
activities to the public as a sport rather than
a hobby. Fundamental to that presentation
are exposure and demonstration—areas in
which we have some problems.
Almost without exception we fly our
models in remote locations, be they Control
Line (CL), Free Flight, or Radio Control
(RC). This isolation to “out in the
boondocks” flying sites is the result of noise
complaints by neighbors who have no
tolerance for our activities. Could it be that
noise complaints are directly tied to our poor
image? Would we be better tolerated if
modeling was perceived as a sport?
Properly muffled, our engines make no
more noise than the boats used to tow skiers,
nor do we even come close to the noise
levels of motorcycles, street rods, or, for that
matter, many car sound systems.
Through the years the public has become
more and more intolerant. In the immediate
post-World War II era, CL circles were
found in almost every park and town, and
the models were certainly not muffled. Try
to find those circles now. Back then CL
flying was considered a good recreational
activity for all those retiring soldiers—a
sport, if you please.
So whatever the factors, we end up flying
our models in locations remote to the public
and not well suited to demonstrating the fun
and challenges of our sport. In that late-
1940s era, large numbers of spectators
would drive to and park around those CL
circles to speculate, ask questions, and often
SR Batteries’ Bantam in monoplane form. Has GWS 280 motor, 9 x 7 GWS propeller.
Bantam in biplane form. Covering is ThermalSpan and clear nitrate dope.
become involved. That same opportunity to
“sell” our sport is still present if they can find
us.
The Answer? While reading the preceding
you likely asked yourself, Doesn’t this guy
know about electric RC? Oh yes, and that is
the point of this writing. We are in another
era, which is seeing our sport demonstrated
in parks and facilities close to and easily
accessible to the public. This could well be
the second coming of our sport to the
attention of the man on the street.
The 400-size models can be flown safely
(and silently) in the confines of soccer fields,
baseball diamonds, football fields, etc. Since
there is no noise to complain about, we all
have liability insurance through our homeowners’
policies or AMA, removing those
concerns, and we are flying models of such
low weight that no major property or
personal damages are likely.
Models larger than Speed 400 size are a
bit heavy and of higher performance, and
they should probably not be flown on the
more public facilities. Little is lost since the
wide and exciting variety of models suitable
for 400 use seems nearly limitless.
My experience with the less-than-nineounce
park flyers is that those who are
fortunate to live in areas with predominantly
light winds can fly these little models in
limited spaces and benefit us all by
demonstration. I’ve said it before: if the
leaves are moving on the trees, it’s darn near
too windy to fly this little guy outdoors.
However, consider the potential for good
public relations when flying the less-thannines
in gyms and multipurpose rooms,
particularly in the winter months when it’s
cold outside. RC flying becomes a yearround
sport with these little gems.
There are so many of these nine-ounce
models around that I see no need to
coordinate indoor sites with the Free
Flighters, and I am not too sure how well
they mix anyway. Find the person or people
in charge of day-leasing such facilities, and
demonstrate to them how harmless our little
02sig2.QXD 11.21.02 2:21 pm Page 50
February 2003 51
models are. You can probably work
something out for one night a week or
weekends at a reasonable cost.
Isn’t it exciting to consider the bunch of
kids and adults who will come running when
an electric model is flying across the street
or down the block? And the dialogue for this
little play has made a change. It used to be:
“Where did you get that?”
“I built it from a kit.”
“Oh.”
End of conversation. Now we can
answer, “It’s available ready to fly at Joe’s
Hobby Shop” and hear “Where is that
located, and how much is it?”
Like it or not, the concept of building a
model airplane seems daunting to the raw
novice. Perhaps building will not seem so
mysterious with time and experience, and he
or she will find the joy of creating—but not
initially.
It seems that all the needed pieces are
present for us to enter the most exciting time
in our modeling history. Let’s not blow this
chance by frittering it away with many rules
or personal agendas; let’s all get together,
have fun, and share it with the public.
Micro RC: This new and exciting facet of
our sport has quite a few aliases, including
park flyers, yard flyers, street flyers, slow
flyers, indoor RC, etc. All of those names
refer to essentially the same type of model:
one that is electric-powered and weighs nine
ounces or less.
One of my respected friends in this
business expressed to me that “the whole
thing is a fad.” That was two years ago, and
time has proven him incorrect. The
astonishing number of these little models
imported in Almost Ready-to-Fly form
boggles the mind; every new month’s
magazines introduce at least six more.
I haven’t seen even a fraction of the
variety flown, but I’m already painfully
sensitive to the wide difference in flying
ability between the various models. My first
micro RC model was an absolute turkey—so
bad that a Web site exists to exchange ideas
and modifications to get it to fly. Its
This 1⁄4-scale Piper Skycycle from Vintage R/C Plans is by James Biza of Saint Paul,
Minnesota. The model is powered by an O.S. .90 engine.
Threshold CAD, Inc. produces these laser-cut parts for the Skycycle.
attraction? The price. That just never works
as a first criterion, does it?
An increasing number of small RC flyers
are being flown successfully outdoors on
calm mornings and evenings, and of course
indoors, and they fly rather well. Common to
most of these models is a variously
numbered and variously geared GWS motor;
its common denominator is a motorstick that
fits into a molded chamber in the gearbox.
Additionally, myriad incredibly small
servos and receivers are becoming available
from the various manufacturers, as are
suitable Battery Eliminator Circuit (BEC)
speed controls. Although the majority of
these little models are powered with six to
eight small Ni-Cd cells, more and more are
using Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) and
Lithium resin cells; the advantage is more
power per gram of weight and much longer
motor runs. The disadvantage is increased
cost.
The answer to a modeler’s prayers may
be Lithium-Polymer cells. I spent a week
with the importer (FMA Direct) and will
write about them next month, but for now
consider these numbers: four times the
duration at one-fifth the weight of Ni-Cds
and approximately that for NiMH cells. And
Lithium-Polymer cells won’t explode if
they’re overcharged, as do some of the other
Lithium cells. The exciting thing is that
models can weigh 25-40% less, yet perform
the same and not require recharging after
every flight.
Cost is deceiving since one does not need
two or three packs to stay ahead of the
charging times while still flying; one set will
do. If you are considering purchasing new
flight packs for your electric-powered model,
check out Lithium-Polymer cells.
Bantams: Larry Sribnick of SR Batteries has
designed Bantam micro-flyer kits for use
with the GWS 280 stick-mounted power
plants. It’s a novel choice to build a 210-
square-inch monoplane or a 380-square-inch
biplane using many common parts. The
fuselages are sheet boxes nicely laser-cut to
close tolerances. Tail feathers are sheet, and
the wings are strip and rib. The laser-cutting
is exceptionally clean, with no burnt
outlines—just a light tan color which sands
off easily.
Wing spars—top and bottom—are lasercut
and notched for aligning the ribs,
dihedral and wingtip angles are precut, and
the trailing edge is flat with rib tips finishing
out the contour. An extensive and wellillustrated
instruction book makes
assembling the Bantam simple.
The seven-cell 150 mAh flight batteries
are reached through the firewall, and there is
easy access to the motor from an essentially
open front. Though hardly commodious,
there is enough room to stuff the Jeti JOSS
05 speed control and wiring in with the
battery pack.
Servos supplied with my sample are MPI
MX-50HPs with short sections of wire
02sig2.QXD 11.21.02 2:21 pm Page 51
cyanoacrylate-glued into aluminum tubing
used as pushrods. Hinges on the elevator
and rudder are a clear, 1-inch-wide,
adhesive-backed Mylar applied over the
covering. They work very well, and not
only hinge the surfaces but seal the gap.
The supplied receiver is an MPI MX-
6800 Pico four-channel cube. It’s small and
light, and I found it to work fine when mine
was the only transmitter running, but I
encountered glitches in an environment of
multiple transmitters. Since the Pico is
single-conversion, I chickened out and
changed to an FMA 50 dual-conversion
receiver of the same weight and size, and
that solved the problem. (Single-conversion
receivers are fine when flying alone, but be
cautious in a multisignal environment.)
Although these models are designed for
UltraCote Lite covering, I used
ThermalSpan. This material looks almost
exactly like the old-faithful Japanese tissue
and is approximately the same weight, but it
is a heat-shrinkable polymer of remarkable
strength. ThermalSpan has no adhesive on
it, so it is applied over a precoated surface (I
used Sig stick-it). Overlaps must also be
coated.
I saved roughly a half ounce per model,
but I did encounter a problem: when
overheated with an iron or heat gun, this
material darkens in color. I suspect that my
poor technique is at fault. The factory
weights are 8.0 ounces for the monoplane
and 9.0 ounces for the biplane. Mine came
in at 7.5 and 8.0 ounces, but they look like
mangy leopards. There is no need to learn a
new technique; cover them in UltraCote
Lite.
Test-flown outdoors in light winds, the
monoplane proved to need a slightly more
forward balance point than the one shown
on the plans. Although it’s heavier, larger,
and more bouncy in turbulence, the biplane
version seems to fly better on the available
power.
As you can see, I built a biplane fuselage
and used a hatch held with the attachment
rubber bands to create a monoplane/biplane
from the same model. If the Bantam is to be
flown strictly indoors, the biplane might be
the better choice.
Both versions of the Bantam are fun to
build, simple, durable, easy to repair, and
fly well. Perhaps most important, they are
not cookie-cutter-cut from egg-carton foam.
They have personality.
Piper Skycycle Revisited: Several years
ago I used this column to attempt to
encourage a manufacturer to kit a Piper
Skycycle in an 80-inch or larger size
utilizing a fiberglass fuselage. A huge
number of readers wrote to express their
interest in such a project, and although I
forwarded all the responses to the
prospective kitter, it chose not to dust off
the molds and proceed.
At that time I was made aware of plans
drawn by Sid Morgan that were available
from Vintage R/C Plans (5105 Pine Hill
Cir., Howell MI 48843). To create the
rather complex curves of the fuselage and
the wing fillet would require a large number
of parts, and cutting out all the required
formers would be a challenging project.
Now Threshold CAD, Inc. (2027 62nd
Loop S.E., Auburn WA 98092; E-mail:
[email protected]) has come along
with a complete set of parts laser-cut to
tight tolerances. Vintage can supply
canopies and cowls for the 1⁄4-scale
Skycycle, further simplifying the project.
A considerable amount of
documentation on this Piper project is
available in old magazines. MA
