FREE FLIGHT DURATION - 2003/03

March 2003 141
THE FÉDÉRATION Aéronautique
Internationale (FAI) Team Selection Finals,
held this past September in Palm Bay, Florida,
produced one of the most experienced, and
most geographically diverse, teams in recent
memory. Only two fliers (Bob Piserchio and
Brian VanNest) are from California. Other
states represented include New Mexico,
Texas, Oregon, Michigan, New York, Ohio,
and Arizona. The team has one multiple
World Champion, Randy Archer, as well as
several fliers who have medaled at previous
World Championships, including Blake
Jensen, Ed Keck, and Gil Morris.
Paul Crowley made the Wakefield team
for the first time after a half-century of trying.
Jon Davis made the Nordic team for the first
time after getting back into Free Flight
following a long layoff. Paul and Jon were
teammates in 1973, in the World
Championships in Austria, with Jon flying
Wakefield and Paul flying Nordic. Free Flight
can be a lifetime sport.
Flying conditions at this finals were
Louis Joyner, 6 Saturday Rd., Mt. Pleasant SC 29464
FREE FLIGHT DURATION
Paul Crowley (L) gets an assist from Detroit Balsa Bugs teammate Bill Shailor. Paul will
represent the US at the Free Flight World Championships in Hungary.
Texan Steve Spence made the F1A Nordic Glider team for the third straight time. He has
flown in World Championships in Israel and California.
Second at the last World Champs, Blake
Jensen gets a practice flight at Lost Hills.
Model has aluminum-Kevlar D-box wing.
Ed Keck, another repeat team member,
adjusts the needle valve on his Nelson .15-
powered F1C model at the last World
Champs.
03sig5.QXD 12.20.02 10:52 am Page 141
challenging. The strong wind out of the east
forced the flightline up close to the treeline,
making thermal-picking difficult. The wind
direction also meant that long flights ended
up beyond the canal that forms the western
field boundary. Retrieval was often difficult,
even with tracker radios. The only fliers to
max out were Ed Keck and Gil Morris in
Power. In all three events, leads changed
often and results were close. Only three
seconds separated third and fourth place in
Power. In F1B, John Sessums ended up only
one second behind Paul Crowley.
The US team will compete in the 2003
Free Flight World Championships to be held
in Kunszentmiklós, Hungary, July 26-August
1. The team manager will be George Batiuk.
The Florida Modelers Association
deserves a big thanks from all the finals
contestants for the hard work and money it
put into mowing and maintaining the Palm
Bay field. Club members also helped during
the finals, putting in many hours of timing
and officiating.
If you are interested in trying out for the
2005 Free Flight team, write to the
Competition Department at AMA. After
entering the program, you have to accumulate
a total of 75 minutes of flight time in contests
between April 2003 and 45 days before the
finals to qualify for the finals. The 2005
Team Selection Finals will probably be held
After a half-century, Les DeWitt’s 1948 design is still a good flier. Jim O’Reilly sells full-size plans; text has details.
Former World Champion Bob White chose this Canadian Wakefield design to match the
twin fins and rounded wingtips of his own family of winning Rubber models.
2003 United States Free Flight Team
F1A Nordic Glider:
Jon Davis
Brian VanNest
Steve Spence
(alternate: Omer Erguner)
F1B Wakefield Rubber:
Bob Piserchio
Blake Jensen
Paul Crowley
(alternate: John Sessums)
F1C Power:
Ed Keck
Gil Morris
Randy Archer
(alternate: Bob Johannes)
at Lost Hills, California, in October 2004.
Nostalgia Rubber: Regular readers of this
column will probably recall several mentions
of the new Nostalgia Wakefield and Nostalgia
Rubber events introduced recently. The
events, especially Nostalgia Wakefield, seem
to have hit a chord with many Rubber fliers
who wanted to experience the fun and lowpressure
competition that Nostalgia Gas fliers
have enjoyed for a number of years.
Even though there are few kits or plans
available, many modelers have dug out their
old model magazines and copies of the Zaic
144 MODEL AVIATION
03sig5.QXD 12.20.02 10:52 am Page 144
Year Books in a search for the best designs
from a half-century ago. My suggestions of
the best models in this column last year
elicited, as I hoped it would, responses from
many modelers with their choices.
Les DeWitt sent some photocopies of his
own 1948 Wakefield design. It’s a sleek
model with a diamond fuselage, V-dihedral
wing, large tip plates, twin rudders, and
retractable single-wheel gear. Full-size plans
are available from Jim O’Reilly, 4760 N.
Battin, Wichita KS 67220; E-mail:
[email protected]. Plans are $9 plus $1 for
shipping. Rolled plans are $3.50 extra. Jim’s
illustrated plans list ($2) includes a number of
other Nostalgia Rubber designs and dozens of
other Free Flight models.
Bob Hatschek, who wrote this column for
many years, took exception to my reference to
the 1953 cross-section requirement as
“ungainly.” Bob pointed out that the old
L2/100 rule had been changed by then to a
10.015-square-inch requirement no matter
what the fuselage length. The old rules would
have required a cross-section of almost 52
square inches for the 6-foot-long models that
were becoming popular then. Compared to
that, the 10-plus requirement of the 1953 rules
seems svelte.
Bob also mentioned that he didn’t
experience the poor stall characteristics that
you might expect with a long motor and high
moment of inertia. He did say that one version
of his Nationals-winning 1953 design used a
sheeted leading edge on the wing. This model
did experience stalling problems in the glide.
The addition of a carpet thread turbulator on
the upper surface solved the stalling problem.
“I took the lesson to heart and every
Rubber job I’ve built since then that has a
sheeted leading edge has also had a thread
turbulator,” said Bob.
(You can find small three-views of Bob’s
design on page 121 of the 1955-56 Model
Aeronautic Year Book by Frank Zaic. The
Year Books offer an invaluable resource for
Nostalgia designs and a wealth of information
about Free Flight aerodynamics. They are
available through AMA or from FAI Model
Supply, Box 366, Sayre PA 18840-0366.)
Hank Cole wrote to explain that his
Osolong exhibited good stall characteristics
despite its more than 6-foot length.
“I used a Davis airfoil, which has a very
smooth stall with little hysteresis, half-span tip
dihedral, a pylon that kept the wing wake
above the stab, and a rearward c.g. [center of
gravity], which increased the damping in
pitch,” wrote Hank. “The result was a model
that flew smoothly in rough air and rarely
stalled. When it did stall it would recover
almost immediately.”
The model was detailed in the March 1952
Air Trails and was in the 1953 Year Book.
The overall length was 66 inches with a 59-
inch motor base. The center of gravity was
two inches behind the wing trailing edge! The
first version had an airframe weight of 41⁄2
ounces and used 41⁄2 ounces of rubber. On
subsequent models the airframe weight was
reduced, allowing more rubber. The third in
the series weighed in at 3 ounces and carried 6
March 2003 145
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146 MODEL AVIATION
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“Its only claim to fame came at the
old issue of Model Airplane News
(November 1954), I have thought that Alan
King’s 1954 Wakefield winner must be one
of the prettiest designs ever to come off a
building board,” says Gordon Strickland.
This design featured an octagonal
fuselage made by building a square box then
adding deep stringers. A wire cabane,
instead of a balsa pylon, supports the wing.
Fellow Australian Bond Baker’s 1958
winner shows strong influences of King’s
design, including the twin rudders, wire
cabane, and one-blade propeller. The biggest
change was a molded balsa fuselage instead
of the built-up, tissued structure from the
1954 winner.
However, the cutoff for Nostalgia is
1956, so Bond’s model is effectively
orphaned. Perhaps the eligibility date should
move up a year each year.
Former F1B World Champion Bob
White managed to find a Nostalgia Rubber
design that fits right into his own family of
Rubber designs. S. Ranta’s Torontonian
design from the 1957-58 Year Book features
the same twin rudders and rounded wingtips
that Bob has used on his own designs for the
last 30 years. Bob finished his version of the
Torontonian in his trademark white tissue
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1952 team trials, where at sunrise on a misty
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Don Hockaday wrote that he built the
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only changes were to make a two-piece wing
and detachable boom for easier
transportation.
“If I build another one, I would use 1⁄20
ribs, thin the prop a bit, and use six pound
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should save about 14 grams.”
The two-blade folder was from Superior
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70445. Superior offers a wide range of
machine-carved balsa blades for all types of
Rubber models as well as other rubber
accessories.
“Ever since I came across the plans in an
03sig5.QXD 12.20.02 10:34 am Page 146
March 2003 147
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wing and stabilizer and red-painted
fuselage and rudders. (Full-size plans are
available from Jim O’Reilly.)
Last summer Bob sent me a photo of
the just-completed model. This past
October he sent another photo and a copy
of his scorecard from the San Valeers
Nostalgia Annual contest. The times tell it
all: three 120s, 180, 240, 300, and 305.
That’s a seven-flight total of more than 23
minutes. Bob notes that the model is flown
at full Wakefield weight of just more than 8
ounces. (Current Nostalgia Wakefield rules
place no limits on model or rubber weight.)
Collectible Kits: Free Flight kits come and
go. In the 1950s, it seemed as if there was a
new 1⁄2A Gas kit every month. As the new
designs flew off the dealers’ shelves, the
old kits languished, collecting dust.
Eventually the kits that didn’t sell were
discontinued by the manufacturers. Often
the manufacturers themselves either went
out of business or switched their focus
from Free Flight to other hobby items.
More recently, the majority of Free
Flight kits have been produced by small,
one-man operations. Kits were produced in
small batches. If the reorders didn’t come
in, there might not be a second batch.
Modelers picked up on the realities of the
kit business and learned to buy now
because it might not be available later.
But what if you didn’t prudently stock
up on those kits that you wanted to build
someday? What can you do if your
interests have changed from, say, AMA
Power to Rubber Scale?
Swap meets, garage sales, and eBay
offer a few possibilities, but for a wider
range of choices you need to find a kit
dealer such as Robert Stricker. His price
list is 10 pages long, single-spaced, with
two columns per page. That totals well more
than 1,500 items.
Not surprisingly, many of the kits listed
are Rubber Scale. Along with the usual
mass-market Comet, Cleveland, Guillows,
and Sterling offerings, there are some from
some of the boutique manufacturers such as
Golden Age and Diehls. I even found a Spad
XIII and an S.E.5a by California Models
listed.
If you were around before the onset of
plastic scale models, you’ll no doubt
remember the Strombecker solid models.
Basically these consisted of a few pieces of
hardwood, a small piece of sandpaper,
powdered glue, and a sheet of decals. With a
lot of work they didn’t look half bad,
especially when viewed from a distance—a
long distance.
When the plastic kits hit the hobby-shop
shelves, the solid models died out. Why
spend hours carving and sanding when you
can have a much more detailed model with
only a few minutes of work? (Some
traditionalists might equate the introduction
03sig5.QXD 12.20.02 10:53 am Page 147
of plastic models and television, at roughly
the same time, with the decline of
civilization as we know it.)
Evidently there are a few people who still
want to do things the hard way. Prices for the
old Strombecker solid model kits are now in
the $40-$75 price range. If memory serves,
the price for a kit was well less than $1.
A close reading of Robert Stricker’s
November 2002 list turns up a number of
Free Flight Duration kits. These include a
Berkeley Amazon 400, $75; an Aircraft
Baby Bombshell, $50; a Comet Sparky, $30;
a Comet Zipper A, $75; a Jetco Thermic
Trooper and Thermic 50-X, $50 each; a
Midwest Dyna-Moe (wartime kit with
hardwood parts), $60; and a Scientific Flying
Glory Hand-Launched Glider from 1945,
$40.
The list also includes a large number of
engine parts for K&B, OK Cub, Testors, and
McCoy, as well as parts and accessories
from Darwin, Perfect, and Veco.
If you’d like a chance to relive the past,
you can write for a price list. The address is
Robert Stricker, 924 Jaipur Ave., Naperville
IL 60540. I’m sure Robert would appreciate
$1 or a stamp or two to help offset his
mailing costs. If you are in a hurry, call (630)
961-0327. MA

March 2003 141
THE FÉDÉRATION Aéronautique
Internationale (FAI) Team Selection Finals,
held this past September in Palm Bay, Florida,
produced one of the most experienced, and
most geographically diverse, teams in recent
memory. Only two fliers (Bob Piserchio and
Brian VanNest) are from California. Other
states represented include New Mexico,
Texas, Oregon, Michigan, New York, Ohio,
and Arizona. The team has one multiple
World Champion, Randy Archer, as well as
several fliers who have medaled at previous
World Championships, including Blake
Jensen, Ed Keck, and Gil Morris.
Paul Crowley made the Wakefield team
for the first time after a half-century of trying.
Jon Davis made the Nordic team for the first
time after getting back into Free Flight
following a long layoff. Paul and Jon were
teammates in 1973, in the World
Championships in Austria, with Jon flying
Wakefield and Paul flying Nordic. Free Flight
can be a lifetime sport.
Flying conditions at this finals were
Louis Joyner, 6 Saturday Rd., Mt. Pleasant SC 29464
FREE FLIGHT DURATION
Paul Crowley (L) gets an assist from Detroit Balsa Bugs teammate Bill Shailor. Paul will
represent the US at the Free Flight World Championships in Hungary.
Texan Steve Spence made the F1A Nordic Glider team for the third straight time. He has
flown in World Championships in Israel and California.
Second at the last World Champs, Blake
Jensen gets a practice flight at Lost Hills.
Model has aluminum-Kevlar D-box wing.
Ed Keck, another repeat team member,
adjusts the needle valve on his Nelson .15-
powered F1C model at the last World
Champs.
03sig5.QXD 12.20.02 10:52 am Page 141
challenging. The strong wind out of the east
forced the flightline up close to the treeline,
making thermal-picking difficult. The wind
direction also meant that long flights ended
up beyond the canal that forms the western
field boundary. Retrieval was often difficult,
even with tracker radios. The only fliers to
max out were Ed Keck and Gil Morris in
Power. In all three events, leads changed
often and results were close. Only three
seconds separated third and fourth place in
Power. In F1B, John Sessums ended up only
one second behind Paul Crowley.
The US team will compete in the 2003
Free Flight World Championships to be held
in Kunszentmiklós, Hungary, July 26-August
1. The team manager will be George Batiuk.
The Florida Modelers Association
deserves a big thanks from all the finals
contestants for the hard work and money it
put into mowing and maintaining the Palm
Bay field. Club members also helped during
the finals, putting in many hours of timing
and officiating.
If you are interested in trying out for the
2005 Free Flight team, write to the
Competition Department at AMA. After
entering the program, you have to accumulate
a total of 75 minutes of flight time in contests
between April 2003 and 45 days before the
finals to qualify for the finals. The 2005
Team Selection Finals will probably be held
After a half-century, Les DeWitt’s 1948 design is still a good flier. Jim O’Reilly sells full-size plans; text has details.
Former World Champion Bob White chose this Canadian Wakefield design to match the
twin fins and rounded wingtips of his own family of winning Rubber models.
2003 United States Free Flight Team
F1A Nordic Glider:
Jon Davis
Brian VanNest
Steve Spence
(alternate: Omer Erguner)
F1B Wakefield Rubber:
Bob Piserchio
Blake Jensen
Paul Crowley
(alternate: John Sessums)
F1C Power:
Ed Keck
Gil Morris
Randy Archer
(alternate: Bob Johannes)
at Lost Hills, California, in October 2004.
Nostalgia Rubber: Regular readers of this
column will probably recall several mentions
of the new Nostalgia Wakefield and Nostalgia
Rubber events introduced recently. The
events, especially Nostalgia Wakefield, seem
to have hit a chord with many Rubber fliers
who wanted to experience the fun and lowpressure
competition that Nostalgia Gas fliers
have enjoyed for a number of years.
Even though there are few kits or plans
available, many modelers have dug out their
old model magazines and copies of the Zaic
144 MODEL AVIATION
03sig5.QXD 12.20.02 10:52 am Page 144
Year Books in a search for the best designs
from a half-century ago. My suggestions of
the best models in this column last year
elicited, as I hoped it would, responses from
many modelers with their choices.
Les DeWitt sent some photocopies of his
own 1948 Wakefield design. It’s a sleek
model with a diamond fuselage, V-dihedral
wing, large tip plates, twin rudders, and
retractable single-wheel gear. Full-size plans
are available from Jim O’Reilly, 4760 N.
Battin, Wichita KS 67220; E-mail:
[email protected]. Plans are $9 plus $1 for
shipping. Rolled plans are $3.50 extra. Jim’s
illustrated plans list ($2) includes a number of
other Nostalgia Rubber designs and dozens of
other Free Flight models.
Bob Hatschek, who wrote this column for
many years, took exception to my reference to
the 1953 cross-section requirement as
“ungainly.” Bob pointed out that the old
L2/100 rule had been changed by then to a
10.015-square-inch requirement no matter
what the fuselage length. The old rules would
have required a cross-section of almost 52
square inches for the 6-foot-long models that
were becoming popular then. Compared to
that, the 10-plus requirement of the 1953 rules
seems svelte.
Bob also mentioned that he didn’t
experience the poor stall characteristics that
you might expect with a long motor and high
moment of inertia. He did say that one version
of his Nationals-winning 1953 design used a
sheeted leading edge on the wing. This model
did experience stalling problems in the glide.
The addition of a carpet thread turbulator on
the upper surface solved the stalling problem.
“I took the lesson to heart and every
Rubber job I’ve built since then that has a
sheeted leading edge has also had a thread
turbulator,” said Bob.
(You can find small three-views of Bob’s
design on page 121 of the 1955-56 Model
Aeronautic Year Book by Frank Zaic. The
Year Books offer an invaluable resource for
Nostalgia designs and a wealth of information
about Free Flight aerodynamics. They are
available through AMA or from FAI Model
Supply, Box 366, Sayre PA 18840-0366.)
Hank Cole wrote to explain that his
Osolong exhibited good stall characteristics
despite its more than 6-foot length.
“I used a Davis airfoil, which has a very
smooth stall with little hysteresis, half-span tip
dihedral, a pylon that kept the wing wake
above the stab, and a rearward c.g. [center of
gravity], which increased the damping in
pitch,” wrote Hank. “The result was a model
that flew smoothly in rough air and rarely
stalled. When it did stall it would recover
almost immediately.”
The model was detailed in the March 1952
Air Trails and was in the 1953 Year Book.
The overall length was 66 inches with a 59-
inch motor base. The center of gravity was
two inches behind the wing trailing edge! The
first version had an airframe weight of 41⁄2
ounces and used 41⁄2 ounces of rubber. On
subsequent models the airframe weight was
reduced, allowing more rubber. The third in
the series weighed in at 3 ounces and carried 6
March 2003 145
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03sig5.QXD 12.20.02 10:52 am Page 145
146 MODEL AVIATION
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“Its only claim to fame came at the
old issue of Model Airplane News
(November 1954), I have thought that Alan
King’s 1954 Wakefield winner must be one
of the prettiest designs ever to come off a
building board,” says Gordon Strickland.
This design featured an octagonal
fuselage made by building a square box then
adding deep stringers. A wire cabane,
instead of a balsa pylon, supports the wing.
Fellow Australian Bond Baker’s 1958
winner shows strong influences of King’s
design, including the twin rudders, wire
cabane, and one-blade propeller. The biggest
change was a molded balsa fuselage instead
of the built-up, tissued structure from the
1954 winner.
However, the cutoff for Nostalgia is
1956, so Bond’s model is effectively
orphaned. Perhaps the eligibility date should
move up a year each year.
Former F1B World Champion Bob
White managed to find a Nostalgia Rubber
design that fits right into his own family of
Rubber designs. S. Ranta’s Torontonian
design from the 1957-58 Year Book features
the same twin rudders and rounded wingtips
that Bob has used on his own designs for the
last 30 years. Bob finished his version of the
Torontonian in his trademark white tissue
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TRANSMITTER KNOBS
1952 team trials, where at sunrise on a misty
morning it climbed out of sight in just under
two minutes,” wrote Hank.
Don Hockaday wrote that he built the
same George Lefever design that I
recommended in a previous column. His
only changes were to make a two-piece wing
and detachable boom for easier
transportation.
“If I build another one, I would use 1⁄20
ribs, thin the prop a bit, and use six pound
woods in the body,” wrote Don. “This
should save about 14 grams.”
The two-blade folder was from Superior
Props, 60375 W. Spruce Ln., Lacombe LA
70445. Superior offers a wide range of
machine-carved balsa blades for all types of
Rubber models as well as other rubber
accessories.
“Ever since I came across the plans in an
03sig5.QXD 12.20.02 10:34 am Page 146
March 2003 147
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wing and stabilizer and red-painted
fuselage and rudders. (Full-size plans are
available from Jim O’Reilly.)
Last summer Bob sent me a photo of
the just-completed model. This past
October he sent another photo and a copy
of his scorecard from the San Valeers
Nostalgia Annual contest. The times tell it
all: three 120s, 180, 240, 300, and 305.
That’s a seven-flight total of more than 23
minutes. Bob notes that the model is flown
at full Wakefield weight of just more than 8
ounces. (Current Nostalgia Wakefield rules
place no limits on model or rubber weight.)
Collectible Kits: Free Flight kits come and
go. In the 1950s, it seemed as if there was a
new 1⁄2A Gas kit every month. As the new
designs flew off the dealers’ shelves, the
old kits languished, collecting dust.
Eventually the kits that didn’t sell were
discontinued by the manufacturers. Often
the manufacturers themselves either went
out of business or switched their focus
from Free Flight to other hobby items.
More recently, the majority of Free
Flight kits have been produced by small,
one-man operations. Kits were produced in
small batches. If the reorders didn’t come
in, there might not be a second batch.
Modelers picked up on the realities of the
kit business and learned to buy now
because it might not be available later.
But what if you didn’t prudently stock
up on those kits that you wanted to build
someday? What can you do if your
interests have changed from, say, AMA
Power to Rubber Scale?
Swap meets, garage sales, and eBay
offer a few possibilities, but for a wider
range of choices you need to find a kit
dealer such as Robert Stricker. His price
list is 10 pages long, single-spaced, with
two columns per page. That totals well more
than 1,500 items.
Not surprisingly, many of the kits listed
are Rubber Scale. Along with the usual
mass-market Comet, Cleveland, Guillows,
and Sterling offerings, there are some from
some of the boutique manufacturers such as
Golden Age and Diehls. I even found a Spad
XIII and an S.E.5a by California Models
listed.
If you were around before the onset of
plastic scale models, you’ll no doubt
remember the Strombecker solid models.
Basically these consisted of a few pieces of
hardwood, a small piece of sandpaper,
powdered glue, and a sheet of decals. With a
lot of work they didn’t look half bad,
especially when viewed from a distance—a
long distance.
When the plastic kits hit the hobby-shop
shelves, the solid models died out. Why
spend hours carving and sanding when you
can have a much more detailed model with
only a few minutes of work? (Some
traditionalists might equate the introduction
03sig5.QXD 12.20.02 10:53 am Page 147
of plastic models and television, at roughly
the same time, with the decline of
civilization as we know it.)
Evidently there are a few people who still
want to do things the hard way. Prices for the
old Strombecker solid model kits are now in
the $40-$75 price range. If memory serves,
the price for a kit was well less than $1.
A close reading of Robert Stricker’s
November 2002 list turns up a number of
Free Flight Duration kits. These include a
Berkeley Amazon 400, $75; an Aircraft
Baby Bombshell, $50; a Comet Sparky, $30;
a Comet Zipper A, $75; a Jetco Thermic
Trooper and Thermic 50-X, $50 each; a
Midwest Dyna-Moe (wartime kit with
hardwood parts), $60; and a Scientific Flying
Glory Hand-Launched Glider from 1945,
$40.
The list also includes a large number of
engine parts for K&B, OK Cub, Testors, and
McCoy, as well as parts and accessories
from Darwin, Perfect, and Veco.
If you’d like a chance to relive the past,
you can write for a price list. The address is
Robert Stricker, 924 Jaipur Ave., Naperville
IL 60540. I’m sure Robert would appreciate
$1 or a stamp or two to help offset his
mailing costs. If you are in a hurry, call (630)
961-0327. MA