Free Flight Indoor 2012/07

118 MODEL AVIATION
EAA’s “Little Wings, Big Dreams” exhibit
Free Flight Indoor John Kagan
[[email protected]]
Also included in this column:
• Dennis and Tyson Parker’s
Indoor tools
• New Indoor FF video
• S hooks how-to
Left: The new “Little Wings, Big Dreams”
model aviation exhibit at the EAA
AirVenture Museum. H.G. Frautschy photo.
A column of models is suspended in flight. RC, FF, and CL
aircraft exhibit record-setting achievements. Bonnie Kratz
photo.
Left: Jim Buxton’s world record-setting Hand-Launched Glider
along with some of his father’s models.
FOR SOME pEOplE,
model aviation is a
stepping stone toward
full-scale piloting or a
career in aeronautics.
For others it is a
fulfilling, lifelong
activity itself. In either
case, there are strong
connections between
modeling and full-scale
aircraft.
Many of aviation’s
top names were, or still
are, avid modelers. Fullscale
designs are often
tested first as models.
And basically, people
who are interested in
flying things tend to like
them in any form.
Nowhere has this
connection been more
evident than during my
recent visit to the
Experimental Aircraft
Association’s
AirVenture Museum in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
My oldest son and I
were on hand for the opening of the museum’s new “Little
Wings, Big Dreams: Sport Aviation in Miniature” exhibit.
We drove out to set up my fragile 2000 World Champion F1D,
on loan for the show, and to fly in the EAA Family Fun Days
sessions in the Eagle Hangar. Everyone we met expressed
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shipping various models and offered
up his son’s (John Jr.) 2004 World
Championship F1J airplane.
Alan Westby, museum director,
used these raw materials to craft a
stunning, professional display that
highlights each artifact to its fullest.
There are sections for FF, CL, RC,
plastic scale, and even paper card
models.
Custom-built Plexiglas cases
house interesting aircraft that have
historical significance or a
championship/record-setting
pedigree. The center display depicts a
collection of airplanes suspended in
various stages of flight. There are
even a couple of RC simulators to
complete the experience.
July 2010 119
Hard O-rings nestle comfortably into S hooks. See the
accompanying five-step pictorial that shows how to make your own.
Kagan photo.
The Tyson winder brake, shown mounted
on one of the popular yellow winders,
allows the winder to mount in a stooge
without it spinning off all the turns. Tyson
photo.
The Tyson balsa stripper is modern art. It has a comfortable
feel and is accurate. Tyson photo.
Parker Tyson, Junior F1D team member,
makes these glue bottles. Purchasing one
goes toward funding his trip to the next
World Championships.
genuine aviation interest and
enthusiasm, model and otherwise.
When I tell people about my
model airplane addiction, they often
ask if I ever want to get a pilot’s
license and fly “real” airplanes (as
though, somehow, the craft I put so
much time and effort into are not
real). When the question came up at
the EAA, it was more along the lines
of enthusiasts offering
encouragement to try their favorite
discipline. More often, queries were
specific to the models—and
educated.
Exploration of the museum
further highlighted the crossovers. A
home-building display with
workbenches, machines, wings, and
fuselages in various stages of
construction looked similar to every
model-building workshop I’ve ever
seen.
Ray Stits’ incredible Sky Baby—
the “world’s smallest airplane” until
1984, with a wingspan of 7 feet, 2
inches—and his son, Don Stits’,
Baby Bird—the “world’s smallest
monoplane” with a wingspan of 6
feet, 3 inches—are tinier than most
of my RC gliders. The wood-andfabric
biplanes look like my stickand-
tissue FF models, and the
composite racers and record setters
strongly resemble modern F3B and
F3F model sailplanes.
A tour of the staff offices
provided final confirmation. Every
office and cubicle was filled with
airplane posters, models, and
artifacts. If you ran across a
workspace such as this in a corporate
office anywhere else, you’d know
you had found a like-minded friend.
Here, everyone was an aviation friend.
H.G. Frautschy, executive director
of the EAA’s Vintage Aircraft
Association, is the driving force
behind the new model aviation
exhibit. Last year he contacted the
National Free Flight Society’s Don
DeLoach, NFFS Digest editor, and
Gene Ulm, public relations and
publicity, to coordinate the selection
of FF models for display.
They, in turn, reached out to the FF
community. John Lorbiecki, a nearby
Wisconsin modeler, helped manage
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120 MODEL AVIATION
The opportunity to put an historic model on display
held even more significance for Jim Buxton, an HLG
(Hand-Launched Glider) expert. He and his late father,
James, spent countless summers at the AirVenture meet
and museum; it became an intrinsic part of their lives.
James is now remembered with a brick at Compass Hill, a
commemorative location overlooking the EAA airfield,
and will forever be a part of the site.
Jim shipped his world record-setting F1N Glider in an
old model box, along with a couple of his dad’s airplanes
that were already in it. Upon receipt, Alan chose to put
the whole box on display rather than take out the models;
Glider, photos, diplomas, and all were on display.
The hall fits beautifully with the rest of the full-scale
exhibits and makes an already fantastic museum that
much more enticing to modelers. To sweeten the pot, the
EAA and AMA are working on a plan to offer free
museum access for each other’s members. Regardless, the
experience is well worth the normal price.
If you love aviation, you owe it to yourself to visit.
You can get more information from the EAA Web site,
listed at the end of this column. There’s a photo gallery of
the new exhibit, live webcams that you can control, and
tons of great aviation information. Check it out.
Dennis and Parker Tyson’s Indoor Products: Parker
Tyson, a US Junior F1D team member, and his dad are
producing a set of great Indoor products to help raise
money for their upcoming trip to Serbia for the World
Champs.
Their version of the popular food-coloring-bottle glue
gun is available for $10. The design features a Teflon
micro applicator tip with an integrated cleaning wire.
It is easy to regulate the amount of glue dispensed.
And if you squeeze the bottle a little before tipping it, you
can suck the glue back from the tip when you are done.
I use one of these bottles for all of my Indoor building
and consider it a must-have. Many people have asked
where they could get one, but the previous supplier
stopped making them (as far as I am aware).
The best I could previously do was recommend an
Internet search for do-it-yourself plans. Now I suggest to
anyone who has ever been interested in one: get ’em
before they’re gone.
The Tysons’ portable balsa stripper sells for $20. It
has a comfortable feel, is accurate, and looks like modern
art. There has been discussion online about calibrating
this tool and marking a scale on the sliding part. This
modification works well.
Its small size is great for the field box, but the tool
also makes building sessions at home more enjoyable.
The pair also offers a brake kit for the inexpensive
yellow plastic winders that many people own. It allows
you to mount the winder in a stooge and have it hold a
wound motor without it spinning off all the turns. This is
a handy gadget, for only $15.
Stock up on these nicely made, useful tools and help a
Junior in the process. The Tysons’ contact info is at the
end of the column.
New Indoor FF Video: Elliot Osteroos is a youngster
who is getting into video design. He filmed the 2010
Pikes Peak Ceiling Climb Indoor contest held this spring
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July 2010 121
hook on the prop shaft. The O-ring
nestles nicely into this shape and is
still easy to remove if necessary.
However, S hooks confound many
Indoorists. I had the opportunity to
proxy for my flying buddy, Rob
Romash. I was having trouble getting
the O-ring to seat on his S hook
when I finally realized that he had
made the hooks backward.
“Dude, this isn’t an S hook; it’s a
‘Z’ hook!” I said.
To make my life easier the next
time I have to fly his models—and
for anyone else who has ever been
interested in making this type of
hook—I have included a picture
tutorial for forming an S hook in five
easy bends.
I suggest that you practice with a
pipe cleaner first, to get the hang of
it. Once you do, you can crank these
out in less than a minute. MA
Sources:
Experimental Aircraft Association
(800) JOIN-EAA
www.eaa.org
Parker and Dennis Tyson:
657 W. Green St.
Hastings MI 49058
(616) 890-4105
Elliot Osteroos
www.360videodesigns.com
National Free Flight Society
www.freeflight.org
See page 167 for details.
Our Full-Size
Plans List
has hundreds
of models from
which to choose.
in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and
has produced a 45-minute video of all
the action.
This feature includes some great
Glider competition among a few of
the world’s best fliers, an F1D
regional contested by two-third of the
current F1D team and a former Junior
team member, and a bunch of other
events.
You can check out Elliot’s work
and order a copy of his video when
you visit the Web site listed at the end
of the column.
S Hooks: Hard O-rings are great for
transferring a wound motor from your
winding stooge to your airplane.
However, the rings don’t match well
with rounded prop shaft hooks. The
curved hook makes the O-ring twist
off to one side and try to climb up the
prop shaft.
Best case, the off-balance position
detracts from the flight time. Worst,
the O-ring rubs against the motorstick
and either stops the propeller or cuts a
hole and collapses the stick.
A good solution is to use an S
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