Free Flight Sport - 2010/09

110 MODEL AVIATION
WHILE PREPARING my Japanese Grace for launch, I heard a
disconcerting sound. The right motor peg support had torn loose.
After surveying the damage, I discovered that the problem was
isolated in the area of the support, since the left support was still
holding the peg. Sometimes the entire peg can come loose and
rocket forward, destroying formers and stringers in the process.
After a few months of procrastination, I decided to make the
repair. I sliced away tissue to expose the damaged area.
The model was built from a Dave Diels kit. The aft portion of
the fuselage is box-and-former construction, which made the fix a
bit easier than it would have been with a keel-and-former
framework.
The top stringer of the box and a side stringer were shattered.
However, the bottom stringer of the box was intact.
I began the repair by cutting a taper in the ends of the broken
longerons. Then I spliced a section of 1/16 square to the top
longeron of the box. I used medium CA as the adhesive. Tweezers
were helpful to hold the splice together while the glue set.
The top former was attached to the longeron splice. I added a
vertical brace and the motor peg support. I also added a horizontal
V-shaped support, to ensure that the peg support would stay in
place.
Then I added a splice to the side stringer, completing the
woodwork. The area of damaged
tissue was “squared,” to make
the tissue repair neater.
The moral of the story is,
damage that might seem
terminal at first can often be
fixed. Don’t throw the model
away on impulse. Sometimes it
helps psychologically to let the
damage “age” for a while before diving in.
In the last couple of years, Easy Built
Models has added a nice line of laser-cut
kits to its inventory. At last count there
were 27 laser-cut kits in addition to many
printwood kits. I recently built the Mystery
Tailless and was impressed with the lasercut
wood.
[[email protected]]
Free Flight Sport Gene Smith
Fuselage repair—not so hard
Jerry Murphy readies his Easy Built Fokker Models D.VII for a test
flight at the Western Region Flying Aces Club contest last year.
Easy Built has roughly 30 laser-cut kits from which to choose.
Notice the spliced longeron repairs and added bracing for the rear motor peg on the
author’s Grace. Having to fix a motor peg failure isn’t the end of the world.
Also included in this column:
• Easy Built Dime Fokker D.VII
• Nose planking: yes or no?
• TTOMA’s youth infusion
• The Spitfire P-30
• Karl’s Phantom Fury
experience
• Stew Meyers’ Megow S.E.5
• The “Hey Kid! … ” series
Mike Repko built this gorgeous Hs 123 from Pres Bruning plans. Sheeting in the nose helps
the model look more scale, but at what cost?
09sig4x_00MSTRPG.QXD 7/23/10 9:46 AM Page 110
Jerry Murphy built the Dime Scale Fokker D.VII kit, which was
released last year. The empty weight of the model was an extremely
light 15.5 grams.
He performed test flights with a single loop of 1/8 x 15-inch rubber.
Jerry carved a 6-inch-diameter propeller with a pitch-to-diameter ratio
of 1.2:1.
The Fokker is still in the flight-trimming stages, but it is showing
promise.
Mike Repko selected the Hs 123 for his Pres Bruning-plans Free Flight
Cookup project last year. He enlarged the set from the original Peanut
Scale size to produce a wingspan of 18 inches. Mike used Testors
enamel paints for the finish.
There is no doubt that a sheeted nose makes a Scale model look
slick. Many Earl Stahl plans show sheeted noses. As do all things that
fly, Scale aircraft should be lightweight for good performance.
“I will need the weight in the nose anyway,” you might think.
However, when making the decision to plank the front end for nose
weight, you need to consider that a significant part of that sheeting is
not too far from the CG.
If your model were finished and needed nose weight, you wouldn’t
put it 2 or 3 inches behind the nose block. You
would put it as far forward as you could get it.
It seems like a small thing, but everything adds
up.
My P-47 used no nose sheeting. Did I have
to add nose weight? Yes, but it all went into
the nose plug, where it would be most
effective.
I often remove wood from the wing ribs. If
it is not needed, it goes. I usually add 1/32-inch
webs to the spars in the first four wing bays.
This is typically a weak area on Scale models,
especially low-wing types. The webs cut down
on spar damage during the trimming process,
so they go in despite the added weight.
The weight of the unnecessary 1/16 sheet I
remove from ribs is probably equal to the
weight of the 1/32 sheet I add for the webs.
Laminated tips of the wings and tail feathers
weigh approximately one-third of what the
old-style “puzzle piece” tips weighed.
Think “light,” and your models will be
easier to trim and will fly better.
If you live in the Atlanta, Georgia, area,
consider hooking up with the Thermal
Thumbers of Metro Atlanta (TTOMA) FF
club. The members are active in both AMA
and Flying Aces Club events. The flying field
is at a sod farm; it’s a great open area with few
airplane-eating trees.
This group has gotten a “youth infusion,”
from the Brown family. All four of the kids
are actively flying with the club and
participated in last year’s June Bug contest.
Michaela flew a No-Cal Heinkel He-
P.1077 Julia and placed third. She built the
model from plans that are available on the
Michael Morrow Web site.
The Heinkel uses a 7-inch Peck-Polymers
propeller and a 30-inch loop of 1/4-inch rubber.
This aircraft has a massive 21-inch-long body.
Jessica flew her Stringless Wonder in the
Mulvihill event, placing fifth. It was
interesting that four of the top five models in
the contest were Stringless Wonders.
Three-year-old Matthew planned to
compete with his 1941 Old-Timer Hand-
Launched Glider by Austin Rinaldi.
Unfortunately it didn’t last long enough to
place. Elizabeth flew a Super Max II Embryo.
It was new and yet untrimmed.
Bring your kids or grandkids out to a
contest to see if they catch the bug.
Bernard Chambers built a Spitfire P-30 for
the popular Rubber event. I obtained a copy of
the plans roughly a decade ago, and it has been
on my to-do list since.
The compromises needed to make a
semiscale P-30 resulted in a 50-gram empty
weight, when 40 grams is the legal minimum.
So the model is at a competitive disadvantage
because of its higher weight and the drag of the
design. However, that doesn’t take away from
its “cool factor.”
I was surprised that Bernard elected to use
the black-and-yellow finish. Since he is a native
of England, I thought he would use the Spitfire
camouflage scheme. The colors he selected will
certainly be easier to see downwind.
Karl Gies keeps cranking out old classic
Comet sport/contest models. He recently
completed a Comet Phantom Fury, which he
built from a Bob Holman short kit and Jim
O’Reilly plans. It has a rotating rear motor peg
and tensioned propeller, and it is covered with
Japanese tissue over Mylar.
Karl built one of these models as a kid, and
it glided well. But he did not know anything
about propellers, so that was it.
Several years ago, Dale Wilson gave Karl
the Phantom Fury that Dale had flown in a big
contest for the design, which had many
entrants. Dale is a master builder, and Karl
owed him and his model much in building this
one. Randy Ryan held a big Phantom Fury
event in Sturgis, Michigan, in 1997 and had 22
entrants.
Stew Meyers sent me a note regarding the
Nickel Scale Megow S.E.5 plans published in
Flying Aces, July 2009. The plans should be
enlarged to produce a 12-inch wingspan.
Stew’s version came out at 13.5 grams less
rubber.
One of the best beginner tutorials ever was the
“Hey Kid! ... Ya Wanna Build a Model
Airplane?” series published in Model Builder
magazine. What sets those articles apart are the
clear drawings illustrating proper joint
construction, gluing, and repair techniques.
This series is available online, at the SAM
110 Web site. You will find an index on the
right side. Select “Free Flight” and a submenu
will appear. Click on “Resources” and you will
find the tutorial in three sections.
The first section shows performance
modifications for the now-unavailable Sleek
Streak. However, the same modifications work
well for the commonly available Guillow’s Sky
Streak. The following sections feature the Peck
R.O.G., Sky Bunny, and Flying Aces Moth, all
of which are available from A2Z Corp.
I received a nice note from Floridian
Anthony Faranda. A modeler since the
1930s, he believes that the simplest gliders
and rubber-powered models are still the
most fun. I agree. MA