78 MODEL AVIATION
Indoor model aircraft take off from water!
? Frequently Asked Questions Bob Aberle | [email protected]
Also included in this column:
• Cements safe for use with
foam material
• Jedelsky all-balsa wing
section
• Cyanoacrylate accelerator
dispenser
• FMA Direct Cellpro 4S
charger modification for
A123 batteries
Above: Bob Selman Designs’ Jerry Combs
built and flew this 15-gram T-tailed micro
rise-off-water (ROW) flyer—a typical
float arrangement for FF ROW modelers.
BP Hobbies’ 6-ounce Sand Bird ARF floatplane uses a 12mm brushless inrunner motor
on two Li-Poly cells. Look for a complete review on Sport Aviator.
THIS IS THE 38th monthly column in which
I try to give you the best possible answers to
questions you have written or E-mailed to me.
Each new inquiry is given a sequential
number for future reference.
Many questions and answers have been
posted to the AMA Web site at www.model
aircraft.org/mag/faq/index.asp. Unfortunately
that posting stopped in August 2005 and will
not continue until this section of the AMA
Web site is revamped. In the meantime, if you
can’t find the subject matter you are interested
in, drop me an E-mail or letter and I will try to
assist you.
Q290: “I read recently that the big JR Indoor
Electric Festival, held last November in
Columbus, Ohio, featured a large water tank
from which aircraft could take off and land. If
that is true, what kinds of aircraft were
flown?”
A290: As surprising as it sounds, Event
Director Terry Nitsch constructed a water tank
from 3-inch-diameter PVC pipes. He laid
them out in a frame measuring 60 feet long by
approximately 15 feet wide (rectangular
shape). A large sheet of plastic was placed
over the frame, and the resulting tank was
filled with roughly 2 inches of water.
Someone with a good sense of humor
even put some goldfish in the tank, which was
christened “Spektrum Lake” (after the new
2.4 GHz spread spectrum radio system). All
this was done inside a large, inflatable sports
dome with a 100-foot-high ceiling at the
center.
All kinds of models were flown during the
two-day period. I wrote an in-depth report
about this weekend event that is posted on the
December 2006 RC Micro World Webzine, at
www.cloud9rc.com.
Since there were many micro-size
airplanes, it was common to see models
weighing as little as 1 ounce on floats. One of
the common types was configured like FF
competition aircraft, with twin floats in the
front and a single small float at the rear. There
was also an opposite arrangement, with a
single float up front with separate small floats
under the tips of the stabilizer.
A cute aircraft was the Sand Bird—a tiny
ARF amphibian—sold by BP Hobbies
(www.bphobbies.com) for less than $50. I’m
in the process of reviewing this model for
AMA’s Webzine Sport Aviator. That article
should be posted by the time you read this.
The Sand Bird weighs only 6 ounces ready to
fly.
On the heavier end of the spectrum (16
ounces is the maximum model weight for this
05sig3.QXD 3/23/07 11:33 AM Page 78
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/05
Page Numbers: 78,79,80
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/05
Page Numbers: 78,79,80
78 MODEL AVIATION
Indoor model aircraft take off from water!
? Frequently Asked Questions Bob Aberle | [email protected]
Also included in this column:
• Cements safe for use with
foam material
• Jedelsky all-balsa wing
section
• Cyanoacrylate accelerator
dispenser
• FMA Direct Cellpro 4S
charger modification for
A123 batteries
Above: Bob Selman Designs’ Jerry Combs
built and flew this 15-gram T-tailed micro
rise-off-water (ROW) flyer—a typical
float arrangement for FF ROW modelers.
BP Hobbies’ 6-ounce Sand Bird ARF floatplane uses a 12mm brushless inrunner motor
on two Li-Poly cells. Look for a complete review on Sport Aviator.
THIS IS THE 38th monthly column in which
I try to give you the best possible answers to
questions you have written or E-mailed to me.
Each new inquiry is given a sequential
number for future reference.
Many questions and answers have been
posted to the AMA Web site at www.model
aircraft.org/mag/faq/index.asp. Unfortunately
that posting stopped in August 2005 and will
not continue until this section of the AMA
Web site is revamped. In the meantime, if you
can’t find the subject matter you are interested
in, drop me an E-mail or letter and I will try to
assist you.
Q290: “I read recently that the big JR Indoor
Electric Festival, held last November in
Columbus, Ohio, featured a large water tank
from which aircraft could take off and land. If
that is true, what kinds of aircraft were
flown?”
A290: As surprising as it sounds, Event
Director Terry Nitsch constructed a water tank
from 3-inch-diameter PVC pipes. He laid
them out in a frame measuring 60 feet long by
approximately 15 feet wide (rectangular
shape). A large sheet of plastic was placed
over the frame, and the resulting tank was
filled with roughly 2 inches of water.
Someone with a good sense of humor
even put some goldfish in the tank, which was
christened “Spektrum Lake” (after the new
2.4 GHz spread spectrum radio system). All
this was done inside a large, inflatable sports
dome with a 100-foot-high ceiling at the
center.
All kinds of models were flown during the
two-day period. I wrote an in-depth report
about this weekend event that is posted on the
December 2006 RC Micro World Webzine, at
www.cloud9rc.com.
Since there were many micro-size
airplanes, it was common to see models
weighing as little as 1 ounce on floats. One of
the common types was configured like FF
competition aircraft, with twin floats in the
front and a single small float at the rear. There
was also an opposite arrangement, with a
single float up front with separate small floats
under the tips of the stabilizer.
A cute aircraft was the Sand Bird—a tiny
ARF amphibian—sold by BP Hobbies
(www.bphobbies.com) for less than $50. I’m
in the process of reviewing this model for
AMA’s Webzine Sport Aviator. That article
should be posted by the time you read this.
The Sand Bird weighs only 6 ounces ready to
fly.
On the heavier end of the spectrum (16
ounces is the maximum model weight for this
05sig3.QXD 3/23/07 11:33 AM Page 78
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/05
Page Numbers: 78,79,80
78 MODEL AVIATION
Indoor model aircraft take off from water!
? Frequently Asked Questions Bob Aberle | [email protected]
Also included in this column:
• Cements safe for use with
foam material
• Jedelsky all-balsa wing
section
• Cyanoacrylate accelerator
dispenser
• FMA Direct Cellpro 4S
charger modification for
A123 batteries
Above: Bob Selman Designs’ Jerry Combs
built and flew this 15-gram T-tailed micro
rise-off-water (ROW) flyer—a typical
float arrangement for FF ROW modelers.
BP Hobbies’ 6-ounce Sand Bird ARF floatplane uses a 12mm brushless inrunner motor
on two Li-Poly cells. Look for a complete review on Sport Aviator.
THIS IS THE 38th monthly column in which
I try to give you the best possible answers to
questions you have written or E-mailed to me.
Each new inquiry is given a sequential
number for future reference.
Many questions and answers have been
posted to the AMA Web site at www.model
aircraft.org/mag/faq/index.asp. Unfortunately
that posting stopped in August 2005 and will
not continue until this section of the AMA
Web site is revamped. In the meantime, if you
can’t find the subject matter you are interested
in, drop me an E-mail or letter and I will try to
assist you.
Q290: “I read recently that the big JR Indoor
Electric Festival, held last November in
Columbus, Ohio, featured a large water tank
from which aircraft could take off and land. If
that is true, what kinds of aircraft were
flown?”
A290: As surprising as it sounds, Event
Director Terry Nitsch constructed a water tank
from 3-inch-diameter PVC pipes. He laid
them out in a frame measuring 60 feet long by
approximately 15 feet wide (rectangular
shape). A large sheet of plastic was placed
over the frame, and the resulting tank was
filled with roughly 2 inches of water.
Someone with a good sense of humor
even put some goldfish in the tank, which was
christened “Spektrum Lake” (after the new
2.4 GHz spread spectrum radio system). All
this was done inside a large, inflatable sports
dome with a 100-foot-high ceiling at the
center.
All kinds of models were flown during the
two-day period. I wrote an in-depth report
about this weekend event that is posted on the
December 2006 RC Micro World Webzine, at
www.cloud9rc.com.
Since there were many micro-size
airplanes, it was common to see models
weighing as little as 1 ounce on floats. One of
the common types was configured like FF
competition aircraft, with twin floats in the
front and a single small float at the rear. There
was also an opposite arrangement, with a
single float up front with separate small floats
under the tips of the stabilizer.
A cute aircraft was the Sand Bird—a tiny
ARF amphibian—sold by BP Hobbies
(www.bphobbies.com) for less than $50. I’m
in the process of reviewing this model for
AMA’s Webzine Sport Aviator. That article
should be posted by the time you read this.
The Sand Bird weighs only 6 ounces ready to
fly.
On the heavier end of the spectrum (16
ounces is the maximum model weight for this
05sig3.QXD 3/23/07 11:33 AM Page 78