Horizon Hobby's ParkZone Cessna 210 Centurion
John Worth | [email protected]
In the past six months some amazing micro-flight activity has developed. It happened almost immediately after Horizon Hobby’s ParkZone Cessna 210 Centurion was delivered to hobby shops across the country. First shown at April’s Toledo Show, this 15-inch-wingspan, three-channel, all-foam, scale RTF, which weighs 18 grams (roughly 2/3 ounce), became available to buyers a few months later.
The Cessna has proven to be an instant success as word spread of its great flying qualities and that it incorporated the latest in 2.4 GHz digital spread spectrum (DSS) technology. The model could be flown anywhere and anytime without regard to frequency conflicts with other modelers, no matter what RC equipment they might be using. Furthermore, although the Cessna was designed primarily for indoor flying, it also did well outdoors in gentle breezes.
The Cessna’s RC system did so well in the RTF that many fliers — after they had fun with the Cessna — removed the equipment from it and installed it in models of a similar size and weight. Some older airplanes were converted to the new RC system, and many new models were built specifically for it.
Hobby shops that sold the complete RTF package also began offering the various components separately. These included:
- receivers with built-in servos,
- motors and propellers,
- batteries,
- airplane parts (wings, tails, landing gear, and fuselages).
The lower half of the fuselage could be bought with the receiver, motor, and propeller already installed. This inspired many modelers to put their own wings and tails on the lower fuselage unit to create many variations of designs that were smaller and larger than the original Cessna. The simplest of these is by Jack Dobbins of Washington, Illinois, who used a carbon-rod wing and a fuselage “stick” with a balsa-sheet tail. Jack’s airframe sits on top of the Cessna’s lower fuselage shell.
Others have converted balsa stick-and-tissue models, some originally rubber-powered, into lightweight electric-powered RC models. Still others installed the Cessna RC system in their own sheet-foam designs. The intriguing aspect of all this is that although many have decried the trend to “buy and fly” toy-type RTF micromodels, the Cessna has resulted in many homebuilt variations. This creativity and craftsmanship is proof that model building rather than buying is still a major consideration.
The technology revolution in micro-flight activity continues unabated, building ever smaller and lighter models. This was strongly evident at the Northeast Electric Aircraft Technology (NEAT) Fair in New York, where many RC airplanes with wingspans under 6 inches were flown. A few models weighed less than 1 gram!
Martin Newell and Robert Guillot are two of the subgram modelers who have shown that such super-small aircraft, although not for everybody, can fly well. Martin amazed everybody even further by showing off his incredibly small Rabbit receiver. Picture a fully proportional four-channel receiver, with built-in motor speed controller, that is only 3/16 inch square and 1/16 inch thick! Even more amazing is that this receiver uses DSS 900 MHz technology. All that in a unit the size of a 1/16-inch slice of 3/16 balsa is almost beyond belief.
Martin handmade receivers for some friends, and I saw them perform in several models at the NEAT Fair; however, I was told not to expect them to be available commercially. The units Martin made were done as a labor of love and to demonstrate what was possible. The craftsmanship required to make them appears to be too intense for mass production.
The use of DSS technology for micromodels is soon to increase. Plantraco of Canada and Bob Selman Designs of Missouri have developed modifications for Plantraco’s 900 MHz RC systems to incorporate DSS technology. It may soon be — if it isn’t already — available to anyone.
This is further evidence that we may be seeing crystal-controlled, single-frequency systems fade out in favor of those without crystals that don’t need frequency control via transmitter impound, frequency flags, etc., at group gatherings. Major events may soon be held that will allow only DSS systems, to simplify field operations.
It won’t happen overnight because many fliers have substantial investments in crystal-controlled equipment, but practically all new RC equipment manufactured will feature DSS technology. That it is already available to micro fliers at reasonable prices indicates that the changeover is only a matter of time.
To neighborhood fliers, especially those who often fly alone or with only a few others, the old equipment will be satisfactory for a considerable time. Still, it seems inevitable that the days of long antennas on transmitters will diminish steadily until they may be classified as “vintage” RC. This shouldn’t be looked at negatively. As new and better technology comes along, it will be adopted and supplant what we used before. This is especially true where the pricing is reasonable, as seems to be the case with current DSS equipment.
We can now buy an RTF with such equipment for $150, and that is a compelling argument.
What else is new for micro-flying? Prefabricated all-foam ARFs and RTFs appear to be sprouting up everywhere. Most are well-made scale or semi-scale models that look and fly realistically and resemble favorite airplanes. Many such aircraft now come already painted and decorated, which enhances their attractiveness.
Cox Hobbies and Plantraco produce World War II fighter types. With subjects such as:
- P-40 Warhawk
- P-47 Thunderbolt
- P-51 Mustang
- Japanese Zero
- F6F Hellcat
- Messerschmitt Bf 109
and many others, great memories are stirred up among older modelers.
The fact that many models are so well finished, eliminating the need for tedious and skilled artistic ability, is a big plus as well as a considerable time-saver. For many of us, saving time and labor are major considerations. With a large aging-modeler population, these factors have enabled modeling to continue to be an activity that otherwise might be abandoned to the younger generation.
Micro modeling makes it feasible to fly locally in school gyms, back yards, ball fields, parking lots, etc. The activity keeps growing as new products and developments are reported. Model Aviation (MA) is a significant provider of such information, as is RC Micro World.
Sources
- RC Micro World
- www.cloud9rc.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
