Newcomers
Box 40, St. Peters MO 63376
A HOST OF questions run through your mind as you wander the hobby shop.
It was just last weekend that you discovered the flying site tucked away in a field. By chance, you noticed the multicolored model airplane off in the distance, skittering along the treetops.
The minutes you spent watching the models created—or reactivated—dormant thoughts you’ve had about wanting to fly. A conversation with one of the friendly modelers directed you to the hobby shop.
The scene above happens often, but other triggers may prompt the visit. Perhaps it was a short news report about a local modeling event. Maybe a friend or coworker provided the thought. It could be that what you thought was another dull trip to a shopping mall revealed a display by a local club.
This trip to the hobby shop could follow a long hiatus between the time you were a youngster and now, when you’ve established a family. Or did you recently retire, and remember the fun you had with the hobby years ago?
The questions begin to pile up in your mind as you step into the shop. You didn’t get into specifics when you were at the field or at the mall; you didn’t ask about brands and equipment. Now you are confronted with a host of questions about each.
The first trip is exploratory in nature. The knowledgeable, friendly clerk provides some guidance, but you need additional information before you take the plunge.
You decide to revisit the club field, and you make several more trips there in the next few weeks.
You note that many of the same people are there, but each time a few are new to you. Since they seem to welcome guests, you begin to ask more-specific questions. You note brands and types of models, fuels, propellers, radios, and equipment.
The newcomer seems to get along nicely with minimum gear, set up next to someone who appears to have everything.
Armed with your newly gained knowledge, you return to the hobby shop. Some of the brands you saw at the field are not part of the shop’s inventory. A single brand of fuel often runs in some shops. Even engines and radio systems may be limited. Whether this indicates that one brand is better than the other pops into your mind.
Within a club, or even in an entire community, what the hobby shop stocks often feeds the brands that the club uses.
The shop owner doesn’t stock “Whamo” engines, because nobody uses them!
Sometimes that chain is broken when someone new joins the club, and everyone notes how wonderfully the “Whamo” engine performs. The shop owner finds the need to order some, and so it goes.
Let’s look at a few choices that you have, without being brand-specific.
Power Plants
The questions begin to pile up in your mind as you’re in the shop.
- Should you go with a two-stroke, four-stroke, gasoline-, electric-, rubber-powered, or CO2 engine? In most areas, you’ll find the most help with two-stroke and four-stroke glow engines.
- There is an ever-increasing interest in the electric engine, and it has some real advantages. Technology has created the ability to achieve longer flights, and power levels are vastly improved.
- The gasoline engines tend to be found only in the larger displacement sizes—you may be more limited in the types of trainers you can buy.
- Virtually the only difference between two-stroke and four-stroke engines today is the initial price—a four-stroke costs more. Four-strokes used to have less power output, but that gap has almost disappeared.
- One type of engine not mentioned on the initial list is diesel. Although there are some real power and economical advantages, not many people in local clubs or hobby shops have experience with diesels.
- There are small CO2 and rubber-powered models if Radio Control (RC) is your choice, but less help and fewer equipment choices are available.
Fuel
You will probably find more opinions about what glow fuel to use than about anything else. The areas of concern boil down to what type and amount of lubricant to use, what additives to use, and how much nitromethane to use.
- Nitromethane is not a necessity with many engines. Some international contests do not allow nitro, because of the lack of availability in many countries. In the US, the typical nitromethane amount used in fuel ranges from 5 to 15%.
- Pay attention to the engine manufacturer’s recommendations—very small engines, such as .049s, require a higher nitromethane content to run correctly (or at all).
Some modelers swear by castor oil, and others swear at it! Why?
Although castor oil is an outstanding lubricant, it tends to varnish up the inside (and outside) of an engine much faster. It’s also the dickens to clean off a model.
Then why not use the synthetic oils?
They do an excellent job, but they won’t tolerate a lean needle-valve setting as well as castor oil, and they may ruin a good engine.
Synthetic oils burn cleaner, but you must use an after-run oil, because the synthetic oil doesn’t leave a protective coating on the internal engine parts, as castor oil does. This can cause rust to form on the inside of the engine, especially on the bearings—the alcohol in the fuel is a moisture magnet.
Because of these features, some fuels use a blend of castor oil and synthetic oil, picking up the advantages of each.
Another issue is how much lubricant your fuel should contain.
Although some of the larger glow engines require a smaller percentage of lubricant, the typical amount is approximately 20%. The engine manufacturer’s recommendation is important to follow.
The biggest part of the fuel issue is attempting to learn what ingredients—and how much of the ingredients—are in the fuel. Unlike the days of old, when many fuel manufacturers kept their formulas a secret, today the proportions of ingredients are listed on the container.
Fuel does change properties if kept for long periods of time. It will attract moisture, and ingredients in it evaporate. Therefore, the fuel you have left from 2000 might not run as well in 2001.
Very old fuel stored in metal cans may pose a hazard when you remove the metal cap. A few years ago, an explosion occurred when a metal container was opened, resulting in serious injury to the modeler.
So if your newfound modeling friend offers you some of his or her stash of old fuel in a metal can ...
Propeller
Which material? What diameter? What pitch?
The so-called "plastic" propellers are much more popular these days. Most are not plastic in the general sense—they are simply not wood. Nylon and carbon-fiber propellers fit in this class.
What are the advantages of plastic propellers?
- They are more resistant to nicking and breaking. And some of the fancier-shaped propellers produce a lower sound level.
- However, they are more expensive, and if you have an "oops" and the propeller hits something, other parts of the model may "go first."
The traditional wood propeller is a most-acceptable choice. Use care in selecting it, since "all wood is not created equal." Look for knots, strange grain patterns, and the overall finish on the propeller.
In either case—wood or composite—balance the propeller! You shake paint cans to mix them—not the models that you fly!
The diameter and pitch is a story in itself. A good starting point is the manufacturer's recommendation.
Radio
Buy as much as you can afford! You are purchasing a product that will last for years, with proper care. Looking in the case at the hobby shop and thinking, "I'll never need more than four channels" is not your best move.
If the activity "takes," there is a good chance you will need more than four channels. The cost differential among a four-, five-, or six-channel system is slight—you can add servos at a later date. It's similar to cutting a wingspan; when you make a mistake, you can't cut it longer!
Two-stick or single-stick? You'll be hard-pressed to find an instructor who feels comfortable with a single-stick, much less being able to buy one!
Mode 1 or Mode 2? Probably 90% of modelers fly Mode 2—elevator and aileron on the right stick, throttle and rudder on the left. Check with the club and the instructors, to see if someone would be comfortable teaching you on a Mode 1 system, which splits the elevator and aileron control between the two sticks.
Amplitude Modulation (AM), Frequency Modulation (FM), Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), or Pulse Position Modulation (PPM)?
- You won't find much AM available; if you do, it will be in the inexpensive systems. All the units for sale today are FM, PCM, or PPM. The last two are found in the more-expensive systems. There was a ground swell of PCM for a while, because of its fail-safe capabilities, but FM is a perfectly acceptable choice.
- The term "fail-safe" is somewhat misleading; it means that if the receiver loses the transmitting signal, it moves the servos to a preset position. That's assuming you preset them!
- Otherwise, fail-safe is in a "lockout," which means the servos stay in the position they were in at the time of signal loss.
- If the interference is lengthy in either case, you simply run the risk—in the words of a well-known radio manufacturer—of crashing more gracefully. "With FM, you will suffer a momentary glitch (signal interruption with accompanying surface movement). If you are less than one mistake high at the time, the result may be the same: crash."
Standard or computer radio? Hard call. The standard radio is less expensive, but not by much in the last few years!
Even though I'm a confirmed computer illiterate, for my present systems are a computer type. I'm not certain I'd go back to the standard radio now.
There are other items I could cover, all the way down to nuts, bolts, pushrods, adhesives, etc., but I'll forgo that pleasure this month.
The keys to your selection process are seeing what's available and watching the success of others in your area. Ask questions, assimilate answers, compare prices, and define your needs.
Have fun! MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
