154 MODEL AVIATION
George is still an active modeler at age 84.
He flies each Tuesday and Thursday with his
friend Luke Dang.
The December column mentioned Fullerplast
(yes, one word; it’s a registered trademark)—a
two-part finish that provides a tough fuelproof
coating for doped tissue and other coverings. I
mentioned that I didn’t know where to find
any today.
Not long after that column was published,
word arrived from Charles Greenwood that
you can order Fullerplast from Van-Dee
Decorating Center, 205 S. Federal Hwy.,
Stuart FL 33994. The product is featured on
the company’s Web site (www.van-dee.com)
as “Fullerplast Varnish” and is available in
gloss or satin. The price could have changed,
but you can expect a significant weight
reduction to your wallet.
Van-Dee stocks a full line of other sealers,
urethanes, and lacquers, Binks spray
equipment, and sundries. The company
accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express,
and Discover. The toll-free phone number is
(800) 749-VAND (8263).
Good news for those who want to cover with
the new lightweight Polyspan. Formerly
available only from Mike Woodhouse in the
United Kingdom, you can now obtain it from
Larry Davidson in the US.
Mike authors his last Old Timers column. He will be missed!
Old-Timers Mike Keville | [email protected]
Also included in this column:
• Chuck Hollinger remembered
• Mystery flier identified
• Fullerplast fuelproof coating
• Polyspan Lite source
• BOM rule or no BOM rule?
This mystery flier in last August’s
column was finally identified as Wing
Jung by a reader in Glendale AZ.
Takes two to tango? Kevin (L) and Gary Sherman prepare to launch a Nostalgia Gas
San De Hogan at Lost Hills, California, in September 2005.
BECAUSE THESE columns are written
three months prior to the cover date, “news”
items are often, well, not. Some are as stale as
last week’s bread.
However, I would be remiss if I failed to
mention Chuck Hollinger’s passing. He left
this world in December, but word didn’t reach
here until February. Chuck designed and
published a number of attractive and
competitive FF and CL models in the 1940s
and 1950s.
The design I best recall is his CL Scale/
Precision Aerobatics (Stunt) Fleet PT-6
biplane that was featured as a construction
article in an early 1950s Air Trails. Former
National Stunt Champion Bart Klapinski built
and flew the model to two second-place
finishes (out of more than 80 entries) in the
Old Time event at the annual Vintage Stunt
Championships in Tucson, Arizona.
Rest in peace, Chuck. Thanks for the
memories.
Mystery Flier Identified: A photo this
month may look familiar since it was
published in the August 2006 issue on page
142. At that time the only information I could
offer was that it was taken in 1938 at the old
Rosecrans & Western site in Los Angeles.
The young man holding the model was
unidentified, thus I’d asked if anyone
recognized him. As it turned out, someone did.
George Sing (Glendale, Arizona)
identified the flier as Wing Jung, who once
flew a lot of Wakefield and later married his
uncle’s sister. George said he met Wing in
1939 and recognized him immediately upon
seeing the photo.
06sig5.QXD 4/23/07 9:57 AM Page 154
Polyspan Lite weighs just 15 grams
(.529 ounce) per square meter, as opposed
to 25 grams (.881 ounce) for the original.
This tough heat-shrink material is suitable
for everything from small rubber-powered
models to Class C Old-Time Power
designs.
Sold in 6-foot sheets measuring 1 meter
wide, Polyspan costs $13 plus postage.
Order from Larry Davidson, 66 Casa Mia
Cir., Moneta VA 24121; Tel.: (540) 721-
4563; E-mail: [email protected].
There has been much talk lately about the
Builder-Of-the-Model (BOM) rule as it
pertains to AMA FF events. To put it
mildly, many modelers are passionate
about the subject, pro or con, especially
with the increasing availability of ARF
designs.
Comments range from a “Who cares?”
to those we can’t print here. Don’t even
think of mentioning the subject among
those who fly CL Stunt.
Colorado’s Bill Gieskieng wrote some
thoughts about FF awhile back, echoing
those of several others. He agreed to have
his opinions included in this column, and I
have extracted some key points.
He wrote:
“Certainly the BOM [rule] made real
sense when we were all kids—when the
hard-learned skills in construction were a
big part of the whole ambience of that
Golden Age of modeling. But now I simply
want to see Free Flight airplanes clouding
the sky—whatever the source, whatever
the hand that lets it go. The big obstacle to
that happening is a shortage of fliers and
time.
“I have tried with limited success to
enroll some Juniors in flying Free Flight,
but I can’t make modelers out of them. To
me it was an accomplishment to see them
fly some Catapult and Hand Launched
Gliders. They flew remarkably well, yet
their fascination was caught up in the
motorcycles used to chase them.
“Back in the late 1930s every kid on the
block built model airplanes. Nowadays
every kid on the block is doing everything
and anything except that noble pastime of
pastimes.“Yes, I feel a greater personal
accomplishment by fielding my own
creations. But that has nothing to do with
what anyone else is doing.
“If I win occasionally, that is great. But
I am thrilled to see a fellow flier succeed in
beating me, because the only feeling I have
is that I’m going to try harder to do better
...
“My feeling is that the retention of the
BOM [rule] is a detriment to the current
health of Free Flight. The one no-brainer
exception to that is Scale. In that event it is
the builder’s craftsmanship that is the
object of judging.”
Those are one man’s thoughts; opinions
vary. Some feel that the BOM rule has
outlived its usefulness and that anything
helping to increase participation is a good
thing. Others feel that if you don’t build
your own models, we’re facing The End
Of Civilization As We Know It. There
don’t seem to be any gray areas there.
Since it’s my job to report and not offer
opinions, I won’t add any comments here,
although you can probably guess what
those are.
Th-th-th-that’s all, folks! Following Bill
Baker’s tenure I began writing this column
with the July 2000 issue. Seven years later
I find myself out of steam—sort of like
running out of airspeed and ideas at the
same time. Thus I have advised the MA
staff that this will be my final Old-Timers
column.
It’s been fun, but other interests have
surfaced. I hope someone will step forward
to continue this column. MA