Author: Bob Angel
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/12
Page Numbers: 148,149,150
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Small Old Timers Nationals

Overview

SAM (Society of Antique Modelers) Champs week begins immediately following the September deadline for this column. The contest is held at the AMA International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana.

A new add-on event debuts this year: the Small Old Timers Nationals. Tommy Gray and others are spearheading this class. Tommy is a member and officeholder in both SAM and the Vintage Radio Control Society (VR/CS).

Eligibility and rules

Small Old Timers is dedicated to small/micro Old-Timer models. It is composed of SAM and VR/CS members and has generated lots of interest since its inception.

Any SAM- or VR/CS-eligible model can participate. That includes scale, sport, RC, free flight (FF), rubber power, or glider aircraft. The only requirement is wingspans no longer than 24 inches for monoplanes and 18 inches for biplanes.

Electric power will probably dominate, but Small Old Timers gives participants the opportunity to take some of those cute little Cox .010 engines out of mothballs.

Competition details are still evolving. Only 2.4 GHz will be used for RC because organizers expect to do many mass launches.

A website has been established for this event, and pictures and construction articles will be posted there. See "Sources" for the address.

Small Old Timers is ideal for newcomers who want to learn building skills that were once required of all modelers. If you're spatially challenged, you could build one of these models on a card table. Watch for more complete coverage in Park Pilot magazine and columns devoted to small aircraft.

Quaker (Evan Doughty's model)

The big Quaker shown in the photo belongs to Evan Doughty. It has a 16-foot wingspan and weighs close to 30 pounds. The model was originally powered by a US 41 gas engine but has been converted to electric. It now uses a large brushless motor that delivers approximately 20% more power than the original engine. The model is roughly nine years old and has appeared in magazine coverage in the U.S. and abroad.

Evan sells plans for a "little" 105-inch-span version. See "Sources" for his contact information.

Megow Quaker history and the Omahawks

Megow originally kitted the Quaker around 1936; it spanned about 84 inches. It remains a popular design for Old-Timer sport-flying and SAM competition in the Antique category. Today you can obtain conventional-size plans and kits for Quakers from Bob Holman Plans and other vendors listed on the SAM website.

Bud Mitchell of Omaha, Nebraska, artfully decorated the "Southern Baptist" Quaker. The Omahawks club, of which Bud is a member, is active with sport-flying OT models and is also big on Quakers: two members have built 54 of them over the years. Frank Vanecek of Omaha has made 12 Quakers and John Andersen of Grand Island has produced 42; most of those were for other members. Richard Behrens keeps us informed of the Omahawks' activities.

Wheels and tire shaping

Trexler inflatable wheels are often preferred for OT free-flight models for a couple of reasons. They were the original tires used on many OT models and are often shown on plans, and those big balloons make good shock absorbers and can save a repair job after a rough landing. But Trexlers require care and maintenance for a useful life. Don't inflate them by mouth, because dampness inside will rot the rubber.

Trexler sells inflators, but there are workable emergency substitutes. You can use a large fuel bulb or a syringe with the proper-size brass tube on the end. A small rubber dust blower (available at Harbor Freight Tools) also works well. Deflate the tires each time you finish flying.

OT RC fliers usually prefer more conventional RC-type wheels. In the August 2009 column I mentioned applying Plasti-Dip to reshaped foam tires to seal them and give a more scale appearance. I didn't describe the shaping process at the time, so I'll do it now.

Since the process can be messy, I moved my drill press outside and wore a shop coat, dust mask, and goggles. I slipped each wheel onto a length of music wire with a wheel collar on each side. I cut rubber washers (from a bike inner tube) to fit under the wheel collars and compressed and tightened the collars against the wheel. This allowed the drill press to spin the wheel while I went from coarse to progressively finer sanding blocks to shape the tires to my liking.

Engine restorations and the Foxacoy topic

Doug Dahlke sent a note informing me that Bill Schmidt restores early McCoy CL Precision Aerobatics (Stunt) engines. Doug had read about the Foxacoy event in the August 2010 OT column, in which I mentioned that McCoy .35 piston/cylinder combinations could easily be worn out with a few lean runs.

It seemed as if Bill was using Fox .35 pistons in worn McCoy cylinders. I checked with him and that isn't the case, but what he does is worth mentioning. He e-mailed me a copy of an article he wrote about restoring the earlier McCoy White Head sport/Stunt engines into better-running power plants suitable for OT Stunt, Nostalgia, etc.

Bill rebuilds McCoy .29s into what I'd call a "McFox .34," using a Fox piston and cylinder. His rebuilt engines wouldn't qualify for the Foxacoy event, which specifies either a stock Fox .35 Stunt or a stock McCoy .35 Red Head.

If you're interested, contact Bill. Be aware, however, that you need to be an accomplished machinist to perform the job.

For the Foxacoy event, those cheap-series McCoy Red Head .19, .29, and .35 engines are still available from collectors, but not in the numbers you might expect. They were probably the fastest-selling engines of the era, but proportionally fewer have been preserved. That is likely because the Red Heads were so inexpensive they were often discarded as toys. On the other hand, few Morton M-5 radials went to the dump.

Forster .99 and Earl Fortner's Super Buccaneer

A Forster .99 spark-ignition engine powers Earl Fortner's 1939 Super Buccaneer shown here. Most spark-ignition-powered models would land dead-stick because they rarely have throttle capability, but Earl's Forster has been fitted with a Weber .60 RC carburetor.

The Forsters have a bolt-on intake tube in back that allows a carburetor conversion to be fabricated without permanently modifying or destroying the originality of most old power plants. The Forster brothers seemed to recognize that their larger engines might be used in models needing some form of speed control: roughly half of the Forster .99s came equipped with two-speed ignition points for high- and low-speed operation.

Today you can get Forsters and parts from MECOA. See "Sources" for contact information.

Scratch-building anecdote (Dave Scale and Bill Northrop)

Dave Scale of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, sent an interesting letter that describes some of the differences between now and "the good old days," when businesses were smaller. Bill Northrop sells plans and sent Dave a story along with a set.

Dave wrote:

"I'm scratch-building a 1/4-scale DeHavilland Gipsy Moth from Bill Northrop's 1958 plans. As an aside, part of Bill's motivation to draw the plans was the fact that the Forster .99 was in production at the time."

(Interjection: Bill had the model mostly built before ordering the engine. Forster had been advertising a trade-in deal in which any old engine and $26 bought a new .99. But when Bill ordered the engine in 1959, Forster sent word that the last of the power plants had been sold.)

Dave continued with Bill's letter conclusion:

"After a fruitless search for a new or used one, we again wrote to Forster Brothers, explaining that we had this plane well on its way, designed around the .99, and now, no engine. Could something be done?

"We received an answering letter that is still in our possession. In it, one of the brothers said our letter was so plaintive that they couldn't turn it down, and they were assembling one last engine from available parts, to accommodate our drastic situation!

"Perhaps we can claim, with written proof, to own the last Forster factory-produced .99."

Dave added:

"Unlike kit building, scratch-building plans never tell you everything. Besides, I like to incorporate my own innovations. That's where the fun begins.

"The general feeling in our club is that building is becoming a lost art. All the best to you and thank you for your column."

Upcoming OT Events

Because of publishing lead times, if you would like to see your event listed here, you need to get the information to me at least four months before the event takes place.

  • 61st annual Southwest Regionals — January 15–17, 2011, Eloy, Arizona. This event combines AMA, SAM, National FF Society, and Flying Aces Club FF events and SAM RC events flown across the expansive field. For more information, check the AMA contest schedule or contact Contest Manager Al Lidberg.
  • Old‑time and modern model race cars fun run and swap meet — January 8, 2011, Whittier Narrows car track, Los Angeles area. The event will include racing on one of the few remaining cable car tracks in the country plus a swap meet of cars, parts, engines, and airplanes. See "Sources" for contact information.

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.