Old-Timers - 2011/02

134 MODEL AVIATION
SAM Champs 2010
Old-Timers Bob Angel | [email protected]
Also included in this column:
• Jimmie Allen
• Flying Aces
• Making gaskets
• Mysterious RFI
• Antique events
At the 2010 SAM Champs, Hank Gullet (lower left) takes off with his electric-powered
Airborn. Click on “Breaking News” on the SAM Web site home page for a complete
event report. Nevels photo.
The 2010 SAM(Society of Antique
Modelers) Champs was held in Muncie,
Indiana, in mid-September. Those who are
interested in seeing detailed results of who
flew what, and with what success, can find
complete reports on the SAM Web site. Click
on “Breaking News,” where you’ll find reports
on FF and RC that are broken down by events
flown each day.
There’s way too much content to include
here, but details of each flier’s model, engine,
wing area, and final scores are in the report on
the Web site. This information could be useful
for anyone who is considering starting SAM
competition.
Along with individual event winners, the
site lists overall champions in each of several
categories. Winning a championship requires
flying in a number of events in that category
and accumulating points for placing among the
top five finishers.
Overall champions were once determined
in a similar manner at early AMA Nats. But
we’ve long since branched out into so many
modeling specialties that the practice is no
longer practical.
Jimmie Allen was a fictional character in a
serial radio program that ran from 1933 until
the late 1940s. He was a 16-year-old aspiring
pilot who soloed and became an accomplished
flier early in the series. But Jimmie was also
an adventuresome combination of crime
solver, air racer, world traveler, and all-around
hero.
He naturally needed a sidekick, and that
was a slightly older pilot/mentor named Speed
Robertson. Mechanic Flash Lewis rounded out
a trio of adventurers. Perpetual nemeses were
needed, and those were Black Pete and Digger
Dawson.
A major sponsor was the Skelly Oil
Company, which recognized that the show
was aimed at youngsters. It promoted the
Jimmie Allen Flying Club, in which a child
could become a member by convincing his or
her parents to stop at a Skelly gasoline station;
he or she could join the club while the parents
most likely bought gas.
New members received a packet containing
a set of pin-on metal wings and other
promotional items, including rubber-powered
model kits and a personal letter from Jimmie.
Today those metal wings are prized
collectors’ items.
A periodic newsletter also came with
membership. And to top it all off, Jimmie
Allen model air races were held in major
cities, and thousands of youngsters and
parents attended.
The radio program is long gone, but
Jimmie lives on. He is kept alive by the Flying
Aces Club (FAC), SAM, and CDs and other
electronic transcripts of the original
broadcasts.
The FAC is a modern group devoted to
rubber power. It got its name from the Flying
Aces magazine, which was popular during the
1930s and 1940s. FAC meets are mostly
devoted to Rubber Scale aircraft—which are
works of art—but they also feature special
Jimmie Allen events.
The Jimmie Allen models are easy to
construct from plans or kits; more than a
dozen airplanes are available from various
Old-Timer (OT) suppliers. The SAM rule
book contains Jimmie Allen competition rules,
and several SAM chapters participate in an
annual Jimmie Allen postal contest.
Making gaskets is often necessary to keep
our older engines running. Usable gasket
material can be found at auto-parts stores; you
generally want the thinnest available stock.
Alternative materials include playing cards,
flat coffee filters infused with roomtemperature
vulcanizing (RTV) silicone gasket
material, or the RTV material itself.
Some engines, such as racing McCoys and
many modern power plants, are so well
machined that they don’t require gaskets. And
others use extremely thin gasket material that
you would have to obtain through a machine
shop or other specialty suppliers. Those
engines can usually be fitted without gaskets
by carefully lapping with valve grinding
compound.
If the old gasket is split, you can often use
it as a template for a new one. Otherwise
you’ll need to use the engine itself.
Let’s say you need only a backplate gasket.
Cut the major-diameter hole and slip it over
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Interference! I was recently flying a little
electric-powered fun-flyer when it took a
sudden violent radio glitch. It recovered
immediately but took another “hit” a few
seconds later, and then another. Before I
could land it, it took a final glitch and spun to
the ground, incurring minor damage.
As fellow fliers and I stood taking turns
guessing at the problem, the cause intensified
and became obvious. A rare (for California’s
Central Coast) thunder-and-lightning storm
was building in the distant hills, an estimated
2 miles away.
I fly my OT spark-ignition-powered
aircraft on 2.4 GHz, but this one was on 72
MHz, channel 30. A couple of other OT
models were flying on 2.4 GHz at the time,
and they were unaffected. This incident seems
to add credence to the fact that 2.4 GHz is
indeed more resistant to stray radio-frequency
interference, whether it’s from lightning or
spark-ignition systems.
There was a similar incident at a SAM
Champs in Colorado. One of the RC fliers
had a model in the air while a thunderstorm
gathered in the mountains probably 5 miles
away. The airplane was knocked out of the
sky. That was long before we had digital
spread spectrum.
No rain followed in the preceding cases,
but all RC flying was wisely suspended until
the threat passed.
SAM Antique Events: The term “antique”
could be used to describe most of our OT
aircraft. But to add a bit of confusion and to
make sure that we study the rule book, SAM
places our models in categories according to
their dates of birth.
Old-Timer airplanes were designed, kitted,
or published before the end of 1942, and
Antique models were designed, kitted, or
published before the end of 1938. Then to
further keep us mentally alert, there are a
couple of
events for
Antique
aircraft
the backplate, keeping the outside of the gasket
oversized. Then slip the backplate into place
on the engine, and draw the exterior outline
with a pencil or pen.
Keeping things in place, you can use a
sharp pencil in the screw holes to locate them.
Or you can carefully punch small, undersized
holes with an ice pick.
Remove the gasket and finish trimming it.
Curved cuticle scissors work well for this, but
to ensure domestic tranquility I bought a pair
of curved scissors that are normally used for
trimming Lexan RC car bodies.
You can punch out the screw holes with a
short length of appropriate-diameter brass
tubing. First sharpen one end with a #11 blade
rotated inside the tube.
But a better tool for this is the handsqueezed
rotary punch that leather craftsmen
use. You can more accurately hit the center of
the hole with this tool.
Brian Winch, an Australian engine guru
and writer, uses a quicker and simpler method
for trimming the exposed exterior of some
gaskets. He simply installs the gasket, tightens
the screws, and burns off the remainder with a
propane torch.
Referring back to that original large hole, I
found a set of punches at Harbor Freight Tools
that works well for it. The set contains 13
punches ranging from 11/2 inches to 1/4 inch in
diameter.
You can make a ring-shaped gasket, such
as that used on an Ohlsson & Rice frontplate,
by punching the OD and then the ID. If the
punch size isn’t exact, use the next closest
size. Then finish trimming with the curved
scissors.
Metal gaskets, such as those used under
cylinder heads, are more complex to produce.
A flying buddy uses a method that requires a
lathe.
He faces off a large, round piece of
aluminum bar stock and then drills and taps the
center. Then he screws the gasket material to
the face of the aluminum bar and cuts the
gasket OD and ID using the old reliable #11 XActo-
type blade chucked up on the cross slide.
February 2011 135
Larry Latowski (L) tunes the McCoy .60 with assistance
from his father, Larry Latowski . The 2010 SAM
Champs was held in Muncie, Indiana, in mid-
September. Ned Nevels photo.
Tandy Walker starts James Lollar’s Ohlsson .60 engine in the Dallaire.
Tandy won the Concours event with a finely crafted McCoy-powered
Sailplane. Rosalia Salvador photo.
flown as FF and two dissimilar events for RC.
For FF there is 30 Second Antique and
Fuel Allotment Antique. The former refers to
the 30 seconds of allotted engine run time. In
the fuel-allotment event, fuel is dispensed in
proportion to the weight of the model at 1/8
ounce per pound up to a maximum of 7/8
ounce.
In RC the Antique events are assigned
engine run times in seconds based on model
weight and engine type. This eliminates the
necessity for contest management to measure
fuel. An airplane might weigh more than 7
pounds, but the run time allotment stops
there.
The RC classes are Antique Glow and
Pure Antique. The former allots shorter
engine run times for Schnuerle engines than
for earlier cross-flow types. Scaling the
aircraft up or down is allowed in the glow
event but not in the Pure Antique category.
Pure Antique RC allows only an original
spark-ignition engine to be used. Run time is
8 seconds per pound of model weight, up to a
maximum 56 seconds. Maximum flight time
is 10 minutes for either RC division.
The FF fuel allotment has unlimited flight
time (no max), while the FF 30-second event
usually has maxes established according to
conditions at the contest. MA
Sources:
Society of Antique Modelers
www.antiquemodeler.org
Jimmie Allen
http://bit.ly/hb7p0W
Flying Aces Club
4707 Crosswinds Dr.
Erie PA 16506
www.aeroaces.com/flyingaces.htm
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