Hangar talk and club newsletters produce some interesting stories. Most are humorous, while others also contain important safety warnings.
Depending on field location, FF models can drift into swamps, cornfields, dense forests, hot deserts, etc. We hear of encounters with snakes, alligators, territorial dogs, bulls, irate landowners, water crossings, nettles, mosquitoes, barbwire fences, jumping cactus (cholla), dehydrating heat, etc.
One of our local Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) chapter members was test-flying a Rubber model from an Oceanside mesa near Santa Barbara, California. We’ll call him Jim; mostly because that’s his name.
A sudden breeze wafted the model out into the Pacific Ocean. It was early morning, so with no one else around, he stripped down to the bare essentials then swam out and retrieved the model. They say never swim alone, but what’s a person to do?
The late Sal Taibi was a tenacious pursuer of errant models. One of his adventures involved crossing a lake or stream for retrieval. He found a small wooden dock with an open outboard-powered boat tied up. The dock was unattended and the boat unlocked, so Sal fired up the outboard and retrieved the model.
Upon his return, the dock was no longer unattended. An irate boat owner stood loudly berating Sal and issuing arrest threats. Without ever looking at the man, Sal walked past with the model, responding only with a polite “thank you.”
Dan Heinrich and his father, “Aerodyne” Al Heinrich, made a hazardous retrieval from the desert flying site in Taft, California. Dan detailed his interesting story (four pages) in his club’s newsletter, primarily as a safety warning to others. I’ll share a heavily abridged version.
On the last flight of the afternoon, the DT had malfunctioned on Al’s aircraft, which headed southwest and into the rugged mountains toward Maricopa, California. Dan and Al gave chase in a pickup truck with a three-wheel all-terrain bike in the bed. The model had a radio tracker aboard, which they hoped would help locate it.
After negotiating several miles of rough, hazardous dirt roads, they caught a weak beep on the receiver. Dan unloaded the ATV and proceeded to search a couple of canyons, frequently losing the line-of-sight signal. He’d gotten off the bike and walked down to the edge of a crevice, when the bike tumbled past him and into a 400-foot ravine.
Dan worked his way down, hoping the machine might be rideable enough to follow the ravine down to a road. It wasn’t. He had to walk out by moonlight, and on the way got a signal from the model that was sufficient to later locate it. They’d brought no water and after an exhausting 5-mile hike, Dan found a house where the owner rehydrated him and drove him back to the field where he rejoined his dad.
The next morning they retrieved the model, but also decided to go back in and bring out the chase bike. They’d brought water this time, but had left it in the truck. They began dragging the disabled ATV down the canyon, but Dan soon realized he was no longer sweating and was on the verge of a heat stroke. He trudged back to the truck, drank, snacked, and took water back to his dad.
After a rest, they succeeded in getting the bike out after roughly 4 hours. At the end of the article, Dan confesses that they made several life-threatening mistakes, and cautions all FF fliers to take—at minimum—water and a cellphone on such excursions.
Fuel Requirements
Fuel requirements for Old-Timer (OT) models are sometimes out of the mainstream and not found in most hobby shops. I’ve always mixed my own for several reasons. After you learn to locate sources for ingredients, you can custom blend fuel for whatever engine you’re using at the time.
I’ve never found aging of either mixed fuel or raw ingredients to be a problem, as long as the containers are kept well sealed. I’ve read where some people advise to keep containers nearly full to prevent methanol from absorbing moisture.
But continually transferring fuel to different-size containers is unlikely to happen. I believe that a partially filled can is less likely to “breathe” in and out with temperature change if you give it a slight squeeze before tightening the cap. Then invert the can and squeeze again to check that it doesn’t leak. You’d be surprised at how many nearly new factory cans don’t pass that test.
One of the hardest fuels to keep sealed is diesel, and it’s most important ingredient, ether. Ether seems to evaporate through the can, or at least through the cap. Alfredo Herbon, a clever OT flier from Argentina, shared his solution.
He replaces the typical screw-on cap assembly with a soldered-on brass domestic gas (not gasoline) hardware fitting. A brass cap is screwed onto the soldered fitting resulting in a solid seal. He devises a second screw-on cap with a soldered-on brass tubing outlet to dispense the fuel.
I’ve been told that if ether evaporates almost completely, it can become a hazardous explosive. I assume that hazardous condition would probably not occur when the ether is mixed with kerosene and oil as a complete fuel.
When I’ve had to store pure ether, I make a premix with a measured amount of kerosene. I assume this would be much less likely to evaporate to the point of becoming dangerous. Would any chemist care to comment?
Because many find mixing fuel impractical or are intimidated by the process, here’s a reliable source for glow, gasoline, or diesel fuels. Al Heinrich of Aerodyne is one of the go-to guys for stock or custom-blended fuels.
An email or telephone call will get you a price list and (if needed) advice for what would be best for your engine. Aerodyne also has a good range of many other hard-to-find model products needed by FF or OT modelers.
See the “Sources” listings for more information.
2014 SAM Championships
The 2014 Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) Champs is scheduled for September 15-19 at the AMA’s International Aeromodeling Center flying site in Muncie, Indiana. This year’s theme models are any of Chet Lanzo’s designs. Special recognition will be given within each event to the highest-finishing Lanzo design.
In past years, the model of the year often required constructing a new airplane. This time we can expect greater participation in the theme event because many Lanzo designs are already built and competing. These include designs such as the Bomber, Airborn, and RC-1, plus several Rubber designs and at least one glider.
Dave Harding has volunteered to manage the SAM Champs this year, and will be assisted by former SAM president, Jim O’Reilly, as the FF CD; Mike Salvador as the RC CD; and Glen Poole as the electric CD. For anyone who would like to build a theme aircraft or any other design for the Champs, please see this column in the October 2012 issue of MA for references to plans and kit sources.