Old-Timers
SAM and VSC events are worth considering
SAM Champs
THE SAM CHAMPS (Society of Antique Modelers Championships) was held at AMA's International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana, with a scheduled start just two days before the writer's deadline for this issue. So while I breathlessly await a photo or two from that event, you can look at a couple of pictures from the package of residual materials that Mike Keville sent me last year when he retired after several years of writing this column.
The beautiful yellow model sitting on a concours-lineup table is a 1937 design: the Torpedo II. Don Blackburn of Perkins, Oklahoma, displayed and flew the model at an earlier SAM Champs. The Ohlsson & Rice (O&R) .60 engine makes it eligible for the Ohlsson Sideport competition, which is similar to many "one-airplane-design" events.
Don is one of the go-to guys for tuning and repairing those old spark-ignition engines. Among other services, he can chrome-plate and fit worn piston-cylinder assemblies to bring life back into tired and worn engines.
The Perris Speciale that Kevin Sherman is shown launching is a sort of new Old-Timer (OT) design by Sal Taibi. A group of OT free-flight (FF) enthusiasts meet and fly weekly at a field near Perris, California, which is commuting distance from the Los Angeles area. Sal conceived this easy-to-construct and -trim OT-style airplane, which quite a few regulars at the Perris site fly.
The picture of Cal Ettel launching Jack Hiner's RC Commando in the Arizona desert is a preview of things to come in January. The photo was taken at the site of the Southwest Regionals that is held at Eloy, Arizona, each January.
The event is one of the older and larger contests of its kind. It features modern, nostalgia, OT, and FAC (Flying Aces Club) FF events, in addition to OT RC. The area is so spacious that the FF and RC areas are separated by a few hundred yards, yet they are well within viewing and visiting distance.
The event is highly social and includes an on-field swap meet plus a few extracurricular activities. For 2009, the Southwest Regionals was set for January 17–19. You can verify that and get more details in MA's "Contest Calendar."
Other upcoming events
- While on the subject of upcoming events, keep in mind the Vintage Stunt Championships (VSC) for OT CL aerobatics. It's usually held in mid-March in Tucson, Arizona.
- Near the last weekend in March, look for the SAM 26 spring opener for OT SAM RC events at the world-famous Taft, California, flying site. It's one of just two OT RC events that are being held at the site each year. Check the "Contest Calendar" for details and dates.
Special engine events and SAM rule book highlights
Having mentioned a special one-of-a-kind engine event, let's take a look at the long lineup of such OT RC contests that are in the SAM rule book. While the FF portion of the book also offers several special events, those are restricted to model types—not power plants. Notable restrictions and special events include:
- RC 1/2A Texaco and 1/2A Scale: limited to Cox .049 reed-valve engines.
- Two events: require Brown Junior engines only.
- Foxacoy event: requires either a Fox .35 stunt engine or a McCoy .35 stunt engine.
- Ohlsson .23 and Ohlsson Sideport events: require spark-ignition versions of those power plants.
- Electric unlimited event: requires any of several models of Graupner motors.
Besides those eight classes, a new trial event is coming on strong and possibly destined for the rule book. It calls for a brushed Speed 400 motor. Other details in the rule book govern model types for each of those events. No one ever said life would be simple.
Although any O&R sideport engine is eligible for the Ohlsson Sideport event, the .19 and .23 sizes are seldom used; they are rarely competitive against the bigger .60-size engines and airplanes. Fortunately, enough O&R engines were produced that it isn’t too difficult to acquire a sideport at a reasonable cost compared to modern glow engines.
The O&R sideport requirements are for any Antique (pre-1939) design flown in its original unscaled size. There is a minimum weight requirement of 10 ounces per square foot of planform wing area. The model must rise off the ground unassisted and climb out with a limited number of seconds of engine run.
Maximum flight times are 7 minutes, or 420 seconds, beyond which no more points are accumulated. When more than one competitor maxes out all required flights, there’s usually a flyoff with unlimited duration.
Radios and modern technology in OT flying
Advanced technology isn’t a vital part of OT activities. Along with old aircraft designs and engines, many of us who fly OT RC use radios that aren’t the hottest new items on the market, yet are completely adequate for our needs. Two control channels are all you need for 1/2A Texaco and 1/2A Scale events, while three channels are all you need for any SAM competition events.
But with the popularity of digital spread spectrum (DSS) radios, many OT fliers are re-equipping themselves with new 2.4 GHz equipment. Besides the obvious freedom from waiting for a frequency pin, the new radios are generally proving to be superior in rejecting radio-frequency interference from spark-ignition engines.
For many, the new radios are their first encounter with some of the differences, and unfortunately some of the problems, that are unique to computerized transmitters. Almost universally, we miss the slide-type trim controls, which have been replaced by electronic switches.
Some RC Aerobatics fliers favor those precise digital adjustments, which can be made during practice runs and carefully recorded in their flight logs. But we “climb and glide” fliers often make elevator trim adjustments during flight and like the feel and instant response that the slide trims offer. Trying to fly while watching a small computer screen and memorizing positive and negative digital trim numbers at the same time isn’t too user-friendly.
Many of the “back-and-forth”-type RC sport fliers would also prefer to have their old analog trim switches back. The digital trims are no doubt lighter and cheaper to manufacture, so it might take some lobbying to convince radio makers to bring back one simple model in their lineup that features the analog slide trims.
Another difference in flying procedures that digital trims require is the use of an engine kill switch. With slide trims, RC fliers generally adjusted carburetors so that the engine would idle at low throttle stick when the trim was advanced. For landing, we’d slide the trim switch down to allow engine cutoff at any time with the familiar throttle stick.
Since digital trims don’t always lend themselves to easy engine cutoff, some manufacturers have found it necessary to add another “feature” to computer radios: a kill switch. With this setup, a pilot is tasked with blindly seeking out a switch (when a trim lever was so much more familiar) in the seemingly bristling array of transmitter switches to kill the engine while concentrating on landing the aircraft. I’ve learned of a crash caused by a pilot who mistook the trainer switch for the kill switch while on final approach.
Some DSS radios offer a trim resolution function, which can add or reduce the amount of inputs it takes to adjust a control or open and close a throttle. While shopping for a new radio, look into this feature if a kill switch isn’t your forte. Most computer radios offer more options, but, as with all new things, it takes a while to make them work the way we’re comfortable doing things.
A warning about kill switches and spark ignition systems
I have a warning and a simple solution to a potential problem. I received a phone call from an OT pilot who had burned out a spark coil. As best I could tell, he had used the transmitter’s kill switch to stop his spark-ignition engine. This action would activate the model’s onboard kill switch, shutting off ignition current and stopping the engine.
But upon releasing the transmitter’s kill switch, the onboard system would reactivate. The points would probably have closed as the engine stopped against compression, and the coil would be activated but could not fire. This would result in overheating and probable coil burnout.
The solution is to never use a computer radio’s kill switch to shut down your battery/coil spark systems. Continue using the regular throttle stick for engine shutdown. You can easily adjust the throttle stick range for shutoff since carburetor adjustment isn’t required.
And anytime the engine quits early for any reason, such as the radio’s going into fail-safe mode, don’t forget to close the throttle cutoff to protect the coil.
Nostalgia-class ideas and attracting new fliers
Many OT fliers are always searching for new projects. Does that sound odd?
Although there are dozens, and maybe hundreds, of OT designs, some people seek more. It struck me that one avenue for continually introducing new airplanes is to describe Nostalgia-class designs as 50 years old or older.
After conceiving what I thought was this unique brainstorm, I discovered that the VR/CS (Vintage Radio Control Society) has been doing that for some time. The only difference is that it chose 35-year-old designs as being eligible for the Nostalgia events.
Another, and possibly the main, benefit of this general idea is that it could continually attract new people into the movement. That’s because most people become interested in old models they once built and/or remember from their early exposure to modeling.
Administrative note
New SAM Officer: John Hirte has retired as SAM secretary and has been replaced by Tommy Gray. Another publication listed Tommy’s home address, which isn’t the preferred one. Please use the address in the source list for all correspondence to him.
Sources
OT engine services:
- Blackburn Aero Engineering
- (405) 547-1219
FF flying at Perris CA:
- Kevin Sherman
- (951) 737-7943
- [email protected]
SAM secretary:
- Tommy Gray
- Box 542
- Jonesboro LA 71251
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
