RADIO CONTROL ELECTRICS - 2003/07

104 MODEL AVIATION
THIS COLUMN WILL list one meet,
remind you of the Electric Connection
Service (ECS), and address in detail one of
the most common reader questions.
Jon McVay (5 Hillcrest Heights, Mount
Vernon IA 52314; Tel.: [319] 895-6527; Email:
[email protected]) wrote to tell us of
the upcoming 2003 E-FLI-OWA event
scheduled for Saturday and Sunday
September 6-7, 2003. The location is the
Seven Cities Sod Farm near the junction of
I-80 and Iowa 130. You can find a map and
more details at www.rc-dymond.com/
efliowa/.
Last year’s meet drew 42 pilots, and,
given that E-meets seem to grow, I’d expect
even more participation this year. You can
find pictures from last year’s gathering at
http://fisheye.ws/efliowa/. The mailer I
received emphasizes that this is a fun-fly
with no competitive events. You can also
buy, sell, and trade E-goodies on the spot,
and a catered lunch will be available.
As I’ve written many times throughout
the years, E-meets are a great place to
witness contemporary Electric. If you are
thinking about E-power but still have
questions or doubts, E-meets are sure to
convince. I’ve never heard anyone say that a
meet discouraged him or her!
A few months have passed since I’ve
received any ECS requests, so it’s time to
remind everyone of this resource. The ECS
is your place to seek out others of the Epersuasion
in your immediate area. If you
(or your group) are seeking to “connect”
with E-others nearby, send me your request
and contact information (address, telephone
number, etc.), and I’ll list it in an upcoming
column.
In this way, unknown E-folks who are in
your vicinity can get in touch, and presto!
You’re not so alone anymore! There are
present-day E-clubs that got their start via
the ECS—an exclusive service feature of
this MA column for nearly two decades.
“Timeless” is about the best word I can
find to describe many common reader
questions. No matter how many years pass
and no matter how many times the same
questions are answered (here or elsewhere),
new (and even not-so-new) E-fliers keep
coming up with the same inquiries.
One of the most often-asked questions
concerns books (or other reference material)
about Electric. I know that what follows has
been addressed in the past, but this reader
need continues. However, before I proceed I
have a question for you.
Have you ever wondered how all of
today’s Electric knowledge and product
have come about? Nearly none of it existed
30 years ago, so how do we have the vast
and exploding E-marketplace and Eparticipation
of today?
Throughout the years, many people
gradually learned then shared their
knowledge of E-“how-to” and used it to
develop continuously improved E-specific
designs and products. We collectively went
from “E-nothing” to “E-plenty” in roughly
three decades. You can see this displayed
dramatically simply by comparing any
popular aeromodeling magazine prior to
approximately 1980 with a typical
aeromodeling magazine of today.
I generally view all of this as the classic
chicken-and-egg situation. Time was when
few aeromodelers even knew the word
“Electric”; at just about the same time there
were few Electric products around. So
which came first?
Neither. They came together in sort of
gradual bootstrap fashion. And this ongoing
process is accelerating; the more people who
have an E-interest, the more new ideas and
E-products are produced, and the more new
E-aeromodelers come about. Still
bootstrapping, but now explosively so.
Despite the expanding popularity of Epower,
with its vast, up-to-the minute
product array, there remains one missing
basic product: a complete, up-to-the minute
book about electric. This is the most
frequent reader inquiry and request. The key
words are “complete” and “up-to-the
minute.” It is impossible for anyone to write
such a book; nearly as soon as it’s out, it
Bob Kopski, 25 West End Dr., Lansdale PA 19446
RADIO CONTROL ELECTRICS
Tom Cimato mans his popular MaxCim booth at NEAT 2002. Sig ARF conversions
include Four-Star 60, Kadet LT-50, Rascal 40, Kadet Senior, scratch-built Gee Bee.
Don McGillivray (Fort Myers FL) with his
Boulton Paul Overstrand at NEAT 2002.
Has twin geared 480s and weighs 68
ounces.
106 MODEL AVIATION
begins to become obsolete—at least in part.
However, I can recommend a couple of
books that deal adequately with the basics,
and that is what beginners really need
anyway. The most recent complete book
about electric that I’m aware of is Bob
Aberle’s Clean and Quiet.
It is several years old but retains a high
value for its presentation of basics. You will
not find coverage of the latest products and
technology, but you will find a great deal of
useful basic and lasting information to help
you get started in electric. Clean and Quiet
is available from New Creations R/C, Box
496, Willis TX 77378; Tel.: (936) 856-4630.
More recent, but a bit more specialized,
is Bob’s Getting Started in Backyard Flying,
published by Air Age (which publishes
Model Airplane News magazine). You can
also order this book from www.rcstore.com
or at (800) 537-5874.
As the title implies, Getting Started in
Backyard Flying deals largely with smaller
Radio Control Electrics but addresses many
electric basics that are useful regardless of
your size interest. I recommend both of
Bob’s books for any electric beginner (and
for some not-so-beginners too).
The longest-running printed E-resource
is the monthly aeromodeling magazine. For
decades, most of the popular monthlies have
included an Electrics column and/or
frequent E-feature articles. The latter
include aero designs, Electronic Speed
Control and other E-related electronics
designs, E-meet coverage, etc. These
writings collectively represent an enormous
albeit unordered wealth of E-info
accumulated in time. But therein is the
challenge, because you need access to this
history.
I tend to retain all of my aeromodeling
magazines, but many people do not. It’s
common to receive a reader inquiry about a
few-month-old missing issue. Others have
written that they clip and file all articles of
interest—about Electrics or otherwise. In a
sense, they make their own books—
something I’ve routinely encouraged
through the years.
I’ve also received readers’ letters about
how they have recently become interested in
Electrics and how happy (and often
surprised) they have been to go back and
read columns and features long past.
Through the years this MA column (and
those in other monthlies) have covered
several times everything you need to know
to get started in E-power.
But there is an even newer spin on this
enduring monthly resource, and some feel
that it is the best yet: E-dedicated
magazines. There are three in the USA that
I’m aware of, including Quiet Flyer
(formerly Sailplane and Electric Modeler)
and two small E-airplane-dedicated
publications: Backyard Flyer and Radio
Control MicroFlight. No single monthly
column can begin to compete with a
monthly magazine dedicated to a given
subject!
Quiet Flyer is a full-size monthly
magazine dedicated to Electrics and
sailplane flying but with what seems to be
an increasing emphasis on Electrics. I
strongly recommend this publication. You
can get more info at www.quietflyer.com or
from Kiona Publishing Inc., Box 4250, West
Richland WA 99353; Tel.: (866) 627-0456
(orders only).
Backyard Flyer and Radio Control
MicroFlight are Air Age publications
dedicated to small Electrics, and, as a
generalization, the titles tell the
distinguishing tale. I subscribe to both.
Backyard Flyer is a bimonthly, and you can
find more info about it at www.backyard
flyer.com. Radio Control MicroFlight is a
16-page monthly newsletter-style
publication, and you can obtain more info
about it at www.rcmicroflight.com. You can
also get more information about both
publications from Air Age Publishing Inc.,
100 East Ridge, Ridgefield CT 06877.
Keep in mind that even though these are
dedicated E-magazines, they are still not
books; that is, you still have to accumulate
their content in time to get a more complete
electric picture. If you are a beginning Eaeromodeler,
do consider the Bob Aberle
books I mentioned, and do get into at least
some monthly E-columns and/or dedicated
E-magazines. The former give you the
basics in a handheld fashion, and the latter
help keep you up to date.
One burgeoning, up-to-the-minute Eresource
is the Internet. Sites such as
www.ezonemag.com and
http://members.aol.com/KMyersEFO have
huge archives of all kinds of E-info. They
also have links to much more. These sites
offer a great deal of resource info for those
getting started and the accomplished Emodeler.
These sites also share much productspecific
information in the form or reviews
and “bashings.” But you do have to dig
through the depths, so do plan to spend
some time—depending on your specific
interest. No paper publication can possibly
keep up with Web-based resources for sheer
volume, variety, and speed, but you can’t
hold the Internet in your hands like a book.
This extensive, collective paper and
electronic E-resource contains within itself
yet one more E-resource: the
writers/contributors themselves. I know
many of these people, and they are able and
willing to accommodate reader questions.
On average during my 20 years of
association with MA, I have received and
replied to approximately 200 reader letters
annually. Almost all have specific questions,
and I’ve been able to answer most. There
have been a few questions that I’ve referred
Model Machining Service (www.innerdemon.com) Inner Demon,
Mini Demon gearboxes. Sizes from park flyer to 1⁄4 scale are
available.
to other sources, but chances are that I can
help you, so feel free to write me at the
address in the header. (I do not use E-mail
for this purpose.)
As might be expected with large
numbers of experienced people involved,
there can be many and varied opinions and
preferences on almost any E-topic. Thus
fielding a question “at large” will likely
bring a variety of knowledgeable replies,
and some will seem contradictory, or at
least quite different. That usually just
means that there is more than one way to
do something, or perhaps there is more
than one strong product preference.
Sometimes you can get bad
information, and this is most likely to
happen online. Often one will run into
strong (but incorrect) offerings from a
self-proclaimed expert. One has to be
wary of this. This particular pitfall is far
less likely to happen in a paper
publication. You just have to do the best
you can to sort among more than one
reply. But not to worry; it seems clear that
on average we E-hobbyists have gotten it
right most of the time!
Recall the earlier reference to “30 years
ago.” At that time there was nearly
nothing electric on the market—only startup
columns in the popular monthly
magazines and few modelers pursuing this
then-new aeromodeling power source
resource.
Now, three decades later, we E-fliers
have three dedicated E-magazines of our
own, not to mention what seems like
boundless E-product! This is phenomenal
and a very strong message. As a beginner
you may first view electric as an
overwhelming challenge. Not so; witness
the present and appreciate that we got here
by virtue of people like you, who were
once beginners. So don’t even think that
you can’t do it!
Thus ends one more column. Please
include an SASE with any correspondence
for which you’d like a reply. Again, I do
not use E-mail for this purpose, but I do
respond to all written inquiries. Happy Elandings,
everyone. MA
July 2003 109