RADIO CONTROL GIANTS
Sal Calvagna, 1335 Broadway Ave., Holbrook, NY 11741; E-mail: [email protected]
TO FOLLOW UP on my October 2004 column, the Santa Barbara Radio Control Modelers club has completed and successfully flown its 1/4-scale Loughead F-1 Flying Boat. Club members have been building this flying replica for the past seven years as a public-service project for the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.
The museum wants to preserve a rendition of the famous Loughead brothers' successful F-1 Flying Boat that was first constructed in Santa Barbara in 1918. It provided the funding for the construction, while club members donated their labor. The model has an 18.5-foot upper wingspan and a fuselage 9 feet long.
This historic preservation project is one fine example of what modeling and modelers can accomplish. I have included a couple of sneak-peek photos of the 1/4-scale Loughead F-1's first flight; a more comprehensive story will appear in a future issue of MA. Keep an eye out for it.
It's no secret that one of the fastest-growing areas of RC Giants is aerobatic models. As with their RC Giant counterparts—military, Golden Age, and civil-aviation models—the larger aerobatics aircraft are scale miniatures that have found a home with big gas-burning engines.
Their appeal is easy to grasp. Unlike the military miniatures with retracts, gear doors, and higher wing loadings, the aerobatics models usually max out at four channels—or a fifth if you include a smoke system—and have a much lighter wing loading and a greater power-to-weight ratio. Most have what is called "unlimited vertical performance."
This doesn't mean that a typical four-channel aerobatics model is simple. Since the airplanes range in size from approximately 25% to more than 40% scale and sport huge ailerons, elevators, and rudders, they often have more than one servo per movable surface. In some extreme models, such as the Hangar 9 46% TOC Ultimate 10-300, I have seen four digital servos ganged to provide the necessary torque.
Their real appeal becomes apparent when flying. These models are typically easier to fly and land than many other types of scale models—landings are usually "gentle arrivals." However, although it may be easy to fly a typical racetrack pattern or simple maneuvers such as a roll or a loop, the precision and 3-D maneuvers they were designed for take practice, practice, practice.
Just as with the rest of the modeling world, aerobatics models can be found in kit and ARF form. Whatever your RC pleasure, if you have the opportunity to see one of these models fly—especially in competent hands—you’re certain to be impressed.
Cassar's Carden
Effie Cassar of Miller Place, New York, built a 40% Carden Aircraft Extra 330. The model spans 118 inches, has a fuselage length of 115 inches, and weighs 38 pounds.
- Model: 40% Carden Extra 330
- Wingspan: 118 in
- Fuselage length: 115 in
- Weight: 38 lb
- Engine: Desert Aircraft DA-150 twin-cylinder gas
- Propeller: Mejzlik 32 x 10
- Radio/servos: Futaba radio system with JR 8411 digital servos
- Batteries/graphics: NoBS batteries; Wildmann's graphics
For more information on Carden model aircraft, visit: www.carden-aircraft.com.
Edwards' Pup
I have included a photo of a great-looking Balsa USA 1/4-scale Sopwith Pup that Daniel Edwards of Topeka, Kansas, built. Daniel is a member of the Capitol City Radio Control Club and has been flying RC for seven years. This is his first RC Giant project.
- Model: Balsa USA 1/4-scale Sopwith Pup
- Builder: Daniel Edwards, Topeka, KS
- Club: Capitol City Radio Control Club
- Covering: Solartex sprayed with Top Flite clear; rudder and elevators covered with red, white, and blue MonoKote
- Engine: Zenoah G-23 gas
- Finished weight: just over 15 lb
Daniel added scale details: an instrument panel built from scraps (with switches and a nonfunctional turn coordinator), a pilot figure from Aces of Iron, a 1/4-scale Vickers machine gun from Williams Bros, ammunition chutes, and individually painted rounds on the ammo belt. The model needed very little lead in the nose to balance.
Daniel had fellow club member Greg Inkman take the model up for the first flight. On a subsequent flight, Daniel flew the Pup and was surprised by how stable it was. He was nervous on final approach, but the Sopwith descended slowly, wings level, and touched down gently on the mains with the tail settling shortly after. He readily admits that his Pup is easier to fly and land than any of his smaller glow airplanes. Now he is a devout RC Giants believer — welcome aboard, Daniel.
Love Those Gee Bees
Frank Pace of Islip, New York, built his Gee Bee Model Y from an Ikon N'Wst kit. The model spans 90 inches, is powered by a Brison 3.2 gas engine, and weighs 24.5 pounds. The eye-catching scallop paint scheme was common to all Granville brothers racers.
- Model: Gee Bee Model Y (Ikon N'Wst kit)
- Builder: Frank Pace, Islip, NY
- Wingspan: 90 in
- Engine: Brison 3.2 gas
- Weight: 24.5 lb
After the success of the earlier Model X, the Granville brothers marketed a new series of Sportster models advertised as "the fastest and most maneuverable licensed airplane for its horsepower in the United States." The Gee Bee Sportsters were frequently shown off at air shows and attracted much attention. The Granville brothers retained the early Sportsters (Model D and E) for some time; the Model Y was designed for aviation enthusiasts and was also successful in competition.
The Great Depression took its toll on aircraft sales and hurt the fledgling civil-aviation industry. Although their aircraft designs remain controversial even today, the Granville brothers and their magnificent Gee Bee aircraft live on in Golden Age lore.
I am working on a 30% Gee Bee Model D and hope to have it in the air this spring. If you have a Golden Age model you’re currently working on or have recently completed, send me a photo and I’ll do my best to include it in a future RC Giants column.
MA
Note: the remainder of the scanned page consisted of photo captions and an advertisement.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
