Author: Mark Fadely
Edition: Model Aviation - 2008/09
Page Numbers: 110,111,112,114
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Radio Control Helicopters

Mark Fadely [[email protected]]

A few reflections on our state of the sport

WELCOME BACK to the helicopter corner of MA. This has already proven to be an incredible year for model helicopters. Manufacturers have been working hard in the last year to make our hobby better than ever.

Droves of new pilots are buying their first helicopters, and sales of intermediate models are strong. The top-level helicopters have many new innovations built in. The expert fliers have an arsenal of advanced equipment at their fingertips. The tools a pilot needs are available, and they're even cheaper than they were a decade ago. State-of-the-art equipment can be found at every level.

Also included in this column:

  • Learn the Tic Toc
  • Wings for Kids event
  • FAI could help your 3-D skills
  • Send in your cool flight shots

It makes you wonder where things will be five years from now. I'll bet that advancements will not be slowing. It is going to be fun to see how things progress in the next few years. It is cool that a pilot can buy a modern RC helicopter and get really good within a couple years. That was never possible before.

Many potential pilots are being exposed to the hobby through small micro electric-powered models that may have arrived as Christmas or birthday gifts. Many of the little helicopters are aerobatic, so the new pilots can get a taste of extreme flight. Then if they are into it, they can move up to 500-size electric-, 30-size glow (fuel)-, or 50-size glow-powered machines. Since the manufacturers cover the upgrade path so well, more and more expert-level pilots are popping up. It is truly a fantastic time to be in the hobby.

But it is not all about 3-D; Scale helicopters are coming out of the dark as of late. No offense, but Scale had been on the back burner for a while. Turnout at contests and meets has been down in the last five years. Now Scale is making a big comeback, and part of the reason is support from the manufacturers. A Scale enthusiast can buy a prepainted fuselage and pop a 50-size helicopter into it to complete a great-looking model in minimal time. Some of the Scale purists will argue that buying ARF stuff is somehow not worthy. I look at it from the opposite perspective; there is a new Scale pilot who probably would not have taken the time to build a kit otherwise. That equals one new pilot the hobby did not have before.

New Maneuver Time—Learn the Tic Toc

If you have attended a fun-fly recently, you surely would have seen this move. A Tic Toc (or metronome, as the Brits say) is an oscillating maneuver that suspends the helicopter in air by pivoting on an axis. Aileron and elevator Tic Tocs are the most common.

It is a cool move that can look nice, especially when flown to music; a Tic Toc’s tempo often matches a song’s beat. Voilà! Now you can choreograph your flight to music.

The elevator Tic Toc is the most common, and it looks the coolest. Your helicopter should be capable of inverted flight before you try this maneuver. You can fly it with the tail toward you, but for best effect it should be done side-on.

If you are comfortable with a side-view orientation, go up to a safe altitude and put the model into a left or right side-on hover. Feed in positive collective while gently pulling back elevator until the helicopter is nose-up, pointing at the 10 o’clock position while the tail is down near the 6 o’clock position. The helicopter is now in the positive stopping position of the Tic Toc.

You can sneak up on trying the full-blown version by stopping in this position and then letting the model settle back into an upright hover by applying down-elevator.

When you are ready to do the full move, pull the helicopter back into an inverted nose-high position with the nose at 2 o’clock and the tail at 6 o’clock. The idea is to keep the tail fairly motionless and move the canopy back and forth between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock.

You can do long, slow Tic Tocs or fast, tight ones. That is why they work so well to music; you can vary the speed of the transitions quite a bit.

It sounds easy, but, as in most maneuvers, it is difficult to keep the model locked solidly in and moving the same amount on each Tic Toc. With practice, you will be doing these maneuvers on the deck and choreographing them to your favorite music tracks.

Good luck, and send me an E-mail to let me know how it is going.

Louisville Wings for Kids Air Show

The River City Radio Controllers opens its field to the public every June for an action-packed air show. The club is located in an upscale section of Louisville, Kentucky, on the city’s Tom Sawyer State Park property. This year marks its eighth anniversary. The facility is fantastic and sports a long asphalt runway.

The show’s proceeds go to the Crusade for Children foundation. It is a great cause, and top pilots show up each year to do their part for the charity by making demo flights as only they can. The show includes airplane and helicopter flying.

Doug Trent is one of the local helicopter gurus. He has flown in many contests and currently pilots a beautiful Hirobo FAI machine. FAI is the world’s air sports federation, and its contests are flown according to a precise and defined set of maneuvers and placements. It is losing popularity in this country as 3-D is taking over. In relation to helicopters, 3-D is as American as apple pie and baseball.

All 3-D pilots could enhance their flying by looking into the details of FAI flying. Much of the precision and maneuver placement that is required in FAI is completely lost in a lot of the 3-D flying. A melding of the two styles is most exciting to watch.

Bill Donovan is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He is a longtime member of the Louisville club. Bill is fun to be around and is a big fan of helicopters. His piloting skills are impressive when he guides his Synergy N9 through an aerobatic routine. I have always admired how clean and mechanically perfect he maintains his models.

A few years ago at the XFC (Extreme Flight Championships), we were all enjoying the showmanship of some of the pilots. The infamous Darrell Bell (aka Big D!) was the announcer that year. He would command the pilots to “Make it hot!” and their flights would begin. That phrase caught on, and Bill has been shouting it out at fun-flys and contests ever since. In fact, he had a shirt made for each helicopter flier in his club that reads, “Make it Hot!” on the back. He even made one for me. Thanks a lot, Bill. That shirt brings back some great memories.

Thanks to Jim Stark for taking the pictures at Louisville this year. I normally go, but this year we had to cancel our family trek to River City because my wife had a bad bicycle accident. She is doing okay, but recovering from surgery at a fun-fly was not going to work. We already have plans to attend next year's gathering, though.

Jim Stark has been around the helicopter side of our hobby for a long time. He recently put his vast knowledge to work by starting a business with his longtime friend, Carl Bonta, called Hyperformance RC. They make upgrade parts for helicopters. Right now most of the parts are designed for the Synergy line of helicopters. Hopefully they will expand their capabilities by making upgrades for other brands.

The tooling and machining work Jim and Carl produce is beautiful. Parts quality makes a huge difference in how our machines perform. Check out their Web site the first chance you get. I know these guys are going to be successful as they expand the business.

Thank all of you for the pictures you have been submitting to the "Viewfinder" page here in MA. A slew of killer shots have already been submitted. I can't wait to see what everyone contributes.

RunRyder is running a monthly photo contest in the photo and video forum, but you can submit cool airplane or helicopter shots directly to MA through Editor Michael Ramsey's E-mail.

I have enjoyed our time this month and I have some exciting stuff for you next time. See you back here then. MA

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.