hAve yOU drOPPed enough hints about what sort of presents
you’d like for the Midwinter Glow-Plug Lighting Ceremony (or
whichever seasonal observance you’re into)?
Following is “Where to Get Stuff, Volume 2.” Circle the items
that interest you, and leave this magazine out for the elves to find.
Hints for elves are included.
This list is quite condensed, and is not an endorsement of the
products listed. Many of these sources offer more than the one or two
items listed, and most will send you a complete catalog if you ask.
1) Quickie 500 (Q-500) airplanes: These have rectangular wings,
box fuselages, and usually V-tails. They fly great as sport airplanes.
This is the best choice for the giftee who is thinking about Pylon
Racing, but hasn’t taken the plunge.
Q-500 airplane prices range from $40 to $400, depending on the
degree of completion and how recently the model was used to set a
national record.
• Intimidator: National Balsa, (413) 796-1925
• V-Max: Apex Composites, (209) 848-0861
• Vortex: Chuck Bridge, (209) 847-3459
• Bird of Prey: California Speed Pros, (605) 787-6340
• V-Vector: Morris Hobbies, (800) 599-6887
• Dominator 500: Lanier R/C, (770) 532-6401
• Mad Dog: Matney’s Models, (734) 848-8195
• HurriKane: Dan Kane Jr., (312) 775-2951
• Rev’lution: Mike Del Ponte, (303) 693-7519
• Conspirator: Archie Adamisin, [email protected]
• X-1: Craig Farthing, (303) 933-1772
2) Quickie 500 engines: These are the two-stroke glow variety,
with .40 cubic-inch displacement—the legal maximum for racing.
The premium competition engines are not known for idling, so
sport engines are a better choice if the giftee hasn’t practiced
landing “dead-stick” (power off, never to return).
Prices are $275 to $350 for the premium engines, and $65 to
$100 for the sport engines.
Premium competition engines:
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING
Remote signaling system (from September issue). Timers’ cage
is replaced by four display panels; starter has small cage.
Timers relax and enjoy the view from a safe distance. Control
boxes relay lap and cut information to starting line.
Author’s daughter Elizabeth shows dad how to use the flight
simulator for racing practice. See text for details.
132 M ODEL AVIATION
• Nelson: Nelson Performance Specialties,
(702) 265-7523, [email protected]
• Jett: Jett Engineering, (713) 680-8113,
[email protected]
• Edmunds: Edmunds Engineering, (301)
423-1825
Sport engines—all available through
local hobby shops and catalog houses:
• Thunder Tiger Pro .40
• Magnum .40
• SuperTigre GS .40
3) Quarter 40 (Q40) airplanes: Elves, do
not “surprise” your giftee with one of these,
unless you know for a fact he/she is well
beyond the beginner stage.
• Dago Red, Napier-Heston, Vendetta:
California Speed Pros, (605) 787-6340
• Miss Ashley II: Rusty Van Baren, (559)
582-7715
• TRC-1 Sidewinder: Small Creations, (817)
379-6468
• Loki, Miss Foxy Lady: H&M Racing,
(306) 446-4021
• Napier-Heston: Matney’s Models, (734)
848-8195
• Proud Bird: Keith Davidson, (858) 578-5651
4) Quarter 40 Engines: See “Quickie 500
engines.”
If you want one of the premium engines,
call the manufacturer and specify the
Quarter 40 version, so you don’t get the
Quickie variety. There are small but
important differences between the two.
5) Accessories: Each Racing aficionado
has a list in the back of his/her mind of
“wanna-gets”—items that would make life so
much easier, but haven’t been in the budget.
Elves, if you’re hesitant to go for a bigticket
item, such as an airplane or an engine,
consider one of the following and you can’t
go wrong. I have purchased, borrowed, or
witnessed others using each of these items
successfully.
The sources have other goodies available;
contact them for further gift ideas.
• Long-life lithium airborne batteries and
charger: Darrol Cady, (360) 573-0987
• Pit box: Matney’s Models, (734) 848-8195
• Airplane stand, glow-driver: H&M
Racing, (306) 446-4021
• Propeller pitch gauge (for Q40): Edmunds
Engineering, (301) 423-1825
• Tachometer: TNC Electronics, (914) 679-
8549
• Glow-driver: Radio South, Inc., (850)
434-0909
• Flight simulator software: Great Planes
Manufacturing, (800) 682-8948
Cyber-flying: The last item listed provides
a nice segue into the next topic: how to get
in some much-needed practice during the
winter months.
Nothing can duplicate the sense of flying
in three dimensions, but the Great Planes
M ODEL AVIATION
RealFlight® flight-simulator program is close
enough that you can use it to build the timing
and automatic responses you need to fly the
racecourse without flinching.
Start with the airplane in the standard
data file called “Simple Flyer” (a V-tail
powered glider). Copy it, name it “Race
Dog,” or whatever you like, then use the
“edit” function to customize it, as follows.
Wing: Airfoil SD7037; 1° washout;
negative 1.75° incidence; 48-inch span;
seven-inch chord; wing weight, 0.40
pounds.
Fuselage: Reduce frontal area to 10
square inches; select a fuselage weight of
one pound; and check the “retractable
landing gear” box.
Control surfaces: Ailerons—reduce size
to 11 inches long by 12% of wing chord;
adjust travel to 15° up, 12° down.
Elevator—reduce size to 15% of stabilizer
chord; adjust travel to 8° up, 4° down.
Rudder—reduce size to 15% of chord.
Under “Radio setup,” the default setting
is 20% exponential. I don’t like quite so
much exponential, so I reduced it to 12% on
everything except elevator (servo #2).
Engine: Copy the SuperTigre .90 with a
Bolly pipe, and rename it “racing engine.”
Edit to keep the SuperTigre .90 torque
profile, but select a sound profile of
“Electric 1.”
Edit the propeller so it has a 10-inch
diameter, 14.5 inches of pitch, and an
NACA 64-206 blade airfoil.
With this setup, your cyber-model will
look and sound similar to a V-tail Q40 or
FAI (Federation Aeronautique
Internationale) Racer.
The “Extra Special” is another good
airplane with which to start. I change the
wing airfoil to a 14% symmetrical section
and reduce the control throws. I still use the
SuperTigre .90, but with the original sound
profile. It acts like a Quickie-500 model.
I’ve been using the Columbia River
Gorge for a racecourse. Make an immediate
90° left turn after takeoff, and find the trees
on the rise out at the edge of the field; use
those trees as your sighting point to
simulate Pylon #1.
After turning #1, fly almost straight back
at yourself, then make a slightly larger
sweeping turn around yourself, to simulate
the turn at Pylons #2 and #3.
You will have to go almost entirely by
timing and “feel,” until you learn when to
release the elevator to put the airplane on
track toward #1 again.
When you get good enough to fly low
and flat, the dark background of the
Columbia River Gorge trees might make
it hard to see the airplane on the
backstretch.
Change the background to Adair at
Corvallis; the runway has trees on three
sides, and there’s a farm straight ahead
when you take off. Use the little notch in
the tree line—just to the right of the
large metal-roofed barn/shed—as your
#1 pylon.
The next step for advanced students is to
fly the entire racecourse in knife-edge
flight. The modified Simple Flyer will hold
knife-edge almost indefinitely, if you feed
in approximately half of the available right
rudder trim.
The tricky part is to learn to use rudder
to control the altitude and elevator to move
in or out on the course.
The most fun is to fly almost straight at
yourself on the backstretch, 20 feet high,
while balancing the airplane on its wingtip
and using tiny inputs of rudder and elevator.
But hey, you learned to balance on two legs,
didn’t you?
Go 15 minutes, twice a day.
Once you get solid with this setup, try
the following for a real thrill. You’ll need
the Add-Ons disk.
Edit the airplane again. Find the box in
the basic setup information where it
specifies “internal combustion engine”;
change that to “turbine engine.”
Go into the drop-down menu and select
the engine with 13 pounds of static thrust—
it should be the last one on the list. Copy it,
rename it “Super Screamer,” and edit
further by reducing the thrust to 6.5 pounds
and the fuel consumption to one ounce per
minute (allows six minutes per flight with a
six-ounce tank).
Go back to the airplane, under Control
Surfaces, and reduce the rudder throw to 9°
each way. You use the same trims to fly the
model, but the pace is even quicker than
before.
Two flights like this in the morning, and
you won’t need coffee!
race report: For those who prefer hanging
out in meet-space, racing goes on. But
because of magazine lead times, there are
more race reports in the winter than in the
summer.
This report is from Glen Wierschke
(Byron IL), covering the Rock Valley R/C
Flyers’ meet held July 30, 2000 at
Rockford IL.
Sixteen fliers competed in AMA Event No.
424—Sport Quickie. (Those with Web access
can find a complete list of rules on the AMA
Competition Department’s page, at
www.modelaircraft.org/comp/competition.htm.)
There are no photos, but the final
standings with each pilot’s best heat time,
are as follows:
Glen Wierschke 1:38.66
Jim Nikodem 1:47.83
Ernie Nikodem 1:46.83
Leroy Webb 1:48.70
Orv Steinmetz 1:39.92
Darwin Larson 1:40.02
Paul Sieden 1:43.72
John Logli 1:56.37
Tom DeGroodt 1:56.82
Al Perkins 2:09.00
Mark Warning 1:46.98
Jim Hager 2:03.00
Mel Ziska 2:19.00
Dave Gustafson 1:40.10
Mick Warning 1:53.00
Mark Fodge n/a
MA
