Author: Stan Alexander
Edition: Model Aviation - 2008/09
Page Numbers: 106,107,108
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Radio Control Scale - 2008/09

Stan Alexander [[email protected]]

Making the smart Scale-project choice—knowing your options

In writing this column, I often learn new and exciting information or am able to help other Scale modelers with different aspects of their projects. Reports filter in from Scale events across the country, and I try to attend as many as my schedule will allow. Then there are times when I find out about an airplane I never knew existed, which can be a treat for Scale modelers.

Last month I wrote about selecting an airplane to build. You have to like the full-scale aircraft enough to want to put a great deal of time into constructing the model. If it’s one of the ARFs, you can put it together quickly and go fly. But building is a lot of the fun; it’s worth the effort to make that time in your schedule.

Many modelers select and purchase a kit before they figure the total cost of building it. Numerous models, especially those with retracts and flaps, involve what some would consider “hidden” costs. You might pay $200 for the kit, only to learn that the tires, retracts, cockpit kit, and other details add up to another $500–$600. That $200 doesn’t include the engine either, and if the model spans 65–90 inches, you are usually looking at an additional $200–$300.

That is one reason why kits such as the J-3 have been so popular through the years. There is a multitude of color schemes for the Cub (that’s right; you don’t have to paint it yellow). There are also a huge number of types you could build, including military, civilian, Civil Air Patrol, aerobat, etc. You can add floats, skis, or conventional wheels, and I've even seen a few with wheel pants. The clipped-wing version of the Cub is fun to model and fly, because the full-scale version was an aerobatic performer that could do basic maneuvers for competition or the local fly-in.

There are many other civil types in kit form for which you don't have the expense of some of the additions I mentioned. Tom Poole built a beautiful 1/4-scale Piper Tri-Pacer from an Ikon N'West kit and has done great with it in competition in the last two years.

Are you looking at a 1/5- to 1/3-scale warbird? Most of this type I saw at Top Gun this year were 1/4 scale except for the World War I pursuits; those were mostly finished out at 1/3 scale. Many of the World War II heavy-metal types will cost $3,000 or more to build with retracts, flaps, etc. However, most modelers will tell you that it isn't the cost of parts but the cost of time that makes the model much more valuable.

The size of Scale models seems to be ever increasing, which puts some modelers out in the left field of competition. Most of the successful championships across the country are held at full-scale airports — not model facilities. This is because a full-scale runway or taxiway can accommodate four flightlines or more. There are also large jets that require a huge overfly area, which 1/4- to 1/3-scale warbirds also enjoy. Events such as Florida Jets or Top Gun provide healthy accommodations for the variety of requirements needed for today's innovative models.

With mechanical options, you have what some modelers call "automatic 10s" for flight scores if everything works as it should with retracts and flaps. Other options you might add to a warbird are a tank drop or bomb drop. It's a toss-up between technology and simplicity. There are no automatic 10s in most competitions, but the realism of an opening canopy or landing lights heightens the wow factor at any fly-in. These features can't be used for flight options, but they add that warm, fuzzy feeling of being at a full-scale airfield, which is the realism-in-flight appreciation that judges use to award a score.

One of the aspects I enjoy is finding airplanes that are relatively undiscovered by the modeling public. Last fall I attended a local swap meet and saw a kit that looked similar to something a modeler might design as a bush plane. While researching the model later, I learned that it was a one-off Found Bush Hawk XL. The Internet is a great source of information and sometimes three-views.

I wrote the Found company for permission to publish its three-views of the Bush Hawk in the magazine, with no luck so far. But the company has downloadable three-views of the airplane in three different forms. It sort of looks like a modern version of the de Havilland Beaver, which looks like it could do the job handily.

Found Brothers Aviation Ltd. was established to design and build the FBA-1 based on experience gained from bush operations in northern Canada. The new airplane was designed to withstand the rugged environment of the undeveloped regions of North America's bush country. In 1996, Found Aircraft Development Inc. acquired the rights to the FBA-2C and started development and production of an improved model that was designated the FBA-2C2 Bush Hawk XP. It was designed to fly from rough fields, water, or snow and to compete with a wide range of airplanes, including the normal Cessnas we see with floats in Alaska and Canada.

Top Notch Product Company has a small 48-inch, electric-powered model of the Bush Hawk. There are plans to have a 1/4-scale version of this aircraft next year that will be CAD-drawn with laser-cut parts. That would produce a 96-inch wingspan model.

Around Scale

The beautiful Curtiss Jenny has been a classic for almost a century; it's hard to believe. There have been many different versions, large and small, built all over the world. Proctor Enterprises has produced one of the best kits of this subject, and Bill Zinger of Columbia, Tennessee, built it. If you know anything about these kits you understand how amazing they are. They have an incredible amount of scale airframe structure, as well as fittings and other details that are needed to go with them.

Bill's 87-inch Jenny, with an RCV .91 engine, is modeled after a replica JN-4D that is located at an Army museum in Fort Rucker, Alabama. Some of the details include all the rigging, wire wheels, scale cockpit, pilot, and static propeller.

Bookshelf

Air Battles: P-51B/C Mustangs Over The Third Reich, by Tomasz Szlagor, is published by Kagero Publications. The early Mustangs have always fascinated me. For one, you don't see them as often as you do the later D version with the bubble canopy.

This soft-cover, 80-page book includes some good information about variants of the Mustang, including the A-36 dive bombers. B and C models of the P-51 with names such as "Shoo Shoo Baby," "Miss Pea Ridge," "Ding Hao!," "Easy Rockin' Mama," "Shangri-La," "The Hun Hunter Texas," "Available Jones 5th," "Joan," and "Marion" have photos that show the entire aircraft.

Scale drawings and Mylar masks for plastic models are included with the book. There are color side views of some of the aircraft, including 10 different color schemes. The two "hoods" are shown, one of which is the Malcolm type. It is basically a sliding canopy with a bubble on top for a little more room in the cockpit.

Although this is not the most comprehensive book on the subject, there are some good photos, scale drawings, and color side views. It isn't as extensive as others from the same publisher. With the devaluation of the dollar, prices seem to be going up. As I write this, the book is available from Squadron for $26.09 plus shipping. It is item KG12002.

Next month I'll start a simple build-along with some Scale modelers' favorite and others' most dreaded subject: the J-3 Cub. I'll do so because there are so many RC modelers out there who have never built a model in kit form. Have you? I warn you that it could be a J-3 with a twist, but I hope not a warp.

Fair skies and tailwinds! MA

Sources

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