Radio Control Slope Soaring - 2011/06

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Radio Control Slope Soaring Dave Garwood
Winter building projects
WHILE I WRITE this column in early March, we are experiencing
yet another of the many snowstorms that hit the Northeast during the
winter of 2010-2011. So many of us Northeastern and Midwest
modelers have been building more than flying so far this year.
One of the projects on my winter workbench is an MM Glider Tech
Marauder. This is a 115-inch-span modern version of a classic stickbuilt,
flat-bottom-airfoil polyhedral glider.
I first saw one fly at the Charles River Radio Controllers (CRRC)
RES (Rudder, Elevator, Spoiler) contest, and I was there at Soar Utah
2008 when Clarence Ashcraft completed his League of Silent Flight
eight-hour slope flight (covered in the December 2008 Radio
Controlled Soaring Digest) with one.
When I asked Clarence at Soar Utah 2010 if he still favored the
Marauder for big-sky slope flying he replied, “I’m building my fifth
one.”
Why does a slope pilot need a 115-inch-span polyhedral model? To
diversify or to branch out into other types of soaring flight.
I’d like to fly it in the CRRC RES Contest this summer and do
some lazy-day lawn-chair flying on big hills in big-sky conditions,
such as at the Capital Area Soaring Association’s (near Washington,
D.C.) 45th annual Soar for Fun event in the fall. I also want to fly the
Marauder in the big air on the western side of the Appalachian
Mountains, where some impressive full-scale soaring distance records
have been set.
Pushing sticks together, I realized that I’d partially forgotten how
absorbing and relaxing it is to build with wood. There is the joy of
shaping and fitting the materials.
Whenever I’m able to cut, fit, glue, and sand wood so that you can
see the joint but cannot feel it, I feel like a craftsman. There is a
connection with model builders throughout the decades, because that’s
what models were built from for many years.
In addition, there is the sheer magic of turning a pile of sticks and
sheets into an actual flying machine. And these sailplanes do fly.
On one of the RCGroups Marauder building threads, the modeler
was amazed and pleased to find that his newly built aircraft flew 300
feet on the initial hand-toss test. That’s a hand toss the length of a
football field!
A second winter building project is my fifth Dave Sanders
Schweizer 1-26. There’s no shame in wearing out an airframe, and I
needed another to have two at the ready for any soaring trip.
The EPP-foam kit is available from SkyKing RC Products, and the
2-meter version remains at the top of the must-have list for New York
Slope Dogs. This sweet-flying semiscale sailplane easily handles a
large variety of wind conditions, and the foam airframe will withstand
more than its share of in-a-bush and on-the-rocks landings.
I built mine with split-wing and removable-stabilizer modifications
so that it will fit neatly back into its kit-shipping box for compact
storage and transport. These modifications are documented on the
SkyKing website.
With each build I have used stronger and tougher aileron servos,
because I encounter stripped aileron servo gears more often than I like.
Above: Katie Martin, Dave Garwood, and Bob
Martin (wearing hat) on a happy day during Soar
Utah 1995. “Katie Martin flew my Coyote,” Dave
remembers. Joe Chovan photos.
Buy single-edge razor blades and knife blades in
bulk to lower the cost, and keep them in baby
food jars for visibility and moisture resistance.
Make small glue wipes by cutting up paper
towels. Dave cut the stack of 64 shown with five
passes of the scissors.
Also included in this column:
• Hints for the shop
• The new How High altimeter
• Remembering Katie Martin
• Earliest Slope Soaring article in print
Jim Harrigan’s 60-inch-span
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
from Leading Edge Gliders
flies over Cape Cod Bay in
Massachusetts. The company’s
60-inchers are favorites for
foamie warbird racing.
June 2011 103
06sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 4/20/11 4:30 PM Page 103
104 MODEL AVIATION
Right: The cover story for the May 1983 Model
Builder reads: “Can anyone offer a more scenic
spot for slope soaring than this? It’s Grouse Ridge
Lookout, altitude 7707 feet, near Grass Valley in
northern California. The gentleman launching his
stock ‘Gentle Lady’ is a TWA pilot. Photo by
Tony Palethorpe.”
Below: The author’s DAW Schweizer 1-26—one
of the most versatile sailplanes a traveling slope
pilot can make. Builders began using EPP foam for
fuselage and wing construction in the 1990s, and it
was a great leap forward in airframe durability
and crash resistance.
For many decades, balsa sticks and sheets have
been the main construction materials for most
model airplanes. It’s a relaxing and satisfying way
to build. This shot of the tail group of the author’s
MM Glider Tech Marauder will rekindle
memories for some readers and be new to others.
Of course it happens at inconvenient times
and places.
Shop and Building Tips:
• Blade handling: Installing a new, sharp
blade is a sure way to improve the quality of a
cut and make your work go smoother and
more easily. Why is working with a sharp
knife blade safer than working with a dull
blade? Because a sharp blade is less likely to
slip.
Purchase your single-edge razor blades
and hobby-knife blades in packs of 100, to
lower their cost. Store them in baby-food jars,
which are clear to see their contents, and use
tight-fitting lids to keep out moisture to reduce
rusting.
• Plentiful glue wipes: Using any type of
glue—CA, epoxy, Titebond, Gorilla Glue,
etc.—will generate small blobs that need to be
cleaned up. It is uneconomical to use a whole
paper towel for a small drip or wipe the nozzle
of a CA bottle before replacing the lid.
Keeping a paper towel on the bench that has
been used to wipe one spill is a sure way to
make a mess on the next thing you wipe.
For little drips, spills, and ooze-outs, we
need small paper towel squares that we
discard immediately after use. Make miniature
glue wipes by cutting paper towels. You can
quickly produce a stack of 64 by cutting a
stack of four paper towels with five passes of
the scissors.
• Film covering hinges:My long-standing
favorite control-surface hinging method is
what we commonly call “MonoKote hinges.”
I use the “Film Covering Hinge
Technique” that is on page 17 of the Carl
Goldberg Products Gentle Lady glider kit
instructions (downloadable from the website)
on nearly all of my builds, including the
Marauder and Schweizer 1-26 I mentioned
and my Slope Scale and Leading Edge Gliders
warbirds. I use it on basically all gliders that
have iron-on covering on the flying surfaces.
Attaching ailerons, elevators, and rudders
with the covering requires a bit of practice,
but your careful work will be rewarded with a
strong, long-lasting hinge that prevents
airflow through the joint.
• Installing small parts: Triangle
reinforcements and other small wood parts
can be awkward to install, especially if coated
with glue. One way to handle them is by
sticking your hobby knife into the part and
then applying the epoxy or other adhesive.
The knife acts as a temporary handle for
accurately placing the piece.
Then insert the part into position in the
construction. Press with a finger to hold it in
place and withdraw the knife. This way, you
get accurate installation on a small piece with
less glue on your fingers.
• Old-towel covering aid: A great help when
covering a sailplane is an old towel.
Ironing covering onto the wings, fuselage,
or tail parts over a folded towel gives a soft
base that you can press against without
scratching the covering or damaging the part
on the other side.
You wanted to know how high your half-pipe
pumps are in real-time? Winged Shadow
Systems has redesigned the How High
altimeter, and now it features real-time output
capability.
The new How High RT is plug-incompatible
with the Hitec Aurora 9 and
Spektrum DX8 telemetry systems. Live inflight
altitude is displayed on the transmitter
when the altimeter is used with these radios.
If you don’t use those transmitters, no
worries. The How High RT plugs into any RC
receiver and reports peak altitude after each
flight using a series of light flashes. No
computer or additional equipment is needed.
This device offers 1-foot resolution,
automatically adjusts for field elevation, and
can report in feet or meters.
Winged Shadow instruments are designed
and manufactured in the US. Details,
including instruction-sheet downloads, are
available on the company website.
In the October 2007 column I reported
success with the Winged Shadow How Fast
onboard airspeed-measuring device, and I
have used the earlier Winged Shadow How
High onboard altitude-measuring device. I’ll
report on the How High RT after I get a
chance to use it.
One of the most joyous and memorable
flying days I ever had was with Bob and
Katie Martin at Soar Utah 1995. Katie flew
my Coyote at Point of the Mountain.
The Katie Martin I knew was full of
energy and enthusiasm. She radiated a joyful
view of life, painting smiles on the faces of
those around her. Katie has passed on, but for
me a very happy memory remains.
This from Bob Martin:
“Katie passed away at Cedars-Sinai
Hospital in Beverly Hills on December 19,
2010. She died of pulmonary hypertension.
“As you remember, she could fly with the
guys, she flew all of my aircraft, including
the SR-7, of course the Katie II was designed
for her, and she was the first woman to fly an
RC aircraft in Costa Rica.”
“We would have been celebrating our 47th
anniversary this June 6th and her birthday is
June 1st. Some friends and I are going to go
on a sailplane safari the 3rd, 4th and 5th of
June. I will be flying her original Hobie
Hawk I bought for her in 1974 that got me
interested in sailplanes and launched Bob
Martin RC.
“I am going to put a pinch of her ashes in
a small bag, put that in the nose of the Hobie
Hawk and take her flying.”
I’m wondering what is the earliest article in
print specifically about RC Slope Soaring,
and I hope that readers can help with the
search.
Let’s start with the cover photo on the
May 1983 Model Builder magazine showing
Eli Whitney, a Trans World Airlines pilot,
launching a Carl Goldberg Gentle Lady from
Grouse Ridge Lookout near Grass Valley,
California. Sadly, both Model Builder and
Trans World Airlines have gone out of
business, but the venerable Gentle Lady kit is
still available.
06sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 4/20/11 4:31 PM Page 104
Who among us can dig up an earlier RC
Slope Soaring article or cover photo? MA
Sources:
MM Glider Tech
(562) 505-3950
www.mmglidertech.com
Charles River Radio Controllers
www.charlesriverrc.org
League of Silent Flight
www.silentflight.org
Radio Controlled Soaring Digest
www.rcsoaringdigest.com
Capital Area Soaring Association
http://soarcasa.org
SkyKing RC Products
(605) 878-1880
www.skykingrcproducts.com
Carl Goldberg Products
(800) 637-7660
www.carlgoldbergproducts.com
Leading Edge Gliders
(785) 525-6263
www.leadingedgegliders.com
Winged Shadow Systems
(630) 837-6553
www.wingedshadow.com
106 MODEL AVIATION
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Viewfinder
Last Patrol of the Day
Here is my PBY-5A Catalina taking
off into the setting sun at Galway Lake,
New York, for the last patrol of the day.
Built from a Guillow’s balsa stick-andtissue
nonflying display model kit, the
44-inch wingspan PBY weighs 20
ounces and is ready for takeoff with a
1000 mAh Li-Poly battery.
It was built as kitted with some
changes to make it lighter but stronger.
I stretched the tail surfaces lengthwise
for 15% more area, added a water
rudder, and increased the distance
between the engine nacelles to allow
clearance for 6-inch propellers.
Modern technology—brushless
motors, Li-Poly batteries, and submicro
servos mounted within the flying
surfaces—made the 11-ounce-persquare-
foot wing loading possible.
The propellers are 6 x 4, three-blade,
counter-rotating Master Airscrew, with
the blades moving down along the
fuselage to minimize water spray on
takeoff.
I used to watch PBYs fly out of
Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New
York, and always wanted to model one.
Thanks to the Guillow’s kit and modern
electric and radio technology, I now fly
my own. MA
—Jesse Aronstein
[email protected]
Email your high-resolution
“Viewfinder” photo and a short note
telling the airplane or helicopter story to
[email protected].
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