130 MODEL AVIATION
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Radio Control Soaring Darwin Barrie
Also included in this column:
• 19th annual Southwest Classic report
• More about the fuselage project
Larry Fogel at his beloved Torrey Pines CA flying site.
The carbon sock has been twisted to pull the weave down and
provide an area to attach the wire for hanging the fuselage.
The fuselage attached to a fuel can with approximately a gallon of
water providing the weight.
Gary Fogel remembers his dad Larry
THE RC SOARING world has lost a giant with the passing of Larry
Fogel, who died February 18, 2007. He was born March 2, 1928.
Following is a heartfelt remembrance of Larry that his son Gary wrote.
“As a young boy growing up in New York City, Larry became
interested in model boats. He played with these regularly at the boat
pond in Central Park, even through the late 1940s and early 1950s.
These were all free-sailing models. He also enjoyed spending time with
the legendary Frank Zaic, flying Free Flight Towline Glider kits in
Central Park.
“Upon moving to San Diego in the 1950s to work at Convair, Larry
bought a Shock 25 sailboat and sailed this in San Diego Bay. The
Shock 25 was costly to keep, and with kids on the way he transitioned
to radio-controlled model sailboats by the mid/late 1960s, sailing these
in the model boat basin at Mission Bay with the San Diego Argonauts.
He enjoyed the sailing, but he wasn’t one for a great deal of racing.
“One day he went to the Torrey Pines Gliderport in La Jolla, where
RC enthusiasts had been flying RC sailplanes since 1950. Upon seeing
this three-dimensional rather than two-dimensional opportunity, he
immediately became hooked and built an RC version of a Zaic
Thermic 100. He rekitted this on its maiden flight, but continued
building and flying nonetheless.
“Larry helped to organize the people flying RC at the Gliderport
and co-founded the Torrey Pines Gulls Radio Control Soaring
Society—one of the oldest RC glider clubs in the nation. He helped to
coordinate activity with the ‘full-scale’ sailplanes, which had been at
the site since the 1930s.
“Larry became president of the Gulls on two separate occasions and
held essentially every other board position. I’m not sure if he was ever
treasurer. He was also awarded the TPG ‘modeler of the year’ trophy
twice.
“Larry became known nationally and internationally for his RC
Soaring column in Model Builder. At the time there were four main
model magazines (Model Builder, Flying Models, Model Airplane News,
and Radio Control Modeler), and RC Soaring was just taking root.
07sig5.QXD 5/23/07 9:34 AM Page 130
“His monthly columns helped to encourage others into the hobby.
He took part in many of the early LSF [League of Silent Flight] and
SOAR [Silent Order of Aeromodeling by Radio] Nats contests in the
1970s, becoming friends with many modelers nationally.
“With the advent of hang glider activity at Torrey, a less than
reasonable safety policy, and confrontation between these user groups,
Larry helped to form the Torrey Pines Soaring Council and served on
that council since its inception in 1978 to 2006 as the AMA
representative.
“In the 1980s, as a result of flying one of the first larger 1/4-scale
model sailplanes at Torrey Pines in 1975, Larry assisted in the cofounding
of another user group at Torrey Pines—this one, the Torrey
Pines Scale Soaring Society, specifically dedicated to flying larger 1/4-
scale models of their full-scale counterparts.
“Larry’s Kestral model in May of 1975 was a significant
advancement in the Southern California area, using a seven-channel
Kraft radio and a 15-foot-wingspan, fiberglass sailplane originally
designed in Australia by Ralph Learmont. The aircraft ushered in a
new flying tradition of 1/4-scale and 1/3-scale sailplanes at Torrey
Pines.
“During the 1970s, Larry trained both of his sons (and many
others) how to fly RC sailplanes. Larry’s son David was NSS
[National Soaring Society] junior champion for the year 1977 and
continued to fly full-scale sailplanes and powered aircraft,
attaining a commercial instrument rating.
“His younger son Gary has continued flying RC sailplanes and
electric models, setting several world and national records. Gary
also writes regularly about the history of soaring.
“In the early 1990s, Gary led the effort to establish the Torrey
Pines Gliderport as a National Soaring Landmark of the National
Soaring Museum. Following this, Larry in turn led the effort to
have the same site dedicated as a City Historical Site, and both
Larry and Gary worked to have the Gliderport listed on the State
and National Registers of Historic Places, preserving the site for
future generations of Soaring enthusiasts.
“This was further capped in the early 2000s when Larry and
Gary, together with Rich Hanson, established a program of
selecting and recognizing landmarks significant to the
development and furtherance of model aviation. The Torrey Pines
Gliderport was recognized as the first such Model Aviation
Historical Landmark.
“In 1996, Larry Fogel was recognized by the AMA as Life
Fellow. In his later years, Larry enjoyed both RC Soaring and RC
sailing, spending time with friends, and enjoying watching others
learn this art.”
The 19th annual Southwest Classic (SWC) was held February 10-
11, 2007, in Queen Creek, Arizona. Hosted by the Central Arizona
Soaring League, the SWC is the second largest sanctioned contest
in the US. This year there were 135 pilots and 240 entries. Each
pilot was allowed to fly in multiple classes. The Colorado fliers
were happy to get away from the snow and the cold for a few days.
The SWC is held at Schnepf Farms: a recreational-type facility
that is involved in the education process by hosting field trips for
area schools. Farming is demonstrated, from growing crops to
raising livestock. The farm also holds a Halloween-themed festival
during the month of October.
The field used for the SWC is all grass and is the parking lot for
the Halloween event. The site includes real restrooms and showers,
full motor-home hookups, and ample area for
tent camping.
The traditional format for the SWC is
three rounds of Thermal Duration (TD) and
four rounds of add ’em up. Saturday is one
round of TD and then three rounds of add
’em up. Sunday is one round of TD, the
remaining time from the add ’em up, and a
final round of TD.
Add ’em up is four rounds, 10-minute
max, with a target total of 33 minutes. This
format provides the opportunity to get your
33 minutes, even if you have a bad round.
The goal is to get as close to 10 as possible
on the three Saturday flights, leaving a
manageable flight on Sunday.
The conditions were excellent Saturday.
Times were fairly easy to get with our typical
sink cycle mixed in. Sunday was a different
story. The weather was cool and breezy. We
knew a front was on its way and arrived on
schedule, causing the final round to be
canceled.
Unlike previous years we had
considerable problems with the winch line.
This caused delays Saturday that were
frustrating to the winch staff. The pilots were
understanding.
We learned that several clubs had
experienced the same problems, with the
same line, from the same supplier. We were
comforted to know it wasn’t something we
were doing. The winches were extremely
strong but not significantly different from
years past.
The line was changed out for Sunday, but
the same problems persisted. With the winds
the line breaks were more frequent. The
delays ultimately prevented getting all the
rounds in before the weather hit.
Despite the problems, everyone seemed to
have great time with promises to be back next
year. Mark your calendar for the next SWC,
held the second full weekend in February.
Visit www.rcsoaring.com for all the results.
I’ll continue with the fuselage project from
last month. The fuselage is ready to lay up.
Tape some type of electrical wire or
heavy cord securely to the boom, roughly a
foot from the end. This will require several
wraps of tape and must be secure since we
will be hanging approximately 10 pounds off
the end. Leave a couple extra feet.
Make sure the foam and your
reinforcement fiberglass is sanded smooth.
Dust talcum or baby powder over the foam.
Do not cut the sock material to any length
yet. Open the end of the sock and push it onto
the foam. You’ll need to work slowly to do
this. Once you have the sock over the foam,
push it roughly 2 inches farther.
Tape the end of the sock to the tailboom
with several wraps. Pull on the front end to
get the sock to conform to the mold. You
may have to work it with your hand as you
pull on the sock to get a good contour.
Approximately 2 inches in front of the
nose, pull and twist the sock until you get
good conformity to the fuselage. This may
take practice to get it right.
Once you do, wick some cyanoacrylate
into the twist to lock it in place. Avoid getting
adhesive near the foam mold. The
cyanoacrylate should go off quickly.
After the glue is set, cut roughly 1/2 inch
in front of the glued portion into the unglued
area. Use your finger and push open the
fabric so it mushrooms out. Wick
cyanoacrylate into this portion so the area
remains flared.
Tie 18-gauge or similar wire firmly to the
nose area where you just adhered the fabric.
Leave a couple feet extra. Hand pull to test.
Locate a place in your shop where you
can hang the fuselage where it will not
contact anything. I used an open doorway.
Hang the fuselage with a nail or screw. You
want the nose pointed up, with the mold
portion approximately chest high.
Tie a weight of approximately 10 pounds
on the tailboom end. I have used a gallon of
water, weights from a weight set, and
fluorescent light ballasts with success. The
key is that the weight must be hanging freely.
Gravity will pull everything into alignment as
the sock is epoxied.
Continue to work the fabric until it
conforms nicely to the mold. The process
may take effort but is easy to learn. Let the
fuselage hang free for a while to get the
fabric stretched.
You’ll need a roughly 2-inch-square block
of foam rubber, a 1- to 2-inch-wide brush,
latex gloves, and a couple paper towels for
the layup. Mix a 2-ounce cup of West
Systems or an equivalent epoxy. Brush a coat
onto the fuselage. Avoid the area just beyond
the foam at the tailboom. You don’t want to
glue the sock to the carbon tailboom!
Use the foam-rubber block to rub the
epoxy into the carbon weave. Make several
passes with the foam. Use your gloved hands
to lightly squeeze the epoxy into the weave.
When the weave is completely saturated,
use the paper towel to remove excess epoxy.
The goal is to get the weave filled with little
to no extra epoxy.
Let the fuselage cure, but don’t remove it
from its hanging fixture yet. When it has
cured, wipe it down with alcohol. Don’t use
acetone or lacquer thinner. If there are open
areas in the weave, you could melt your foam
mold. The layup will look coarse, but don’t
worry; the next step will take care of that.
Mix 1 ounce of epoxy and thicken it with
microballoons. Get a consistency you can still
brush on. Use the foam rubber and sponge on
a coat over the entire fuselage. Don’t try to
fill all the low spots with this mix; just get a
good coat.
After this process has cured, you can take
down the fuselage. Don’t remove the wire
from the tailboom yet.
Cut the sock away just in front of the nose
of the fuselage. Cut it close enough that you
can see the nose of the foam mold. Mix fiveminute
epoxy and microballoons, and pour it
in the hole. Prop the fuselage vertical until
this cures.
Begin the sanding process. Use a coarse
paper and sanding block to knock off the high
spots. Work your way down until you get to
360-grit paper. Be careful not to sand through
the weave. You should have a fairly smooth
surface at this point, with little filling to do.
You can use microballoons and epoxy to
fill the remaining weave, but this will create
more work with the sandpaper. I like to use
Rage auto-body filler. It’s a lightweight
catalyzed filler that spreads easily, cures
quickly, and sands like balsa.
If you use Rage, use a credit card (I save
the plastic room keys from hotels for this) to
squeegee the filler on. This will fill the low
spots. Sand when cured and repeat as
necessary. Sand with 400-grit paper for the
final finish.
Now you need a nose cone. The process is
simple.
Wrap the front of the fuselage t
