RC Aerobatics
Eric Henderson, 303 Shady Ln., Marlton NJ 08053; E-mail: [email protected]
ONE OF THE primary attractions of Radio Control model flying often lies in building the aircraft. Even though there are many tempting ARF (Almost Ready to Fly) models that will get into the air quickly, there is nothing like the satisfaction of building from a kit or from scratch.
The satisfaction can go even further if you achieve personal goals within that construction, such as lightness or high quality of finish. There are challenges such as mechanical excellence of control hookups or correct angles of incidence.
No matter how small the achievement, the size of the feeling is just as big.
Sometimes you need to see how other people build to improve your own building. Once in a while, an experienced modeler or two will come forward and show us all their workshop secrets.
I recently spent a winter's afternoon reviewing several construction-tip tapes from Robin's View Productions that feature Bob Noll, Bill Werwage, and Bobby Hunt and their building techniques.
The tapes contained excellent methods and ideas, and each video had something new for me. Each tape took my passion for higher building standards to new levels.
Hopefully the following notes will help you decide which tape, or tapes, you might like to watch.
- Straight Form and Compound Curve Balsa Molding Techniques: This video revives the lost art of making single- and compound-curve molded balsa skins. It covers making single-curvature balsa sheet shells for the leading edge of wings.
Then the tape goes into more complex mold construction for compound curves, such as turtle- and dorsal decking for fuselages.
This knowledge may be lost to many of us, but it will add a whole new dimension to your building skills.
- Perfect Airframe Alignment: Most of us know intuitively that an airplane needs to be rigged straight. The wing has to be square to the fuselage, the stabilizer has to be parallel to the wing, and the fin has to be at right angles to all of those parts.
What tends to elude us is a foolproof method that accurately achieves this goal.
This tape shows how to set up a model with plug-on wings and stabilizer that are attached to a fiberglass fuselage.
Most of the content also applies to a one-piece wing configuration and any type of wooden fuselage.
Bob Noll shows how it can be done, and, as an added benefit, he provides instructions for making an effective measuring tool. This simple-to-construct device makes this tedious task much less of a worry/chore.
- Perfect Engine Mounting Techniques: An engine can be extremely hard to install in a fiberglass fuselage. You will be able to master this task after viewing this tape. Nose-ring installation will no longer be a mystery.
- Removable/Adjustable Stabilizer: A stabilizer takes up a lot of room when you are trying to transport a large airplane. A removable stabilizer makes it possible to transport the model in a vehicle that won't accommodate a full set of tail feathers.
There are other benefits, such as easy replacement in the event of damage and the ability to adjust the angle of incidence when setting an airplane up.
RC Aerobatics
It is very enjoyable to watch a craftsman perform his artistry in this tape.
- Perfect Foam Wing Construction: This tape is a must for anyone who is going to build a model with a foam wing. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this tape is the dictionary of foam-wing construction.
All the detailed information is there for you to hear and see. You will no longer view sophisticated, lightweight foam-wing construction as a "black art."
Although most of the preceding tapes were produced with Precision Aerobatics airplanes in mind, they apply to the construction of almost all types of airplanes. All modelers will find ideas and technical help in the videos.
The most interesting thing was that while I was reviewing these tapes, my 16-year-old son and my wife often became just as engrossed in the content.
All of these and other helpful building videos are available from Robin's View Productions, Box 68, Stockertown PA 18083.
Each video is $19.95 plus $4 Priority Mail postage and handling. Visa™ and MasterCard® are accepted, and telephone orders are welcome. The number is (610) 746-0106.
The First Artistic Aerobatics Competition: A new and very exciting form of aerobatic competition is being tried in Europe; the Artistic Aerobatics competition class was adopted at the March 2001 CIAM (International Aeromodelling Committee) Plenary Meeting.
The inaugural Artistic Aerobatics invitational international competition took place during the famous F3A Tournoi de Champagne (Champagne Tournament) in France.
The pilots did not perform the usual preordained Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Precision Aerobatics schedules; instead, they flew a series of routines to music in a similar format to the Freestyle component now regularly seen at the US Tournament of Champions.
This type of event consists of several rounds of different durations that eventually lead to the selection of a winner.
Although it is not expected to become a mainstay event in US Precision Aerobatics, there is a very attractive opportunity for contest directors to add a separate single round to their events. This could be fun to do while the final regular scores are being tabulated.
A battery-powered compact-disc/tape "boom box" and two or three volunteer judges would be the only things needed to make this happen.
It really is fun to see a bunch of pilots let their hair down. There is a Freestyle showman lying dormant in all of us who fly within the constraints of the word "Precision."
It is not suggested that this two-meter Freestyle event contribute to the overall scoring for any of the AMA or FAI events. It is a stand-alone idea and only recommends using a subset of the Artistic Aerobatics formula.
My experiences with Scale Aerobatics Freestyle and TOC-style contests lead me to believe that Artistic Aerobatics will appeal to many. By adding a small component to local contests, and perhaps even to the AMA Nationals to Precision Aerobatics, we can share in this fun and popularity.
The real magic of this type of event is that participants can use the existing two-meter, less-than-11-pound, Pattern-quiet airplanes.
Some changes will materialize, such as oversize elevators and full-span ailerons, to allow the more extreme 3-D hovering and high-alpha maneuvers to be performed more readily.
It will not be hard to rig your model with two sets of wings: one set for Precision Aerobatics and one set for Artistic Aerobatics.
Maneuver of the Month: Once you have learned to perform any kind of aerobatic maneuver, an even more interesting challenge awaits your attention; where you do the maneuver is as important as what maneuver you are doing.
The first maneuver in the "Maneuver of the Month" series was the "perfect Loop." At first, most people do the Loop going away from or coming toward themselves. In Precision Aerobatics, the requirement is to do the Loop parallel to yourself.
We will not concern ourselves with how far away from yourself you should be when performing the maneuver. At this stage in the exercise, you should begin at a distance that makes you comfortable.
The airplane should be flown parallel to the runway, and the Loop should be executed with its center in front of the pilot. More accurately, the center should be at right angles to the pilot.
The height at which the Loop should be started is a personal choice. Somewhere near 50 feet above the ground would look good (but not less than 30 feet from the ground).
This is the best position to perform a Loop when demonstrating your newfound aerobatic prowess. When you perform the Loop in front of you, you can see how round it is and make the necessary adjustments.
The harder part is keeping the Loop from going off heading. Before you try to perform a Loop parallel to yourself, make sure your model loops without losing heading. This is best done by viewing a few Loops from behind.
Another maneuver that looks better when performed parallel to the runway, and centered in front of you, is the Axial Roll. You have probably been performing this maneuver away from you or just after the airplane has gone past your position.
To learn to roll parallel to you, it is best to try the maneuver with some height, in case you get disoriented.
The general idea is to have the airplane going through the inverted point of the Roll as it goes past your center. This means that the model has to begin rolling before it reaches you. This definitely looks "cooler" to the experienced and casual observers.
In both maneuvers, the pesky wind will do its best to prevent you from holding a parallel course. For wind-correction advice, please refer to previous Loop and Roll "Maneuver of the Month" descriptions.
Tech Tip of the Month: Several years ago I made a tool to make it easy to remove and replace the valve keepers from my O.S. four-strokes. Now it is being used on the latest YS valve assemblies.
You need to be able to hold the spring down reliably while you pick out the valve keepers.
Even with this tool, I advise doing it inside a clear freezer bag; the valve will travel a long way under spring power, and you will never find them.
It is basically two pieces of K&S brass tubing. One is roughly 7/16-inch long, for the outer piece, and the other is 1/8 inch, for the inner piece. Choose a diameter close to that just over the valve spring, then choose another one that slides inside.
A three-inch U-piece of 1/16-inch-diameter piano wire is used to hold the tube part of the tool. Join them all with low-temp silver solder.
You can use this little device to easily press and hold down the springs while you handle the keepers with tweezers. If you don't make the tube part too deep, you will be able to use it with the rocker arms in situ.
Till next month, good viewing. MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
