RC COMBAT
Making your own cowls
by Don Grissom
[email protected]
It is again that time of year to start building and getting ready for next year’s RC Combat events.
One issue that I seem to have after most contests is bent or broken cowls. In most cases, I can order another one from the kit supplier, although there are times I wish I could just make my own.
I noticed that Dane McGee made a cowl for his Me 410. It is a simple solution to the problem and takes a little work to fabricate the first one, but it can be done many times after making the necessary parts.
The first step is to make a pattern of the cowl shape and firewall on paper. After you have that done, copy the tracing using a block of balsa. This is the messy part. You will need to use a block sander and shape the block into the design as shown in the picture.
After you have the correct shape, find a Coke bottle or any plastic container that is roughly the size of the plug. I have seen everything from peanut butter jars to apple juice bottles used.
When you have the plug in the jar, use a heat gun to shrink the plastic to match the form. Be careful not to overheat the plastic because you could weaken or burn a hole and have to start over. After you have it shaped, cut the cowl to make the engine and muffler openings before you paint it.
This is a simple method for making cowls for Scale airplanes.
1
2
3
4
Making your own cowling takes only a few steps: make the plug, use a heat gun to shrink the bottle to the plug, paint and cut the cowl, and install on the airplane.
The RC Combat Nats included 17 pilots in SSC.
William Drumm III got a little too close to another airplane, and cut off the tail instead of the streamer.
RC Combat Nats
This past summer I again had the chance to attend the RC Combat Nats in Muncie, Indiana. RC Combat celebrated its 10th year of competition this year at the Nats. As in the past few years, the turnout was smaller than usual, but some of the top pilots competed.
We started the week with two official events: Slow Survivable Combat (SSC) and Open B Combat. SSC had the most pilots with 17, which allowed us to run two heats. Unlike some other events, we did not have a single pilot drop out of the contest this year.
After 10 rounds in two days, William Drumm III ended up in first place in SSC. Brian Neff was the Open B winner with a score of 3,480. He beat his father by slightly more than 200 points.
As we entered the last two days of Combat, we knew that rain was on the way. There is something about our Combat group! Although Muncie had not had any rain in weeks, we brought some.
We got a late start on day three, but were able to get five rounds of 2948 and six rounds of Limited B in for the day. When we returned the next day, the weather did not want to work for us and we had to call the events using the scores from day three to determine the winners.
In Scale 2948, the winner was Tom Neff. There were only eight points between second and fourth places—or two feet of streamer. Limited B finished at six rounds and William Drumm III took first place in the event.
I look forward to next year and I hope that even more people come and compete.
A Great Year
I would say that I have had a great year and I’m looking forward to another excellent one. I have begun changing over all of my Open B and Limited B airplanes to the Lethal Weapon for SSC.
I had such good luck at the Nats that I decided to change over the rest of my airplanes for next year.
SOURCES:
RC Combat Association
www.rccombat.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2012/11
Page Numbers: 111,112
Edition: Model Aviation - 2012/11
Page Numbers: 111,112
RC COMBAT
Making your own cowls
by Don Grissom
[email protected]
It is again that time of year to start building and getting ready for next year’s RC Combat events.
One issue that I seem to have after most contests is bent or broken cowls. In most cases, I can order another one from the kit supplier, although there are times I wish I could just make my own.
I noticed that Dane McGee made a cowl for his Me 410. It is a simple solution to the problem and takes a little work to fabricate the first one, but it can be done many times after making the necessary parts.
The first step is to make a pattern of the cowl shape and firewall on paper. After you have that done, copy the tracing using a block of balsa. This is the messy part. You will need to use a block sander and shape the block into the design as shown in the picture.
After you have the correct shape, find a Coke bottle or any plastic container that is roughly the size of the plug. I have seen everything from peanut butter jars to apple juice bottles used.
When you have the plug in the jar, use a heat gun to shrink the plastic to match the form. Be careful not to overheat the plastic because you could weaken or burn a hole and have to start over. After you have it shaped, cut the cowl to make the engine and muffler openings before you paint it.
This is a simple method for making cowls for Scale airplanes.
1
2
3
4
Making your own cowling takes only a few steps: make the plug, use a heat gun to shrink the bottle to the plug, paint and cut the cowl, and install on the airplane.
The RC Combat Nats included 17 pilots in SSC.
William Drumm III got a little too close to another airplane, and cut off the tail instead of the streamer.
RC Combat Nats
This past summer I again had the chance to attend the RC Combat Nats in Muncie, Indiana. RC Combat celebrated its 10th year of competition this year at the Nats. As in the past few years, the turnout was smaller than usual, but some of the top pilots competed.
We started the week with two official events: Slow Survivable Combat (SSC) and Open B Combat. SSC had the most pilots with 17, which allowed us to run two heats. Unlike some other events, we did not have a single pilot drop out of the contest this year.
After 10 rounds in two days, William Drumm III ended up in first place in SSC. Brian Neff was the Open B winner with a score of 3,480. He beat his father by slightly more than 200 points.
As we entered the last two days of Combat, we knew that rain was on the way. There is something about our Combat group! Although Muncie had not had any rain in weeks, we brought some.
We got a late start on day three, but were able to get five rounds of 2948 and six rounds of Limited B in for the day. When we returned the next day, the weather did not want to work for us and we had to call the events using the scores from day three to determine the winners.
In Scale 2948, the winner was Tom Neff. There were only eight points between second and fourth places—or two feet of streamer. Limited B finished at six rounds and William Drumm III took first place in the event.
I look forward to next year and I hope that even more people come and compete.
A Great Year
I would say that I have had a great year and I’m looking forward to another excellent one. I have begun changing over all of my Open B and Limited B airplanes to the Lethal Weapon for SSC.
I had such good luck at the Nats that I decided to change over the rest of my airplanes for next year.
SOURCES:
RC Combat Association
www.rccombat.com
