RC Giants
www.funaero.com or call (803) 499-5487. If you want to write FunAero R/C, the address is 4385 Red Lane Rd., Dalzell SC 29040.
- Aerotrend is a standard household name for those of us in the RC hobby for such great products as the Blue Line silicone fuel tubing. Aerotrend's fuel tubing comes in many sizes and is also available in Aqua Blue for gas/diesel use.
Aerotrend has other products, such as exhaust stacks, tuned pipe couplers, and fuel bulbs.
For more info, you can call Aerotrend at (203) 734-0600; write to the company at 31 Nichols St., Ansonia CT 06401-1106; or visit the Web site at www.aerotrend.com.
- Tru-Turn Precision Model Products manufactures high-quality aluminum spinners in virtually any size and shape. This firm also produces adapters, prop hubs for conversions, and precision aluminum wheel sets for sport models and racers.
You can call Tru-Turn at (281) 479-9600; write to the company at 100 W. 1st St., Deer Park TX 77536; or visit the Web site at www.tru-turn.com.
- J'Tec Radiocraft: J'Tec manufactures quality mufflers for all sizes of engines. It also sells instrument sets, Teflon® couplers, engine mounts, headers, tubing, and many other products.
Radiocraft is offering a 40% Extra 330LX Almost Ready to Fly that has a 123-inch wingspan. The engine size for this model is in the 140cc to 160cc range. Other aircraft such as the Extra 300, the Extra 300SX, and the Yak-54M will be coming soon.
For additional information, visit the Web site at www.radiocraft.com. For more info about J'Tec products, try www.jtecrc.com or write either at 140 S. Camino Seco, Suite 419, Tucson AZ 85710.
- Precision Cut Kits President Larry Katona states that the firm's workmanship is guaranteed to satisfy the most discriminating builder. Always looking for better and more efficient ways to service his customers, Larry added laser-cutting technology under the name Precision Cut Kits Laser Line.
Precision Cut Kits is sanctioned by every major plans designer in the industry, such as Ziroli, Vaillancourt, Hostetler, Don Smith, Jerry Bates, Dan Palmer, and many more. Precision Cut Kits will also be happy to cut a kit from any one's plans.
If you are interested in a Giant Scale cut kit for your very own, call Larry at (609) 538-1388 or send him an E-mail at [email protected]. You can also visit the Web site at www.precisioncutkits.com.
- Zinger: J&Z Products of Harbor City,
* SR Batteries displayed its new line of receiver packs for large-aircraft application and states that all their packs are conservatively rated. The lineup includes a new 1200Series (48 ounces), a 1500Series (62 ounces), a 1800Series (77 ounces), and a 2200Series (83 ounces). All are available in five-cell versions too. Twin leads or special lead lengths are no problem.
You can reach SR Batteries at Box 287, Bellport NY 11713; by calling (631) 286-0079. By E-mail: [email protected], or visit the Web site at www.srbatteries.com.
* MPD Products International, Inc. (MPD) offers a great heavy-duty switch harness with integrated charge port and dust cover for the large models.
MPD also has a new Miracle Switch that combines a solid-state electronic switch, a heavy-duty mechanical switch, and a silicon-voltage regulator. If the mechanical switch fails, the electronic switch continues current flow to ensure safe operation of the aircraft. The regulator automatically regulates the output to the receiver at six volts, even when the input voltage is higher.
For more info, call MPD at (847) 428-2233 or visit the Website at www.maxxproduct.com. Write to Maxx Products International, Inc. at 815 Oakwood Rd., Unit D, Lake Zurich IL 60047.
* B&B Systems, Inc. is your one-stop Giant Scale headquarters for all Ohlins, Zenoah, US Engines, and now Fuji engine needs. B&B has everything from mufflers to mounts and spring starters to smoke systems for the gas-burning engines... just a new Zenoah G-23 exhaust header in the lineups great for tight-cowled installations.
Check out other great products such as 9-pt. rubber extension and throttle-linkage kits. Visit the Website to see all the great accessories at www.bebsystems.com or call (574) 277-0499. You can also write to B&B Systems, 14234 Cleveland Rd., Granger IN 46530.
* Century Jet Engines, Inc. (CJME): In addition to other fine offerings, CJME has a new 100-inch Scale F4U Corsair master kit designed on plans by Don Smith. It comes with a composite fuselage with panel lines and a removable composite center wing section. It also has plug-in monospar outer wing panels, complete with panel lines, and unique features such as fiberglass ailerons and flaps ready to install.
For more info about this big model and other great CJME products, drop in on the Web site at www.centuryjet.com/webstore or call (502) 266-9924. The address is 11216 Bluegrass Pkwy., Louisville KY 40299.
* GiantScalePlanes has a number of Almost Ready-to-Fly and Almost Ready-to-Cover kits that are IMAA (International Miniature Aircraft Association)-legal in Aerobatic and Military Scales. The company offers five great aerobatic kits with 80-inch wingspans; a Katana S, a Sukhoi Su-31, an Extra 300, a CAP 232, and an Edge 540.
GiantScalePlanes also has larger Katana, 40 inches, a 96-inch Sukhoi Su-31, a 103-inch Edge 540, a 69-inch Christen Eagle, a 103-inch AT-6, and a 96-inch P-51 Mustang.
The Web site is a must-see for all the great details on these fine models. Look them up at www.giantscaleplanes.com, and order for yourself! You can also call (610) 282-4811 or write to 201 S. 3rd St., Coopersburg, PA 18036.
That's all for the WRAM Show. Another year has passed, and another successful show has come and gone. It was great to visit with old friends and talk about the upcoming flying season. Good luck to you all, and I'll see you at WRAM Show 2003!
Grant Kipes: Larry Grzelak of Cleveland, Ohio sent in a photo of himself with his newest RC Giants. One is an Ikon NW's 76-inch WACO powered by an O.S. 120 glow engine, and the other is a Great Planes Giant Aeromaster powered by a Zenoah G-45 gas burner.
Larry is a member of the Cleveland Radio Control Club and is eagerly looking forward to the upcoming flying season. Best of luck to you, Larry, and say hello to all the Cleveland RCers for me! By the way, tell them bigger is better!
Rocket Man: One photo shows Joe Beshar, AMA Flying Site Assistance Coordinator for the Eastern Region, with his 105-inch Me 163 Komet powered by an AMT Mercury turbine engine. Joe built the Komet using Jim Kiehl plans, and it weighs 19 pounds, 14 ounces dry, and 23 pounds fueled. The Komet carries 60 ounces of fuel to power the turbine. As was the full-scale Komet, Joe's model seems speedy in respect to fuel consumption.
The Komet was the fastest airplane of World War II and one of the Luftwaffe's secret weapons toward the end of the war. Unfortunately for those who flew it, the aircraft proved more deadly to its own pilots than to the bombers it was designed to destroy.
That's all for this month. Keep those photos, letters, and E-mail messages coming.
Clear skies and light winds until next month. MA 18104; Tel.: (610) 821-0977. And do tell him Bob sent ya!
I want to put in a pitch for getting meet info to me early! I fully realize that this meet announcement will be out only days before the meet itself. This is because I'm writing this on Sunday, March 3, and I got the meet info March 1! Good timing? No.
I really do want to help all those so desiring with their meet announcements, but I must know early enough. I'm aware of how difficult this can be because of a variety of organizational considerations, but "difficult" is one thing and "impossible" is another. It does little good for meet info to be published just before a meet date, and it does no good for it to be published after the meet date! I like to see at least a full month's notice, and more does not hurt.
As a guideline, MA columns are submitted during the first week of a given month. This July MA will be out approximately at the beginning of June. As I mentioned, I am writing these words a full four months ahead of the issue date and three months ahead of it coming out.
For me to have best served a meet announcement in this issue, I'd have needed the info at least a month ago; just prior to the beginning of February. That's four months—one-third of a year. Got it?
The 2002 Northeast Electric Aircraft Technology (NEAT) Fair is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday September 13-15. This is the third-annual meet and, as before, is sponsored by the Silent Electric Flyers of Long Island (SEFLI) club. It will be held at the same beautiful Peaceful Valley Campgrounds site in New York as the previous two meets.
NEAT is believed to be the world's largest Electric meet. You can read about the 2001 affair in the April issue.
The NEAT Fair's (new) Web site, www.neatfair.org, has extensive past and present meet information, and you can E-mail the NEAT Fair people at [email protected]. For those who don't have Internet access, information is available from Tom Hunt at (631) 988-0372, or write to NEAT Fair, Box 1446, Lake Grove NY 11755.
Most regular readers are familiar with this column's exclusive Electric Connection Service (ECS). To show you how effective this service can be, consider that the founding of the SEFLI club is the direct result of one person participating in the ECS roughly 15 years ago. I follow the world's largest E-meet—NEAT—is the direct result of the ECS!
The ECS is a column service in which you, as an E-loner or growing E-group, can seek E-others in your immediate area. In effect, you can "advertise" yourself in this column—for free. Send me your information with a request, and I'll list it in a future column. Then those in your area seeking local E-association can contact you, and presto! You're connected!
It's fair to say that I have witnessed nearly all the beginning and growing days of Electric aeromodeling. I first played with E-power in the early 1970s, by trying to make my own motors and run them on the now obviously terrible batteries of that era. It was a time of nearly nothing Electric on the hobby-shop shelf. (Some still say this!)
Right now is the 30th anniversary of my first successful E-flight: a single, slow, shoulder-height circle! I have routinely flown Electric every year since, so I have experienced all the bad-mouth "Electric doesn't fly" times: the 1970s, 1980s, and earliest 1990s. I heard this negative pronouncement all the time from those who "truly knew" that only wet power could fly.
Well, that was then and this is now. Although I realize that a few may still cling to that past image in a head-in-the-sand way, it's very hard for me to picture aeromodellers at large continuing a negative Electric perspective.
Enough time has gone by and enough E-power progress has occurred that nowadays "Electric doesn't fly" would sound uninformed. Such expression now would be on par with saying "Aeromodels don't fly."
A skim through the articles and ads in
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
