Safety Comes First
Dave Gee | [email protected]
Trying helicopters
Yes, that really is a picture at the bottom of the page of me flying an RC helicopter. It was on a thank-you letter from a schoolkid after my dad and I flew our model air show for his class. Fortunately it shows a smooth hover rather than my signature "rototiller" maneuver.
I am pleased to report that I now hold dual titles: World's Worst RC Pilot in fixed-wing and helicopter categories. There are many niches in our hobby, and sometimes it's fun to go beyond your one favorite type of aircraft and try something else.
Cooperation and the hobby's future
As diverse as our models are, we all share common interests, such as acquiring and keeping flying sites and protecting our hobby's reputation. Things that happen to one type of modeling affect all others.
Ben Franklin said we must hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately. He never saw a model airplane, but his advice applies to us! I am convinced that a feeling of community among modelers is vital to our hobby's future.
This ties in to Harvey Cappel's essay that was published here recently. He wrote that courteous flying is the key when 3-D models, fast fliers, and helicopters share an airfield with trainers and sport fliers. I agreed with him that the many types of RC aircraft are incompatible unless the pilots cooperate.
Much to my surprise, I received an e-mail from Steve DeSanto that took me to task for my position. We exchanged messages, and he gave me his permission to print his opinions. By the way, he claims he is a mature, experienced RC flier.
He wrote:
"... if you agree with Harvey then you also are part of the problem that this sport faces each and everyday. You safety nuts take all the fun out of the sport. There is a place for safety but to take turns flying because one guy doesn't want to fly in circles is just BS! There would not be enough daylight for everyone to fly one at a time.
"The rules are out of control. Why do you think the AMA is losing members?"
Steve and I disagree. My guess is that cooperation between pilots does not cause many cancelled AMA memberships. There are many RC fields—some busy and some not. Some have only one type of aircraft, but most have to work out some sort of system whereby experts and newbies, slowpokes and speed demons, and anybody else who shows up can have fun with his or her assorted flying machines.
Furthermore, every line in the AMA Safety Code got there the hard way. We might argue about the details, but most experienced pilots take great care to stay safe and have sad stories about what happens when the rules are broken. Nobody says we have to fly one at a time, but there are times at most fields when a pilot might have to wait for the proper moment to fly a particular model out of politeness to fellow pilots. For instance, whenever I take off I notice that the serious fliers land their expensive airplanes in a hurry and duck behind something solid.
I welcome your thoughts on this or any other topic. Use my e-mail address or send letters to me at Box 7081, Van Nuys, CA 91409. Please mention MA in the e-mail subject line so my spam filter lets your message through!
Back to the pictures and scale modeling
I snapped the shot of the yellow Stinson Detroiter at the marvelous Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. That frosted window reminds me of my many glue-smeared plastic model windshields. I plan to include that photograph in my scale documentation as proof that even full-scale windows get goofed up.
Sometimes the cause of my fogged model windows is a reaction between the glue and the plastic. I often use salvaged plastic sheeting for windshields, with thickness based on the size of the model and the curvature needed. I am occasionally surprised by how violently the plastic dislikes my cyanoacrylate or the accelerator I use. I learned to test a small piece first, and if necessary I use a different adhesive.
Have you ever seen an unexpected reaction when using some substance to build, repair, or clean your model? Foam melts when exposed to regular super glue, but it works great with foam-friendly formulas. I’ve found that yellow Sharpie pens turn blood red when exposed to most cyanoacrylate. This can be inconvenient when touching up a Piper J-3 strut!
The windshield-fogging phenomenon happens to some types of plastic but not others, depending on the brand of cyanoacrylate accelerator. Some combinations of cyanoacrylate and accelerator result in large, white blotches of glue when cured, which is ugly but not hazardous.
I wonder if there are some dangerous combinations of products waiting to be discovered. If you know of such a combo, please share the info.
Bench tie-down trick
Dave Jones let me photograph his electric-powered eHobbies JN-4, which looks great because he added many scale details. Dave uses a bench "tie-down" made from a pair of socks full of weight, tied together with a soft cord. It’s an old idea but a good one.
Dave says that Carl Rankin recommended this trick, but I’m not going to give Carl any more credit for being clever and inventive.
Eye protection
As long as people keep having eye injuries I’m going to keep writing about eye protection, and I see my way clear to do it again. Ron Pettit is the "loss control" man for AMA’s insurance agent, The Harry A. Koch Company, and he sent me some great information. He wrote:
- "Safety glasses need to be Z87 rated.
- High impact glasses will be marked Z87 or Z87+ on the frame, on the inside of the bow next to the hinge, or in some cases on the lens.
- Prescription safety glasses may have polycarbonate, glass, or a plastic called CR39 but these glasses pass a much easier test than pure safety lenses.
- Polycarbonate lenses are much more impact resistant than glass or plastic lenses. Glass and plastic lenses usually shatter into small sharp pieces, but polycarbonate usually just cracks. Polycarbonate lenses scratch easier than other lenses, but new anti-scratch coatings help if the glasses are cared for properly."
Ron also advised modelers to consider eye protection that covers three different types of hazards:
- Dust and particles floating around in the air.
- High-speed particles resulting from using power tools.
- Liquids, such as adhesives, solvents, paint, fuel, and cleaning solutions, that you wouldn’t want splashed in your eyes.
I have a dot of cured cyanoacrylate on the corner of my glasses that would otherwise have gotten into my eye. Quite a souvenir! Sometimes a full face shield is the thing to use, while other situations might call for something different.
I hear close-call stories and injury reports about eye damage too frequently. Please give these matters some thought and get protective eyewear that matches your situation!
Arming switches for electrics
Recent mentions of arming switches for electric-powered models have brought in some great ideas. Kip Jackson wrote:
"I use this on all my electric powered aircraft. I fly Futaba computer radios with spring loaded digital trims. To make shutting off your gas powered plane more convenient, Futaba has a 'throttle cut' feature. This allows the pilot to shut off the engine without messing up the idle trim. I use the same feature to arm and disarm the throttle on my electric planes.
"I use a switch that is on the opposite side of the transmitter from the throttle stick. This prevents me from accidentally bumping the throttle and the arming switch at the same time. On my big electrics I use two arming switches that both have to be in the right position for the throttle to operate."
Kip thinks electrics are potentially more dangerous than gas models because you can easily tell when a gas engine is running, but a motor can switch from off to full power instantly and unexpectedly. He likes being able to verify the "safe mode" status of his motor by just looking at his transmitter.
WD-40 warning and engine safety
Just to shake Kip up, following is a story from Robert Smith about those "safe-when-not-running" gas engines. He wrote:
"I don't recall ever reading a warning in your column about what happened to me. I was preparing a .20-size engine for storage by putting WD-40 in it. I held it in one hand and flipped the prop with the other to try to coat all of the interior surfaces with the fluid while feeling for any roughness in the ball bearings or any friction or drag, and judging the compression.
"Apparently the compression was good enough for it to ignite the WD-40, and it fired once. The prop swung around and hit the back of my prop hand and cut a finger and chipped a small notch in the bone.
"It was very painful, and I still have a bump on that finger after 15 years to remind me that WD-40 will ignite. I leave the glow plug out now, and skip the compression test."
I've never seen this happen, but I have heard plenty of stories. A guy named Rudolf Diesel must have heard the same tales because he designed a whole series of engines that worked on this very principle. He even expanded the concept beyond WD-40 and model airplanes.
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
