110 MODEL AVIATION
Safety Comes First Dave Gee | [email protected]
Dave adds helicopter flying to his mix of modeling talents
Also included in this column:
• Courteous flying keeps fields
• Clear windshield and adhesive
compatibility
• The Dave Jones tie-down
method
• Safety glasses need to be Z87
rated
• The throttle-cut feature works
on electrics too
• WD-40 will make an engine
pop A third-grader drew Dave flying an indoor RC helicopter. It’s appropriate since he claims
to fly at a third-grade level!
Dave Jones uses old socks to hold down his electric JN-4. Clever!
Scale modelers should love this full-scale Detroiter’s glue-smeared
windows. Cyanoacrylate and other products can have surprising
reactions with certain modeling materials.
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.
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 Email
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?”
02sig4.QXD 12/20/07 11:24 AM Page 110Steve 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: 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
112 MODEL AVIATION
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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.
Dave Jones let me photograph his electricpowered
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.
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 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, and any liquids, such as
adhesives, solvents, paint, fuel, and cleaning
solutions, that you wouldn’t want to have
splashed in your eyes.
02sig4.QXD 12/20/07 11:03 AM Page 112I 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!
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.
Just to shake Kip up, following is a story
from Robert Smith about those safe-whennot-
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
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