Safety Comes First
The wing-cracker tool snaps into action
Getting your model overhead in the first place can be a big problem if you are flying one of the inexpensive stick‑balsa ARFs from the toy store. Kids start out with these airplanes and too often learn that the flight potential is extremely low. After a disillusioning failure with the low end of aeromodeling, a youngster is likely to head back indoors and play a video game.
Experienced builders have found that a bit of modification can unlock amazing performance from such models as Guillow’s Sky Streak and Jetstream. The critical upgrade is adding extra dihedral to the wingtips. This allows the lightweight airplane to deal with the added torque of a more powerful rubber motor. The balsa sheet is usually scored and cracked upward, with a line of glue for reinforcement at the new polyhedral joint.
I work with many kids on their first models, and I learned that a wing‑cracker tool would speed the operation along. Groups of kids must be kept busy.
My father, Ralph, matched my sketch to his craftsmanship and produced what he called the “Gee‑o‑teen.” He built several of these simple but rugged tools, and we use them frequently at model demonstrations and make‑and‑take sessions such as the AMA Expo.
I have been asked for clear photos of the cracker tool, so I have included a picture showing the construction and size. Duplicating the things should be easy, and they can be sized to fit the model you will be modifying. A souped‑up Sky Streak is superior to a Delta Dart because of the extreme speed of construction and ruggedness of the finished aircraft. They fly equally well.
A kid who begins with such a model learns how to handle a delicate flying machine, how to launch an airplane, observe its flight, and then adjust for best performance. This can make for a safer RC pilot later or an expert FF modeler as he or she transitions to more serious rubber, gas, or electric‑powered aircraft.
A ridiculous model RC aircraft accident
Howard Pascoe was up front about it. He started his e‑mail with, "The following is a ridiculous model RC aircraft accident. I have no way of explaining how it could have been prevented, so here goes ..."
The scene is a small RC field in upstate New York. According to Howard, there is approximately 300 feet of mowed grass surrounded by abandoned overgrown land. It's a sunny day at the end of the flying season, calm and inviting.
Howard continued:
"I got the trainer ready to go and began my takeoff. Immediately I determined that something was wrong because there was not enough engine power. So I decided to cut the engine and let the plane crash‑land in the adjoining overgrown field. I then went to get the plane.
"Walking through the brush was difficult, maybe because I was 81 years old. However, I found the plane and began my journey back to the flying field. While plowing through the brush my foot caught a length of rusty barbed wire about a foot off the ground. It was impossible to see. Now the fun begins.
"I tripped, and while falling I held the plane out so I would not land on it. The side of my head hit the tip of the propeller and it went right through the lobe of my ear. The hole was just right if I wanted to wear a real big earring.
"After much bleeding into my wife's handkerchief we managed to stop the hemorrhage and load everything up to get home. My ear is now nicely healed up (without an earring).
"I continue to wonder what I could have done different to prevent this accident from happening but thank the Lord my eye did not encounter the upright propeller."
Howard really was fortunate to escape with only minor cosmetic damage and that the airplane survived intact. If he had been flying alone, things might have ended differently.
The statistics continue to show us that many "model aircraft" injuries have nothing to do with our models, but are just general mishaps. Any outdoor activity can go awry, but you might read about it here if it happens at the RC field.
Kicker (accelerator) has a shelf life
I admit to being thrifty, parsimonious, and tight with a buck. My models usually have plenty of homemade parts instead of commercial accessories. Two items that must be purchased are glue and accelerator, and even with those I try to avoid waste by using small glue bottles that get used up before they go bad.
On the other hand, my accelerator is decanted into a small NeedleCap bottle from A2Z Corp. So I picked up a giant bottle of "kicker" and have been using it up slowly over the course of a long time.
Recently I noticed that my glue joints had a whitish deposit that had to be sanded off. I tried using less glue, less kicker, and more care, but the phenomenon got worse. At last I realized that my kicker supply was the problem.
The giant bottle had begun to go bad — whatever "bad" means for kicker — and a fresh bottle made everything okay again. True to form, I saved the old stuff for less aesthetically important jobs, like sticking a piece of exterior trim back onto my garage.
We modelers use many chemical products, and some of them sit around for a long time before we need them. Many of us know the pitfalls of old fuel, but it never occurred to me that kicker also had a shelf life. How many other substances are slowly decomposing in my workshop right now, waiting to mess up my next project? I ended up not saving much money on kicker after all!
Have you had a similar experience with a hobby product that proved why expiration dates are important? Please drop me a line via e‑mail or letter. Be sure to put "MA" in the subject line to set you apart from the hordes of soulless spammers who pollute the Internet.
Beware chain‑letter warnings
On the topic of spam and the bottom‑feeders who send it, I often receive well‑intentioned e‑mail warnings about various dire threats, forwarded to me from new‑to‑the‑Internet friends. These chain‑letter messages ring true to many people, who think they are doing everyone a favor by sharing information.
In fact, almost all of these forwards are pranks, scams, or worse. The viruses or other problems they claim to expose are usually obsolete or false, and the forwarded message is the real problem.
The warnings themselves sometimes contain malware or other harmful programs; by passing them along, the unwitting do‑gooders are sending trouble to everyone they know. Hackers know that people are more likely to open an attachment from those they know, so they hide their evil code in e‑mails that sound helpful or patriotic or sentimental enough to forward.
I use two reliable methods to determine the validity of such messages. The best way is to paste the first line of the warning into Google or another search engine. You will instantly know the straight dope about whether there truly is a "doomsday virus" approaching or if Congress has really approved a postage fee on domestic e‑mail. The results will usually show that your message has been kicking around for years and is complete hooey.
My second debunking trick is even easier. If the message contains a command to "forward this to everyone you know," followed by some form of coercion (patriotic, religious, charitable, sentimental, public‑spirited, political, etc.), and then ends with an insult to those who fail to obey the order, you can rest assured that the message itself is a scam.
This is sometimes hard for the senders to accept, since they bought into the original tone of the scam message. Legitimate information is passed along on its own merits and doesn't need threats for motivation.
It's a good idea to do adequate research on such messages before hitting the "forward" key to all your friends. Sending a real virus disguised as a virus warning could bring hard feelings from the recipients.
Preflight inspection: a close call
Dave Laycock wrote to me about preflighting our models, as discussed in a previous column. He had an episode with his Spirit of Yesteryear Buzzard Bombshell model.
He wrote:
"It was my second kit‑built model, powered with a Speed 480 motor. A great flier. About three flights ago I noted an increasing tendency of the airplane to want to turn left. It was still flyable so I didn't ground it, but couldn't figure out what the problem was. Finally it was so bad, virtually uncontrollable, I was barely able to bring it down undamaged in a hard landing.
"I always do a preflight and radio range check, and I hadn't noticed anything abnormal. But careful examination after the last flight showed that the fuselage was cracked at the anchor point for the horizontal stabilizer, which was not a very robust area to begin with.
"My theory is that the control‑rod that operated the elevator was slightly too long and every time I operated the elevator it was twisting the assembly, finally causing the balsa to fracture. Repaired and reinforced the fuselage, shortened the travel, and now it's back in the air."
Dave was lucky to find the problem without further damage. Even a good preflight inspection didn't reveal this type of trouble, but most problems will be found while the model is safely on the ground instead of overhead.
— MA
Sources
- Guillow's
- Phone: (781) 245‑5255
- www.guillow.com
- A2Z Corp.
- Phone: (720) 833‑9300
- www.peck‑polymers.com
- Dave Gee
- Box 7081
- Van Nuys, CA 91409
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
