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 at 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 and how to launch an airplane and 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.
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 begin
my take off. 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.
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. (See the address at the end
of this column.) 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 screw 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.
On the topic of spam, and the bottomfeeders
who send it, I often receive wellintentioned
e-mail warnings about various
dire threats, forwarded to me from new-tothe-
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 dogooders
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 tell about how 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.
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
(781) 245-5255
www.guillow.com
A2Z Corp.
(720) 833-9300
www.peck-polymers.com
Dave Gee
Box 7081
Van Nuys CA 91409
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/03
Page Numbers: 90,92,93
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/03
Page Numbers: 90,92,93
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 at 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 and how to launch an airplane and 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.
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 begin
my take off. 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.
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. (See the address at the end
of this column.) 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 screw 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.
On the topic of spam, and the bottomfeeders
who send it, I often receive wellintentioned
e-mail warnings about various
dire threats, forwarded to me from new-tothe-
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 dogooders
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 tell about how 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.
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
(781) 245-5255
www.guillow.com
A2Z Corp.
(720) 833-9300
www.peck-polymers.com
Dave Gee
Box 7081
Van Nuys CA 91409
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/03
Page Numbers: 90,92,93
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 at 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 and how to launch an airplane and 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.
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 begin
my take off. 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.
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. (See the address at the end
of this column.) 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 screw 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.
On the topic of spam, and the bottomfeeders
who send it, I often receive wellintentioned
e-mail warnings about various
dire threats, forwarded to me from new-tothe-
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 dogooders
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 tell about how 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.
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
(781) 245-5255
www.guillow.com
A2Z Corp.
(720) 833-9300
www.peck-polymers.com
Dave Gee
Box 7081
Van Nuys CA 91409
