94 MODEL AVIATION
Safety Comes First Dave Gee | [email protected]
Also included in this column:
• Web sites to help young
modelers
• Brushfires: a burning
issue?
• An update on the “kit
royalty” scandal
Getting a grip on hand-propping an engine
Many parts of the country have a brushfire “season.” Is your field equipped to put out a
fire while it is still small?
This fine S.E.5a started life as a Guillow’s kit. Russ Layzell
considers himself a newbie modeler, but he builds like an expert.
Adam Gelbart starts his Fly Baby by hand. He says that the twincylinder
engine is well adjusted and starts at a low throttle setting.
I ASKED for it! The question had to do
with how we start our gas engines and if
hand-propping is a safe thing to do. Boy, did
readers respond! I’ll include only a few of
the many e-mail messages I received.
Fred Huber wrote:
“My experience is that the process of
actually starting the engines is not where
accidents occur. It’s after the propeller starts
turning and virtually disappears.
“Every serious propeller cut incident I
have seen, in many years of dealing with
glow engines, was not from the actual
attempt to start the engine.”
Fred’s statement matches the accident
reports I see. Apparently we are most alert
when we begin the starting procedure.
Lapses in attention tend to happen later,
while tuning or adjusting. Perhaps the
engine’s sound causes an overeagerness to
get into the air.
The following is from Bob Wilson.
“I start all my big gassers by hand and
wouldn’t do it any other way. But, I do wear
a padded glove when I start them.
Hopefully, the glove will keep all the bone
pieces inside if something goes wrong (just
kidding).
“I favor starting gassers by hand simply
because I don’t like lugging starters,
batteries and associated equipment to the
field.”
Bob travels light, but he is in the
minority. More pilots would rather have an
electric starter on hand, although not
everyone uses this tool, even when it is
available.
Will Greenwood commented:
“For me, starting a model engine is one
of the major fun experiences of model
airplanes. I love feeling that bump on the
propeller that tells me the engine is ready
for a sharp flip to get started. If I must resort
to a starter, I am sorely disappointed.
“I have hand-started engines ranging
from a .020 Pee Wee to an 85-HP
Lycoming. I began to use a heavy leather
glove in 1995, after the back of a diesel
propeller got me.”
Will makes a good point about enjoying
the feel of a primed engine.
This physical connection to our flying
machines can be a big part of the hobby.
10sig3.QXD 8/21/09 1:01 PM Page 94
Ask a CL pilot about the feel of a handle vs.
a transmitter stick! The problems start when
a propeller tries to touch us back.
Mike Cisler wrote:
“I hand-start all the time if the engine is
one that will allow it. I do two things to
make this as safe as possible. First and most
important is to smooth all edges of the
propeller. Then, when you flip a propeller,
flip it like you mean it: hard and with a
good follow through.
“The majority of my propellers are in
the 16-20 inch range and while I have been
bitten it is rare and I have been doing this
for 40 years.”
When guys with that much experience
give advice, I listen.
Starting a gas engine is inherently
dangerous, but with that knowledge we can
take appropriate care. Skill is a factor, and
it takes time to develop the right feel for the
job.
Adam Gelbart not only gets the last
comment, but a photo as well. He’s shown
with his Bowers Fly Baby, which he starts
by hand.
The twin-cylinder engine is reliable and
will start at a low throttle setting. Adam has
an electric starter for other large engines
that are not so well trained. He says that
being familiar with an engine is an
advantage.
The other biplane is an S.E.5a,
somewhere in France or maybe Los
Angeles, and I have to somehow justify
printing it in the safety column. Russ
Layzell transformed a Guillow’s kit into
this immaculate model.
He is fairly new to our hobby and has
had the benefit of advice and guidance from
friendly club members. This is much better
than struggling by yourself and learning
lessons the hard way in a hobby that
involves bandages.
My friend, Bill Kuhl, is a great guy who
spends a lot of time helping youthful
newcomers. His best efforts involve a Web
site containing “newbie” information and
videos. Bill recently mentioned that the
visitor count to his AMA Cub site had
reached the quarter-million mark.
Clubs and helpful fellow fliers for kids
are much less common these days, and
many budding young pilots would have no
support without the Internet. Bill has done a
service to aeromodeling by posting
information that encourages new pilots. His
Web address is in the “Sources” list.
There are other good “basics” Web sites
to recommend, such as the one Darcy
Whyte made about his Squirrel. It is
possibly the simplest tissue-covered model
ever and can teach us all a few things about
miniature flight. Bill and I also like the
airplane section of Slater Harrison’s Web
site. Both sites’ addresses are listed in
“Sources.”
Don Lowe also puts great effort into the
support of our hobby. In the course of our
work on the AMA Safety Committee, he
sent an e-mail that contained a special
insight. He wrote:
“The largest contributor to the AMA’s
good safety record is the requirement that
you set up your flight area as advised.
Almost all crashes occur in the flight area,
therefore we have relatively few incidents of
personal injury.”
Think about this. We fly miniature
aircraft, but we do not build or operate them
to the same expensive, painstaking
standards as man-carrying vehicles.
We are hobbyists who fly for fun or in
competition. Model crashes are so common
that we joke about them, but as long as we
see and avoid full-scale aircraft and fly over
a designated site, not much can go wrong
beyond a bent model.
When modelers decide not to follow the
time-tested guidelines for safe model flight,
bad things can happen. In the public mind,
such episodes reflect poorly on all modelers.
Some people complain about “too many
complicated rules” and how the AMA
Safety Code cramps their style. I’m not too
sympathetic.
When I fly, my mind is not full of rules
and restrictions. I’m just enjoying the
moment, but at the same time I am certainly
aware of what I am doing and how to do it
properly (well, not my landings) and safely.
It comes down to logic and common sense,
not pages of arbitrary rules, and nobody
wants an injury instead of a nice practice
flight.
Our hobby is more exciting and
interesting than many others, which is why
we fly instead of sketch landscapes, but
there is an element of danger with which to
deal. Skilled and experienced pilots go
about their business, getting their models
into the air in the proper way. They don’t
obsess about the rule book, but they know
that if you do certain things differently than
recommended, you, a friend, or even some
stranger might be harmed. If you keep that
in the back of your mind, safety is a cinch!
There’s one more picture to explain. The
brushfire in the photograph was clearly
visible from our runway and made us all
consider that a model or some human
activity could spark a blaze at our field.
Southern California has a notorious
reputation for fires, but many other places
are vulnerable in certain seasons.
Do you keep firefighting tools around?
Does your club or field have shovels,
extinguishers, and hoses available? How
would you handle a minor flare-up that
would get big if you don’t put it out
immediately? Bring the subject up at the
next club meeting and consider carrying a
general-use extinguisher in your car.
An interesting human nature footnote is
that I’ve twice used my extinguisher to save
someone else’s burning car. But neither driver
offered to replace the $10 emergency tool that
had just saved them thousands of dollars.
On the topic of feeling burned up, I have
the latest about the despicable plot to
collect royalties on scale models. A few
full-scale aircraft manufacturers (Cessna,
Lockheed, and maybe others) have been
shaking down model-kit companies for
payment, claiming that producing kits of
their products somehow damages the fullscale
aircraft’s reputation.
Some of the airplanes in question have
been out of production for 70 years, and the
military designs were financed with
government tax money, but the lawsuit
threats were issued nonetheless. This
disregards the benefits of free advertising,
positive name recognition, and massive
goodwill that has traditionally resulted from
hobby reproductions of aviation products.
I have been unable to get as much
information about this stinky deal as I
want, but apparently a law group went
around trolling for companies that held
trademark rights for trains, cars, and
aircraft. It offered a speculative deal in
which the full-scale companies would get a
cut of any royalty deals the lawyers could
arrange by threatening to sue model kit
makers who use designs and logos without
permission.
This changed a century of cooperation
between the two industries. Several model
companies had to pay fees (which jacked
up their products’ prices) or stop producing
models of certain vehicles.
That explains why some railroads are
no longer represented on model layouts,
why certain car makes are unobtainable as
plastic kits, and why Cessna and Lockheed
aircraft are becoming unpopular and rare
scale subjects.
Some of the train and car kit makers
have knuckled under and paid, which has
made things tougher for the rest. I don’t
know how much royalty was demanded on
a kit, but Cessna aircraft used to be
extremely popular subjects for models, and
for decades the company understood that
every miniature was a flying advertisement
for the full-scale aircraft. Not anymore!
I’ve seen some imported ARFs that
have intentionally wrong designations,
apparently to escape this shakedown
situation. An obvious replica of a Cessna is
labeled “Beechcraft” and so on.
Textron is the parent company of
Cessna and Bell. It needs to hear from us
about how its actions have left a bad
feeling about its brand in the aviation
community.
I saw production of some entry-level
scale kits stop because of Cessna’s demand
for royalty payments on a $20 product that
was nothing but beneficial exposure for the
company and depicted classic aircraft that
Cessna had stopped producing long ago.
Burns me up!
If you have further information about
this scandal, please let me know. MA
Sources:
Dave Gee
Box 7081
Van Nuys CA 91409
Delta Dart:
www.hbci.com/~bkuhl/Dart.htm
Squirrel:
www.rubber-power.com/make-it.htm
Slater Harrison:
www.sciencetoymaker.org/plane/index.htm
Textron
(401) 421-2800
www.textron.com/
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/10
Page Numbers: 94,95,96
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/10
Page Numbers: 94,95,96
94 MODEL AVIATION
Safety Comes First Dave Gee | [email protected]
Also included in this column:
• Web sites to help young
modelers
• Brushfires: a burning
issue?
• An update on the “kit
royalty” scandal
Getting a grip on hand-propping an engine
Many parts of the country have a brushfire “season.” Is your field equipped to put out a
fire while it is still small?
This fine S.E.5a started life as a Guillow’s kit. Russ Layzell
considers himself a newbie modeler, but he builds like an expert.
Adam Gelbart starts his Fly Baby by hand. He says that the twincylinder
engine is well adjusted and starts at a low throttle setting.
I ASKED for it! The question had to do
with how we start our gas engines and if
hand-propping is a safe thing to do. Boy, did
readers respond! I’ll include only a few of
the many e-mail messages I received.
Fred Huber wrote:
“My experience is that the process of
actually starting the engines is not where
accidents occur. It’s after the propeller starts
turning and virtually disappears.
“Every serious propeller cut incident I
have seen, in many years of dealing with
glow engines, was not from the actual
attempt to start the engine.”
Fred’s statement matches the accident
reports I see. Apparently we are most alert
when we begin the starting procedure.
Lapses in attention tend to happen later,
while tuning or adjusting. Perhaps the
engine’s sound causes an overeagerness to
get into the air.
The following is from Bob Wilson.
“I start all my big gassers by hand and
wouldn’t do it any other way. But, I do wear
a padded glove when I start them.
Hopefully, the glove will keep all the bone
pieces inside if something goes wrong (just
kidding).
“I favor starting gassers by hand simply
because I don’t like lugging starters,
batteries and associated equipment to the
field.”
Bob travels light, but he is in the
minority. More pilots would rather have an
electric starter on hand, although not
everyone uses this tool, even when it is
available.
Will Greenwood commented:
“For me, starting a model engine is one
of the major fun experiences of model
airplanes. I love feeling that bump on the
propeller that tells me the engine is ready
for a sharp flip to get started. If I must resort
to a starter, I am sorely disappointed.
“I have hand-started engines ranging
from a .020 Pee Wee to an 85-HP
Lycoming. I began to use a heavy leather
glove in 1995, after the back of a diesel
propeller got me.”
Will makes a good point about enjoying
the feel of a primed engine.
This physical connection to our flying
machines can be a big part of the hobby.
10sig3.QXD 8/21/09 1:01 PM Page 94
Ask a CL pilot about the feel of a handle vs.
a transmitter stick! The problems start when
a propeller tries to touch us back.
Mike Cisler wrote:
“I hand-start all the time if the engine is
one that will allow it. I do two things to
make this as safe as possible. First and most
important is to smooth all edges of the
propeller. Then, when you flip a propeller,
flip it like you mean it: hard and with a
good follow through.
“The majority of my propellers are in
the 16-20 inch range and while I have been
bitten it is rare and I have been doing this
for 40 years.”
When guys with that much experience
give advice, I listen.
Starting a gas engine is inherently
dangerous, but with that knowledge we can
take appropriate care. Skill is a factor, and
it takes time to develop the right feel for the
job.
Adam Gelbart not only gets the last
comment, but a photo as well. He’s shown
with his Bowers Fly Baby, which he starts
by hand.
The twin-cylinder engine is reliable and
will start at a low throttle setting. Adam has
an electric starter for other large engines
that are not so well trained. He says that
being familiar with an engine is an
advantage.
The other biplane is an S.E.5a,
somewhere in France or maybe Los
Angeles, and I have to somehow justify
printing it in the safety column. Russ
Layzell transformed a Guillow’s kit into
this immaculate model.
He is fairly new to our hobby and has
had the benefit of advice and guidance from
friendly club members. This is much better
than struggling by yourself and learning
lessons the hard way in a hobby that
involves bandages.
My friend, Bill Kuhl, is a great guy who
spends a lot of time helping youthful
newcomers. His best efforts involve a Web
site containing “newbie” information and
videos. Bill recently mentioned that the
visitor count to his AMA Cub site had
reached the quarter-million mark.
Clubs and helpful fellow fliers for kids
are much less common these days, and
many budding young pilots would have no
support without the Internet. Bill has done a
service to aeromodeling by posting
information that encourages new pilots. His
Web address is in the “Sources” list.
There are other good “basics” Web sites
to recommend, such as the one Darcy
Whyte made about his Squirrel. It is
possibly the simplest tissue-covered model
ever and can teach us all a few things about
miniature flight. Bill and I also like the
airplane section of Slater Harrison’s Web
site. Both sites’ addresses are listed in
“Sources.”
Don Lowe also puts great effort into the
support of our hobby. In the course of our
work on the AMA Safety Committee, he
sent an e-mail that contained a special
insight. He wrote:
“The largest contributor to the AMA’s
good safety record is the requirement that
you set up your flight area as advised.
Almost all crashes occur in the flight area,
therefore we have relatively few incidents of
personal injury.”
Think about this. We fly miniature
aircraft, but we do not build or operate them
to the same expensive, painstaking
standards as man-carrying vehicles.
We are hobbyists who fly for fun or in
competition. Model crashes are so common
that we joke about them, but as long as we
see and avoid full-scale aircraft and fly over
a designated site, not much can go wrong
beyond a bent model.
When modelers decide not to follow the
time-tested guidelines for safe model flight,
bad things can happen. In the public mind,
such episodes reflect poorly on all modelers.
Some people complain about “too many
complicated rules” and how the AMA
Safety Code cramps their style. I’m not too
sympathetic.
When I fly, my mind is not full of rules
and restrictions. I’m just enjoying the
moment, but at the same time I am certainly
aware of what I am doing and how to do it
properly (well, not my landings) and safely.
It comes down to logic and common sense,
not pages of arbitrary rules, and nobody
wants an injury instead of a nice practice
flight.
Our hobby is more exciting and
interesting than many others, which is why
we fly instead of sketch landscapes, but
there is an element of danger with which to
deal. Skilled and experienced pilots go
about their business, getting their models
into the air in the proper way. They don’t
obsess about the rule book, but they know
that if you do certain things differently than
recommended, you, a friend, or even some
stranger might be harmed. If you keep that
in the back of your mind, safety is a cinch!
There’s one more picture to explain. The
brushfire in the photograph was clearly
visible from our runway and made us all
consider that a model or some human
activity could spark a blaze at our field.
Southern California has a notorious
reputation for fires, but many other places
are vulnerable in certain seasons.
Do you keep firefighting tools around?
Does your club or field have shovels,
extinguishers, and hoses available? How
would you handle a minor flare-up that
would get big if you don’t put it out
immediately? Bring the subject up at the
next club meeting and consider carrying a
general-use extinguisher in your car.
An interesting human nature footnote is
that I’ve twice used my extinguisher to save
someone else’s burning car. But neither driver
offered to replace the $10 emergency tool that
had just saved them thousands of dollars.
On the topic of feeling burned up, I have
the latest about the despicable plot to
collect royalties on scale models. A few
full-scale aircraft manufacturers (Cessna,
Lockheed, and maybe others) have been
shaking down model-kit companies for
payment, claiming that producing kits of
their products somehow damages the fullscale
aircraft’s reputation.
Some of the airplanes in question have
been out of production for 70 years, and the
military designs were financed with
government tax money, but the lawsuit
threats were issued nonetheless. This
disregards the benefits of free advertising,
positive name recognition, and massive
goodwill that has traditionally resulted from
hobby reproductions of aviation products.
I have been unable to get as much
information about this stinky deal as I
want, but apparently a law group went
around trolling for companies that held
trademark rights for trains, cars, and
aircraft. It offered a speculative deal in
which the full-scale companies would get a
cut of any royalty deals the lawyers could
arrange by threatening to sue model kit
makers who use designs and logos without
permission.
This changed a century of cooperation
between the two industries. Several model
companies had to pay fees (which jacked
up their products’ prices) or stop producing
models of certain vehicles.
That explains why some railroads are
no longer represented on model layouts,
why certain car makes are unobtainable as
plastic kits, and why Cessna and Lockheed
aircraft are becoming unpopular and rare
scale subjects.
Some of the train and car kit makers
have knuckled under and paid, which has
made things tougher for the rest. I don’t
know how much royalty was demanded on
a kit, but Cessna aircraft used to be
extremely popular subjects for models, and
for decades the company understood that
every miniature was a flying advertisement
for the full-scale aircraft. Not anymore!
I’ve seen some imported ARFs that
have intentionally wrong designations,
apparently to escape this shakedown
situation. An obvious replica of a Cessna is
labeled “Beechcraft” and so on.
Textron is the parent company of
Cessna and Bell. It needs to hear from us
about how its actions have left a bad
feeling about its brand in the aviation
community.
I saw production of some entry-level
scale kits stop because of Cessna’s demand
for royalty payments on a $20 product that
was nothing but beneficial exposure for the
company and depicted classic aircraft that
Cessna had stopped producing long ago.
Burns me up!
If you have further information about
this scandal, please let me know. MA
Sources:
Dave Gee
Box 7081
Van Nuys CA 91409
Delta Dart:
www.hbci.com/~bkuhl/Dart.htm
Squirrel:
www.rubber-power.com/make-it.htm
Slater Harrison:
www.sciencetoymaker.org/plane/index.htm
Textron
(401) 421-2800
www.textron.com/
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/10
Page Numbers: 94,95,96
94 MODEL AVIATION
Safety Comes First Dave Gee | [email protected]
Also included in this column:
• Web sites to help young
modelers
• Brushfires: a burning
issue?
• An update on the “kit
royalty” scandal
Getting a grip on hand-propping an engine
Many parts of the country have a brushfire “season.” Is your field equipped to put out a
fire while it is still small?
This fine S.E.5a started life as a Guillow’s kit. Russ Layzell
considers himself a newbie modeler, but he builds like an expert.
Adam Gelbart starts his Fly Baby by hand. He says that the twincylinder
engine is well adjusted and starts at a low throttle setting.
I ASKED for it! The question had to do
with how we start our gas engines and if
hand-propping is a safe thing to do. Boy, did
readers respond! I’ll include only a few of
the many e-mail messages I received.
Fred Huber wrote:
“My experience is that the process of
actually starting the engines is not where
accidents occur. It’s after the propeller starts
turning and virtually disappears.
“Every serious propeller cut incident I
have seen, in many years of dealing with
glow engines, was not from the actual
attempt to start the engine.”
Fred’s statement matches the accident
reports I see. Apparently we are most alert
when we begin the starting procedure.
Lapses in attention tend to happen later,
while tuning or adjusting. Perhaps the
engine’s sound causes an overeagerness to
get into the air.
The following is from Bob Wilson.
“I start all my big gassers by hand and
wouldn’t do it any other way. But, I do wear
a padded glove when I start them.
Hopefully, the glove will keep all the bone
pieces inside if something goes wrong (just
kidding).
“I favor starting gassers by hand simply
because I don’t like lugging starters,
batteries and associated equipment to the
field.”
Bob travels light, but he is in the
minority. More pilots would rather have an
electric starter on hand, although not
everyone uses this tool, even when it is
available.
Will Greenwood commented:
“For me, starting a model engine is one
of the major fun experiences of model
airplanes. I love feeling that bump on the
propeller that tells me the engine is ready
for a sharp flip to get started. If I must resort
to a starter, I am sorely disappointed.
“I have hand-started engines ranging
from a .020 Pee Wee to an 85-HP
Lycoming. I began to use a heavy leather
glove in 1995, after the back of a diesel
propeller got me.”
Will makes a good point about enjoying
the feel of a primed engine.
This physical connection to our flying
machines can be a big part of the hobby.
10sig3.QXD 8/21/09 1:01 PM Page 94
Ask a CL pilot about the feel of a handle vs.
a transmitter stick! The problems start when
a propeller tries to touch us back.
Mike Cisler wrote:
“I hand-start all the time if the engine is
one that will allow it. I do two things to
make this as safe as possible. First and most
important is to smooth all edges of the
propeller. Then, when you flip a propeller,
flip it like you mean it: hard and with a
good follow through.
“The majority of my propellers are in
the 16-20 inch range and while I have been
bitten it is rare and I have been doing this
for 40 years.”
When guys with that much experience
give advice, I listen.
Starting a gas engine is inherently
dangerous, but with that knowledge we can
take appropriate care. Skill is a factor, and
it takes time to develop the right feel for the
job.
Adam Gelbart not only gets the last
comment, but a photo as well. He’s shown
with his Bowers Fly Baby, which he starts
by hand.
The twin-cylinder engine is reliable and
will start at a low throttle setting. Adam has
an electric starter for other large engines
that are not so well trained. He says that
being familiar with an engine is an
advantage.
The other biplane is an S.E.5a,
somewhere in France or maybe Los
Angeles, and I have to somehow justify
printing it in the safety column. Russ
Layzell transformed a Guillow’s kit into
this immaculate model.
He is fairly new to our hobby and has
had the benefit of advice and guidance from
friendly club members. This is much better
than struggling by yourself and learning
lessons the hard way in a hobby that
involves bandages.
My friend, Bill Kuhl, is a great guy who
spends a lot of time helping youthful
newcomers. His best efforts involve a Web
site containing “newbie” information and
videos. Bill recently mentioned that the
visitor count to his AMA Cub site had
reached the quarter-million mark.
Clubs and helpful fellow fliers for kids
are much less common these days, and
many budding young pilots would have no
support without the Internet. Bill has done a
service to aeromodeling by posting
information that encourages new pilots. His
Web address is in the “Sources” list.
There are other good “basics” Web sites
to recommend, such as the one Darcy
Whyte made about his Squirrel. It is
possibly the simplest tissue-covered model
ever and can teach us all a few things about
miniature flight. Bill and I also like the
airplane section of Slater Harrison’s Web
site. Both sites’ addresses are listed in
“Sources.”
Don Lowe also puts great effort into the
support of our hobby. In the course of our
work on the AMA Safety Committee, he
sent an e-mail that contained a special
insight. He wrote:
“The largest contributor to the AMA’s
good safety record is the requirement that
you set up your flight area as advised.
Almost all crashes occur in the flight area,
therefore we have relatively few incidents of
personal injury.”
Think about this. We fly miniature
aircraft, but we do not build or operate them
to the same expensive, painstaking
standards as man-carrying vehicles.
We are hobbyists who fly for fun or in
competition. Model crashes are so common
that we joke about them, but as long as we
see and avoid full-scale aircraft and fly over
a designated site, not much can go wrong
beyond a bent model.
When modelers decide not to follow the
time-tested guidelines for safe model flight,
bad things can happen. In the public mind,
such episodes reflect poorly on all modelers.
Some people complain about “too many
complicated rules” and how the AMA
Safety Code cramps their style. I’m not too
sympathetic.
When I fly, my mind is not full of rules
and restrictions. I’m just enjoying the
moment, but at the same time I am certainly
aware of what I am doing and how to do it
properly (well, not my landings) and safely.
It comes down to logic and common sense,
not pages of arbitrary rules, and nobody
wants an injury instead of a nice practice
flight.
Our hobby is more exciting and
interesting than many others, which is why
we fly instead of sketch landscapes, but
there is an element of danger with which to
deal. Skilled and experienced pilots go
about their business, getting their models
into the air in the proper way. They don’t
obsess about the rule book, but they know
that if you do certain things differently than
recommended, you, a friend, or even some
stranger might be harmed. If you keep that
in the back of your mind, safety is a cinch!
There’s one more picture to explain. The
brushfire in the photograph was clearly
visible from our runway and made us all
consider that a model or some human
activity could spark a blaze at our field.
Southern California has a notorious
reputation for fires, but many other places
are vulnerable in certain seasons.
Do you keep firefighting tools around?
Does your club or field have shovels,
extinguishers, and hoses available? How
would you handle a minor flare-up that
would get big if you don’t put it out
immediately? Bring the subject up at the
next club meeting and consider carrying a
general-use extinguisher in your car.
An interesting human nature footnote is
that I’ve twice used my extinguisher to save
someone else’s burning car. But neither driver
offered to replace the $10 emergency tool that
had just saved them thousands of dollars.
On the topic of feeling burned up, I have
the latest about the despicable plot to
collect royalties on scale models. A few
full-scale aircraft manufacturers (Cessna,
Lockheed, and maybe others) have been
shaking down model-kit companies for
payment, claiming that producing kits of
their products somehow damages the fullscale
aircraft’s reputation.
Some of the airplanes in question have
been out of production for 70 years, and the
military designs were financed with
government tax money, but the lawsuit
threats were issued nonetheless. This
disregards the benefits of free advertising,
positive name recognition, and massive
goodwill that has traditionally resulted from
hobby reproductions of aviation products.
I have been unable to get as much
information about this stinky deal as I
want, but apparently a law group went
around trolling for companies that held
trademark rights for trains, cars, and
aircraft. It offered a speculative deal in
which the full-scale companies would get a
cut of any royalty deals the lawyers could
arrange by threatening to sue model kit
makers who use designs and logos without
permission.
This changed a century of cooperation
between the two industries. Several model
companies had to pay fees (which jacked
up their products’ prices) or stop producing
models of certain vehicles.
That explains why some railroads are
no longer represented on model layouts,
why certain car makes are unobtainable as
plastic kits, and why Cessna and Lockheed
aircraft are becoming unpopular and rare
scale subjects.
Some of the train and car kit makers
have knuckled under and paid, which has
made things tougher for the rest. I don’t
know how much royalty was demanded on
a kit, but Cessna aircraft used to be
extremely popular subjects for models, and
for decades the company understood that
every miniature was a flying advertisement
for the full-scale aircraft. Not anymore!
I’ve seen some imported ARFs that
have intentionally wrong designations,
apparently to escape this shakedown
situation. An obvious replica of a Cessna is
labeled “Beechcraft” and so on.
Textron is the parent company of
Cessna and Bell. It needs to hear from us
about how its actions have left a bad
feeling about its brand in the aviation
community.
I saw production of some entry-level
scale kits stop because of Cessna’s demand
for royalty payments on a $20 product that
was nothing but beneficial exposure for the
company and depicted classic aircraft that
Cessna had stopped producing long ago.
Burns me up!
If you have further information about
this scandal, please let me know. MA
Sources:
Dave Gee
Box 7081
Van Nuys CA 91409
Delta Dart:
www.hbci.com/~bkuhl/Dart.htm
Squirrel:
www.rubber-power.com/make-it.htm
Slater Harrison:
www.sciencetoymaker.org/plane/index.htm
Textron
(401) 421-2800
www.textron.com/