Safety Comes First
Dave Gee | [email protected]
Dave's CA burn technique
As a dedicated safety guy, I feel obligated to lead the way in carelessness. If there is an accident available, I'll gladly take it for myself, if only to provide fodder for this column. Plus, I heard that if you never use your first-aid supplies, they get stale.
The AMA booth at the National Science Teachers Association convention is a happening place. We promote the AeroLab program, which uses model aircraft to teach middle school science.
A booth full of model airplanes will attract kids, and when there's a lull in the science-teacher traffic, sometimes I sit a few youngsters down and help them build airplanes. Three kids had their models nearly finished when my incident occurred.
I was using CA glue with accelerator spray. The kids handled the spray and I worked the glue for safety's sake (Har! Har!). It was a different brand and viscosity from what I'm accustomed to, which shouldn't have been a problem for a semiattentive adult modeler with 40 years of experience.
We cracked the Sky Streak's wings to give extra dihedral, and I applied a liberal glob of CA to the joint. The little girl was making her first model, but she understood what to do, and the accelerator bottle moved close to the wing as she sprayed a good shot toward the wet glue.
At that moment, time stood still for me. I realized that the glue I was using had a much greater flow than my usual brand, and that I had applied too much. The excess had dripped off the wing and onto my finger.
As the accelerator spritzed in slow motion, I had a long time to think about how much it would hurt when that much glue cured on my skin. Hours passed in a millisecond while I reached for a roll of paper towels. Empty. If that glue was not wiped off soon, it would be too late.
My last option was to use my nice, new britches. During this instant, which lasted forever, I considered how any physical injury would be minor compared with the witty comments I would endure from Sweet Diedra about how her husband only gets one usage from each pair of pants before getting glue on them. I chose to endure the burn to my finger and spare myself the charred image at home.
As the glue began to react to the accelerator spray, I felt it warm up. It got extraordinarily warm. This brought me out of my time warp and reminded me that there were three innocent kids across the table. They had never seen a grown man jump around and curse while waving his hand frantically. I had to remain calm and fake it.
I told them—through gritted teeth—that this was why we had the adult handle the glue, and that it could get extremely hot if it cured on human skin. They believed me because of the beads of sweat on my brow.
Meanwhile, the other booth workers noticed my distress. These were my pals; I could see their concern and knew what they were thinking: "Our friend is facing pain and injury. We are here in a strange town. How will we dispose of his body?" Their barely stifled giggling was little comfort, as a wisp of smoke rose from my finger.
Eventually the burning sensation lessened, and I was able to get the three aircraft finished. Someone else took the kids into the test-flight area so I could treat my boo-boo.
There were few options. Peeling the hardened glue blob from my finger would tear the skin and make the wound much worse. Debonder could melt it away chemically but would greatly irritate the burn underneath. No ointment could penetrate.
I was stuck with letting it wear for several hours, until my repeated handwashings broke things loose and the artificial scab came off. I uttered several choice technical terms during the process, since the kids were long gone.
Within minutes, a large blister formed over the second-degree burn. There was even a tiny spot of charred third-degree damage. Who knew CA could get that hot?
I'm all better now. I'm using both hands and all four fingers to type this. Don't let my goofs happen to you. Watch where that glue drips!
The photos this month
There's a story behind each of this month's photographs.
Anderson Lyrio showed me the snazzy custom model holder he made for his Saito 1.00-powered Tucano. He wanted to avoid awkward bending, so the foldable rack is exactly the right height for him. Anderson used scraps and leftovers, so the cost was zero. Smart fellow.
Mike Myers is another wise and experienced modeler. A past president of the Society of Antique Modelers, Mike is a cautious guy who bought a special ceramic jar in which to charge his batteries. It had seen a great deal of use, but one day it really got a workout.
Mike left the room while the battery was charging, and he returned to find a blackened pot and damage to the bench where "lava" had shot out of the spout. This picture was taken after the pot was scrubbed clean.
He admitted to bending the rule about staying with the charging system when in use, but said that his penance was to share the event with us. He says that the little pot from Battery Bunker cost $45 and saved him $50,000 in structural damage to his garage. A bargain!
Ted Stone got a bargain too. He bought some inexpensive military-surplus ammunition cans and repainted one for use as a charging vault. We discussed using these containers in lieu of more expensive, specially designed products and decided that although a metal box is not ideal, it is so handy and economical that people are more likely to use it than to charge in the open.
Add a little padding and your battery packs can be transported and stored in the ammunition cans, which have latching lids. If there is a ruptured pack, the metal will transmit heat to whatever surface it rests on, but it still provides substantial protection and containment.
Ted painted a whimsically fierce reptile on his charging box and added the words "Danger: ferocious live batteries." He's my kind of guy.
The odd-looking model in flight was an entry in the SAE International 2010 Collegiate Aero Design Series competition. College engineering departments design, build, and document a remote-controlled model aircraft. The airplanes are then test-flown to see which can lift the most weight.
I watched some of the safety inspections and a little test-flying. Experienced modelers volunteered as officials, and they took a very careful look at the airplanes before any flight-testing was allowed.
The judges worked in teams to catch problems that a single inspector might miss. Savvy modelers have a buddy take a look at their new creations before the first flights. You never know what a fresh set of eyes might find. It's a lot easier to correct a problem on the ground.
At the competition, my friend Tony Naccarato served as pilot for a crew of students from India, none of whom could match his skill on the transmitter sticks. They thought it was funny to come all the way from New Delhi to get tech support from a guy in California. He gave them vital advice about their weak landing gear in time to strengthen it, and they got further in the contest than they would have otherwise.
Safety precautions at the field were extensive, including throwing an errant columnist/photographer off the field during the competition flying session, but not before I got that shot of an unusual model winging skyward. Tony said it looked like something I might have designed. It was a compliment, I think.
Customized AMA numbers
It seems as though I'm always the last one to hear about things. I was unaware of an AMA program that allows members to have custom membership numbers, similar to vanity car license plates. Clever fundraising!
Now you can keep your personal number for life for one payment. I have a terrible time memorizing numbers, so now my AMA number is "DAVE." That one should be easier to remember.
My flying buddies thought it would have been a public service to get "HAZARD" instead, so I could paint it on the wings of all my models. They think they're so funny…
Youth recruitment and closing thoughts
I'm grateful to the kindly readers who send me e-mail and letters about things that need to be discussed here. It's great to hear from fliers in other parts of the country, especially those who have more experience and skill than I. If you have some information, advice, or a good close-call story, please contact me!
Jim Rothhammer did so, and we exchanged e-mail about his concern for our hobby. Jim has seen various AMA youth-recruitment programs come and go, and he wanted me to use my massive influence and power to shape policy at AMA Headquarters.
He's a nice guy, so I didn't want to admit to him that the extent of my decision making in Muncie, Indiana, is what kind of soda to buy from the break-room machine.
Nevertheless, Jim and I are of one mind about kids and model aircraft. The manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving mindset that our hobby provides are not being taught to most youngsters.
I am in favor of recruitment of all ages of modelers, but especially and supremely kids. They have far more to gain from aeromodelling than the pleasure of seeing their models zooming through the sky; we need them to ensure the future of our sport.
Sources
- Dave Gee
Box 7081 Van Nuys, CA 91409
- BatteryBunker.com
(760) 247-6980 www.batterybunker.com
- Customized AMA numbers:
- AMA AeroLab science program:
April Hathaway (765) 287-1256, ext. 516
- SAE International:
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
