88 M ODEL AVIATION
“ … SMaLL can be satisfying, and simple may be sufficient”
was the statement Bill Hannan used to introduce his classic
Peanuts & Pistachios series.
Though Bill was referring to Peanut Scale Free Flight (FF)
models, his words are also applicable to the flying of small Radio
Control (RC) models. Some modelers use the Peanut Scale plans
from Bill’s fine books as starting points for their RC models,
generally enlarging them two- or three-fold.
“Small-Field Flying” is dedicated to the above proposition that
Bill scribed some 20 years ago. I’ll emphasize techniques,
materials, and products used in the construction and operation of
small models in small flying fields, and the fun that comes from
building and flying them.
I confess that my interests lean toward Scale models.
There’s something special about a model that represents a
piece of history. I own and fly several sport airplanes, and I
enjoy them very much.
The truth is, if it flies I like it—much to the chagrin of my
wife, who suffers from my constant babbling about things that fly.
This month I’ll show you a method for making very
lightweight, inexpensive connectors for low-current Electric RC
models, but in the next few months I’ll share techniques I’ve
found useful for building FF and small RC Scale models.
I’ll use one the new Dumas Val kits as a base for those
discussions, and I’ll convert it to RC. These kits are fabulous
for such conversions; the laser-cut parts make the framing
process a joy and, with a few modifications, they handle servos
wiggling the tail quite well.
Please write to me; let me know what you’re doing, what
you’ve built, and what subjects you’d like me to cover.
Model Aviation isn’t about columnists and it’s not about
editors. It’s about model airplanes and the people who fly them,
so we need your input to move the magazine in the direction you
want it to go.
Larry Marshall
S m a l l - F i e l d F l y i n g
51 Blvd. des Allies, Quebec, QC G1L 1Y3, Canada; E-mail: [email protected]
Small connectors can be made from cheap, and often free,
materials, such as these ribbon cable connectors. Larry buys his
from a local electronics-parts store.
Separate the back of the female connector from the front part,
which will be used to make the connectors. Shown is the
ultimate orientation of the male and female plug.
Peanuts & Pistachios was the first of Bill Hannan’s many book
series that provided modelers with dreams and inspiration.
Dumas added three more 30-inch-span models to its line of
laser-cut kits. The author will use the Val for small RC demos.
90 M ODEL AVIATION
You can contact me at the E-mail address at the head of
the column or you can use snail mail if you want to send me
photos.
Small Connectors in Minutes: Finding small connectors for
low-current slow flyers is not easy, and those that are available
are relatively expensive.
The high current-carrying ability of many commercial
Electric model connectors are not required, since most slow
flyers fly on one amp or less. What is important is weight and
size; light and small are good.
I’ve learned that I can build a dozen pairs of really nice
connectors for a couple bucks of parts and a half-hour of my
time. If you hunt through used computer equipment, you can
probably pick up the parts for free.
The basic materials are male and female connectors that are
most commonly associated with ribbon cables used to connect
hard and floppy drives to computer motherboards. The plugs on
the cables provide the basis for the female connector, and pin
sets that are typically on the motherboard or interface cards are
used to make the male connectors.
Rather than scrounge for used parts, I get new plugs and
pin blocks from the local electronic-parts store. I estimate that
it costs roughly 15 cents to make a pair of these connectors
with new components.
The ribbon cable connector has two rows of holes; the
number of holes depends on the size you buy. A typical plug has
25 pairs of holes, and these will produce a dozen female plugs.
The male pin connectors can also be purchased in several
lengths. With these, every three pins provide one two-pin
male connector.
Making female connectors requires the use of a razor saw,
some sandpaper, and a few minutes. The process is simple; it
amounts to sawing through every other set of holes, leaving you
with small plastic blocks—each with two holes and their
associated contacts.
The contacts associated with the holes you’re cutting will
fall out and can be thrown away.
Once I’ve cut a bunch of these, I sand the edges smooth using
a sanding stick.
Make the male connectors by using an X-Acto™ knife to
cut through the plastic at the location of every third pin,
producing two-pin connectors. The pins where you cut are
thrown away. As with the female connectors, you need to
sand these to eliminate excess plastic.
That’s really all there is to the construction of these small
connectors. I use a pencil-type soldering iron to solder small-
Sawing through every other pair of holes of a ribbon cable
connector provides two-hole female connectors.
Making male connectors is simple; cut off pairs of pins from the
male connector strip by cutting at every third pin.
Larry uses shrink tubing to cover the solder joint that connects the
wire to the connector. This provides a well-insulated, clean connector.
gauge wire to the contacts, and cover the solder joints and
contacts with heat-shrink tubing.
You might notice that these connectors do not protect you
against the possibility of plugging them together with the
wrong polarity.
Because I use red wire for positive and black for negative and
make a point of paying attention when I make the connection,
this hasn’t caused me any problems.
JR610 Review: In the past couple years a bunch of really tiny
receivers have been brought to market. These are two- to fivegram
receivers, and they have helped those who want to build
really small RC models.
Unfortunately, in the name of keeping them small and light,
these receivers have not provided the sort of front-end
filtering we’ve come to take for granted when we use modern
receivers.
The result is that these receivers are prone to interference
from other transmitters, so they aren’t the best when flying in
crowded environments. Although it’s not a problem when flying
most small models, these receivers provide only limited range.
The JR610 makes a slight compromise in weight and provides
quality ABC&W front-end filtering, allowing you to fly your
small models anywhere and with anyone. Out of the box, the
receiver is still very light at 11 grams, and that drops to only
eight grams if you remove the case.
If you want to participate at fun-fly events with your light
models, give one of these receivers a look. MA
