Author: Paul Bradley
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/10
Page Numbers: 95,96
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SMALL 2014: Fun summer flying

Paul Bradley — [email protected]

It is hard to believe that much of the traditional outdoor flying season has come and gone. Time passes too quickly.

One of my favorite events of the outdoor season is the Small Aircraft Lovers League (SMALL) meet, held in early June each year. It is always great fun, and 2014 was no exception. Held near Little Rock, Arkansas, the event draws people from near and far who enjoy flying a variety of model airplanes.

In between my flying activities, I like to see what aircraft might be of interest to those of us who typically fly in smaller venues. Several models caught my eye this year.

Keith Sparks, aka Mr. Park Flyer Plastics, brought some examples of his Cartoon Scale models to the event. He has two new additions to the lineup: a PT-19 and an airplane based loosely on one from the Disney animated film Planes. Despite their cartoon appearance, all of the models in Keith’s kit line fly well. See the Sources listing for Park Flyer Plastics.

Another model that attracted my attention came from Dave West, who lives in the Chicago area. He built a vintage Carl Goldberg Jr. Skylark with a twist — not a twist in the wing, but a different power arrangement.

The Jr. Skylark kit was set up to be built as a twin-engine aircraft using .010 or .020 engines, or using a single .049 in the nose. Dave originally built his model as a twin using two Cox Pee Wee .020s for power. He found the performance lacking, so he added a Cox .049 Babe Bee up front. This combined the power options into one, and the result was a unique-sounding Jr. Skylark with nicely improved performance. Plans for the Jr. Skylark can be found on the Outerzone website.

In addition to RC models, free-flight (FF) and control-line (CL) aircraft were flown throughout the four-day event. There was also plenty of time for talking with a great group of model airplane enthusiasts. I’m already looking forward to SMALL 2015.

The Creative Mind of Ron Sims

Ron Sims is an aeromodeler who likes to morph popular RTF models into different airplanes. When not performing such acts of creative magic, he also scratch-builds models. A nice example is a 16 7/8-inch wingspan model of a 1921 Nieuport-Delage sesquiplane.

While reading Smithsonian Aircraft: The Definitive Visual History, Ron came across a three-view of the airplane in a section about setting speed records. He used wing blanks from Bob Selman Designs, a reworked ParkZone Mosquito fuselage, and some Depron foam sheets for the model’s major components. He also made the wheels from cross-grain balsa.

Power comes from a HobbyKing HXM1400-2000 brushless motor turning a GWS 5030 propeller, powered by a two-cell 120 mAh LiPo battery pack. All-up weight is 90 grams. Ron said the model is a good flier that is slightly on the fast side — hmm, on the fast side for a model of an early speed-record-setting aircraft?

Motor and propeller tip

Ron also passed along a note about a good motor and propeller combination for smaller models. He said a longer 8.5 mm brushed motor that delivers good power is available from Horizon Hobby. When combined with the three-blade ICON A5 propeller, the setup provides good ground clearance and performance. The part numbers are EFLU5152 for the motor and EFLUP395953B for the propeller. Thanks for the tip, Ron.

From Hawks to Butterflies

Professional artist Robert Dance has been applying his art and modeling skills to create some nice flying objects based on nature. In the February edition of this column I shared his beautiful RC red-tailed hawk.

Robert has now created a 21-inch wingspan representation of the Cloudless Sulphur butterfly. His artistic skills are nicely displayed in the remarkable markings of this RC model.

Robert’s building skills are also apparent in the installation photo of the AR6400 receiver “brick.” The motor is from a HobbyZone Aeronca Champ — nice work!

That’s all for this installment. Please let me know what you are up to in the world of small-field flying. My contact information is listed below.

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.