Control Line: Scale
SCALE MODEL Data Bank-Jim Daly of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, has started a new research service for all scale modelers. Jim will take a subject aircraft on which you are researching documentation and do the research for you. If you're a National Association of Scale Modelers (N.A.S.A.) member, he will do the research work for $1 in stamps, which will cover the return postage from Canada. If you're not a N.A.S.A. member, the charge is $4 per page of documentation. This service would be very helpful when looking for aircraft with specific color and markings. Jim can also help you find plans, kits, parts, and three-view drawings.
Control Line: Scale
PICTURE-TAKING notes: Stan Alexander, editor of Replica, the N.A.S.A. newsletter, had some words in a recent issue on how to take model photos and submit them for magazine or newsletter use. The following is based on Stan's comments. Black-and-white photos are generally best, but good color photos are okay. Some simple Do's and Don'ts: Don't shoot down on a model unless you want the photo to show specific details; and if that is the case, close-up shots would probably be best. Don't shoot the photo with many other items or people in the photo, unless a grouping of planes or people is being shown. Try to fill-or nearly fill-the frame with the subject only. Filling only half the frame allows the background to take emphasis away from the subject. Do take the subject against a contrasting background or color. Taking a picture of a dark-colored model against a black or very dark background would cause the model to blend into the background, losing detail and generally making the photo unusable for publication purposes. Low-angle (even with the camera on the ground) front-, side-, and some 3/4-rear-view photos usually show off models to best advantage.
Control Line: Scale
WHERE are the CL scale entries? Art Weber, of the Circle Masters Club in Brookfield, Wisconsin, reports that the annual club meet for Wisconsin- and Illinois-area contestants, held July 26, 1992, had a good overall entry but a low turnout in the scale events (four in Sport Scale and two in Profile Scale). The quality of the scale models, however, was great. Charlie Bauer, of Norridge, Illinois, placed first in both the Sport and Profile Scale events. Bauer flew a silver Sky Raider equipped with a bomb and tank drop in Sport and an all-electric-powered B-29 in Profile.
Control Line: Scale
First, SC-94-2 and -3 suggest that wording should be added to Scale General, item 2, page 117, stating that a contestant can be listed only once as a winner in a scale event, or enter only one model in a scale event. While this is covered under General rule 10 on page 7, I guess it doesn't do any harm to be redundant. SC-94-22, -23, and -24 deal with the modification or elimination of the Section 4.6 builder's declaration of parts not made by him. Proposals SC-94-22 and -23 note that the 4.6 rule has not been effective, and that the builder-of-the-model (BOM) rule is all that is required. While the reasoning behind the 4.6 rule is sound, its enforcement is most difficult. If a modeler states that he made all of his model, how do we prove him wrong on the field? SC-94-24 would exempt the new Profile Scale event from the 4.6 rule. Perhaps the best course to follow would be to delete the rule as proposed for all scale events.
Control Line: Scale
CONTROL SYSTEMS: Art Weber, a consistent contributor of ideas, noted that many recent columns have contained considerable information about electronic control systems and servos for operating model functions. He wondered what happened to the good old bellcrank-and-pushrod systems. I answered Art, telling him that the operation of any of a model's functions-was interested in) is the torque-tube/rod system for operating throttle controls on a multiengine model. The accompanying sketch and photo demonstrate a typical arrangement of the torque-tube/rod idea.
