Free Flight: Sport and Scale
GEARS AND GEARLESS DRIVES for Rubber Power: Most fancy transmissions composed of multiple motors driving one prop through gears or crank arrangements and one motor driving multiple props through similar devices have one common trait: most modelers don't use `em. They can increase a model's performance up to 25%. However, unless they are light, mechanically reliable, relatively friction-free, well-balanced, and are used with the proper motor/prop combination, they can and do reduce performance significantly over the simple direct drive! There are many great reasons for employing odd power transfers: the size and placement of prop(s); leveling the power curve; reducing vibration caused by long, whipping motors; compensating for the lack of room for a long motor (as in a nacelle); or preventing stalls caused by unwound motors that shift the CG rearward.
The Amazing Engines of Laszlo Riesz
Could this possibly be true? I was skeptical, but the information he sent along was sufficiently intriguing to make we want to see these wonders myself. A few weeks later I descended the steps into Laszlo's spotless basement machine shop on Long Island. After seeing his equipment, my doubts began to disappear. What immediately caught my eye was a precision Swiss lathe sporting an auto-collimator (lens arrangement for optically measuring in millionths of an inch). On the bench beside it were microscopes and strange optical devices not usually found in a machine shop. My confidence in his claims grew!
Free Flight: Sport and Scale
IS BIGGER BETTER? Plenny Bates tells the story about the time Paul McIlrath, on hearing the old "what's the biggest model you have ever built?" question from a nonmodeler for the umpteenth time, took the fellow's wrist and commented that he knew where the guy could get a much bigger wrist watch, with a couple of alarm bells on it. As I see it, the point is not that big is bad in Rubber Scale, but that it needn't be the first criterion in thinking about models. Sure, big gets attention, but most of us will pass on the extra expense and hassle associated with the monsters. I'm all for the daring souls like Leon Bennett, with his huge Moth Minor; Steve Buso with his Extra-large Lacey; Addie Naccarato, with her eight-foot Farman Moustique; Ed Novak, with his gigantic Beardmore Inflexible; or Don Munn, with his stable of nifty racers. Give `em the glory they richly deserve, but don't downplay smaller models in doing so.
Aerodactyl
The Aerodactyl can be built by novices from six to 60. It will do a minute outdoors, can fly indoors if lightened up a little bit, and can be built with a tissue-covered wing or an all-sheet wing. Plan to build one of each!
Free Flight: Sport and Scale
FALLING IN LOVE With a Dimple: "Many a young man who falls in love with a dimple makes the mistake of marrying the whole girl." Would you buy a kit just because it has laser-cut parts or a colorful decal? Sure. A kit is a motivational device-it gets you fired up to build. If it inspires you with a gimmick, at least you will be launched on a project that you can modify after you get going. It makes sense to look at "the whole girl" before you commit your hard-earned cash, but if it takes laser-cut ribs or fancy decals to get you building, go for it!
