Flying Aces Nats
THERE WAS no dust on the feathers of the vintage eagles who gathered in Dayton for the second Flying Aces Club (FAC) Nats on the three days preceding the AMA Nats. From the FAC GHQ in Connecticut, from the Cleveland Free Flight Society, the DC Maxecuters, the Texas Lone Star Squadron, the Flightmasters in California, Vamps in Las Vegas, the SOTS (Scale Old Timers Society), the Detroit Cloud Busters and dozens of little out-of-the-way places in the country which gave birth to Phineas Pinkham, they arrived in battered pickup trucks, air-conditioned Cadillacs, and on motorcycles. Unpacking scarred and decal-covered model boxes, the veteran birdmen showed that they had spent the last two years doing little else than building and testing models for this great event. A large contingent from the Detroit Cloud Busters was still building on the spot, however, and received no end of helpful advice from the assembled multitude.
FF Scale Outdoor
WEDNESDAY at the Nats was the first day I can remember in recent history which saw absolutely perfect weather all day! Having retrieved our models from the Wilmington judging site the previous day (2-hr. drive, which few of us needed), an eager group of modelers lined up for the fray. In Gas Scale, the wait was the longest due to the time needed to get gas and diesel engines going and tuned just right. Rubber was more fortunate, and timers were plentiful. Peanut and AMA Rubber Scale ships filled the skies, with many fliers putting in officials even before the thermals began rising, for fear that the wind would be coming up. Those who waited found that it didn't get windy, and the air stayed good all day. Some of the gas jockeys were even complaining about the need for a bit of breeze to help them get off the runway!
Free Flight: Scale Sport
ONE OF THE reasons you can get really hooked on FF Scale is the fact that even the failures are magnificent! Some of the least flyable planes are the ones that get talked about the most and bring their builders more praise and admiration than some of the "sure-shot" winners. Planes like Bob Barker's electric-powered Me 323-D2 with six buzzing props, or Jack McCracken's new Moore-drive DH Comet racer for rubber-power may never break the magic minute, but WOW! Walt Mooney's geared Grumman Skyrocket did five seconds in Peanut, and Fulton Hungerford's incredible Ford Tri-motors maybe 20, but what great inspiration to wean ourselves away from the Laceys and Fikes!
Free Flight: Scale Sport
THOUGHT for the month: He wanted to win at all cost So a coin in the air he did toss. Shall I build Fike or Cub? Ay, there is the rub For his dime thermalled out and was lost! If I seem to sound a bit commercial this go-'round, you can chalk it up to a desire to share what's best in modeling. How many of the people doing really great things can't afford the monthly full-page ad and are, therefore, only known to a few lucky modelers? A beginner's scale model kit being touted is not usually news, as every hobby-kit producer has one. The new Butch Hadland-designed Lacey M-10 kit from Peck Polymers is different. Originally seen as a beginner's Scale subject, due to its slab-sided construction with the no-dihedral constant-chord wing in the best of all positions, perched right on top, the plane became the favorite of competition-minded modelers until the Fike "E" diverted their attention. It's still the best high-performance Peanut for the amount of work involved that I know of, and the new Peck kit has a lot going for it: good design, good wood, good 3-view and marking documentation, plus the fact that you can get it, along with their 5-1 winder and a tube of glue, for under 10 bucks! Now that's a weapons system hard to beat.
Free Flight: Scale/Sport
THE DeCARLIS retract system (Nov. 1980 MA FF Scale column) has aroused a great deal of interest! In answer to the flood of inquiries, we need to mention that the heart of the system is the Tomy toy Mini-Bathtubbie motor with a music wire arm and little balsa "drag flag" added to slow down its unwinding. (The March 1980 column in MA by Bob Meuser shows the Tomy Flip-Flopper, which may also be a possibility.) The mechanism (see diagram) is set up by winding the knob protruding beneath the aircraft. The thread winds around its shaft, pulling on the arm to which is attached the gear-operating threads. By locating the pull-point halfway to the pivot, a realistic retract time is attained.
