Free Flight: Sport & Scale
INFORMATION FOR BEGINNERS: Many of the letters I receive are from guys who have been doing radio control for a long time and are ready to move up to FF scale, or from others who have been out of the hobby for many years and are coming back in and finding little to help them in the magazines. I often get requests to include more "beginner" material in the column. I needn't tell you that my bimonthly 1,000-words (which is worth about one picture) do not go very far in that direction.
Free Flight Sport & Scale
STA LUBE Anti-Seize Moly-Graph Engine Assembly Lube is available in a 23/4-ounce tube-just the right size for your tool box-at your local auto parts supplier. Not only does it protect reassembled engine parts on initial start-up, but it makes a great lube for nose and wheel bearings. Since the lube is applied with a toothpick, one tube should last about 500 years. It's handy when using cyanoacrylate glue (CyA) near anything you do not want stuck-like a front motor bearing when you're gluing a prop to the shaft or to a hinge. Just apply a small amount where you don't want the glue to wick in. In all applications, it seems to work as well or better than oil, and it stays put forever.
Free Flight: Sport and Scale
"HAWKEYE AERONEERS, the internationally famous club for builders and fliers of outdoor rubber-powered models is reborn!" reads the publicity sheet I just received from Paul McIlrath out in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The stated goal of the group is to "Encourage flying this summer in groups larger than one." A possible secondary goal of the club will be to represent the Hawkeye State in some postal contests. Paul continues, "Can we find an acceptable site to fly and set up schedule for flying sessions, weather permitting? As temporary Grand Head Aeroneer, I volunteer to fly with anybody, any decent morning or evening at the Pius Church Aerodrome, athletic field and parking lot located directly in back of my house" (1524 48th St. N.E., Cedar Rapids IA 52402)
Free Flight: Sport and Scale
GETTING INTO Free Flight Scale ain't as easy as it once was. Build-on plans, articles, ads for great kits, and tons of supplies of use to FF modelers once filled the model magazines. Every small town used to have a store that stocked things like Japanese tissue, rubber strip, dime kits, and other things kids needed. No more. Nowadays, finding a multipage "build-on" rubber-scale plan in a major magazine would be like finding a Sarah Vaughn track on a Snoop Doggy-Dog compact disc. So how does a newcomer break into this exciting, challenging, and rewarding discipline? One way is to become acquainted with the wealth of resources that are available.
The Dirigible Project
Aerostatics: We live at the bottom of an ocean of air, and the closer you get to the ground, the heavier (more dense) the air gets. A balloon filled with light hydrogen or helium will tend to rise until it reaches a level where the air around it has decreased in density. At this point the comparatively less-dense gas inside the "envelope" of the balloon will float at this level, in "aerostatic" balance. By adding or subtracting ballast (extra weight), you can control, within inches, the altitude at which the balloon will hover!
