Free Flight: Duration
A COMPUTER in every bathroom? So you can do your chores while . . . you do your chores? I don't know about that, but there is no question that computers are now. You don't have to live in a very affluent neighborhood to find that every third kid either has a computer or has access to one-or at least a programmable calculator. Certainly the computer age will-or might well-have an impact on Free Flight. Why count squares on graph paper when you can punch in the coordinates of a wing outline and get a computer to do the coolie-labor of calculating the wing area? The computer age is bigger than merely Free Flight, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a computer page as a regular feature in the major modeling magazines in the near future.
Free Flight: Duration
Bob Meuser is on vacation, so we've asked veteran Free Flight fanatic Larry Kruse to take the reigns for this month. To all veteran Free Flight modelers, Larry needs no introduction; however, for the newcomers, we'll just suggest that you read on, and let Larry introduce himself. BEING a guest columnist has many of the same attributes as being a grandparent. First of all, no one expects you to be an authority figure. While your comments are noted in sort of a bemused fashion by the patient reader, no one expects you to strike fire with each word. Similarly, a certain amount of doddering misdirection is tolerated. If you fumble, stumble, and bumble a bit, allowances are generally made for the effects of longevity and absent-mindedness.
Free Flight: Duration
WHAT should it weigh? When you are building a new model, it is nice to know how the weight is coming along, compared to other models of comparable size. Unfortunately, many plans don't list the weights, and if you're designing your own, you're on your own. Roger Schroeder, 4111 West 98th St., Shawnee Mission, KS 66207 has been compiling data on airframe weights but would like to have more data than he has been able to get by weighing his own models and those of some of his friends.
Free Flight: Duration
THE HOBBY SHOP versus the Free Flighter. We bellyache a lot about the fact that our local hobby shops don't carry much of the stuff we need. So we mail-order it, along with X-Acto knives and other items that we could get at the local shop, if there was any compelling reason to go there. But, apparently, not many of the shops look beyond the ends of their corporate noses. It isn't often that I present an item from a newsletter without editing it half to death, but the following article from the Wasatch Free Flight Association newsletter (edited by Franklin Anderson) seems to put the subject together pretty well, and in a positive way:
Free Flight: Duration
DEFINING Free Flight-Duration. From time to time, it is worthwhile to take stock and define, for ourselves and others, what there is about Free Flight that attracts us. In this modern age of electronics, why would anyone build a model, start it up and let it go with no further control? Perhaps FF is a "training ground" for those who want to "move up" to other more "sophisticated" model classes. Perhaps the relatively low cost is the attraction. Well now, if you were to investigate further, you would find that Free Flight has a much deeper and independent attraction. The model is released to fly freely. It must rely on its design and adjustment to cope with the natural laws of physics, mechanics, and aerodynamics. The challenge in releasing your creation to fly on its own, subject to the vagaries of the atmosphere, is the essence of this sport. To add continuous control would take away that challenge.
