Bob Underwood

Bob Underwood humorously shares common phrases and laws in aviation, highlighting the quirks and challenges of model flying. He offers practical sanding tips for building, emphasizing the importance of using tools like sanding blocks and proper techniques to achieve smooth surfaces.

IT’S A MATTER of position. Who knew
that when you received the big-game tickets
for seats on the 50-yard line, you would be
sitting behind the only set of adult triplets in
the United States who are seven feet, three
inches tall, and wearing huge headgear
designed to spur on the home team!
Position, or placement, has to do with
many things. The marketplace comes to
mind, as do lane assignments in the
Olympics, holding a hammer, and placing
your hands on the computer keyboard.
The same is true for aeromodeling. The
designer takes into consideration the
elements of the aircraft and its specific
relationships. We often become static in our
thinking relative to these areas, then people
such as aircraft designer Burt Rutan come
along and cause us to rethink our approach.
The Voyager (the first nonstop,
nonrefueled flight around the world) was
something of a shock, and Burt’s more
recent design, the Proteus (a high-altitude,
multimission aircraft), is even more so. The
description heard from some is that the
special-purpose Proteus resembled “two
dragonflies mating.”
The configuration of wings and tails and
bodies does not fit our view of what an
airplane should look like. The important
thing is that Burt’s ideas work because they
adhere to the laws of nature.
We must look not only at the designs we
use, but at the methods as well. While
finding the position of the center of gravity
(CG), the relationships of various
dimensions and other factors are important.
There are other things to consider
operationally. Let’s look at some of those;
for the most part, I will be addressing RC
(Radio Control).