Control Line World Champs
THE 1990 EXPEDITION to the Control Line World Championships departed from many locations around the U.S.A. on July 3, 1990. Everyone flew on Lufthansa with plans to meet in Frankfurt, Germany and stay overnight at the nearby Dorint Hotel. By taking direct flights from selected points in the U.S.A., the team and its supporters saved a stopover in New York City, which had added a lot of time and expense to the 1988 trip to Kiev in the Soviet Union. Team Manager Bill Lee and John McCollum left a day early to arrange for the fleet
Control Line: Combat
COMBAT FLIERS are lucky to have a fairly indepth cottage industry established which furnishes them with all manner of materials needed to fly Combat on all levels. Doc Passen, who is the Doc behind Doc's Generix Kits, has expanded his line of kits to include even more variety than before. The performance level of his model designs is slightly below what a pro might use, but it doesn't really matter since pros build their own designs. There's the Hot Dog for Super Slow Combat, the Wasp for Fast, and the Klipper for Slow, as well as the 1/2A Shadow for the .049 crowd. Doc is a master at gussying up a Plain Jane model to look like a World War II fighter. The sport flier will love the variety of designs, and the more polished competition modeler might humble some of the pros with these one-click-slower designs.
Control Line: Combat
FROM THE LAND of perestroika: Mack Henry is offering a number of items produced in the Soviet Union that, although designed for FAI Combat, may be of use in all Combat events. For $4, Mack will send you a packet containing a very lightweight bellcrank, a control horn, and molded nylon hinge fittings. They're contest-proven and will shave grams off your model's weight as well as speed the building process. Ready-to-use fiberglass props from Latvia are available for $4 each. All that I've tried so far have been perfectly balanced. The prop seems to be one of the best on the market for the Nelson or other F2D Combat engines. It comes with a fairly large hole in the center that's just right for the Nelson mini-spinner prop nut. If you use this prop on a Rossi-size crank, it'll either require a bushing or have to be carefully centered on the shaft.
Control Line: Combat
NEW on the scene: I have just received a few new product samples from Aerospace Composite Products (P.O. Box 16621, Irvine, CA 92714; telephone 1-714/250-1107). Aerospace Composite is now offering a special epoxy resin that is thin enough to work with any of its other products such as glass cloth, Kevlar and graphite. A second product is a composite of carbon fiber strands sandwiched between layers of tissue. The tissue layers make the carbon fiber easier to work with when you're gluing it to wood or foam. The adhesive soaks through the porous tissue to hold the carbon strands in place.
Control Line: Combat
DARE I even mention that there is a proposal for another Combat event? The basic proposal was made by Combat legend Riley Wooten, mainly as an event for the local level. The planes would be limited to a reasonable size (like 360 sq. in.) and a minimum weight, plus a few other basic restrictions. The engines would also be limited to a design like the Fox .35 Stunt in stock form, and it could be run on a bladder-type fuel system. Think about the early Sixties and Voodoo and Sneeker models powered by rather tame engines. Also think about how many people used to fly back in those days and the percentage of fliers who could actually keep up with their model.
