Free Flight: Old-Timers
Old Timer was revived for just one purpose; to put the fun back into modeling. If competition is your thing, you can find plenty in Old Timer but it will be a totally different experience. The pressure is off. Kind of a low-key gentle approach to enjoying the hobby. The max is not king in Old Timer. Fly-offs are rare and while some events are oriented toward thermal chasing, others like time target and spot landing are an enjoyable challenge. One northwest club, the Willamette Modelers, include a "Concourse d' Elegance" event in their annual meet. This consists of a one hour break in activities for the purposes of picture taking and selecting a beauty winner! Often during award ceremonies "special" awards are made for such rare attributes as procrastination.
Beechcraft D-17-S
STAGGERWING! If the word excites you then no explanation is necessary. If it doesn't no explanation is possible! The D-17 Beechcraft is one of the classics from the so called "golden era" of aviation-the 1930s. Like its contemporaries, the Howards, Stinsons and Wacos, the Beech was a prestigious private or corporate aircraft designed for speed and passenger comfort. Boasting such niceties as mohair upholstery, carpet and sound proofing, these aircraft played a major role in making air travel an acceptable alternative, if not a must, for executive transportation.
Free Flight: Old Timers
SOMETIMES it's difficult to remember that not everyone cut their modeling teeth on ignition engines. Judging from my mail I suspect it's time to devote a little space to the idiosyncrasies of spark ignition. The basic difference between glow and spark ignition is how the fuel/air mixture is ignited. Glow ignition depends on a constantly glowing wire coil. Spark ignition delivers a repeated timed spark. Simple enough except that the 3 volt power source will not jump the spark plug gap. Jumping the typical .015 to .020 in. gap requires a transformer (read:ignition coil) to change the low voltage high amperage current to a high voltage low amperage charge that will fire the plug. Ignition coils have two windings: a primary winding consisting of a few turns of heavy wire and a secondary winding consisting of many turns of fine wire.
Free Flight: Old Timers
A CHANGE of pace: Just a few years ago, contest entries in old-time rubber-power classes were minimal at best. Often there were more trophies than official scores. Happily today, this situation is improving as more and more modelers discover the joys of rubber models. There are many possible reasons for this, including the increased difficulty in finding original ignition engines in flying condition and the high cost of all ignition engines, new, used and conversions. Not withstanding are the noise factors, balky engines, dead batteries, vibration failures and just plain oil mess all over everything. If any of these points hits home, then perhaps you're ready for rubber power.
Free Flight: Old Timers
COTTAGE Industries: Where would old-time model aviation be today if it were not for the dozens of private individuals who have taken it upon themselves to get involved in the production of supplies, materials, kits, plans and even engines? From personal observation I know that most of these enterprises are a labor of love and only a few provide the entrepreneur with a living. For this reason I like to bring new products to the attention of Old Timer modelers through the medium of this column. Some time ago we reported on the activities of one such model enthusiast, John Morrill, who has founded Simplex Miniature Engines, 143 Richmond Street, El Segundo, CA 90245. At that time John had built six Simplex 25 engines as designed by Louis Garami of Strato Streak fame and published in Model Airplane News back in 1947.
