Radio Control: Soaring
LAST month's column showed a unique way of mounting the airborne equipment in a fiberglass fuselage. However, that method adapted itself to fuselages that had basically a more flat bottom in their profiles as compared with say, those of more teardrop-like designs. Photos this month show a series of steps which can be applied to nearly all shapes of fuselages, especially to those with a more bulbous front end and which are elliptical or circular in cross section.
Radio Control: Soaring
TOLEDO. That modeler's mecca where the annual throngs gather to see the latest from manufacturers and modelers was again-for the 30th year-the place to be, during the first week in April. One column can't begin to cover it all; however, those models and ideas which seemed to be the focus of a lot of attention are presented this month.
Radio Control: Soaring
RECORDS. Maybe it was the long winter that set five fliers in motion when the good weather finally came. Cabin fever can make one do weird things. Long Sailplane flights, while not necessarily in the same category as wind, do, however, seem to be more common shortly after the snow blower gets mothballed for the summer. Check out these flights: On May 2, Dean Landreth and Bob Champine tested their planes for the record trials which were to take place over the upcoming weekend. Bob had a flight which lasted nearly six hours-just for practice-and landed just after sunset.
Radio Control: Soaring
IF Gary Hutchinson comes up with many more ideas, we're going to have to change the name of this column! The latest hatching from Hutch is a new hitch in the actuation of either spoilers or flaps using a single servo. This idea was seen at Toledo, not as an over-the-counter item-even though it was at the Ace R/C booth-but just as an idea to pass along. The two photos illustrating the idea are of a wing mock-up showing the single-servo function for the spoilers or flaps. The trick stuff comes in the linkage, but more importantly in the modified output wheel of the servo. The extra cover (or hatch) in the photo of the mock-up is merely to show the linkage and the two motion modules which transfer the pushrod action from the servos to the spoilers and flaps. That part of the system is as straightforward as any conventional installation.
Radio Control: Soaring
BACK when this sport of Soaring was still growing, contests of a national level were held with some concern for the possibility that too many folks would show up and that the chance for saturation of RC frequencies would occur. As the contests did grow in size, the logistics for those contests adjusted until finally there were too many fliers per frequency to run a meaningful event (meaningful being your average three-rounds-per-day contest). When it was no longer practical to unlimit the number of entries, restrictions as to the number of contestants per frequency had to be levied, and a lot of folks had to stay home and try again the following year.
