Free Flight: Duration
NEW rubber winder: The Morrill Sidewinder II is available. In my last "FF Duration" guest column (January '90), I showed a drawing of the Morrill Simplstooge winding stooge with a big winder hanging from the side of it. That very capable rubber winder is now available in a new version, set up to take the high-torque winding that stresses out other winders. The Sidewinder II looks the same, but the gears are improved. It was engineered from scratch as a big-model rubber winder, suitable for Wakefield and Mulvihill. It is really a lot of winder for the money.
Free Flight: Duration
THE POEM was published in Round 3 of the Fly-off newsletter edited by Bob Hatschek. I wanted to bring it to you here because it evokes so much of what we are about in Free Flight. If you want more technical and down-to-earth stuff, Bob has that, too, in each issue of Flyoff. For your subscription, U.S. residents should send $10 for five issues ($15 foreign address, U.S. Funds) to Bob Hatschek, Editor, Flyoff, 316 Grosvenor St., Douglaston, NY 11363. Any contributions you have of plans, technical data, details, and photos are also welcome.
Free Flight: Duration
WHEN I agreed to do this filler column on request from MA's publisher, I was reminded of the main reason why I packed up all my Outdoor Free Flight models (except P-30 and Pee Wee 30, which are both small-field events) almost a decade ago. I have not given up Free Flight, of course-merely continued to enjoy it indoors, flying with the infamous MIAMA club (Miami Indoor Aircraft Model Association). I now fly all the Rubber, Glider, and Power (CO2 and Electric) Free Flight models that I can stuff in my car-but I do it indoors.
Free Flight: Duration
CHEAP THRILLS: I can remember when I was just a kid and got plenty of cheap thrills flying Jim Walkers' innovative and great-flying catapult-launch Gliders. Modeled after the Lockheed Shooting Star (an early Air Force jet), they came with a clever folding mechanism for the wing root and a catapult stick. You can now get them again by mail order-and the thrills are just as great. One of the photos shows your author with a big grin, getting ready to launch his A.J. Interceptor into a San Diego thermal. There is no thrill like seeing your model shoot into the blue, then see the wing flop open and the model begin circling like a hawk. The Interceptor is available ready to fly for only $6.95, or in a U-Build kit for $4.95. Add $3 postage/handling for first three models. To find your thrill, fly one on Blueberry Hill after ordering from American Junior Aircraft Co., Box 68132, Portland, OR 97268.
U.S. Indoor Champs
THERE IS ALWAYS a certain magic about Indoor flying models-those superlight craft that cruise slowly through the air, undisturbed by vagrant winds and safe from the evil clutches of the thermal god "Hung." That magic is tripled in spades when you see those gossamer flying machines in a spectacular field house with a ceiling so high you could place an 11-story building inside it! Gently ascending toward a 116-ft.-high ceiling that arches over a football field, the world-class Free Flight models at the United States Indoor Champs seemed like magical hallucinations floating toward heaven. At one time, there were 41 planes circling overhead as awestruck spectators stood at the sidelines of the Astro-Turf-covered floor.
