Flying for Fun
And Furthermore: Last month I took a quick look at model aircraft finishing systems that lose part of their contents to reach a final form; they change from a liquid to a solid state by evaporating solvents. They dry, not set! In that discussion I mentioned the use of nitrate and butyrate dopes on paper or silk-covered models. A superb video by Larry Kruse that demonstrates lightweight covering and finishing techniques for models is available from Robin's View Productions (Box 68, Stokertown PA 18083). To paraphrase the old Tonight Show, "everything you could possibly want to know is contained in this sealed videocassette."
Super Bug
NOW HERE IS a model design with a true "blue-blooded" pedigree. Its great grandmother was Walt and Bill Good's pioneering and frequent Nationals RC winning Big Guff, which is now in the Smithsonian. Grandmother Rudder Bug, a 1948 Good design, was published in Model Airplane News in 1949. That year, no less than 11 of the 32 entries in Radio Control at the Olathe (KS) Nationals were Rudder Bugs. Our project's mother was the Royal Rudder Bug, a scaled-down Bug published in the February 1954 Flying Models and kitted by Berkeley Models that same year. This version differed most noticeably in its five-foot wingspan, compared to the original's six feet; replacement of the original undercambered airfoil with the ubiquitous Clark Y; and the use of a smaller radio system.
Flying for Fun
Another Oxymoron: In my March 1997 column, I took off on frequently used nonsensical terms. I'm adding "spray can epoxy" to that list! Hopefully my February 1998 column explained why such a product must be a figment of an ad writer's runaway imagination. Once the separate components of a catalyzed compound are mixed together, an irreversible chemical reaction is started, ending in a cured state, regardless of the container or the presence of an atmosphere. Therefore, a premixed epoxy paint - by definition - cannot be stored in an aerosol can, any more than two-part epoxy adhesives can be sold premixed! Premixed epoxy in a spray can is a chemical impossibility - or is it?
Flying for Fun
Milestones: There are things that mark passage through life; weddings, births, graduations, moves, new jobs, and other personal events become reference points as we weave the fabric of our lives. However, they are not usually of any particular importance to anyone but ourselves. I have completed 20 years of writing columns for Model Aviation. I originally prepared this column as a historical retrospective, then realized how insignificant those 20 years are to anyone else, and how arrogant such a column would be. While two decades of columns seems long, it pales in comparison to the tenure of Clarence Lee, Chuck Cunningham, and those from the past, such as Ed Lorenz and John Pond. One common thread motivates some who write columns regularly: a sense of fulfillment in hopefully entertaining readers with enthusiasm for modeling and adding to their enjoyment.
Flying for Fun
The Way It Was: Tom Brokaw's best-selling book The Greatest Generation has created interest in lives of civilians during WW II. I thought it might be fun for the readers to share a little of modeling and modelers in that same time period. Building model airplanes during WW II was extremely challenging and fraught with frustrations. Only the most obsessed, who were driven by nearly impossible dreams, found any reason to pursue the activity. I know, because I was born in 1932, and only by a stroke of good fortune did I have enough success building model airplanes to become addicted. For Christmas 1942, my mother somehow located a prewar Comet AYA (Air Youth of America) beginner set: a large box containing five models, ranging from a simple hand-launch glider to a stick-and-tissue rubber-power Phantom. The concept was step-by-step progression in complexity to acquire building skills.
