Radio Control: Old-Timers
WE'VE MOVED. Please note the new address at the end of this column. Our correspondence stack is in a bit of a mess. If we owe you a letter, either be patient or send us another! Pylon Buster. This month's Old-Timer represents an enigma. Although it was published in Mechanix Illustrated after WW II and the plans show a postwar Atwood JH powerplant, the Pylon Buster is an authenticated Old-Timer! Ramon Vasquez designed and built the model before December 31, 1942, but it was not published until after the war.
Radio Control: Old-Timers
AND NOW, the Ontario Commando. This month, we feature still another "sleeper." Seldom seen in competition, the design has (in our opinion) very excellent potential as an A-Cabin Free Flight or A Glow or Ignition RC Assist. Kitted by Ontario Model Aircraft of Toronto Canada, the Commando was advertised in the September 1942 issue of Air Trails magazine. That's about as close to the SAM cutoff date of December 1942 as one can get. A three-view drawing was also shown on the same page with Gordon S. Light's "Dope Can" column. Aerodynamically, the wing and stab airfoils-as well as the moments-strongly suggest a reduced-size Buzzard Bombshell. However, the outlines and construction show a touch of Berkeley Brigadeer.
Radio Control: Old-Timers
THE LATEST "sleeper." I've looked at the ads for the New Cyclone Aircraft Lancer many, many times and have always instinctively dismissed it as just "another pretty face." Nothing in those old ads would indicate that this design is anything more than another sport model (although certainly an attractive one), though hardly competitive with such other greats as the Dallaire or Lanzo, so I never bothered ordering either Plan No. 7F4 (49-in. wingspan) or 7F5 (72-in. wingspan) from John Pond Plans. Well, folks, Eut Tileston (Carmichael, CA) is smarter than most of us! Eut has been eating up the competition with a whole series of Lancers! Ranging in size from an Elfin 2.5cc diesel-powered mite in Class A up to the .90 four-stroke-powered ship shown in the photo.
Radio Control: Old-Timers
SPARKERS! In my June column, I mentioned the availability of replacement parts-including the ignition timers ("points")-for those old spark-ignition engines which have been lying around for years, unused. Also, it seems to me that every issue of this magazine contains new ads for reproductions of various old ignition-type power plants. Therefore, it seems obvious to me that many RC-Assist fliers are going to have ignition engines to fly for the first time in their modeling experiences. Since first exposure to model airplane ignition systems can bring about an onset of a case of "anxieties" in some modelers, I've asked Bill Schmidt (who lives here in Wichita, KS) to share the "nuts and bolts" aspects of operating sparkers, since he has a vast range of experience with them and has been most successful in obtaining maximum power from the engines.
Radio Control: Old-Timers
A BUBBLE BURSTS. For many years, this writer has been trying his darndest to obtain drawings from which to build a KenHi Buzzer'd. I even went to the length of asking Hi Johnson (before his death) if he might know where I could find them. His several leads proved nonproductive. Gordon Codding (Kingham, AZ) sent photos of one he had obtained in derelict form and restored, and Associate Editor Ross McMullen advised that one hangs in the AMA museum. However, we consistently met with complete frustration when it came to anything to use for scratch-building. Even an appeal for help in this column produced only responses from others who wanted to build one.
