Radio Control: Old-Timers
PUSHING ALONG in 1938. This month's Old-Timer subject was sent us by its original builder: Harry Scatena of Hammond, IN. He designed it in 1938 and had kept it in reasonably good flying condition all these years. Finally, the fabric had deteriorated to the point of needing a recover. Harry decided to convert it into a radio controlled version. Originally powered with an Ohlsson .23 swinging an eight-inch, hand-carved pusher prop, it is now reengined with an HP .21 four-cycle. The model has a span of 60 in., fuselage length of 37 in., stab 20 in., and fin 7 in.
Customized Field Box
TO THE NEWCOMER to RC flying, the incredible variety of field boxes seen at the average flying site must be nearly as confusing as the variety of trainers. Our personal advice to the novice is to purchase an inexpensive 1 1/2 V door-bell-type battery to light the glow plug and a $1.75 fuel bulb for transfer, and to hand-start the engine for a while. If he should encounter a balky engine, there is usually someone at the flying field willing to loan a starter. Our reasoning for suggesting this minimal support equipment is that the newcomer will know if RC flying is for him by the time the battery and fuel bulb are worn out. If he decides to move over to some less creative and mundane recreational activity, his investment will be minimal. For early flying sessions, an old cardboard box is sufficient to carry the equipment mentioned, an extra prop or two, and some tools.
Radio Control: Old-Timers
PACIFICOASTER. When Elbert ("Joe") Weathers passed away recently, I mentioned the fact in this column and noted that I had another of his designs to use as an Old-Timer of the Month (OTM) subject-and still another was being developed for publication. As I understand it, the Pacificoaster is going to be the subject of a construction article authored by Dave Benepe; however, some delays have apparently crept into the project for Dave, and I've decided to run the Pacificoaster this time, as a sort of preview.
Radio Control: Old-Timers
SCIENTIFIC'S VARSITY. I'll readily admit to overusing Bill Schmidt's projects in my columns, but he keeps doing such weird stuff that it's just irresistable! Case in point: now he's hauled off and built an enlarged version of a model that most of us had considered to be a pure turkey-and the darn thing turned out not half-bad. I guess that I'd better not bad-mouth him too much, since he sort of got the inspiration from the Scientific Coronet I blew up to 150%-size and which resulted in a really exceptional thermal-flying machine.
Radio Control: Old-Timers
VISUALIZE the crate it took to ship this thing to England! Packing Wakefield rubber-powered entries for shipment to a far land (where they were to be proxy-flown) was a common practice in the pre-WW II era. The same cannot be said for gas-powered models. In that respect, the Krupp Bowden winner has a rare story associated with it. Can you imagine crating this thing-the drawings do not show any provisions to separate the wing panels-and shipping it from Akron, OH to England? For many years both before and after WW II, Col. Bowden, one of England's more outstanding modeling pioneers, sponsored a perpetual trophy to be awarded annually to the winner of a Gas event. The winner was determined by a complex set of rules involving the appearance of the plane, engineering features, duration of flight, and landing/takeoff characteristics.
