Radio Control: Scale
SOLDERING AND BRAZING. Soft soldering, with lead-tin alloys, is the most common method of joining steel or brass parts. Low joint-strength is the main disadvantage when using ordinary solder. Advantages are ease of fabrication, low tool cost, and relative ease of repairs. Joints can be re-melted and disassembled for repair. A 100-watt soldering iron (which isn't really iron, but copper), or a 150-watt solder gun will serve most modeling purposes.
Radio Control: Scale
PARIS FAI MEETING: For modelers planning future FAI contest projects, the most important development of the December FAI plenary session in Paris was news that rules are frozen for four years. In effect, this means that our present FAI scoring system of aircraft complexity bonuses applied to flight scores will continue without change for the 1984, 1986, and 1988 World Championships. With present AMA rules tied to FAI rules for Precision Scale class, there will be no changes for U.S. Scale modelers who contemplate construction of a complex airplane.
Radio Control: Scale
RENO NATS: High altitude and hot weather in August will have an influence on our flights at Reno. Stead Field, site of the Nats outdoor activity, is at an altitude of about one mile above sea level and this height, combined with expected temperatures of 80º or more, will place the density altitude in the range between 8,000 and 9,000 feet. Combined high temperature and altitude will affect models here as though the field height is over 1 1/2 miles! Modelers who regularly fly at Reno, as well as those in Colorado and New Mexico, tell us that the altitude has little effect. Having witnessed a few problems at the Reno Scale World Championships in 1982, we are aware that there is an effect.
Radio Control: Scale
BRACE WIRES: Authentically-shaped, streamlined brace wires for Scale models can contribute a considerable amount to realism. It is to the modeler's advantage to know the exact shape that is being duplicated, and a trip to the local airport can be a revelation. Streamlined wires aren't flat, nor do they have a teardrop-shaped cross section like steel struts. They are made from round stainless steel wire that has been rolled to a symmetrical convex curved shape that is quite sharp on both leading and trailing edges. The curved airfoil is essentially a true radius.
Radio Control: Scale
AS USUAL, the throng of enthusiasts filled the aisles at the Toledo Expo, and the single most tightly-packed area surrounded Dave Brown's exhibit. His radio-control flight simulator for the Apple II computer was in constant use for the full three days. A large percentage of pilots, who attempted to control the flight of the model image on the picture tube had their joy abruptly interrupted by a shattering crash, followed by the bad news of the cash amount for damage repairs. We saw one demonstration, by Dave himself, of a difficult Rolling Circle maneuver which was completed successfully, to prove that the model image could be flown.
