Radio Control: Scale
FRANCE AND ENGLAND. Our trip to the Paris Scale World Championships included many experiences. Scale models seen, and modelers met. Our report of the meet couldn't possibly have touched on all of these events and airplanes, particularly the follow-up, which included crossing the Channel for a visit to a Scale contest at Abingdon, England. At the LeBourget World Meet, Peter McDermott's Sopwith Snipe had the second highest static score, and for good reason. A two-year project, the 7F.1 Snipe is an exquisitely detailed, 1/5-scale reproduction of the WW I figther in the Canadian National Aeronautical Collection at Ottawa. The model's 1 1/2-lb., dummy Bentley rotary engine is mounted on a large ball bearing race, with cylinders turned from aluminum. It is actually rotated by the exhaust stream from the Magnum .91 four-stroke engine that it hides from view!
Radio Control: Scale
CHICAGO EXPO: New items for RC Scale were not plentiful at the October Chicago trade show. Ace RC is promising several new items for the near future that will find their way into our models. Nilite III is an on-board glow plug lighter. A switch is mounted in the fuselage, in a position to be actuated by the throttle servo or by a separate servo. The switch bracket also serves as a mount for the actuating rod and an adjustable cam to close the circuit at the exact point in servo travel to ignite the plug when the throttle approaches the idle position. Another new item from Ace is their Nilite II, a pocket-size metered glow ignitor that monitors the glow plug condition.
Radio Control: Scale
LANDING GEAR LOCATION. A letter from a reader raised the question of the effect on ground handling, takeoff and landing, when wheel centers are displaced forward or aft from optimum location. Experience tells us that, when wheels are too far forward, there is sometimes a tendency for a model to ground loop, that is, to divert from a straight path on takeoff or landing, with the result that a wing tip will touch the ground. The worst condition encountered in this situation could be an alternate scraping of both wing tips, with the model eventually going over on its back. This can lead to a messy repair, particularly for a biplane. Airplanes most susceptible to ground looping are those with tail skids and wheels far ahead of the center-of-gravity.
Radio Control: Scale
REPORT FROM PARIS: There is definite reaction to the consequences of the complexity bonus system, now that it has done what was originally intended. In the past, simple aircraft were desirable as model subjects because they could be detailed and finished with minimum effort. There was also reasonable assurance that the model would fly well, in a scalelike manner. The bonus system was instituted to give models of complex aircraft a supposedly equal chance to become contest winners. Recent experience indicates that the complex, multi-engine and multi-function airplanes now have more than an equal chance, to the exclusion of simpler designs, and the balance between types has shifted too drastically. In other words, the modeler's choice of aircraft to be built is now influenced in favor of complexity and he is again obligated to build a model that suits the rules rather than the airplane he really prefers.
Radio Control: Scale
FOUR-STROKE ENGINES: While visiting England last summer, we were introduced to new (to us) Laser four-stroke engines. Two engines were single-cylinder, valve-in-head types of .61 and .75 cu. in. displacement. Most interesting from the Scale modeler's viewpoint was the Laser 1.20 twin, a V-type with two carburetors. These are all bar-stock engines with no castings. The twin has an extremely low idle speed and showed no hesitation on acceleration. Fuel is 20% castor oil, and no nitro is needed. Special glow plugs aren't required. British modelers are understandably enthused about their new four-stroke engines.
