Control Line: Aerobatics
The story of and solutions to things that went wrong during the past competitive season continues. (The trend suggests that it may be next year before I finish.) This part of the tale needs a preface to demonstrate why it took me so long to find out what my problem was. The root of this situation, and many that you run into, is assumptions. Having said that, many of you may be wondering, "Is this guy going off the deep end?" I'm getting at "Problem Solving for Stunt Fliers 101." Making assumptions will devastate your program, and you won't know it. Many fliers do it, but the more aware you are of the traps, the quicker and more accurately you can solve your problem.
Control Line: Aerobatics
EACH YEAR at this time, I make a pitch for you to get ready to enjoy your flying season by doing a little physical preparation. As I get older, and hopefully a little better, the old bones and muscles creak a bit more. That's telling me that if I want to go out, fly, and enjoy it, I better get to work. While you're young, you can generally push your body and not think about it. However, as you grow older, it's no different from any sport: you have to prepare. Consider the ingredients for flying Stunt. You have to have well-timed fine motor skills, which means strength in your hands and arms. It doesn't take a bodybuilder's regimen to do this-only a periodic light program. For the fine motor skills, I use a hand-grip exerciser that works individual fingers. A music store would have one for guitar players or for those who play other string instruments. With some light weight work on arms and shoulders, that should be sufficient.
Control Line Aerobatics
WHEN I STARTED modeling in the late 1940s, we builders didn't think too much about what to paint our airplanes with; it was nitrate-based dope with butyrate dope over it for fuel-proofing. The early brands were Testors, Speed-o-Laq, AeroGloss, and other locally produced or packaged materials. Most brands worked reasonably well as long as you kept the butyrate over the nitrate; they worked well enough so that the process was just "there," working. The advent of many high-performance automotive materials made them the "in" finishes; they were self-leveling, highly fuel-resistant, and beautiful. However, they did not come without potential problems-most were multipart and highly toxic. They required that the user wear protective garments and a special mask with an outside air source.
Control Line: Aerobatics
On President's Day weekend, the Dallas Model Aircraft Association (DMAA) hosted a Stunt [Precision Aerobatics] Forum and contest. After many years of envying the wonderful forum hosted by the Garden State Circle Burners club, I really looked forward to this inaugural happening. I'd seen several of the Windy Urtnowski tapes on the Garden State Circle Burner forums, enjoyed them, and I recommend them. Chief organizer Tom Niebuhr, with DMAA President Mike Scott, did a superb job of organizing the presentation and keeping the proceedings moving throughout the day. The list of forum topics was varied, ranging from designing a semiscale Stunter, to designing a Stunt paint scheme, to various construction tips and tools. Since I can't recount all of the presentation, I'll pass on some of the tips that I thought were of value.
Stanzel Museum
There's a small farming community just off of Interstate 10 in Southeast Texas. Most of you have probably never heard its name: Schulenburg. For more than 50 years, Schulenberg has been the home and strength to Victor and Joe Stanzel, unique engineers and entrepreneurs. Although some of us know their contributions to aeromodeling, few are aware of the variety of their lives' work. Joe and Victor have passed away, but as a tribute to their spirit, their family established the Stanzel Model Aircraft Museum and the Stanzel Family Foundation. The family hosted the Museum's grand opening this year on March 28, and it is open to the public. It provides a grand tour through the highlights of two interesting lives. Victor Stanzel was fascinated with aviation from childhood. He would often stop plowing on the family farm to watch private airplanes and military aircraft that flew over Schulenburg in the early 1900s.
