Control Line: Aerobatics
One of the most difficult and most rewarding challenges in Stunt is to work with another flier's airplane and get it to fly to its potential. Much has been written about trimming, but it is surprising how much is ignored or misunderstood. I wish there was a magic wand you could wave that would make every airplane fly at Nationals level, but there isn't. There are so many areas to adjust that many fliers start without a plan or orderly approach; having a plan is the best way to do it.
Control Line: Aerobatics
In my previous column I discussed the importance of trimming the wings level as it relates to getting an airplane to fly well. Each adjustment in models has an impact, and all of them are interrelated. Each also has a range or zone, similar to what sports people use as a reference. When one adjustment is out of the zone, it's difficult to really tune the others. When you're close to the zone, the general trimming process is reasonably linear. One reason why experts have less trouble initially trimming a new model is that they initially preflight-pretrim the airplane with known or reasonable settings on all adjustable features.
Control Line: Aerobatics
THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST Nationals (Nats) ever! The quality of flying was superb; the number of entries was up; the Intermediate skill class was flown for the first time; and the weather was wonderful. The International Aeromodeling Center (Muncie IN) is one of the premier sites in the world, and through the constant effort of the AMA staff, continues to improve. However, the real story of any Nat is the people and their progress in the competition. For the US F2B Control Line (CL) Aerobatics team, the Nats served as a showcase and a tune-up for the upcoming world competition in Kiev, Russia. Early in the week, the team, including Junior member Dondi Garrison, showed that it was well-prepared, and alternate Ted Fancher flew as well as he has in several years.
Control Line: Aerobatics
With the Nationals (Nats) still fresh, I thought I would comment on some of the more technical points of the competition that I didn't have space for in last month's coverage. There are some interesting approaches to getting the same high performance. In the higher placings, the performance level has been raised with the various "packages" that display exceptional "drive" in very light air conditions; the pilots were able to hit extremely hard corners and still have consistent, precise bottoms. That demands moderate-to-light models and a ton of horsepower under control.
Control Line: Aerobatics
With my latest project-to refinish Caudron 5-ongoing, I'm reminded of some covering procedures worth repeating. They fall in the realm of technique-subtle, but very important. I'm referring to getting the material that you are using to properly adhere to the surface of your pride-and-joy. A friend who was showing me his latest Stunter mentioned that he had problems with carbon veil rippling when he applied it to the fuselage. After we discussed how he had applied the material, I realized that point, and other covering materials techniques, could use revisiting. Since I introduced the covering techniques with carbon veil, I'll start there. The .2 ounce per yard is wonderful for covering sheeted/solid surfaces. One of its best properties is that it is inert and doesn't shrink, making it preferable to tissue in areas such as the vertical-stabilizer-to-fuselage joints, where tissue lifts.
