The Pitfalls of Finding and Building a New Flying Site
Into each club's life, some rain must fall. The Pikes Peak Radio Control Club (PPRC) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, nearly drowned a little over twenty years ago, when an unfortunate incident caused us to be kicked off the field on which we had just paved three runways. Poof! We were relegated to flying from a piece of rough pasture. Right then we decided to start saving our money toward the eventual goal of building our own facility-a place from which we would never be ejected.
How To Do It: Mounting the On/Off Switch
Unless your radio's on/off switch is mounted in one of those plastic trays commonly provided by the manufacturer when the radio is purchased, finding a good, easy, and secure way to hang it in your model can be quite difficult. For some reason, switches tend to be one of the most easily destroyed items in the event of a crash. Finding a good way to mount the switch may prevent some of that damage. There are several commercially available switch mounts, but this one is much simpler and cheaper.
Pushrods & keepers
It's obvious: If you can't keep the pushrods connected at the servo end or at the control-surface end, there's going to be a nasty mishap. There are nearly as many ways to secure a pushrod as there are ways to put a finish on a model. Some of those methods work very well, while others are less than satisfactory. Let me start off with a disclaimer: An article such as this one may conceivably offend manufacturers of pushrod keepers and accessories. Please keep in mind that the following comments are my personal opinion and therefore do not necessarily represent the last word in the use or suitability of any particular product-they simply reflect my experience.
Building Effective Dive Flaps
There are all sorts of flap configurations that work well on full-scale aircraft. Depending on the particular need, each of the flap styles shown provides the extra control over lift and drag that the big airplanes need-especially if they're flying slowly, as on a landing approach. Except for spoilers, all of these increase lift dramatically. But most model airplanes don't need extra lift at all. They have plenty of wing area to hold them up, even at low speeds (as long as they can avoid tip-stalling-another issue).
Upside Down Little Stik
WHEN I WAS initially assigned to Southeast Asia, I had only my radios, a couple of engines, and some tools. There I found a newly-formed club with lots of enthusiasm but only one flyable airplane and only one week until a scheduled flying demonstration. The base hobby shop had yellow Monokote and a Midwest "Das Little Stik," so I set to work. With a lot of help, the deadline could be met. It wasn't quite that simple, though. Besides, I hate following directions and don't like to have a plane that looks like every other one. So I decided to change all that by making it a low-winger. However, any modifications would have to be quick and easy because of the time deadline. The end result was a fine-flying plane that looked a little different, and it was done in time for the show.
