Electric Starter
THIS make-it-yourself electric starter was specifically designed for use with Cox .049 engines in flying such events as 1/2A Texaco Old-Timer and 1/2A Free Flight. The starter will probably work for other .049 glow engines as well. The unit is compact enough to fit in your side or rear pants pocket. The main body is just two inches in diameter and six inches long. A Mabuchi 05 motor (RS540) on six Sanyo 1,400-mAh SCR rapid-charge sub-C batteries drives the starter. The motor is available from Aristo-Craft (Polk's Hobbies, New York, NY) or similar companies. The batteries can be field charged from a 12-volt car battery. A Radio Shack momentary switch is used.
The Modern Windsock
WE'VE HAD a conventional tube-type windsock at our club's flying field, the Bergen County Model Airdrome. It's been there since day one, and it has always annoyed me. When the wind isn't blowing it droops down and reminds me of a hanging wet leg of lamb. It's ugly. I always feel a bit depressed anyway when the wind isn't blowing, and that windsock is always there to remind me. What to do about it? At the end of the last flying season I really took a close look at the thing. It was frayed and falling apart, and I thought just then that I might provide something cheery and appealing.
Electrocutor
MANY RC ENTHUSIASTS are expressing an interest in getting involved in the quiet revolution of controlled model aviation-the move to Electric flight. In part because of my work with the FAI and CIAM Subcommittees-I chaired the U.S.A. Team Selection Committee and was a Jury member at the U.S. Team Selection Finals for the first F3E World Championships-a number of modelers have approached me with the question of how to get started in Electrics.
The Fox
SHORTLY AFTER the Academy of Model Aeronautics decided to publish Model Aviation. I decided to submit an article on Radio-Assisted Old-Timer free flight. I was encouraged to do so when the editor stated that he understood this sort of thing was close to my heart. Putting it mildly, it is very close to my heart. At first, I really didn't know what to offer. There were so many things. After considerable throught, it occurred to me that perhaps "The Fox," a Class-A free flight model which I created back in 1940, might be of interest to the modeling community of old-time free flight, since it was a fine performer in its day. And with Radio-Assist it is most enjoyable to fly.
Aero Picnic
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY there are a number of model aero clubs, among which are the Old Time Eagles Model Airplane Club and the Riverview RC Flyers. Some of the members of these clubs had expressed interest in having an inter-club get-together so that the members could become better acquainted and to encourage camaraderie in the common interest of modeling. I was asked to act as Contest Director and chose to use the Aero Picnic program, a concept I had found to be extremely successful.
