Radio Control: Giants
GIANT SCALE MODELERS have strong opinions when it comes to the models that they build. Although the number of potential prototypes is vast, builders narrow the field to subjects that please them; if World War I aircraft are preferred, Fokker products (the D.VII or the triplane Dr.I), Sopwiths (the Pup), or Nieuports (the 28) are usually chosen. Good Giant drawings or kits are available for all of them. If modelers prefer between-the-wars aircraft, the field is wide open: Curtiss Robins, Boeing biplane fighters, and a host of great Golden Age racers (Gee Bees, Folkerts, and others) have been drafted in Giant Scale sizes. Then there is my favorite - the Bell YFM-1A Airacuda.
Radio Control: Giants
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL, warm spring day at the Radio Control (RC) flying field. Only a couple of models are tracing filmy exhaust trails in the blue sky. One of the airplanes heads for the runway for a low pass, and the scream of the engine grabs everyone's attention as the model dives earthward. Then it happens! As the flier pulls his model sharply out of the dive, there's an ominous craaak - and the wing folds up in the middle! The fuselage, now bereft of any lift, spears into the runway and debris is scattered everywhere. Balsa, plywood, propeller, spinner, engine, and radio create a long swath of destruction. Above it all, a half-wing flutters slowly to the earth. "Too many Gs" (gravity) is the consensus of the modelers who witnessed the crash. Many of the modeling population have possibly witnessed this sort of ugly end to an RC flight. Too many Gs, but that isn't the whole story. A poorly braced wing center section might have been waiting for a high-G pull-out; maybe plywood dihedral braces weren't sufficiently epoxied to the wing spars; or the fiberglass "scab" over the center section of the wing wasn't fully adhered to the wing's planking.
Radio Control: Giants
DO YOU GET the feeling that every other Giant Scale model is a J-3 Cub? There are many of the yellow high-wingers around, and they are available in every size for almost any engine displacement, from .049s to the biggest gas-burner. Cub kits and Cub drawings are available up to and including 1/3-scale. The reason for all of these Pipers is that J-3 models fly beautifully. Other Scale subjects that have essentially the same configuration as the ubiquitous Cub inherit great flying characteristics. Seemingly overlooked are the Curtiss Robin and a 1930s homebuilt, the Pietenpol, designed by Bernie Pietenpol. There are two "flavors" of Pietenpols: the single-place Scout and the two-seater, the Air Camper; these models could be recommended to Giant Scale modelers for many reasons:
Radio Control: Giants
ONCE IN A WHILE I thumb through my library. I found an interesting book that I had long forgotten, but that's not too surprising since it was first published during WW II; Air Age Gas Models was published by Model Airplane News. The point of greatest fascination is the introductory screed, which recalls that balsa was in short supply during the War. (It was being used for life vests and insulation of oil tankers.) The book's authors recommended using pine, bass, and spruce in lieu of the lighter wood, but in smaller cross-sections than plans called for. That was good advice, because the .60-powered Free Flight models of the era were almost as large as today's "Giant" size models.
Radio Control: Giants
ALTHOUGH THERE ARE jillions of Mustang models out there, I've never seen "it" modeled! P-51s out the gazoo and a very visible detail has been omitted on most of them. The same goes for other models of WW II US fighters. Maybe it's because the antenna, which was aluminum in color and construction, blends into the background in photos of the fighters' fins. Of course, it should have shown up on photos of Jugs (P-47s) and Lightnings (P-38s) as well. What we're talking about is tail-warning radar that was developed late in the war. The idea was that if some dastardly enemy airplane approached your airplane's posterior, a bell would ring in your cockpit and a red light would glow on your instrument panel so that you could take proper evasive action.
