Radio Control: Giants
"RESEARCH" IS THE MAGIC word for this month's column. Practically every Giant Scale modeler has a "dream model" that he or she wants to build and fly. Modelers are often frustrated by a lack of appropriate drawings. After an exhaustive search for plans in model magazine ads and writing to the experts who might know of appropriate drawings, modelers end up against a wall. Given a burning desire to produce a scale model of an obscure prototype, the only alternative is to design it yourself. That decision will lead you into the wilds of research where nothing is as it seems!
Radio Control: Giants
YOU MUST ADMIT that building and flying Giant Scale models can run into money. There are, however, tricks of the trade that can keep the cost of a gorgeous model within limits. While the price of big-ticket items such as the radio, the engine, and maybe a set of retracts can't be avoided, there are some downright inexpensive items that can save you a buck or two. I'll start with the covering applied to wing foam cores. Sheet balsa or 1/64 plywood are the preferred materials. Coated poster board, however, is much cheaper, and it's even available in discount drug stores. Used shiny side out, it accepts paint well and adds considerable strength to wing cores. It does take a gentle hand and very fine sandpaper to thin it at trailing edges, but the usual glues used for balsa and plywood work just fine with poster board. It is a tad heavy, but not onerously so.
Radio Control: Giants
THE PROLIFERATION OF SUBJECTS that are being reproduced in Giant Scale form is a continual source of amazement. Modelers throughout the world are adapting some pretty exotic prototypes to RC flight. It would take a monster computer database to keep track of them. When a fascinating subject is being designed and built in your own backyard, the interest level is at a fever pitch.
Radio Control: Giants
WHAT A QUANDARY! If you've ever attended a gathering of Giant Scale enthusiasts, you must have noticed that most of the RC pilots are-to be candid about it-mature. To be more specific, Giant Scalers are, for the most part, rather old compared to the usual run of RCers. They're usually rather well-to-do, because their beautiful Scale models represent a substantial investment of both time and money. If you consider the cost of the engine, the radio with its dual airborne batteries and hefty servos, the expensive kit and accessories, a $1,000-plus Giant Scale model airplane is at the low end of the investment scale. So, how can I recommend that the beginning modeler start out with a big aircraft? Assuming that the neophyte wants to build and fly RC models and has disabused himself or herself of the "Flying Fortress Syndrome" (you'd be surprised at how many folks envision a Boeing B-17 four-engined bomber as their first RC model!) there are valid reasons to begin with a larger-than-usual model airplane.
Radio Control: Giants
BUILDING SEASON is in full swing-at least where winter grips the outdoors. I assume that your new Giant Scale project is well underway. If it isn't, I have a suggestion: Jerry Bates (102 Glenwood St., Mobile AL 36606) has drawn a set of plans for the Curtiss P-36/Hawk 75 in 1:5.5 scale that will knock your socks off. The meticulously drafted plans produce an 82-inch-span Giant that forms the basis for a host of prototypes. The plan set has five pages, one of which is a pattern sheet. The US Air Corps flew three versions of the P-36, and the basic airframe was used by France, Britain (Mohawk), Finland, Thailand, Norway, and several South American countries.
