Radio Control: Giants
I first met Phil Kent in Paris in 1984. We were covering an international Scale contest for our respective magazines. Phil writes the Scale column for the British magazine RCM&E (Radio Control Models & Electronics), the top-selling RC magazine in the United Kingdom. Phil and I hit it off and agreed to swap magazines. For the past 11 years I've been sending him Model Aviation and he's been sending RCM&E to me. In Phil's latest mailing, I found that an Italian company, Robotec, s.r.l. has come up with something that'll knock your socks off! For about $1,225 they'll send you your very own pilot!
Radio Control: Giants
AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURERS use them. Military organizations use them. Even home-builders of experimental aircraft use them, and they cause a big case of frustration for the model builder. I'm talking about all the writing that is applied to aircraft! Check a basic WW II fighter and you'll find that it's one big sign board, with legends and instructions printed all over it. These minuscule markings are used by the maintenance personnel who service the full-scale aircraft. The capacity of every gas tank is printed next to each filler cap. So is the required fuel octane. Tire pressure information is printed on the landing gear door, or on the wheel itself.
Radio Control: Giants
REMEMBER WHEN Comet and Megow Scale model kits could be bought for a nickel or a dime at the local drugstore? Remember when a giant rubber-powered model-with a staggering 60-inch wingspan-could be purchased for a paltry $1.50? Remember when a new Ohlsson 23 cost $16.50, and included the necessary coil and condenser? Do you recall when Jim Walker's almost-solid-balsa Fireball kit was a staggering $10? Them days are gone forever, more's the pity. The magic word today is computer. Not only are our RC radios full of computer chips, but we're also bombarded with model-airplane-related programs for the "bug-eyed monster" that lurks on many of our desks.
Radio Control: Giants
REMEMBER WHEN YOU simulated a scale engine by wrapping heavy thread around a cork or a length of dowel? If you had an extra nickel or two, you could buy a celluloid "engine" for your rubber-powered model-with rocker boxes and pushrods and everything. When you got into Control Line Scale, the fake scale cylinders improved (along with the state of the art) and were plastic castings. With the advent of Radio Control Scale, improved simulated engines became universally available and looked a lot more like the real thing. They were a lot lighter, and with a good, fuelproof paint job, represented a scale engine in your Scale model.
Radio Control: Giants
FROM THE COMMONPLACE to the wonderfully obscure, Leo Opdycke's Master Materials List documents a host of books, drawings, and other aircraft/aviation documentation. It includes more than 50 pages of reference material, ranging from complete drawing sets of WW I prototype aircraft to service manuals for everything from an Aeronca C-1 to the Grumman J2F Duck. In addition to its valuable references (which are readily available) the list contains a comprehensive tabulation of aircraft drawings and their source addresses. Although most of the material is concerned with full-scale aircraft, the list would be a wonderful source for Giant Scale RC model documentation.
