Radio Control: Giant Scale
ONE of the first things a modeler "learns" when he or she gets into Giant Scale is that the model's pieces are big, too. That shouldn't be a big surprise, but it often is, particularly if the modeler is used to building smaller models. Wood sizes are substantially larger. Stringers that, in a .60-size model, might be 1/8-in.-square balsa suddenly become 3/8 or 1/4-in.-square or even bigger. And, instead of nice soft balsa, the wood has "changed" to much harder spruce, redwood or basswood. Another early realization is that the ever-handy X-Acto knife isn't able to cut Giant Scale-sized woods properly. The budding Giant Scaler soon makes a visit to the local hobby shop to purchase a razor saw and, probably, a small, aluminum or wooden miter box. These tools help him make the square cuts across the harder woods that Giant Scale models demand for strength and lightness.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
LOOKING BACK. In the January, 1938 issue of Model Airplane News, Jay's Hobby Shop in Los Angeles advertised a Megow Art Chester's Jeep kit in 4-in. = 1-ft. scale (!) for $12.50, postpaid. Of course, it was a gas-powered Free Flight model-but, it was one-third the size of the prototype racer. The Cleveland advertisements in even earlier model magazines touted Stinson gull-wing kits with 82-in. spans "suitable for the Brown Jr. gas engine." The Peerless Model Airplane Company, for $5.50 (plus 50 cents for postage), promised a 72-in. Taylor Cub kit. Digging into the magazines of the Thirties, practically every issue had photographs of what we now call Giant Scale. Rubber-powered Monocoupes and Boeing F4B-4s with spans of from seven to nine feet were common (there were kits for them, and the Miniature Aircraft Company sold 82-in. Lockheed Vegas "to be powered by rubber or 1/5-horsepower gas engines-$18.00."
Radio Control: Giant Scale
ALTHOUGH the majority of us Giant Scale fans favor the depressurized atmosphere of the rally rather than the intensity of a Scale contest, there are many of our number who enjoy competition. That's obvious, because the AMA rule book includes specific rules for Giant Scale radio-controlled models. They're contained in the Scale section of the book (Event 514, page 81). Like other classes in Scale, static judging is part of the exercise. And, static judging presupposes documentation for the model. That's the most thoroughly misunderstood word in the modeler's vocabulary! It's been my good fortune to judge club Scale contests and a Scale Masters or two, and the "documentation" that's been presented has been wild, wooly, and downright weird. Everything from the original construction drawings complete with glue dollops and X-Acto knife cuts to bound volumes of Profiles have been presented in the static-judging circle.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
AH! The Merry Month of June-when you'll be reading these words. The dust in the workshop is well settled, and most of us are spending the long evenings or weekends ripping beautiful holes in the sky! Some of us have just returned from the IMAA Festival in Converse, IN or are getting ready for the big 'un, the Nats in Lincoln, NE July 11-18. The flying season is upon us, the sun is shining, and all's right with the world! If you're an "old honker" like Yours Truly, there are some nagging thoughts in the back of your head. Gotta start thinking about upgrading my radios. The old Krafts, Orbits, and Cannons are still transmitting and receiving OK, but they'll soon be illegal. Since some of them date from the late Sixties (!), they deserve retirement. Have to start looking around for a new, narrowband transmitter and a few matching receivers. Go straight for the "1991" equipment and maybe switch to single-stick. Ed Carroll said he'd help me convert. Most of the servos still work well, even though I've had to double-up to stand the gaff of the Big Birds. Maybe the old budget will stretch for a set of "real" Giant Scale servos?
Radio Control: Giant Scale
YOURS TRULY has just returned from the annual orgy at Toledo. It was number 33 for the Weak Signals club and my seventh visit to the northwestern Ohio city. Toledo '87 lived up to its well-deserved reputation as the trade show. Wall-to-wall people marveled at wonders of model aviation, and almost everybody who is anybody in the model hobby world was there. And-60% to 70% of all of the Scale models in competition were of the Giant variety! I was able to obtain an exhibitor's pass to the show, so I got to spend some time at the Toledo Sports Arena on setup day. Although things were a tad confused, it was an excellent opportunity to examine the "goodies" up close.
