Radio Control: Giant Scale
REDUNDANT is the key word this month. Or, rather, I'll talk about redundancy in Giant Scale models. A decided advantage that we "Big builders" have over our compatriots who haven't gotten the word yet is that our models, in 99 out of 100 instances, are capable of carrying a smidgen of extra weight. That lets us add a number of redundant bits and pieces of equipment. The resulting installation all goes toward making our models that much safer to fly. Early on in the Giant movement, many modelers discovered the need to double-up on the servos that control the flying surfaces. We're talking about a separate servo for each aileron and dual servos on the rudder and elevators. Admittedly, in the early days of Big Birds, the only servos we had generated about 40 in.-oz. of torque. It wasn't unusual to find a model whose flying surfaces could be "blown down" by air loads if double doses of servo power weren't available.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
WHEN you get right down to it, Giant Scale radio-controlled model builders are a unique breed. We are constantly accepting challenges! Now, that may not appear to be a "big deal" to most of us. But, stop for a minute and think about it. First of all, most of us build models from plans, although there is an increasing number of Giant Scale kits coming onto the market. We'll check the advertisements in the magazines and send off our hard-earned money for several sheets of paper with model-airplane-shaped markings all over them. We'll spend hours at the local hobby shop, choosing materials and accessories. Then, we'll go home and begin the laborious pro-
Radio Control: Giant Scale
THE RYAN is up on its gear! Fred Wallman (Richfield, MN) came through with the two beautiful "bird cages," and they fitted with an absolute minimum of persuasion on my part. After a bit of filing of the attachment fittings already installed in the model, the complex assembly slipped in place. The shouldered-bolts and their locknuts held everything in place. Fred, a master machinist for over 36 years, included a working oleo which was cast forward seven degrees-dead-on scale! I still don't have wheels for the bird. (They look exactly like Williams Bros. Golden Age rollers-except that I need eight-inchers!) I'm working on it, though.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
PARADISE! To a dyed-in-the-wool Scale modeler, it is more fun than a visit to Disneyland! Six hangars full of ancient, flyable aircraft. They're enough to raise your blood pressure several points! Your correspondent had the opportunity to visit Great Britain's Shuttleworth Collection recently, and he practically went bananas. The Collection was begun in 1932 by sportsman-pilot Richard Shuttleworth. One of his first acquisitions was a 1909 Bleriot monoplane, similar to the craft flown by Louis Bleriot across the English Channel. Mr. Shuttleworth had the resources to restore the Bleriot to flying condition and his own airport at Old Warden from which to fly it. With great devotion, he continued to acquire interesting historical aircraft until his death in a crash of a Fairey Battle in 1940. After World War II, his wife, Dorothy, retained and added to the collection with the enthusiastic help of a trust she established.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
YOU might say that it is a fetish. Certainly it is a primary concern. The record proves that it works! It gets more "press" than any other topic concerned with radio-controlled model aircraft. There's even an entire column devoted to it each month in this magazine. Do the numbers 5 and 5 ring a bell? Does the word, "inspection," start your brain cells percolating? How about "fire extinguisher"? Or the phrase, "redundant battery system"? Of course, we're talking about safety amongst us Giant Scalers.
