Straight Talk On Fuels and Lubricants
THIS IS NOT a product report nor is it an endorsement of any product, manufacturer, or supplier of model engine fuels or lubricants. It is intended solely to present facts based on experimental data obtained through standard test procedures. The inspiration for this article has come from all the talk, opinions, hearsay, claims, and whatever that have existed concerning model engine lubricants, primarily synthetic oils. It seems that lately everyone is in the fuel business. At the Toledo Show I counted 13 different booths advertising fuels, lubricants, or additives. Fifteen years ago the modeler had a very limited choice of maybe Fox, Cox, K&B, Power Mist, or Nitro X in the hobby shops. Now he has a seemingly unlimited choice of brands and nitro contents.
The Race...
MOST HUMANS have a basic need to compete. This may happen on the job, in the neighborhood, in sports, or in hobbies. When your hobby is model airplanes and you have this urge to compete, you enter contests. Normally, your model is entered against several other people's models. At the end of the meet, the scores for the day are compared and the winner is decided. The ultimate in competition of course is in head to head flying. Racing events obviously fit this situation. To my knowledge "B" Team Racing was the first official racing event.
Bobcat
ACTUALLY, Slow Rat Race is not as new as it seems. It has been around for at least six to seven years that I am familiar with. It was called Sport Race, Slow Race, Novice Race, and many other local terms to designate it as being "slower" than Rat Race. The model requirements for this "new" event revert back to those which were initially used in the early days of Rat Race, although there were not any specific limitations on Rat Race models which did resemble the present Slow Rats. During 1974-1975, the AMA CLCB (Controline Contest Board), with the input from the RAC (Racing Advisory Committee), put together a combination of all of the many local variations into a consistent set of national rules. The specific rules resulting from this can be found in the present AMA rule book.
The "Mystery" of Muffler Pressure
IT WAS a week or so before Christmas when Bill Winter called me and asked if I would write a "how-to" article on muffler pressure. It seems the old man (careful, John!) had been out flying a week or two before and was having some fuel draw problems on one of his RC models. Someone suggested that he try muffler pressure and after a little deliberation he did and presto his problems went away. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Actually, I could relate very well to Bill's problem as I continually witness similar situations each time I go to my club's (Michigan Signal Seekers) flying field. Having been interested in engines first and model airplanes a close second all my life, it disturbs me a great deal to see other modelers continually abuse their engine out of ignorance of what to do about poor engine runs.
Supercat
HAVING TOILED for many years in the Control Line events and being chronically infested with the competition end of things, it was only natural when I went into RC that I was interested in competition flying. Like most "beginners" I was very eager to learn, but unlike most newcomers I was also quite aware that it would be difficult, and there would be many failures along the way. I had resigned myself to the acceptance of failure as part of the learning process. My basic philosophy was (and still is) that experience is the process of elimination of things that won't work. You try to learn from your bad experiences.
