Radio Control: Helicopters
OPPORTUNITY knocked at my door recently. I opened it up, and welcomed the chance to fly an Airtronics PCM Spectra 7H installed in one of GMP's Shuttle XXs, and I thought I'd pass along a few notes on the experience. The Airtronics Spectra PCM 7H is an excellent, middle-of-the-road Helicopter radio. It's not quite a JR Galaxy or Futaba 1024 PCM, but it's definitely a step up from a Conquest. I think that Airtronics and Sanwa have come up with a great
AMA Nats: RC Helicopters
THE SITE that the Nats Planning Committee picked for RC Helicopters at the Tidewater (VA) Nats was not suitable. You know I don't like to pick on the Nats organizers, but let's face it: If you promote a contest and expect people from all over the country to attend, you should at least have a usable site. Modern Helicopters do more than bounce around on the ground on training gear. Intermediate and FAI Pilots are flying around and performing aerobatics. Helicopters, just like conventional airplanes, need some room to accelerate and set up for each maneuver. The original site came complete with uneven ground terrain, not to mention a light pole that was centrally located and equipped with Helicopter-crashing wires overhead. I doubt that guys looking for a place to sport fly would have even considered the original site.
Radio Control: Helicopters
"DIE HARD" REVISITED. Welcome back! Two months ago I told you about the large-scale UH-1s I was flying for the movie, "Die Hard." At the end of that column I promised that I'd give a description of the inexpensive tail drive I used on these models. So here goes. If you have given any thought to flying Scale Helicopters, you've undoubtedly found that some of the best full-size ships have high-mounted tail rotors. This can be a real problem, as you must figure out some system to drive the model's high-mounted tail rotor-one that doesn't leave ugly, nonscale parts hanging out in the breeze. The system I use is the old speedometer-cable-running-in-the-curved-brass-tube trick. Now, I realize that this system is as old as Dieter's Hegi Cobra, but it works-and works well!
Radio Control: Helicopters
ONE of the biggest Helicopter fly-ins ever! That's how I would have to describe the 6th Annual West Coast Radio Control Helicopter Fly-In which took place October 1-2, 1988 in Merced, CA. Imagine a flight line over a quarter-mile long. Over 250 machines were present, with over 120 pilots registered. We had people flying in from all over the U.S. as well as Canada, Hawaii, and Japan. I was amazed at both the numbers of participants and the quality of the machines, but I was especially amazed with the overall enthusiasm. Helicopters were in the air from early morning to sunset, and boy! Can you guys fly!
Radio Control: Helicopters
DIE HARD. That's the name of my latest movie project, and I'd like to pass along some ideas and experiences I've gained while working on it. Die Hard is a new Fox production starring Bruce Willis. There is some spectacular full-size helicopter flying done in the film: flying close to buildings-and at night, to boot. I was pretty thrilled when offered the chance to do the film, as it meant building some UH-1s, and I would be working for Boss Films (which is fast becoming the premier special effects house in Hollywood). There were two major shots requiring miniatures. The first was to be a crane shot looking down on top of a building while a miniature flew through a giant fireball. The second shot was a crash sequence off the top of a building, ending with the tail boom totally separating from the Huey in flight.
